Further Down the Line Chapter 11
"Richard, what are you doing here?" Mary gasped as she tried to collect her thoughts.
"My dear surely you remember it was I who introduced you to this cafe," he responded smoothly, claiming the seat across from her.
"Of course," she said nervously, remembering that it was in fact Richard who had first brought her here, silently cursing herself for not remembering it earlier.
"So, married to Crawley with a baby on the way less than a year after we parted ways. It seems you can move swiftly after all," he commented bitterly.
"I don't know if anyone could call eight years swift."
"I expected it you know - just not quite so quickly. Barely a month after we after our engagement ended, your new engagement was announced. Call it a reporter's instinct, but I suspect the deal was sealed even before that."
She kept silent about the fact that her engagement to Matthew actually occurred only days after Richard had left. They had thought it best to wait a while before officially announcing in hopes that doing so might allow Richard's anger to cool such that he might not publish her story. They would have waited longer to announce, but they were both eager to finally marry.
"I thought about publishing your story that day. It would have sold many newspapers - your engagement photo next to a picture of your dead Turk. 'Scandalous, unchaste daughter of an Earl forced to marry a common middle class solicitor.' Yes it would have sold many papers."
"I rather thought you would publish."
"So did I. Fitting punishment and profit to boot."
"What stayed your hand?"
"At first I told myself I would publish on your wedding day instead."
"But you didn't."
"No," he said simply.
His words from their parting echoed in her ears 'I loved you, you know. More than you knew, and much, much more than you loved me.' For her, their engagement had been a business deal. Never had she suspected that he loved her.
"I am sorry for any hurt I caused you," she offered truthfully.
"We could have been happy you and I," he said with a sad smile.
"Perhaps, if Matthew did not exist, but that fact is he does. So you and I could never have been happy together. You would never have been free of him and that would have made you angry and jealous your days. But if it makes you feel any better, the fact that I would have been unhappy has nothing to do with you. The simple fact is, I could never be happy with anyone else as long as he walks the Earth."
"Or wheels it for I think you loved him even then."
"Yes, even then," she admitted.
"I suppose Miss. Swire was right that night."
"Yes, I suppose she was," Mary said. Although she would never admit it to Matthew, she she had always suspected Richard was being truthful that night he and Matthew had fought. "I do hope you will find happiness."
"Another plea to stay my hand?"
"No, you will do whatever you wish although I suspect that if you were going to publish, you would have done so by now."
"Well, in my business you never know what tomorrow's headline will be. I think I have disrupted your tea long enough," Richard said as he stood and prepared to leave.
Mary stood and held her hand out to him. After a moment of hesitation, he took her hand. "I wish you all the best," she said sincerely. He offered her only a small smile and nod before leaving. She was well aware that he did not offer her his good wishes. As she sat back down and sipped her tea, she was not overly concerned that he would actually publish her story. If he was going to publish it, he would have done so either when his anger was fresh or on the occasion of her engagement when it would have sold more papers.
She was extremely thankful that Matthew was not with her when she ran into Richard. Both men intensely disliked one another. Taking another sip of tea she wondered whether it would be best to tell Matthew of her meeting with Richard or remain silent on the issue.
Glancing at her watch, she realized that she had lingered much longer than she intended too and was now going to be late in meeting Matthew back at the hotel. She collected her packages and hailed a taxi.
When she entered the hotel room, Matthew was lounging in a chair reading a newspaper.
"There you are darling. I was beginning to worry you had run off with someone else," he said with a teasing smile. "It looks like your shopping trip was successful," he commented as the bellman carried her packages in.
"They are not all for me. I did buy a dress for myself, but the others are gifts for Sybil, Anna, and you," she said, waiting for the bellman to leave and then going to sit on Matthew's lap.
"For me?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"Well sort of for you," she said blushing.
"How can a gift be sort of for me?"
"If you are good, perhaps I shall show you how later tonight."
Matthew swallowed hard as he understood her meaning. "Why wait until tonight? I am quite at leisure right now."
"Matthew! We have not even had dinner yet" she scolded him only half-heartedly.
"We could order dinner in our room as we did on our honeymoon." He knew he was temping her and that she was about to give in. "No need to dress for dinner, sharing the news of the day in bed."
"Oh I do have news," she said excitedly as she remembered what she had to tell him. "I felt the baby move today."
His hands went directly to her stomach as she knew they would. "I don't feel anything," he said, the disappointment clear in his voice.
"He's not moving right now, and even if he was, you can't feel it from the outside. It was truly amazing though. All of the sudden, I felt this odd fluttering inside," she said, the smile on her face showing him how happy she truly was.
"You must tell me about it. When did this happen?"
"It was this afternoon after I finished shopping, I stopped at a little cafe for tea. I was sitting at a table and it just started."
"How long did it go on for?"
"I am not sure. I suppose it was only a minute or two. It stopped when …" she trailed off not waiting to say it stopped when Richard showed up.
"When what darling," he said, stroking her cheek tenderly.
"When an old friend showed up and surprised me," she said, thinking that this moment was just to sweet to allow Richard to intrude on it and ruin it for Matthew. She wondered whether or not that counted as a lie. She only omitted a detail and it wasn't one she thought Matthew was ever likely to discover.
"Do I know her?"
"Her?"
"Your old friend."
"Oh Matthew, do you really want to talk about some old friend who doesn't mean anything or do you want to baby?"
"You're right darling. Tell me more about our daughter moving."
"Son"
"We shall see," he said, kissing her passionately. "Now about my present…"
"It is not very ladylike."
"Then it is a good thing I am middle class solicitor and not a gentleman."
TBC
Up Next - Will Matthew learn about Mary's secret encounter with Sir Richard?