Tangled Betrayals (30 page)

Chapter Seventy-Three

Washington

Edward was pleased to find a casual lunch waiting on the veranda when he arrived at the Powell Plantation. He wondered if Mary would ever change the name of her home or if it was in the will that the name remained under the Powell name.

He noticed
three place settings on the table. A large pitcher of water was full and ready to be poured into the glasses. He heard footsteps and saw Agnes bringing out the sandwiches and potato salad with Mary following right behind her carrying a cherry pie. Edward held open the door.

“
Sure looks wonderful. Mary, are you expecting someone else, besides me?”

Mary smiled broadly.
“Agnes will be joining us for lunch. She’s like family to me. She listens to me talk out the important decisions regarding the plantation that I have to make. I trust her advice. You need to understand, that even though I was raised in England where servants were treated with little respect, I treat my employees like friends, because they are my friends. That was the way Nettie had done things when I met her and I see no reason to change what she’d started. Taylor and Lizzie often spend time with their children, here on the veranda, visiting with me once the work is done for the day.

“Agnes always manages to find cookies and milk to serve for
the children and tea and cookies for the rest of us. That’s the best part of my day.”

After lunch Mary and Edward stayed on the veranda to
converse and enjoy the sunny afternoon as Agnes finished in the kitchen.

“
Thank you for answering the many questions I asked about mother. Having the blanks filled in helps me picture what she was like as a young woman. She must have been devastated to have been treated so unkindly by her parents.

“After much thought, I find I
’m not angry because she didn’t tell me or Thomas she’d been married before, just disappointed. I realize, now, she must have felt there was no point in disrupting our lives since we were so little when she died. I know she felt in her heart Henry would do right by us.

“
But father, I mean Henry, is an evil man. I only wish mother had known the truth about him. How different everything would have been. Yet, if things had been different, I would have never met James. I feel I’m a better person for knowing James, even if things did turn out badly. Does any of what I said make sense to you?”

“Mary, you have been dealt a bad
hand in life. Many of us have betrayed you, without meaning to. But when I look upon you, I see your mother. You’re strong, lovely, and a very intelligent woman. You’re much like her. She would be very proud of you and your accomplishments. I know I am. She’d also have the same feelings about Thomas.”

“Thank you
, Edward. I only wish mother could have lived to see how I turned out. She, too, had disappointments in her life, but she did the best she could under the circumstances.

“
Because Mr. Hudson has complete faith in you, I’m going to trust you with something that I haven’t shared with anyone, except Agnes. This has been a difficult secret, but until now, I had no one that I could trust to share it with. I really need your advice on what to do as soon as possible.

“If you
’d be so kind as to follow me, there’s something I would like to show you and then you’ll understand what I’m talking about.” Mary rose and headed inside the house. She quickly went up the stairs to her bedroom as Edward followed close behind.

Edward noticed t
he white eyelet bedspread and matching curtains complimenting the lovely walnut furniture. She opened the closet door and he immediately spotted two plain chests resting on the floor.

“
These chests are quite heavy, Edward, do you think you could pull them out of the closet for me?”

Edward raised his brows and
wanted to ask what the chests held, but instead, did as requested, but it took some effort. Once he had them where they could be easily opened, he finally asked the question he’d held, “Golly, Mary, what do you have in these chests?”

“Have a look
. For obvious reasons, I’ve kept them hidden. Seeing what’s inside will explain everything. Of course, to my knowledge, no one has ever opened them before I did, since Nettie put them here. As I said earlier, the only living person who has knowledge of what these chests contain is Agnes. She was with me when I first opened them. We acted like fools when we saw the contents.”

Edward eyes about popped out of his head
as he studied the gold coins in the first chest he opened. “Damn Mary, where in the hell did these chests come from?” He waited a few seconds, but Mary didn’t give him an answer.

Instead, s
he opened the second chest and smiled. “Have you ever seen so much gold coin and jewelry in one place? Edward, these were found here, in this room, sitting in the middle of the floor. Once we realized what they held, we knew we needed to place them in the closet, out of sight. We had a difficult time scooting them. I don’t believe Nettie ever opened these chests.

“
I had never asked Nettie what type of ship Jackson captained, but after finding these chests, I surmise it to be a pirate ship.

