Chapter 28: The Confrontation
It didn't take Georg and Maria long to find Lady Whitehead. She and Lord Whitehead were still in the parlour after reading the morning newspaper and were just about to make their way to the dining room for breakfast when Georg and Maria arrived.
As they entered the room, both Lord and Lady Whitehead looked up. Immediately Lord Whitehead noticed how pale and frail Maria looked and how she was clinging onto Georg's arm for stability. "Oh my dear," he gasped. "You look awful."
Before Maria could reply, Lady Whitehead stepped forward. "You do indeed Maria and I'm surprised you've got the gall to show your face around here after the disgraceful way you acted last night."
"The disgraceful way Maria acted last night?" Georg repeated, shaking his head in disbelief. "Are you seriously going to lay the blame on Maria for what happened last night when you know all too well what really happened?"
"What really happened?" Lady Whitehead dismissed Georg with a wave of her hand. "Your wife got drunk at your daughter's party and humiliated us all. That's what really happened."
"Not it's not and you know it," Georg fumed, glaring at Lady Whitehead with eyes like daggers.
"Georg," Lord Whitehead interjected. "What are you talking about?"
"Ask your wife," replied Georg through gritted teeth, still glaring at his former mother-in-law. Lord Whitehead glanced at Lady Whitehead who merely shrugged; pretending like she had no idea what Georg was talking about. When she didn't reply, Georg explained. "Maria was not drunk last night, James. She was drugged. By Elizabeth."
Lord Whitehead's eyes widened and he stepped forward. "That's a very serious allegation Georg," he said, his expression stern. "Do you have any proof to justify this charge?"
"Proof?" Lady Whitehead scoffed. "What proof? James, he's making all this up to protect that little bitch of a wife."
"I am not making this up," snapped Georg. "And watch you language when referring to my wife!" Lady Whitehead opened her mouth to respond but quickly closed it again as Georg blasted her. "This act of denying everything… it won't work anymore! I know everything: About how you had the drugs hidden in that large ring of yours. And how you dissolved the drug in Maria's champagne then persuaded her to drink the entire glass by proposing toast after toast. Elizabeth, I know it all. Camilla told me everything."
Lady Whitehead's mind was sent reeling. Camilla told him everything? No, it couldn't be so. Camilla would never betray her, yet it seemed as though she had. "Camilla?" she whispered to herself and she stood frozen to the spot in shock.
"And that's not all," Georg continued with his revelations. "You also manipulated Daniel into assaulting Liesl last night. I know the whole story Elizabeth - the Collins's were just here. They told me about how you tempted Daniel with the promise of money for university then blackmailed him into touching Liesl and disgracing her at her party."
Lord Whitehead placed one hand over his forehead and rubbed his eyes. "Elizabeth, please tell them it isn't true."
Lady Whitehead didn't reply but stood rooted to her spot, feeling a wave of cold rush over her body. Georg knew about Daniel too? Lady Whitehead thought to herself. First Camilla and now Daniel. She felt her body began to shake as her heart thudded wildly in her chest. Everything she had done, all her plans and schemes… It was all starting to unravel and she needed to think of something quickly or else she would lose everything. Her eyes darted about the room as she took in heavy breaths of air through her nostrils. Think, Elizabeth, think! Then her eyes stopped on Maria. Poor, sorrowful, fragile Maria and as she scowled at her, she watched Georg wrap one arm protectively around Maria.
And that was the final straw.
Blood pulsing hotly through her veins, Lady Whitehead launched herself at Maria. "Ahhh! It was all your fault!" she screamed at Maria. "You! You dared to come here: no class, and no sophistication and yet everyone loves you. You! You were the governess, for goodness sake, and yet I'm expected to accept you as the new mother to my grandchildren. It's an abomination!"
"Elizabeth," snarled Georg. "My choice of wife is none of your concern."
"Oh yes it is. Especially when it is my daughter she is replacing." Lady Whitehead stepped further towards Maria. "Who do you think you are?" she sneered so aggressively at Maria that Maria stumbled backwards. "A failed nun! A poor mountain girl! What on earth do you think you can give my grandchildren? Or Georg for that matter? You can't even give him a child! My daughter gave him seven children!"
