Charlotte was uncertain what she should say or do when she returned home. Diana had told her everything on the walk back, informing her how Nate had left a letter in his room. Marilla had intended on getting rid of it, but she had been foolish enough to put it in her basket when she had visited Rachel Lynde. Marilla had tried to swear Rachel to silence, but her friend loved nothing more than to gossip. And soon enough, the news had spread through Avonlea and reached William and Eliza Barry.

William had demanded to read the letter and Marilla had no other option but to hand it over to him. He could make his own mind up about what he believed. He had asked her if she knew if there was any truth to the rumours, but she had said it was none of her business. That told William all that he needed to know.

"Charlotte," Diana said, grabbing her sister before she could enter the house. She took hold of her wrist, holding onto it tightly in her grip. "Is everything going to be alright? I saw you and Mr Phillips-"

"-I don't know," Charlotte interrupted her, shaking her head back and forth. And she didn't know. "What you saw was Mr Phillips being forward and me being too foolish to stop him, but I have other things to worry about now, Diana."

"You know that I'll wait for you if you want to talk," Diana said to her sister and Charlotte smiled at her, despite everything. She bent down and kissed her on her forehead before moving into the house. She stood in the entrance hall and let her satchel fall from her shoulder as footsteps echoed through the house.

"Charlotte! Is that you?" William demanded to know and Elizabeth unbuttoned her coat as Diana did the same.

"Yes, father," Charlotte answered.

William appeared from around the corner, Eliza close on his heel. Hanging her coat up, Charlotte straightened out the skirts she wore, pushing them down with the heels of her hands. She took a moment to compose herself as Diana placed her coat next to Charlotte's. Looking at their daughter, William and Eliza's stares were harsh and accusing.

"Diana, can you go to your room, please?" Eliza demanded from her other daughter.

"Mother, please, Charlotte-"

"-Your sister is more than capable of answering for herself," William interrupted Diana. "Now, go upstairs, Diana."

"It's fine," Charlotte promised her sister and she watched Diana head up the steps, taking her baskets and books with her. Looking to her parents, Charlotte was doing her best to remain composed, knowing that crying would get her nowhere. She had to own up to what she had done.

"How could you?" William demanded to know from Charlotte. "Do you know that this news has spread through all of Avonlea? I could hardly walk through town without having people staring at me and questioning if it was true…if my daughter truly was a harlot."

"It was not like that," Charlotte denied as Eliza placed a hand to her chest and watched her daughter as she moved through the house and further into it. She didn't want Diana or Minnie-May to hear up the stairs. "I know that what happened was foolish and I was naïve."

"So we do not even need to ask you if it is true?" Eliza checked from her daughter.

They stood in the doorway as Charlotte stood behind the couch on the other side of the room. She held onto the back of it and her grip remained tight. Shrugging to her parents, she remained silent and tossed her head back, looking to the ceiling and cursing Nate. Why did he have to write a letter? Why did he do this to her?

"It seems as though you have already made your mind up," Charlotte retorted. "But I am not going to lie to you. I did have a relationship with Nate that I kept hidden and, at the time, I never imagined anyone would find out."

"My God," Eliza mumbled and sank down to sit on the couch across from Charlotte, William remained stood with hands on his hips and glare set on his daughter.

"Do you not know what you have done?" William demanded to know from her. "Our family is already in financial ruin and our reputation tarnished. Do you truly think that Mr Phillips will want you now? Do you think that he will want a girl who has so willingly given her virtue away?"

"You know how I feel," Charlotte said, knowing that her parents only wanted the best for her, but she didn't want Mr Phillips. She never wanted to marry him and had only agreed to it for the sake of her family. "You know that I am only courting Mr Phillips because I wanted to spare you from gossip…spare Diana and Minnie-May from it too."

"And look at what you have done now!" William snapped at her loudly. "If anything, you have ridiculed us further because you could not keep your legs closed. It is foolish. You have been foolish."

"I know," Charlotte agreed. She knew that much. "I made a mistake and I am sorry. I should never have done it. I should never have let myself get close to him, but he…he was nice…he was kind and he showed me attention. Mr Phillips does none of those things and I do not love him and I will never love him."

