Hello everyone! Apologies for the long delay in a new chapter. I have a new job touring the country work where I work 6 days a week and travel to the next venue on my day off so I have had barely any time to write. Anyway please enjoy and I will try to write another chapter sooner! Love Miffygirl18 xxx

Chapter 59 – The Camera Never Lies:

Charlotte walked up the stairs to the servants' quarters, the wooden steps creaking under her heeled boots. She needed to pop up to her room as she forgot to bring down some sheet music for Annabelle's piano lesson that afternoon. As she arrived at her bedroom door, she stopped for a moment as she sensed for some unknown reason that something wasn't quite right. Cautiously she turned the knob of her bedroom door and she was surprised to find that it was unlocked. She was certain that she had locked her room as she went down to start Annabelle's lessons earlier that morning.

Perturbed, she slowly opened the door and found the bedroom to be empty. Everything was in its place, exactly as she left it that morning… except for a bunch of yellow daffodils lying on her table. Charlotte picked them up suspiciously and found a little card nestled amongst the flowers. Written in slightly simplistic but determined handwriting:

'Dearest Charlotte,

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

I admit that I am no Wordsworth but I thought that these golden blossoms would bring thee a ray of sunshine on this special day.

Wishing you Many Happy Returns.

Yours, Thomas x'

Charlotte didn't know what to think about this. Even though it was well intentioned of Thomas leaving the daffodils as a surprise for her, she couldn't help feeling slightly violated that he went into her room without her permission. Placing the flowers back on the table, she went back down to the schoolroom to continue her lessons with Annabelle. She planned to have words with Thomas later.

"So did she like the flowers?" Annabelle asked Thomas eagerly, her eyes wide with the thought of her and Daisy's matchmaking being successful.

"How should I know?" Thomas shrugged unenthusiastically before handing Annabelle a sieve. "Dust it with sugar before Miss Lyons comes down Miss Anna eh?" Annabelle was puzzled but did as she was told and dusted the fruit topped Victoria sponge with icing sugar, sandwiched with buttercream and strawberry jam.

"She's coming!" Daisy hissed excitedly and Annabelle quickly lit the birthday candles with a match.

As Miss Lyons stepped into the kitchen, she was taken aback by seeing all the staff and Annabelle standing around the kitchen table and a second later they started to sing 'Happy Birthday."

"Thank you very much everyone," she smiled politely when they finished singing the song and Annabelle took her governess's hand, guiding her over to the kitchen table where the cake stood proudly on its glass stand.

"Blow out the candles Miss Lyons," she beamed up at her. "Make a wish."

Miss Lyons smiled and in two breaths blew out the candles. The staff clapped as the wisps of smoke trailed up to the ceiling, filling the room with the nostalgic scent of freshly blown out birthday candles.

"Thank you Annabelle," Miss Lyons gently hugged her charge. "That is a lovely cake you have made there."

"Can we all of us have a slice now?" Annabelle asked eagerly and everyone looked to Carson.

"Well I don't see why we cannot all have a piece before continuing with our tasks," Carson nodded solemnly but couldn't help eyeing the delectable cake himself!

"Miss Lyons you can be mother," Mrs Fairfax said as she handed the governess the cake knife. With a nervous smile Miss Lyons managed to divide the cake into fairly equal slices without disturbing the fresh fruit topping.

"Here you go Thomas," she said as she passed him a slice and to her surprise he avoided her gaze.

"Ta," he mumbled as he took the plate.

"I need to speak with you," she managed to whisper after she served Martha a slice of cake.

"Mrs Griggs, I will make us some tea. Stop and 'ave a slice of cake." Thomas completely ignored her and went over to the range to make the staff a pot of tea to accompany their cake. It was fleeting, but Charlotte could swear that he looked as if he couldn't bear to look at her, the complete opposite to the affectionate, romantic tones in his card. Of course she couldn't say something in front of everyone and made herself eat her slice of cake, each morsel tasting slightly bitter with her confusion and distress.

