“I am aware that your father, my beloved brother, has left Margaret in your care. However, you are unsuitable to support the child and you can't deny it. We both know you haven't got a penny to your name after paying all his debt. So, I am willing to take her off your hands.”
Victoria grew tense as her aunt slowly studied her form.
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-two,” she answered a bit hesitant.
“Yes,” Nelly said thoughtfully. “You are defiantly old enough to marry.”
“Marry?” she said, shock shot down her spin and made her toes tingle.
“Indeed,” she nodded. “I'm going to be perfectly honest, I don't want you here. You resemble your mother too much and I have no desire to be constantly reminded of the bitch that stole my brother. So, this is what I propose,” she paused in thought. Victoria held her breath waiting for her damnation. “I will allow you to live here, in my home, for one month and at the end of the month you must leave. I care not where you go.”
“What of Margaret?” Victoria demanded.
“She will stay here with me. She was not a child conceived in sin.”
Victoria ignored the jab and asked with the most level of tones, “Will I be able to see her?”
“On one condition,” Nelly said holding up a chubby finger.
“You must be married.”
3
Victoria sank to the seat behind her, breathless and light headed. There it was, Nelly's dagger.
“You see,” Nelly continued. “I would love if you would leave tomorrow but it would be nearly impossible to find a suitable husband in one day. So I have decided to give you a month to find yourself a man.”
“If I don't marry I won't be allowed to see Margaret.” Her aunt was trying to separate her from her sister. This was what Victoria had feared the most. She had hoped with all her heart that Nelly would not be so cruel, but she had known better. She had given Victoria a task to perform, knowing the likelihood of her failure.
“Of course not. No niece of mine will associate with the poor. You must marry. I will not tolerate you being a disgrace to the family name.”
Victoria bit her tongue so hard she thought it might bleed.
If anyone had been a disgrace to the family it was Nelly, she repelled all good society and had never married. No man would want such a cruel woman for a wife. Victoria was convinced Nelly’s lack of friends and suitors was due to her wickedness.
“Stop grinding your teeth, it is a horrible habit.”
“And one that I intend to keep.”
Nelly glared at her with her shrewd eyes. She knew her proposal was ludicrous but she did not care. She had wanted the girl gone and out of her house. Victoria would fail, she knew, and that brought a crooked smile to her lips. She was doing this for her own enjoyment, but it was also in Margaret's best interest. Nelly would make sure that her youngest niece would not be plagued by the shadow of her bastard sister.
“Well,” Nelly sighed as she stood. “I'm off to bed and I suggest that you do the same, no man wants a wife with dark bags under her eyes.”
Victoria sat alone in the drawing room. The storm still raged outside, the branches scratched at the windows, and the wind howled.
She had to marry.
It sounded so simple but it was near to impossible. She had no money, no land, and nothing to bring to a marriage. She was much older than the other women who would be enjoying the season. She had no gowns and even if she did possess fine clothing she would not have an occasion to wear them to. She was on no one's guest list for balls or parties or picnics.
4
Her childhood friend, Lana, could possibly help her. She would know what to do. She would know how to hunt for a suitable husband. Victoria nodded in decision; she would call on her friend in the morning.
“So
be
it.”
Victoria pushed her worries aside and went in search of Margaret's room. She mounted the stairs and pushed open the first door she came to. Margaret sat before a vanity, brushing her hair.
She smiled at the cute scene and crossed the room.
The young girl sat the brush down and spun around in a fury.
“That maid was not nice like Aunt Nelly said. She was mean,” she declared.
“Mean?” Victoria asked laughingly.
“Yes, she made me take a bath and scrubbed me so hard that I turned red.” Margaret pushed back the sleeves of her nightgown and held out her arms. “See?”
“She just wanted you to be clean.”
“Mother wanted me to be clean too but she never scrubbed until my skin turned red,” Margaret protested.
“No, but you hadn't bathed in days and I'm sure that you were covered in dirt from the ride here,” Victoria added. “But it doesn't matter, you are clean and you smell very nice.”