William scoffed and shook his head quickly, arms flapping by his side. "I cannot believe what I am hearing," he said and looked to his wife as she remained uncharacteristically quiet. "The first man who pays her attention and she climbs into his bed…I would have thought that finishing school would have taught her how to be a lady, but if anything it taught her to be nothing more than a common whore."

"I'm sorry!" Charlotte yelled at him. "I know that sorry will not make up for this, but I am sorry."

"You're right, sorry does not make up for this," William said. "And now we are left trying to pick up the pieces from your actions. I only hope that Mr Phillips is able to look past this or perhaps not believe the rumours."

Charlotte's brows knitted together. "Not believe them?" she asked from him. "How is that even possible? I have just admitted the truth to you here."

"To us…but not to anyone else," William said and Eliza nodded her head, looking up to her husband and wagging a finger. She was doing her best not to feel too downtrodden over what she was hearing, but it was proving difficult. "We deny this ever happened. We say that Nate was malicious, but nothing else…that the letter was his final attempt to ruin our family, but we cannot be ruined. We will not be ruined."

"Yes," Eliza agreed. "That is a brilliant idea. We simply keep the truth hidden. We do what needs to be done."

"And Mr Phillips?" Charlotte questioned.

"You apologise for casting a shadow over your courting and subsequent engagement," William said, "but he does not need to know the truth. We can only hope that he will be none the wiser that she has given her virtue away when they are married."

"And you think he would not notice?" Eliza queried.

Charlotte wanted to snap that she doubted it, but she said nothing. There was also the fact that she had given her virtue away many months ago to Alexander in Paris, but she made no mention of that. She knew that she couldn't.

"I hope not," William said. "Now, I will try and sort this. You," he looked to his daughter, "will stay here until we have things in place. I would be amazed if the school board has not caught wind of this and want you gone."

Charlotte remained mute, not saying what it was she truly needed to say. Her father simply left the room, his footsteps heavy as he left her alone. She remained rooted on the spot as Eliza let out a sigh and looked up to her daughter, her gaze almost softening as she watched Charlotte look to the window, a hand on her hip and another hand holding onto the couch in front of her.

"We women are not afforded the same liberties in life as men, Charlotte," Eliza informed her and stood, brushing down her dark blue skirt that she had tucked into a white shirt. She stepped forwards, her footsteps light and her eyes wide as Charlotte looked to her, blinking back her tears. "Society bestows expectations upon us which means we do not have the opportunity to act like men…a man would never be cast in shame for laying with a woman out of wedlock…but a woman…she is the one who bears the shame."

"It is wrong," Charlotte could only say and Eliza nodded.

"I know," she said, "but I also know that this family has gone through enough and we are trying to turn things around…so please…assure me of one thing."

"What?" Charlotte could only ask, tears falling down her cheeks silently.

"That in nine months time we will not have a surprise," Eliza said, looking down and Charlotte realised that she was staring straight at her stomach. Placing a hand to her abdomen, she shook her head. Eliza simply moved on and Charlotte sank down to the ground, trying to figure out what she should do next.

…

Charlotte felt sick on the Saturday morning, knowing that Mr Phillips was coming to visit them. She had dressed in her finest gown, knowing that her mother would approve. She had set up afternoon tea in the dining room and Diana and Minnie-May had been taken to town, but not before Diana had snuck into Charlotte's room that morning and lay in bed besides her.

"I told Josie to stop gossiping about you at school yesterday," Diana said. She was still dressed in her nightgown and had climbed under the covers next to Charlotte. Her sister had rolled onto her side, her hair falling over her pillow in soft curls as she looked at Diana.

"What is everyone saying?" Charlotte wondered.

"That you…you and Nate engaged in activities that only a husband and a wife should," Diana said. "She called you names, but she had no idea what they meant and I told her to be quiet. Mr Phillips also yelled at her."

"What did he say?" Charlotte asked, propping herself onto her elbow as Diana lay on her back, hands on her stomach.

"He said that rumours were vicious. He said there was no truth in them and that you would be back teaching next week," Diana said and Charlotte nodded. She flopped back onto the bed and shook her head.

"Truth be told, Diana, I don't know if I can cope with returning and listening to children gossip about things they know nothing about," Charlotte admitted to Diana. "And I know how ridiculous that sounds. I'm an adult and they're children."

"You need to rise above it," Diana said to her. "Prove them wrong and show them that you have nothing to hide."