A couple of days later, Miss Lyons was preparing to go out to undertake a tough but necessary task. She needed to replace the skirt that was spoilt by Bran's dreadful assault. Whilst Thomas was disposing of the body, she had torn the skirt, soiled by her blood and his into strips and burnt them in the fireplace one by one.

"Where art thou going?" she turned around to see Thomas approaching her. He had barely spoken to her since her birthday and when she tried to approach him about going into her room Mrs Fairfax or Carson would interrupt by ordering Thomas to perform a range of jobs.

"Just to the haberdashers," she replied as she adjusted her hat. "I need to buy some fabric for a skirt. I shall be back soon - Thomas you don't have to accompany me," she noted as he reached for his coat and hat.

"T'mistress said I must accompany thee even if Miss Annabelle is nut present. I cannut disobey my mistress's orders can I?" Thomas shrugged his shoulders in a somewhat despondent manner.

Miss Lyons silently shook her head and they walked to the haberdashers in a more than awkward silence. Any passers-by wouldn't have an inkling that they were paramours by the gap between them and the cold, tense atmosphere that hung around them like a thick fog.

In the shop, Miss Lyons ran her hands over the rolls of fabric whilst Thomas stood patiently in the corner, waiting for her to make a choice. Eventually she settled on a warm russet wool fabric that accentuated her fiery copper hair. She also made sure that she picked a completely different skirt pattern to the last one. She wanted absolutely no reminders of what happened that night.

As she was paying for her items, her eyes spotted a basket on the counter filled with offcuts and scraps of fabric. She picked a pale lilac striped fabric and added it to her items to pay.

"What was that small bit of fabric for?" Thomas asked as they walked back to the house via the park.

"Just something for Annabelle to make a dress with for Pollyanna," Charlotte replied, surprised by the out of the blue question. "My sisters and I would often make dresses for each other's dolls."

"Thou art close wit' yer sisters?"

"Yes, very much so."

"Thou art close wit' yer brother too?"

Charlotte felt her blood and body turn to ice as Thomas asked that question. She swore that she never mentioned the fact that she had a brother to him.

"When I put t'flowers in yer room… I found this," Thomas delved into his trouser pocket and pulled out a small silver photo-frame.

"Where did you find that?" Charlotte breathed as she recognised the photograph that she hid in the jug on her first day as she couldn't bear to look at it. Too many unbearable memories.

"In t'china jug on t'mantlepiece. I found it when I went to put t'flowers in it."

"You had no right going into my room!" Charlotte snapped back, her heart pounding in her chest like a war drum.

"T'boy in t'frame looked familiar," Thomas ignored her angry retort. "Very familiar to the man that night…I opened t'back of t'frame and saw the names. Branwell…there was no former fiancé was there Charlotte? Bran was Branwell…your brother. Charlotte!" Thomas called out as she ran away from him, her hat flying off as she fled from the horrifying reveal.

Charlotte ran and ran, ignoring the searing pain in her side and feet. Without thinking, she ran into a huge rhododendron bush where its leaves hid her from the world. A second later she collapsed to her knees, vomiting into the dark, damp earth whilst hot tears streamed down her face.

"Charlotte?"

She looked up and saw Thomas pushing aside branches as he entered the bush and saw the sorry state that she was in. She started to heave again and immediately he came over to her, crouched beside her and rubbed her back as she vomited again.

"Why did nut thee tell me?" he asked her once she stopped being sick.

"How could I?" she managed to say through her tears and the huge lump in her throat. "I didn't want to kill him Thomas. I just wanted him to stop. I just wanted him to stop." Charlotte broke down and Thomas scooped her into his arms, quietly holding her as she cried her heart out.

"Well he deserved it," Thomas said once her sobbing subsided. "No man should ever hit a women, especially 'is sister. Why would he ever want to hurt thee? It was nut t'first time that he hit thee…was it?" he said when he saw that she avoided his gaze.

"Yes," Charlotte nodded as she wiped her tears off her cheeks with the back of her hand.

"When? When did it start?"

"Since we were children. He was 6 years old when our mother died giving birth to me and he was very close to her. It devastated Bran and he had blamed me for it ever since."

