“Oh, you mustn’t sell them. Mama wouldn’t want that,” Mia said. “We can make do.”
“Thank you, Mia. That’s very kind of you to say,” Audrey said, wrapping the candlesticks in a drying cloth and pushing them behind the stack of linens. The closet was the one place her father wouldn’t look for something to sell. At least, that’s what she hoped. She wondered if he’d opened the door, seen nothing but linens, and promptly moved on to pilfer other treasures.
Much to their dismay, their search didn’t turn up much of anything else of value. Papa had been methodical in the decimation of their treasures, stripping most of the household’s valuables from the home. The loss of so many things in the three and a half weeks that Audrey had been working as a maid was staggering. Had he merely been waiting until she was gone to do this? That was likely to be the case. After all, there was no way her father could leave the house with their valuables under his arm without Audrey noticing. She would have fought him at every turn, and he probably knew that.
Was that why he kept pushing her to find a paying position outside the house, insisting it was necessary because they didn’t have enough money for food? She should have questioned him about their remaining funds, but first, he probably wouldn’t have told her anything, and second, she didn’t want the fight that would have started if she challenged his authority. That would not have helped anyone.
With so many things missing, it was evident their father had pawned something every day until there was nothing left to sell. It had only taken three weeks to make their cozy home a mere shell of what it used to be when their mother was alive. Mary had filled the walls with such beautiful paintings, but now they were all bare. The only painting her father hadn’t sold was the one of Mary that was painted early in their marriage. Audrey was grateful for that, at least. Even her father wouldn’t stoop that low.
“Audrey, do you think Papa sold Mama’s jewelry too?” Grace asked.
Audrey whirled around at her sister’s question, stricken. Her mind temporarily froze, and then she cried, “Oh, no! I hadn’t thought of that. I must go check at once.”
“Audrey, wait! If Papa comes back and catches you in his bedchamber, there will be dire consequences,” Grace said, reaching out to stop her.
“Grace, I have to find out. You two stay here in the parlor. Keep a lookout for Papa while I go upstairs. I must know if he sold Mama’s pearls.”
Audrey raced up the stairs and burst into her father’sbedchamber. She was shocked at the mess she saw. Everything had been turned upside down. Her mother’s clothes were emptied from the armoire and strewn across the floor. Even the little trinkets like the hair clips she’d kept on her vanity were missing. “Oh, Papa, what have you done?” she whispered as she surveyed the damage. The chaos was a perfect representation of what their lives had become.
She didn’t dare clean everything up, in case her father accused her of snooping in his room, which, in essence, was exactly what she was doing, but it was for a good cause. The pearl necklace was her mother’s prize possession, and Audrey would never forgive her father if he’d pawned it. Everything else was replaceable, but not those.
Audrey stepped into the room and closed the door. She found the small case where her mother kept the pearls lying on the floor near the foot of the bed. It used to sit on the vanity, and now it was empty. Not even a single pair of earbobs was left. Her heart broke as tears flowed down her cheeks at the utter disregard her father had shown for her mother’s belongings—jewelry that had been passed down to Mary from her own mother. Jewelry that should have gone to Audrey and her sisters.
All gone. Nothing was left.
The worst part was that none of them would ever get to wear even a small piece of jewelry as a reminder of their mother. She fell to her knees and pounded her fists on the carpet, her distress threatening to overwhelm her. “Papa, how could you be so cruel?” she sobbed.
When her mother was alive, they’d been a happy family. James had been devoted to Mary. However, when her father unexpectedly inherited the title, Audrey began to notice that things became strained between the two of them. Peers of the realm did not work if they wanted to be accepted by Society, so James had reluctantly given up his work as a barrister. That was when Audrey noticed the first change in him. Without his work to occupy his mind, he became unfocused and began drinking more than she’d ever seen him do before. He was like a man lost at sea without an oar to get back to shore.
From what she could gather from a few of her mother’s comments over the years, inheriting the title wasn’t the magical fairytale world her father had expected. He had no friends amongst his peers, although he did have a few acquaintances from when his late brother had held the title. However, he’d never cultivated any of those friendships and took little interest in the estate business. His brother had asked him on numerous occasions if he wanted to understand how the estate functioned, but James always declined. His brother was healthy, and James had always said no, believing there was no chance he’d inherit, even going so far as to rebuff most of the invitations his brother sent when he was entertaining.