"Since when did you become so wise?"

"One of us needs to be the responsible sibling," Diana said, a teasing tone to her voice as Charlotte tugged on a curl of her hair and her sister laughed at the motion, Charlotte's lips tugging upwards.

"You're definitely the responsible sibling," she said to her. "And I'm sorry that you're having to defend me, Diana. I'm sorry for all of this mess and I'll try to make it right. I'll do everything that I can to make things better."

"You will," Diana said confidently. "But…what if you…I heard mother and father speaking…worrying that you might be pregnant."

"I'm not," Charlotte said to her with a shake of her head. "You don't need to worry about that, Diana. I am most certainly not pregnant. Besides, mother has been having the maid check my sheets and underclothes every single day. At least that is one scandal I will have saved them from."

"And Mr Phillips?"

"I don't know," Charlotte confessed to her. "I honestly don't know, Diana."

She set about getting up and dressed for the day ahead. Diana went away to dress herself. Charlotte pulled out the red dress that her mother had hung out already the night before for her. She pulled it on and a maid helped her lace her dress up. She tugged on her stockings, rolling them up her legs and then focused on her hair, pulling it into a loose bun to sit at the nape of her neck.

It was a lot of effort for afternoon tea in the house, plus there was the fact that Charlotte was convinced that Mr Phillips did not truly love her. He did not look at her how Alexander looked at her. There was no tension between the two of them when they were together. When she had been with Alexander all she had longed for was to be close to him, finding herself pulled to him and shivering with need whenever he touched her. If she didn't feel that with Mr Phillips then how could he feel it with her?

"Come along, Charlotte, Mr Phillips should be here soon enough," Eliza said, stepping into the doorway and seeing her daughter with a bent leg on the bed, chin resting there as she finished with her stockings.

"Coming," Charlotte said to her.

Eliza looked at her sadly and nodded her head. "I know that this isn't what you want," she said to her daughter. "But give it time and you might feel differently."

"Did you love father when you were courting?"

"I…sometimes some people are not lucky, but they learn how to love as time goes on."

"That wasn't what I asked, mother," Charlotte responded and moved to stand up, her skirts falling around her legs.

Eliza sighed and shrugged. "Yes," she confessed. "I loved him before then."

Charlotte nodded and said nothing else as Eliza reached for her. She said nothing, choosing simply to wrap her arms around her. Charlotte wondered what had come over her, but she said nothing. She simply wrapped her own arms around her mother and held onto her.

"There's been enough unhappiness in this family, Charlotte," Eliza said. "I don't want anymore. I want us all to be happy…to get on…it is all I want. I just want the best for us."

"And you think that Mr Phillips is the best for us?" Charlotte questioned, pulling back and looking her mother in the eye, seeing that there was a sadness there. "Because I want to do the best for our family, mother. I want to do the right thing, but this…I don't know if this is the right thing because I don't love him. I know that I don't love him."

"I know," Eliza said with a nod of her head. "I know that you're worried, but love…you have never been in love before, Charlotte, and perhaps it just takes time for you to realise you can love him."

Charlotte remained silent, uncertain of what else she could say to her mother. She could show her. She could go into her drawer and she could pull out the letters she kept there from Alexander. She could tell her mother that she did know all about love. She could tell her that she knew what it felt like and she was certain of it. But she didn't.

"Diana and Minnie-May…I cannot send them to finishing school and the lessons were making them miserable," Eliza said, running her hands up and down her daughter's arms. "I have decided to leave them be. I want them to be happy. I want all of us to be happy. You…Mr Phillips…if he does not make you happy then-"

"-Eliza, are you coming? Mr Phillips has arrived."

Charlotte wondered what her mother was about to say. She did not mention it. She simply forced a smile onto her face and took her daughter's arm, leading her down the stairs.

Mr Phillips was stood there with William, removing his coat as her father took it and hung it up.

"Miss Barry, you look…you look absolutely stunning," Mr Phillips said.

"It's a gown all the way from Paris," Eliza said with a forced smile. "She had it made while she was at finishing school."

"It is quite lovely," Mr Phillips said and Charlotte looked to him, stood there in a black suit with an orange tie around his neck. "She is quite lovely."

"I confess that I am pleased to hear you speak in such a manner," William said, clasping him on the back and leading him through to the dining room, Charlotte and Eliza following them.