"But thou were only a baby, it was nut yer fault."

"Maybe if I died instead of her, he wouldn't have become the man he was," Charlotte sniffed, "All day, every day he would pinch, push, pull my hair, kick, shove, slap me or whisper poisonous words into my ear. And he was so clever at it, he would only do it when our father was at work and our governesses or tutors' backs were turned and even when my sisters were not looking."

"Why did thee nut tell yer father?"

"I couldn't tell him, no one ever saw him being mean to me. No one would ever have believed me. He devastated by my mother's death, he never married again and all he wanted was a peaceful, happy family. I couldn't bear to break his heart. Bran was his golden son. And then it just got worse and worse and I left the house as soon as I could. Becoming a governess helped me escape the never-ending nightmare. "

"I'm so sorry Charlotte," Thomas said, feeling guilty at his earlier repugnance towards her. He was close with his brothers and at first he couldn't believe that she killed hers but he sounded like an absolute monster.

"Even though he is gone, he has never left my head. I can still hear his voice, smell his breath and feel his touch. It is so messed up Thomas, he hated me but he would also say that I was his favourite sister, that no one would ever understand us, our special bond and that we must keep it a secret."

"Secret? What secret?" Thomas asked and Charlotte's eyes widened as she realised that she had said too much.

"Nothing, just him being mean," her voice become flustered and she hastily stood up. "I better head back."

"Charlotte," he grabbed her hand and she turned to face him. "Tell me what thou mean by 'secret'? What thou mean by 'special bond'?"

"Please Thomas don't," she begged, tears welling in her pale blue eyes.

"He did nut just hit thee, did he?" Thomas said as the cogs and wheels turned in his head. The pieces were now falling into place.

There was a long pause and Charlotte silently nodded her head.

"That night, he did nut just hit thee either… did he?" Thomas replied and to his horror Charlotte nodded and he dropped her hand.

"Thomas," Charlotte looked heartbroken as he took a step away from her as he realised what truly happened to her, what levels Bran really delved to.

"I just wanted him to stop," Charlotte replied, tears running down her face. "I let it happen so many times before but that time, something inside me made me say enough. When he came into my room at night I would either feign sleep or keep quiet. I couldn't shout, I couldn't scream, I just froze. If I did he would have been more brutal. I thought he was going to kill me that night and I don't know why but I fought back and I grabbed that iron."

"I can't believe that thou would do summat like that," Thomas retorted as the shock flowed through him. "You laid with your brother! You committed incest!"

"To which I never consented!" Charlotte shouted back. "I had no choice Thomas! If I fought back he would have killed me, he said so himself! Don't ever think that I ever enjoyed it! I felt so dirty, so disgusting and so ashamed. I still do, no matter how much I wash, I cannot wash the shame and repulsion off me. Every day of my childhood I would go to bed praying that he wouldn't come in and I would wake up everyday wanting to die! I cannot believe that you think even for a second that I would have wanted any of it, that I was complicit!"

"Charlotte," Thomas called after her as she started to storm off, realising his foolishness. "I'm so sorry. I was just in shock, but I understand now -"

"Sorry!" Charlotte screamed and slapped hard him across the face. "I thought you were different Thomas, I thought that you would believe me! But you are just the same as the rest of them."

"Charlotte, I am so sorry," Thomas begged profusely as his cheek burned from her slap. "I believe you, I do. Please forgive me."

"No," Charlotte's eyes were now hard and unforgiving. "You doubted me Thomas."

"Charlotte please, I was wrong! I'm sorry!" Thomas fell to his knees, his world crumbling before his eyes as Charlotte towered over him, her face a look of utter contempt.

"It's over Thomas, whatever we had it's over. I cannot believe that I opened my heart and allowed myself to trust a man. You have betrayed me Thomas, you broke my heart and I will never ever forgive you!" Charlotte spun around on her heel and left the rhododendron bush in a flood of tears whilst Thomas knelt in the damp earth, tears trickling down his cheeks as his thoughtless words and utter stupidity cost him the love of his life.