Page 44 of A Brooding Christmas Promise
“He saw that you had no kindness within you.” It was Amelia who spoke, not Charlotte, though she echoed the very words that Charlotte herself had been thinking. “Our father refused, then, to take anything that he had decided to leave for us all and give it to you instead.”
“An honourable man,” Lord Hesterway remarked, only for Lady Barcsay to fling herself out of her chair at this, her face flushing red, her hands thrown up wildly.
“Honourable?” she spat, furiously. “Honourable? He told me that I was not whom he had believed me to be and punished me for that! In his death, I received nothing but –”
“Nothing but a grand house, servants, a carriage, horses and monthly income, given to you by our brother,” Charlotte interjected, only for Lady Barcsay to slash the air between them, silencing her.
“I wanted my own money to do with as I pleased, and he knew that,” she retorted, her expression contorted with rage. “When I read the will – since your brother was gone – I saw how I could get what I wanted. All you had to do was remain unwed.”
Charlotte’s throat tightened, a sharp tingling beginning to spread up through her core but she did not move nor let her expression change. Instead, keeping her voice steady, she gazed back at her stepmother. “You added the addendum.”
“Ah, but it held your father’s signature and that was all that mattered,” came the reply, Lady Barcsay clearly believing that Charlotte and the others knew all given the way she was speaking. “The solicitor believed that I had merely found it in amongst Lord Barcsay’s papers and, with a little convincing, added it to the will.”
“Lord Barcsay never wanted this for Charlotte, did he?” Lord Crestwood’s whole frame was stiff with tension, his eyebrows low over his eyes. “It was you.”
Lady Barcsay shook her head as though Lord Crestwood was nothing more than a fool. “Well, how else was I to get her dowry money?”
Charlotte gasped, one hand flying to her mouth. Her eyes flooded with tears as she tried to understand, tried to make sense of what her stepmother had just revealed. Silence took over every part of the room but all Charlotte could hear was the pounding of her heart, not even taking in the whisper that came to her from Lord Crestwood. His arm went about her waist, tightening there, supporting her as she swallowed hard, once, twice and then a third time as she pushed away her tears. Now was not the time for crying, for sorrow and sadness. Now was the time for understanding, to seek out and find the truth.
“You wanted my dowry money?” Her voice wobbled but she lifted her chin a little more, looking back at Lady Barcsay with a steadiness which she did not truly feel. “What was it my father said?”
Lady Barcsay blinked, a slight fading of the heat in her cheeks betraying her. “You… you did not know?”
“You did not permit us to read the full will, if you recall? You refused to permit the solicitors to read the will to us and given that our brother was still away from England, you had the authority to do so.” Amelia spoke up now, anger flooding her voice. “And you betrayed us! You betrayed our confidence, using your authority to do whatever you could to get what you so desperately wanted.”
“You have told us some of the truth but not all.” Lord Hesterway made his way towards Lady Barcsay, his expression one of utter fury. “Whether you have realised it or not, you have betrayedyourselfin speaking as you did.”
“I… I… ” Lady Barcsay looked to her sister who shrugged helplessly, clearly entirely unaware as to what they ought to do next. “I thought… I thought that you already knew, I thought – ”
“We knew some.” Charlotte blinked quickly, her tears beginning to fade away as she saw how her stepmother’s confidence began to crumple. “Our brother must give permission for the solicitor to tell us all and for us to read the will but I am certain that he will do so.”
“I presume,” Lord Crestwood continued, his voice low but heavy with anger, “that the late Lord Barcsay stated that should Miss Millerton remain unwed, the dowry money would go to you.”
Charlotte clutched at his hand, holding onto it all the more tightly.
“And, given what we have learned of Lord Barcsay’s will, I believe that he did not have any intention of Charlotte remaining unwed,” Lord Hesterway added, as Lady Barcsay dropped her gaze. “What was it that you did, Lady Barcsay? How was it you had Lord Barcsay’s signature and seal upon that addendum?”
When Lady Barcsay did not answer but only lowered her head all the more, Charlotte snatched in a breath as fresh wave of shock ran over her. “You… you forged it, did you not?” She saw the color begin to drain from Lady Barcsay’s cheeks and realized that she had hit upon the truth. “Knowing what the will said, you, in your upset and anger, determined to forge his additional part of the willand,thereafter, convinced the solicitor to agree that it was a legitimate part of the will.”
“But what about the mail coach and the highwaymen?” Amelia asked, as Lady Barcsay closed her eyes. “How could that have been arranged?”
Lady Barcsay let out a long, heavy sigh as her shoulders lowered, her whole frame appearing to sink down just a little. “I did not arrange it.”
“Then it was a convenient excuse as to why Charlotte and I could not read the will for ourselves when our brother returned,” Amelia said, her voice quiet. “Letters from the solicitor which stated that the will had been recovered were either hidden or destroyed. Is that not so? And instead, you told usandour brother, when he returned, that the will had been lost.”
“And in doing so, you forced me into a life of oppression, forced to be your companion – and I did so, believing that there was a requirement from my father to do so.” Tears began to fall like rain on Charlotte’s cheeks, pain tearing through her. “I believed that he wanted me to remain a spinster and though I could not understand it, though I questioned over and over why he would do such a thing, I swore that I would do as he asked. My heart was sorrowful, my life miserable and yet now, I learn it was never my father’s desire for me to be so!”
“No, it was not,” Amelia said, one finger pointing to Lady Barcsay, anger beginning to fill her voice. “Our father hoped that Charlotte would wed, that she would marry and it was only if she did not that the dowry would go to you. How could you do such a thing to her? How could your greed overwhelm you?”
Lady Barcsay shook her head, her face pulled into a furious expression, her eyes narrowing. “Do you not understand? He was not going to leave me anything of my own!”
“Your selfishness and arrogance condemn you.” Lord Hesterway threw out his hands. “You have injured the lady who I consider to be my family, have lied to Lord Barcsay himself and have treated them all with contempt and inconsideration – Charlotte the most.”
“I deserve - !”
“You deserve nothing other than what Lord Barcsay was to give you!” Lord Hesterway thundered, making not only Lady Barcsay but also Charlotte jump. “And you, Lady Foster, Ipresume that you were simply a part to all of this, willing to do whatever you had to in order to help your sister.”
“Perhaps out of loyalty or mayhap in the hope that you would be rewarded financially also,” Lord Crestwood suggested, as Lady Foster’s eyes flared wide in obvious fear, before she dropped her head, her chin practically on her chest. “Both of you tried to pull Charlotte out of my arms and against her will. Do not think that thetonwill not know of this.”