"Maria gives me everything I need," Georg defended at once. "More than you know."
"Oh I know all right," Lady Whitehead jeered. "It's all the maids talk about, you know. Hannah has told me time and time again - how loud the two of you are with your lovemaking every night..."
"You had the maid spy on us?" Georg exclaimed in disbelief.
"…and every morning. Is that how you lured him into marriage?" she asked Maria. "By getting into his bed?"
"What? No! No, it wasn't like that," denied Maria shaking her head, her voice barely above a whisper. "We didn't, we never… not until we were married."
"Really my dear?" Lady Whitehead replied, raising her eyebrows doubtfully. "I find it hard to believe that Georg would pass over an elegant, sophisticated woman like Elsa Schraeder for a poor, young thing like you unless you were giving him something she wasn't."
"Elizabeth," Georg spoke up. "I heard all the rumours that were being spread about us before Maria and I married and I can guarantee they weren't true. I married Maria because I loved her, not because of any other scandalous reason."
"But you had been keeping company with Elsa Schraeder for the better part of a year, from what I'm told, Georg. Then suddenly Maria arrives as the new governess to your children and your relationship with the Baroness ends. How can you say that there was no other scandalous reason when Maria was clearly 'the other woman'?"
At this Maria flinched as she remembered arguing with Georg weeks before over that very matter. During that argument, Georg had declared her to be 'the other woman' which hurt her greatly. While he had apologised for it later, his accusation still felt very raw and now Lady Whitehead was accusing her of the same thing.
But before she had a chance to deny it, Georg came to her defence. "Elizabeth, I can assure you that Maria was no such thing." He glanced at Maria quickly before turning his attention back to Lady Whitehead. "While I can understand that it may have appeared on the outside that Maria came between Elsa and myself, it was not the case." Maria's heart soared as she listened to Georg stand up for her and declare once and for all her innocence in the awful love triangle they had found themselves in.
"While I did truly care for Elsa," he explained. "I did not love her. However, I did fall deeply in love with Maria and when that happened, Elsa became 'the other woman' who stood between Maria and myself and our happiness together. When two people talk of marriage… No. Elsa knew I loved Maria and not her. She also knew she wasn't the kind of mother that the children wanted or needed. While it was difficult for her, Elsa was extremely gracious when we parted ways."
Lady Whitehead didn't seem convinced. "But yet Elsa Schraeder was a far more suitable match for you, Georg than Maria in so many ways. Why her?"
"I told you, I love Maria and the children love her too," Georg explained. "Maria showed me how to look for my life again and I found her and love again. She opened my heart and my eyes to things that I'd shut out and I'd forgotten. Music, laugher, even the children themselves!"
"But yet you forgot the very person who gave you those things," Lady Whitehead accused. "You forgot about my daughter."
Georg felt like he'd been slapped in the face. "No, I never forgot about Agathe," he declared. "I know it may have seemed like I had because the grief I felt at her death was so painful that I tried to shut out the memories and everything that reminded me of her. But she was always there, deep down inside me."
"No, no, no. You did forget about Agathe!" Lady Whitehead shrieked. "You moved on: with your new life, your new wife, everything! As soon as I saw you that day you arrived here, I knew: you had forgotten about her. And it was up to me to remind you."
Georg stared at Lady Whitehead open-mouthed as he recalled those first few weeks they were at the manor. "The flowers, the music, even the food we ate… All of her favourites things," he stammered. "I thought I was imagining it, that I was being haunted by ghosts of the past, both day and night… But it was you doing all those things?"
"It was," Lady Whitehead revealed triumphantly. "I had to do something because you were so fixated with her!" She threw a hateful look at Maria. "Your new wife, the trollop you replaced my daughter with!"
"Elizabeth," Georg implored. "I never replaced Agathe! She did and will always have a special place in my heart. She was my wife, the mother of our children and I loved her dearly. I know Agathe would have wanted me to find love again and be happy. I never have compared Maria to Agathe and I never will. Agathe's death almost destroyed me and it took me a long time to find meaning to my life again. You know I never expected to fall in love again after Agathe died…"
"Yes my daughter died," spat Lady Whitehead, quickly deviating their heated exchange in a different direction. "I blame you entirely for that."
