She did not want that to happen, but she feared that there was nowhere the girls could now run to.
Lord Jones had spent the time since he hurt his wife hiding away in his office. As far as Mary was aware, he had not left the house even once. Clearly, what he had done this time had shamed him; he did not like that he had been forced to call a doctor to look after his wife after his actions, but it was not enough. Mary knew that the shame would wear off in time; soon, he would forget all about it, and the fact that they had both lied to the health professional and said that Charlotte had fallen meant he got away with it. He knew that he could do it again, and in time, Mary knew that he would. He would leave his office, and things would slowly get back to normal.
No, not normal. Worse than normal. Mary could not let that happen.
“What are you suggesting?” Mary whispered back. “What is your plan?”
“I cannot give you the details now. I hope that you understand that.” Mary did not like it, but she was smart enough to understand. Edmund could not say anything too detailed just in case they were being listened to. She was very confident that they were not, but she could never be totally sure. “All I want to let you know is that I will get you and your sister somewhere that neither of you can be found.” Mary gave him a look, suggesting that she did not think it was possible. “I have a plan. I know what I am doing.”
Edmund reached out to take Mary’s hands, and she allowed him to do so. She stared up into his eyes wishing that he could have all the answers. Mary was tired of trying to work everything out by herself, especially as she could not seem to find any solution. If this could work, it would be perfect. She would be handing the responsibility over to someone else, someone who had access to money, to resources, to areas of the world that Mary could only dream of.
“Do you trust me?” he asked her in a hushed tone. “I mean, really trust me? I know that we have had our ups and downs, but do you really trust me? Do you believe that I can help you out with this?”
“I ...” Mary pondered this for a moment. Did she trust Edmund? There had been times when she had and times when she had not, but he had always pulled through for her. One of the best things that he had done for her was hiring Daisy in his home. He had done that to make her happy. She felt that she could trust him with her friend, her sister, and herself too. But it was not Duke Smith that she did not trust. It was everyone else. “I do,” she eventually finished cautiously. “But what about Lord Jones? How will you make sure that he does not find Charlotte?”
“I have it all under control,” Edmund replied mysteriously. “Where we are all going, he will never be able to find us.”
“We?” Mary’s heart skipped a beat. The dream that she had forced herself to give up on, the love that she did not want to embrace too much because she knew it would all end in heartache, it was now looking like it could be real after all. She had even not allowed herself to think of that kiss they shared, but now the floodgates opened, and it flooded her brain entirely. “You will come too?”
“Of course.” Edmund smiled warmly. “I would love to come with you. Plus, I think that you and Charlotte will be much better off with me by your side. I think it is safer, do you not?”
“Of course, but if we go somewhere we can never return …” Mary gasped, her chest grew tight at the thought of making everyone she cared about leave their old life behind. “Your business, your life, your mother ...” She stared up into his eyes searching for everything that she wanted to see. The scary thing is she could spot it there. It really did seem like Edmund had some answers there inside his head. She could not extract them right now which meant she had to put faith in him. “How can you leave all of that behind?”
“I have worked it all out,” Edmund replied a little stiffly. There was tension in his tone because he did not know what he could say to make Mary trust him. “My mother will be just fine,” he replied, sure that this was the one area that Mary was most concerned about knowing her as he did. “She has Daisy now, and she is very happy with her. I have spoken with her extensively about this. She is very aware of what is going on and is happy with it.”
“Right.” Mary nodded slowly. She knew that she was not going to get any more out of Edmund. Not now. She had what she had, and she needed to decide whether or not she trusted him enough to go with it from that information alone. “So what is it you need me to do? If Charlotte and I go along with your plan?” She wanted to make sure that Edmund knew there was a chance that she would not go along with it.
“I just need you to be aware that there will be a carriage waiting for you and Charlotte at the end of the road at midnight.”
“Midnight?” Mary gasped, shocked. She could not be outside at midnight; it just was not the sort of thing that was acceptable to do. Her initial reaction was to panic, but of course, if she was going to run – if they both intended to escape without anyone knowing where they were. “Yes, of course, midnight. I suppose that makes sense. We cannot be seen.”
Edmund could tell that she was in a panicked state, even if she was trying to act otherwise. Mary’s heart was thundering, he could almost hear it racing. Of course this was going to be scary; it was a big risk for all of them, but if they wanted to do something as drastic as running away and leaving the life of London behind, all while protecting Charlotte, then this was how it had to be.
Edmund was excited as well as nervous; he could not wait to leave the city life behind. All the rules, the reputations, the gossip ... he wanted it gone. Now that his mother was alright and his business was sorted, he felt confident that he could follow through on what he wanted to do and also look after both the Roberts sisters. He knew it would not be an easy challenge to take on, but he felt confident that he could do it.
“Midnight at the end of the road. I know that you shall wish to bring supplies with you because we are all leaving and never coming back, but try to pack light. We do not want to draw too much attention to ourselves.”
“Yes. Of course.” Mary could hardly breathe now; she felt that she was wearing a corset even tighter than the one that Victoria had been wearing when she confronted her. If this had been a while back, then there was no way that Mary could have done it, but she was braver now, stronger inside. She could take on this challenge if she wanted to. “And you are really sure about this.”