Chapter 2 #2
“Not here,” he muttered before leading her from the room.
He ushered her to the end of the hallway where an alcove near a window had a seating area overlooking the rear garden.
He waited while she sat down before joining her.
He gave a heavy sigh and his face portrayed all the anguish he must have been holding in.
She had never seen him look so vulnerable.
She scooted closer to him and he took her hand and raised her fingertips to his lips. He had always kissed the air between them but this time she felt his mouth touch her gloved hand. She only wished he was kissing her skin instead.
“Tell me,” she repeated, waiting for him to confess what had happened in that room.
“I wouldn’t want you to think less of me,” he said.
A small smile lit the corners of her mouth. “Joseph… I am confident that whatever happened in that room was not of your doing.”
He let go of her hand and slumped in the seat, leaning his head back on the edge of the settee. “The room was my mother’s,” he began as a tear slid down his cheek.
She frowned in confusion. “But I’ve always known you and your mother to have a lovely rapport between you.”
He gave her a sideways glance before he focused on the ceiling above him.
It was as though, if he looked at her, he would never be able to get through the conversation.
“My mother was never the problem.” He took another heavy breath before sitting up and placing his forearms on his thighs.
“It was my father. He was the very devil. Locked her away in that room for years and then tried to find himself another bride while he pretended she was dead. Michael and I hid ourselves in the room with her for days on end just to give her some form of comfort. Being wheelchair bound on the third floor, she never had freedom to roam her own house. The abuse she suffered both verbally and most likely physically…”
She reached over to clasp his hand again. “Oh, Joseph! How terrible!”
“She never confided to Michael and myself how she lost her leg. We were too young at the time of the incident. But it wasn’t hard for me to surmise my father had something to do with it. An accident, he called it, but neither of them would ever say more.”
Charlotte turned away from Joseph to gaze down the hallway to the room they just left.
“I’m surprised you didn’t start hacking away at that room from the start.
But I cannot help but be concerned that, for all your efforts to remodel this house…
will your mother be mentally prepared to actually step foot in a place that most likely still holds such nightmares for her? ”
He raised tormented grey eyes to her. “That, my dear Charlotte, is the same question I’ve asked myself daily since I bought the place.
” He sat back up and ran his fingers through his hair.
“But it was important to me to purchase this house so it was once more in our family. It was part of my mother’s dowry.
I thought, if I changed the interior enough, maybe, just maybe, it would be enough that we could make new memories together to outweigh all the bad things that happened in the past.”
“That might be a lot to ask of your mother, Joseph,” Charlotte replied softly.
“Yes, I know, but I’m trying my best. This is why I wanted to have the lower floors ready to celebrate Christmas.
The holiday would be the perfect time to put the past where it belongs, and start a brand-new future.
” His smile was weak at best, as though he was doing his utmost not only to convince her of the wisdom of his words, but himself, too. ”
She clapped her hands together and stood. “Then let us redouble your efforts and let us help you get prepared for a Christmas event the like of which this old house has never seen.”
Joseph shook his head and also rose to his feet. “Such an offer is completely unnecessary.”
She began marching down the hallway with Joseph at her side. “Nonsense. We are friends, are we not? Garret will be only too happy to lend assistance and we can all move in so we are not running back and forth wasting time between residences.”
He quickly took hold of her arm to halt their progress down the hallway. “You cannot be serious, Charlotte. You can’t possibly move in here.”
“Of course I can,” she said brightly. “I’ll bring my chaperone, if that soothes your manly pride, to put any doubt to rest about the respectability of the situation.
Besides, with my brother along, who would even care about the living arrangements?
It’s not as though we’re an integral part of Society. ”
“Maybe I care, Charlotte. Won’t your employer have some say about you living under the roof of a man you are not related to?”
“Lord Stanhope is still abroad and has messaged me that he has no plans to return anytime soon. He has paid me a large settlement to see me through the coming winter until I can find another position as a governess.”
“Charlotte… I won’t have your reputation ruined because—”
“I won’t hear another word on the matter, Joseph.
We’re moving in and that’s the end of this conversation.
Besides… this place needs a woman’s touch.
” She tapped her finger to her chin. “As a matter of fact, let’s send a message to your stepsisters.
I think Margaret and Sophie can liven up this place and, as married women, they will also put to rest any issues as to what is not happening under this roof. ”
Charlotte began making her way towards the stairs and heard a curse being muttered from Joseph. But, as she put her hand on the banister, she felt the warmth of Joseph’s fingers over her own.
“You’re not going to take no for an answer, are you?” he asked and she saw the hint of a smile that was encouraging.
She gave a light laugh. “What do you think?”