"Now listen here, Elizabeth," Lord Whitehead spoke up. "That's hardly fair. You know it was the scarlet fever that killed Agathe. It was not Georg's fault."
"Of course it was Georg's fault!" Lady Whitehead yelled, turning around to face her husband. "Firstly he stole her from me, then he took her far away from me to live, then he turned her against me so that every time she visited we'd argue. She hated me by the end…"
"Is that what you think?" Lord Whitehead asked reaching out and grasping Lady Whitehead's shoulders, trying to shake some reason into her. "Agathe never hated you, she loved you! You were her mother. All she wanted was your approval and your blessing."
"She loved me?" Lady Whitehead whispered, her manner softening somewhat.
"Yes, she did. Very much," Lord Whitehead confirmed. "But the way you spoke to her, constantly criticising and critiquing her every move from her marriage to her children, it made her so unhappy. She had a wonderful life with Georg and she wanted you to be happy for her, and yet you weren't. Elizabeth, you caused the rift between you two, not Georg. He tried his hardest to keep Agathe here with you even when she begged him to take her home."
"Home?" Lady Whitehead snorted, her expression hardening once more. "To what? A husband who was continually absent and most likely sleeping with every woman in every port." She turned and glared at Georg.
"I did no such thing!" exclaimed Georg, immediately defending himself. "I was never unfaithful to Agathe."
"But yet you had this famously rakish reputation with the ladies before you met my daughter," Lady Whitehead retorted.
"Yes, I don't deny it," replied Georg. "But, as you said, that was before I met Agathe. As soon as I fell in love with Agathe and married her I never, ever looked at another woman that way again."
"I don't believe you," Lady Whitehead sneered. "Men cheat. All men cheat on their wives." She threw a scathing glare at Lord Whitehead. "And their wives always find out about it."
At that, Lord Whitehead's face went as white as a sheet. "Y-you knew about that?"
"I knew," Lady Whitehead confirmed bluntly.
"But it was only once…" Lord Whitehead stammered. Georg looked back and forth between his former parents-in-law feeling confused. He certainly had never known that Lord Whitehead had had an affair.
"It only needed to be once," Lady Whitehead replied through gritted teeth.
"Elizabeth," Lord Whitehead began to explain. "You and I, we've never had the best of marriages, have we? Thrown together as a good match in society at a young age, love wasn't really expected. We tried hard to make it work in those early days and our darling Agathe was born during that time. But we were never happy, not really. I supposed I strayed when things were tough between us and the opportunity presented itself. I felt terrible afterwards and vowed I'd never do it again."
"I've never forgiven you," thundered Lady Whitehead.
"But it was so long ago," replied Lord Whitehead.
"It doesn't matter," Lady Whitehead dismissed him. "I found out then what sort of man you were and how little it took for you to be tempted. And many of our friend's husbands had done the same thing to their wives too. Men! All men are despicable!" She scowled at Georg. "When Agathe told me she'd fallen in love with a sailor, I knew what kind of man he'd be. The kind who'd take every opportunity to cheat on his wife."
"No, I was never like that," exclaimed Georg.
Lady Whitehead ignored him and continued her rant as she began to pace the room. "I told Agathe time and time again what Georg would do to her, yet each time she was would proclaim that her husband would be faithful to her. But I knew she was wrong," Lady Whitehead turned and snarled at Georg. "I knew just how little it took for men to be tempted to stray away from their wives. And I was determined to prove her wrong." Lady Whitehead's eyes glazed over in a state of lunacy as she began to recount all she had ever done to thwart Georg. "While there was nothing I could do while Agathe was in Austria, each time the family came to England, I would set a trap for Georg…"
"A trap?" Lord Whitehead asked.
Lady Whitehead let out a shrill giggle and rubbed her hands together in glee. "Oh yes, it was so easy. Camilla. Poor, pathetic, wretched Camilla, so unlucky in love. I knew just how much she pined over Georg and it didn't take much to convince her to go after him. She loved the little game of trying to get Georg into her bed, but yet he never took the bait. Time and time again he'd reject Camilla's advances, always affirming his love for Agathe, but I knew that eventually Camilla would wear him down..."