When his brother had died unexpectedly in a carriage accident without an heir, James was thrust into a world he didn’t understand. To make matters worse, after he left his job as a barrister and assumed the title, he hadn’t been invited to join any of the men’s clubs. He rarely attended Parliament and showed no interest inhelping to sponsor or argue for the various bills. She once heard her father tell her mother that the other lords were just too uppity in their opinions. Without his barrister work to keep him busy, there wasn’t much to keep him occupied.
His brother had been a good steward of the estate, and it had provided a decent income. It had allowed the Parker family to move into the estate’s London townhome on Curzon Street and pay the staff who’d been employed when her uncle was Baron Fletcher. Unfortunately, her father did not follow his brother’s careful management of the income and spent lavishly initially. Mary had tried her best to keep her husband’s spirits up, but to no avail. James grew increasingly dissatisfied with his life.
With careful management, they could have all lived a happy life. And they were happy for a while. Her mother was thriving and had renewed some acquaintances from her debut.
Unfortunately, her father wasn’t careful with their funds and began to waste more coin on gambling and drinking, staying out until all hours of the night. Nothing Mary said could dissuade him from this destructive behavior.
To make matters worse, James became obsessed with having an heir to inherit the title. After Mia’s difficult birth, Mary had been warned by the doctor that it would be unwise for her to have any more children. Even with that dire warning, their father would not relent. He was determined to have a son and heir, and Mary had no choice but to comply with her husband’s maritaldemands.
After the devastating loss of two more babies in the next few years, Mary finally fell pregnant again. She was eight and thirty, considered too old by many to try for another child, especially with her past history of difficult births. Mary had surprised everyone and managed to carry the child nearly to term, but the whole ordeal weakened her slight frame.
Papa was ecstatic about the pregnancy. He was convinced this child was a boy and tried his best to pamper Mary as much as possible. Nothing could come between him and his son. Tragically, all the pampering did little to help Mary as she labored to deliver the child.
Audrey would never forget her mother’s agonizing screams, which had lasted long into the night. She was holding her mother’s hand when the child was finally born, the cord wrapped around its neck. The midwife tried her best, but the boy was blue and could not be revived. That seemed to take the fight out of Mary, and after begging Audrey to take care of her sisters, her mother took one final breath and was gone.
Her father was inconsolable and held his son for hours after the birth. When he finally relinquished the tiny body, he learned that his beloved wife had also left this world. It broke him, and he staggered out of the house. He was gone for three days. Even when he finally returned, he was a shell of a man and did not try to console his daughters on the loss of their mother. His eyes were dead when he looked at them. Audrey had tried to be as helpful as possible, but even her best efforts weren’t enough. Hedrank more. He gambled more, until they could no longer pay the servants and were forced to give up the townhouse and move to Gracechurch Street.
She’d been five and ten on that tragic night, and her life would never be the same again.
The memories of that tragic time overwhelmed her, and she cursed her father for what he’d done to her mother’s belongings. Audrey fell to her knees in a pile of her mother’s dresses, sobbing in frustration. She momentarily stopped crying when something hard pressed into her knee. Sitting back on her heels, she lifted up the dress. What had gouged her? The aqua-and-cream silk dress was the fanciest one Mama had owned, and she’d adored it. Audrey could see why; it was stunning. Seeing it carelessly tossed on the floor made her cringe. She ran her hand down the silk, and that’s when she felt it.
Audrey checked the inside of the dress, and that’s when she found them—Mama’s pearls. She carefully untangled the threads on which the pearls were caught and nearly screamed with happiness, but didn’t want her sisters to be alarmed. She jumped up, clutching the pearls in her hand. She also grabbed the dress, counting on her father never noticing the loss of one dress in the pile of dresses he’d thrown on the floor. Peeking out the door to make sure her father hadn’t returned, she ran down the hallway to her bedchamber. Once inside, she hid the pearls in her secret hiding place and hung the dress in the back of her armoire.
There was no way she’d ever let her father know she’d found the necklace. He wouldn’t appreciate itssentimental value to her; he’d just pawn it like he’d pawned everything else he could.
Audrey wiped her eyes and went downstairs to rejoin her sisters. For now, she’d keep quiet about finding the pearls and let her sisters believe Papa had taken them. She couldn’t chance that either Grace or Mia might one day blurt out in frustration and anger that he hadn’t taken everything from them. She didn’t want to risk it, so she would keep the secret until the appropriate time, whenever that may be. It would be a nice surprise for Grace and Mia later to know that a piece of Mama was still here for them to enjoy.