Settling down at the table, William took the lead as Charlotte looked to the cake stand in the middle, the teapot sat next to it. Her mother had spared no expense judging by the spread in front of them.

"We could be delicate around this matter or we could get straight on with it?" William spoke and Mr Phillips unfolded the napkin as Charlotte sat up straight in between her mother and him. He looked over to her, his eyes moving over her body as she laced her hands into her lap.

"Perhaps we had best address the rumours," Mr Phillips spoke, his gaze flickering over to William. "I have heard everything about the letter that fraudulent imbecile left behind. I do not know how he could be so cruel."

"Because he wanted to ruin our family," William said. "I can assure you there is no truth to these rumours, isn't that right, Charlotte?"

"Of course," Charlotte responded, not picking her gaze up. Mr Phillips continued to watch her as her father coughed and she looked to him, motioning to Mr Phillips and forcing her to look to him. She forced a smile onto her face and met his gaze. "It is a lie, Mr Phillips, I would never behave in such a way."

"Glad to hear it," he replied to her and she looked away again.

They ate their afternoon tea with pleasant conversation around them before Mr Phillips questioned if Charlotte wished to go on a walk. She shrugged into her coat and buttoned it up as he did the same. He offered her his arm and led her out into the backyard, the floor hard after there having been no rain for days.

"You know, I am no fool," Mr Phillips commented. "I know when someone is lying to me. I work as a teacher. It is quite obvious when a lie is told."

"I do not know what you mean."

"Please, do not take me for a fool," Mr Phillips urged and he stood still, his grip moving down her arm to his hand, turning her so that she was looking straight at him. She could feel his cold fingers against hers and his grip was harsh as he looked at her with a harsh stare. She hadn't seen him look at her like that ever since he had started courting her.

"I do not."

"Then perhaps we can both stop this façade."

"I…"

"You took another man to your bed while you were openly courting me," Mr Phillips said to her. "I do not pretend to think that you love me. I am perceptive. However, I had thought that you could become fond of me as time went on…as a wife should be found of her husband. I find you rather intriguing, Miss Barry, and your passion…the fire inside of you…it has drawn me to you."

Charlotte remained completely silent, her heart racing and her head spinning as she felt him move a hand to her cheek.

"I assume he gave you everything that you wanted in order to climb between your legs? Romance? Poems? Everything that I cannot give you and I will not give you because it is not who I am," he informed her and Charlotte was trying not to feel sick at listening to him. "And you would do well to realise that because if everyone knew the truth then you would have no reputation."

"And where does this leave us?" she asked from him.

"Well, it seems that I hold the power here," he informed her and Charlotte bit down on her tongue. "I do not wish to see you ruined. I know that I am your only hope against such ruin. Marrying me will allow society to still accept you…to see that the rumours were simply malicious."

"And you want that? You want to marry me despite what I did?"

"It is not to happen again and from now on I shall have your full devotion, is that clear?"

He was speaking to her as he spoke to the children at school. Charlotte chewed down on the bottom of her tongue, not answering him. He continued talking, his thumb roaming over her cheekbone.

"I am willing to give you another chance," Mr Phillips said. "But I need to be certain that you will not bring shame onto me."

Charlotte shook her head. "I will not," she said. "I am not pregnant."

"Then that is one blessing," he confessed. "And once we are married you will give up work. I will require your full attention and devotion. You will provide us with a high standing in society. The Barry name can still prove useful to me."

Her name. Was that all he cared about? Charlotte remained mute, however, her voice seeming to catch in her throat. She didn't know what to say. She had no idea if she had any words for him that would not cause offence or ruin their courtship completely.

"And you will make an excellent wife, Charlotte," he said to her. "You will raise our profile…your wit…charm…beauty…it will all prove so useful for us when we are in Toronto and until then, I do not doubt that our courtship and marriage will be smooth with no more gossip."

"Don't doubt it," Charlotte simply whispered as he bent down then, his finger curling under her chin and his lips meeting hers.

Charlotte closed her eyes and tried to forget the feeling of his lips pressed to hers as she wondered just how she could escape him and stop her family from falling into ruin.

...

A/N: Do let me know if you're reading! Not sure how many chapters will be left, but think we're halfway through. Would love to know your thoughts!