I wrote this on Friday, so before we found out how Cora really learns of Marigold's existence. So this is sort of an alternative version.
Let me know what you think, please!
Thank you,
Kat
"Well, Marigold, it'll be time for Aunt Rosamund's visit soon. Are you looking forward to it?" Her little angel nods and it makes her happy. Marigold will never meet her grandparents, but at least she'll know Rosamund.
When there is a knock on the door, she doesn't bother to put Marigold down, Rosamund wants to see the little girl anyway.
When she opens the door, she almost drops her daughter when she sees who is on the other side of it.
"Mama!"
She wants to vanish into thin air or the ground or both at once. And she wants to strangle her aunt. She promised to not say a word. And she obviously did tell her mother.
"Edith, let me in, please."
Her mother says this rather kindly and she does not want a shouting match in the hallway. Because she is sure that this will end in a shouting match. Her mother will want her to give Marigold up, to put her into some sort of school, just as her aunt and grandmother want her to do. But she won't do it. She can't give up her little girl, no matter how much it will cost her.
"May I hold her?"
"What?"
"May I hold her?" She is rather surprised by this, but she passes her daughter of to her mother who takes the little girl and smiles at her.
"Well, little Marigold, I am your Granny. And I am very glad to finally get to meet you." Marigold does not cry at this, but the girl has been passed around so much in her young life that she is probably used to meeting strangers. Too used to it. Her mother now sits down on the bed, still holding Marigold.
"She looks just like you."
"How did you know I was here?"
"I bullied your aunt into telling me. She put up quite a fight, but I had the feeling that she knew something. And in the end she told me everything." At least she won't have to tell the story to her mother then.
"I suppose you are here to tell me that Aunt Rosamund and Granny are right. That I should sent my daughter to some school in France. Are you going to do the decent thing and offer to pay for it? How are you going to get the money without explaining everything to Papa?"
"Edith," she hates it when her mother has that condescending tone in her voice.
"Oh Mama, don't pretend to understand. Because you don't." Her mother now gets up and puts Marigold into the playpen.
"Sit with me, Edith. Please."
"I won't listen to you telling me that I have to give her up." Her mother shakes her head and closes her eyes in a manner she usually does when she tries to hide tears.
"You won't have to listen to that. But I want you to listen to me, my darling." She nods and braces herself to whatever is to come.
"Edith, we all make mistakes. Your Granny, your Aunt, your Papa, your sisters, Tom, I, everyone. Your mistake had a consequence that is," her mother looks for a word.
"grievous," she supplies.
"No," her mother shakes her head. "A child can never be a grievous consequence. Children are always a joy. Don't ever think differently of that little girl." It surprises her how genuine her mother sounds. As if she really didn't mind Marigold.
"I won't. But what am I going to do?"
"I don't know. But we'll find a way for you to keep her. I promise. I won't make my own daughter give up either her child or her family. If it comes to the worst, we'll have to face the scandal. The world is changing. But maybe it won't come to a scandal. I'll see what your father says." This makes her dizzy. Her father has been so nice to her, she can't disappoint him like that, she just can't. He does not deserve that, not from her.
"I can't tell Papa. I can't disappoint him like that." Her mother smiles a careful now.
"You won't tell your father. I'll do that. It'll be easier for you and him that way."
"He'll rage and storm at you." Her mother now smiles a rather embarrassed smile at this and says
"Well, I know how to cushion the blow."
"How?"
"I'll," her mother looks around, swallows once and says "seduce him first." She doesn't know what to say to that. Until she realizes what that must mean.
"So you are alright again."
"Yes. We are."
"I am glad." She really is glad. When Mary pointed out to her how bleak it looked between their parents and then she looked for and found the signs that Mary mentioned to her, she had been quite shocked. And it made her even sadder than she already was. She has never been as gushy about her parents as Rose usually is, but then again, she has never had to live with Shrimpy and Susan. "But won't he see through you? Won't he get mad at you if you, well, and then you tell him about Marigold?"
"Oh, I'll do it in a way that will make your father think that it was he who seduced me." When her mother realizes what she said, she becomes bright red in the face and stares at the floor.
"Don't worry Mama, I won't tell anyone. And I envy you. It must be nice to be so close to someone."
"It is. And I am sure that you'll find that someone for you some day."
"The thing is Mama, I think that that person for me was Michael." Her mother smiles at Marigold and then looks at her.
"Looking at that little girl, I am sure that she was conceived out of love. And that is what matters in the end." Her mother squeezes her hand now and smiles at her the same way she just smiled at Marigold.
"Mama, I can't tell you everything, not right now, but you are right, it was out of love. Mutual love."
"Then don't ever regret it. I am sorry my darling girl, but I have to leave now. I want to get home tonight."
"Will you tell Papa tonight?"
"Tonight or tomorrow night. It depends on his mood." Her mother turns slightly red again and it makes Edith smile a true smile. One of very, very few true smiles she has smiled in the last two years.
"Thank you Mama. Truly."
"You are welcome my darling girl. I'll let you know once I've talked to your father."
"Goodbye Mama."
"Goodbye Edith. And to you too," her mother says, walks over to Marigold and gives her swift kiss on the cheek before she leaves.