The next day Patricia Pelham asked Bertie to bring Edith and come to tea in her flat in the afternoon. She had something important to tell them.
...
When Bertie told Edith that his mother had summoned them to come to her, she worried.
"I wonder what I have done wrong now", she said with a sigh.
"I'm sure it is nothing like that. If anything, you have made my mother happier. And kinder. You and Marigold have made her a much nicer person than she was before."
...
"I don't know how to put this", Patricia said after seeing to it that they all had a cup of tea to drink and a scone with jam and clotted cream to eat.
"Please just go on and tell it", Bertie said. "You are making Edith nervous."
"No need for that", Patricia said, smiling kindly at Edith. "You haven't done anything wrong."
She was quiet for a moment.
"Actually, in my opinion, you have done everything right since you married Bertie", she added then, with a loving look at Edith's protruding belly. "And you do know how much I love little Marigold."
Bertie was glad to hear this, but he had started to grow impatient.
"Yes, yes", he said. "That is all very well. But what was it that you wanted to tell us?"
...
Patricia hesitated for a moment again. But she had made up her mind to tell them when she invited them to tea. She felt that her son and her daughter-in-law had the right to know what was said about them.
"I happened to overhear one of the servants saying something yesterday, and since it has to do with the two of you and little Marigold, I think you have the right to know."
"Oh!" Edith exclaimed. "So it has started to get out. I knew all the time that it would. You shouldn't have married me at all, I told you so..."
"Stop that nonsence", Bertie said. "If there is one thing in my life I will never regret it is marrying you."
Patricia interrupted them.
"It hasn't exactly got out...", she said with a wry smile. "I wouldn't put it that way..."
...
So Patricia told them what she had overheard.
"My first thought was to tell them that Bertie isn't Marigold's father, but then I realised that it is better that they believe that. As a man he can get away with it. So I just let it be, no one had noticed I was there anyhow."
"Ah!" Bertie said. "Oh well." It was a lot to take in.
"You don't need to know who said it unless you want to fire her", Patricia said. "But that would probably only make things worse. And I think that it is most likely the general belief among the servants that Marigold is Bertie's daughter."
"I must say I find that rather flattering", Bertie said. "She is a sweet and clever little girl."
"But I don't want the servants to think you are a bad husband", Edith said with a sigh. "When in reality you are such a wonderful one."
"Don't worry, I can handle it! And Mother is right. A man is more easily forgiven. Some people might even admire me for taking my daughter here while keeping my wife in the dark. At least I think some men would admire that. It is horrible, but it is the way the world is like. So - let's just play along with it."
Edith could feel the truth in this, but she still felt rather reluctant to let Bertie take the blame for something she herself had done. But she understood that leaving it that way was probably the best they could do for the time being.
"We have to tell Marigold the truth sooner or later, though", she said. "When she is a little older. I don't want to keep her in the dark for ever. She has the right to know."
"Of course", Bertie said. "But no one else has to know."
And with that it was all settled.
AN: Thank you for reading! Thank you so much for the nice reviews to last chapter! Please leave a comment!
...
This is definitely the end of this story. I think.
...
And if you want to know what happened when Edith told Marigold, you can read my unfinished story Chaos, if you haven't done that already.