Georg placed his hand over his eyes, trying to process everything that Lady Whitehead was revealing. "So all that time when Agathe was still alive, it was you that put Camilla up to all that flirting? And even now since we've been back in England… every night at dinner, then in the car and that night she verbally abused Maria with her lies… That was you?"
"Yes it was me," Lady Whitehead declared victoriously. "You men are all the same: weak, lustful…"
Georg couldn't believe what he was hearing. "So it was a setup," he stated as everything suddenly became clear. "The whole thing was an elaborate setup. All these years. You had the assumption that I would cheat on my wife because your husband cheated on you, so you devised a situation where I'd be tempted to be unfaithful and if I did, you could declare how right you were about me?"
Lady Whitehead didn't reply but the vengeful stare she gave Georg was all the answer he needed. "Then last night when you drugged Maria, it was to get her out of the way so that Camilla could have another shot of luring me into bed?" Georg didn't wait for an answer. "You're insane. You could have killed Maria with that drug, just to prove something about me which isn't at all true!"
"Oh nonsense!" Lady Whitehead scoffed, dismissing Georg with a wave of her hand. "The little drug wouldn't have hurt her!"
"Wouldn't have hurt her?" Georg repeated. "You didn't see how sick Maria was last night, or how sick she still is! Look at her!" Georg pointed over to Maria who was leaning up against a nearby armchair using it to support her weight as she was too weak to stand on her own.
"No matter how much you hated me, I just can't believe you did that to Maria," Georg shook his head in bewilderment as he joined Maria and placed one arm around her shoulders. "But the thing I really can't believe is what you did to poor Liesl."
"Liesl?" Lord Whitehead spoke up. "Georg, you'll have to explain this again to me. You said something before about Daniel disgracing Liesl at her party? I don't understand what happened."
"No, of course you wouldn't know," replied Georg scratching his chin. "We took Liesl upstairs via the garden rather than go through the party. She didn't want to see anyone after that wretched young man humiliated her. James, last night Daniel took Liesl into the garden and sexually assaulted her on Elizabeth's orders. Thankfully Liesl managed to break free and find me before he could have done more."
"Elizabeth?" Lord Whitehead was aghast. "Our own granddaughter! You ordered that young man to molest our own granddaughter? I don't understand how you could have done that. You love Liesl…"
"Yes I love Liesl," spat Lady Whitehead. "But it's because I love Liesl so much that I needed to teach her the biggest lesson she'll ever have to learn… That men are wicked! All men are wicked and they are just after one thing from a woman. Like her father before her and her grandfather before that. Men only want a woman for her body. They will use and abuse her, take her heart and rip it to shreds." Lady Whitehead paused as her eyes darted wildly around the room, glaring like daggers and Georg, Maria and Lord Whitehead as she began to unleash a tirade of abuse at them all. "I'm not sorry at all for anything that I did last night. Liesl needed to know the truth about men, and Maria, quite frankly my dear, I wish I had put more of that drug in your drink. That way you'd be dead like my daughter and I'd never have to see your face ever, ever again!"
At that, Georg stepped forward, raising himself up to his full height. "That is enough. You're insane and I'm not spending one more second in this house listening to these atrocities." Georg grabbed Maria's hand. "My family and I are leaving right now!"
As Georg and Maria turned to go, Lady Whitehead continued to yell obscenities at them. "No, no, you can't go. I'm not finished with you yet."
Georg whipped around. "Oh yes you are!" he bellowed.
But Lady Whitehead didn't stop there. She lunged towards Georg and Maria, clawing wildly at them both. Lady Whitehead grabbed onto Maria's arms and pushed her down, grabbing and ripping at her hair. Using brute force, Georg wrenched Lady Whitehead off Maria as the older women thrashed viciously at him. Maria crawled out of the way towards Lord Whitehead who helped her to her feet and terrified, she watched from the side as Georg pinned his former mother-in-law down trying to stop her wild frenzy.
Lady Whitehead continued to scream madly. "No, no, no…" before suddenly clutching at her chest. Her eyes rolled back in her head as she began to choke and her body erupted into a violent seizure.
As Maria's legs finally gave way beneath her, the only thing Maria heard before she fainted was Lord Whitehead yelling, "Someone, please, call the doctor…!"