“Good morning, mother.”
“Good morning, dear. You look…” Sarah James leaned back and considered her daughter. “Well rested, for once.”
“Ah, yes, the fair was just the thing I needed. Fresh air is good for the constitution,” Mary told her mother conversationally. “Why, I even awoke early this morning and fetched the newspaper for a bit of light reading and you’ll never guess what I happened upon.”
“What was that?” Sarah James asked. They were now in the dining room and Mary handed her mother the mail order adverts with a hopeful smile.
“I think I found the solution to our problems. Look there at Alex Pierce’s listing.”
Sarah James took the paper with a delicate sniff and took her time unfolding it. “Hmmm,” her mother hummed, glancing at it before she folded it once more and crossed to the made up breakfast table.
Mary stared after her in shock. Why was she not more interested? She had been so sure her mother would take the bait immediately. She hadn’t countedon this.
“Are you not going to read it?” Mary asked nervously. She came forward haltingly and stopped when her mother pursed her lips glancing at her.
“Is it imperative that I read it before breakfast?”
“Well, no but there is a bit of exciting news to be had in there and if we dally, I’m worried we may miss out on--”
“The ink is hardly dry on the paper. I do not see how we can miss out on whatever news is to be had.”
“Ah, yes, mother. You are quite right,” she agreed with a fake smile. Mary took her seat and bit her lip, watching as her mother placed the newspaper on the table next to her plate. The boarding house staff came through serving them their breakfast of toast and tea. It was simple fare, but the women were on a budget after all and Sarah James had opted to save their remaining fortune for more important things like “letting your dresses out to hide our inconvenience.”
Mary’s breakfast tasted like ash in her mouth as she chewed. Normally their breakfasts were quiet, unless Sarah James was particularly motivated on a certain matter, which was more often than not as her mother was keen to be riled, but this morning her mother seemed content to drink her tea and eat her toast in silence with a smile on her face.
Mary considered her mother carefully. There was something odd about her. Her eyes widened when she realized her mother was smiling. It was not a wide sunny thing but more of a sly expression a satisfied cat might display and that had Mary paying close attention. Whenever her mother had such a look it meant there was a new scheme being planned.
But what?
Mary’s breakfast went untouched, her hands stirring at her tea absentmindedly as she continued to watch for any sign of subterfuge, but she could find none. It was only when Sarah James had finished her toast and picked back up the newspaper that Mary’s focus shifted. There would be plenty of time to figure out what her mother was up to but now she had a part to play. She worked to look natural and sipped at her tepid tea as her mother scanned the page, she could tell the exact moment she read Alex’s advert, there was an audible snap of paper and a small gasp that demanded Mary look up at her mother.
“Why did you not tell me this was here?” Her mother snapped with an angry glare. “Do you know what time we have lost by you sitting there as if you have forgotten to speak?”
“But I did try to tell you,” Mary protested. “You said--”
“Do not tell me what I said, you foolish girl. Now get up and get to your room at once! You must write this Mister Pierce at once. I want to look over what you write, in fact, I shall dictate your response. Fetch the paper and come back. Move, Mary for heaven’s sake!”
Mary bobbed her head in a nod, scrambling towards the door and rushed for her desk. She kept a bundle of paper to write along with a pencil out of habit. She had once written to her friends, but it hadn’t taken long for the rumors of her pregnancy to cause their letters to stop entirely. Associating with her was hardly fashionable. She didn’t blame her old friends even if it did hurt her to realize they had abandoned her. She snatched the paper up, happy to have a reason to use it especially when that reason would get her closer to her goal of having a happy home and life.
She rushed back into the dining room and resumed her seat across from her mother. Sarah James was looking over the paper intently as if parsing out the words for clues. There was no hidden meaning or fancy language to consider in Alex’s message and Mary nearly sighed at her mother's dramatics. Instead she smiled serenely at her and took up her pencil.
“What shall I write?” she asked.
“Begin as such,” Sarah James said, head still bowed over the paper, “I am an educated, attractive and family oriented young lady. My name is Mary Sophia James and I have just arrived via San Antonio. You sound like a capable and diligent man. I find the terms of courtship agreeable and look forward to receiving your next correspondence. Forever yours, Mary Sophia.”
Mary bit her lip at her mother’s use of her full name. She never used it except for when her mother was determined to put on airs. She supposed responding to Alex was one such occasion, even if her letter bordered on a business transaction. There was none of the softness and infatuation she felt in her when she looked upon Alex. She was...soft when it came to the woman, drawn like a moth to a flame but this letter was clinical in approach and thin in substance.
No matter if it was not a letter professing adoration. Alex was guaranteed to reply no matter its contents. When she was finished she held it up with a wave.
“I’m all done.”
“Do stop waving it about. You’ll wrinkle the paper, Mary.” Sarah James flicked a finger at the door looking for all the world as if she were a queen. “Now run it to the newspaper office immediately. If we are lucky no other respectable woman has seen it yet and we will have staked our claim first. We shall see how quickly the sir intends to marry and approach the courtship thusly.”
She stood from her chair with a satisfied nod. “Now, I am off to do business.”
“What kind of business?” Mary paused in the doorway and looked at her mother. “I mean, I didn’t know we had any affairs in play here,” she added when her other gave her a sharp look.
“If you must know, I am off to see Mr. Rutherford and I will do my best to find out if this Alex Pierce is truthful in their assertions or not. It always does well to do a bit of snooping when it comes to a man’s fortune. No matter what they make claims to possess, the real truth is in the gossip. Remember that, Mary.”