“Agnes said
after Jackson died, Nettie had everything from his warehouse placed upstairs or in the barn. In my opinion, she couldn’t bear to see what gifts Jackson had planned on giving her. Therefore, she never knew what they held.”

“What do you
plan to do with the chests, now you know what they contain, Mary?”

“I
’d like you to have the coins counted and exchanged for currency. Then, have that amount deposited into my account at The Bank in Washington. Also, it would please me if you’d be willing to help me sort through the jewelry, and pick out a few of the better pieces for me to keep. It would be a shame not to keep a few pieces, don’t you think? The remainder could be sold and once I know the sum brought from the jewelry, I’ll then decide which charities to give a donation to.”

“Mary, I
’d be honored to sort through the jewelry and the chest of coins. I feel giddy with excitement about going through these chests. I have something for you to consider, for there’s more than enough here to put a healthy sum in the bank and also handle the plan I have to help James. Of course, helping James would have to be a secret, Mary. No one must suspect anything.”

Edward told Mary
in great detail his plan for helping James and then listened as Mary excitedly told him several ideas on how to pull the caper off, without drawing attention to either of them.

“I don’t think I have to tell you what would happen if James found out we m
anipulated in his affairs, Mary.”

“
No Edward, I’m aware of the risk we’re taking. I feel confident your plan will work. We’ll need to have one other person to complete our mission and I know just the man for the job. However, I feel guilty betraying James. I personally know how hurtful betrayal can be, but in this case, it’s for the good of the children, and of course, James. Besides, once he finds out the truth, it’ll be too late, that is, if this plan works. He can hardly be critical of me, his betrayal was far worse.

“
I wish to thank you for including me in your plan, and also thank you for all your help today. I honestly wasn’t sure how to handle what I found in those chests!”

“You
’ve done the right thing by keeping your find quiet. I fear all kind of rumors could have been spread about where your coins and jewelry came from and who knows what kind of trouble that could have brought.”

“
Edward, I feel we’ve made a lot of headway on beginning our new relationship. For that, I’m very grateful.” Mary said, sincerely. “I’m aware this will take some getting used to, but I’m glad you found Thomas and me.”

Chapter
Seventy-Four

Thomas Ball’s Homestead

Thomas wasn’t surprised when he received a letter from Mary regarding her visit with Edward. He was pleased she’d accepted him as their father. He laughed at the part she thought he was a con-artist. Thomas could only imagine how that shocked Edward to have anyone question his honesty. He would learn to stay on his toes around Mary and never take her for granted.

It was t
he last part of the letter that had surprised and pleased him. Mary was requesting his permission to come visit him and Anna. She stated she needed a break from things in Washington and was wondering if she could stay for three to four weeks. He wondered if her working such long hours at her shop had finally taking its toll.

After talking things over with Anna, Thomas
was thrilled she readily agreed to Mary’s visit. They could then inform her that Anna was expecting the early part of next year. He knew how excited Mary would be at having another niece or nephew to spoil. In fact, they’d yet to tell Edward he would soon have another grandchild to cherish and spoil.

Thomas wondered if
Mary has any knowledge of what had been happening in James’s life. After a little thought, he realized Edward would have felt it only right to make her aware of the events that had recently happened to James. Secrets and lies had already caused too much suffering to Mary and to others.

Chapter Seventy-Five

“Mary, how was your trip?” Thomas asked as he helped her from the carriage. “From the number of trunks you’ve brought, I think you might be staying for closer to a year than a month!”

Mary hugged her brother long and hard. “
Oh Thomas, I wasn’t sure what to pack. I was very pleased when you responded so quickly to my letter.  I’ve missed you so much. Where are Anna and Jane?”

“They
’re in the house. But first I must tell you some wonderful news; Anna is expecting our second child early next year. You’ll then have two little imps to spoil!”

“I can’t wait!
” Mary responded, but before she could mention Edward’s visit with her, Anna and Jane came rushing out of the house.

“
Jane how nice to see you!” Mary said, as she hugged her and Anna simultaneously and then watched as little Jane hid herself in her mother’s skirts. “Please come here, Jane, I wish to hug you once more. I also have a gift for you.” Mary said, knowing she was bribing her niece and didn’t care.

With the mention of a gift, Jane stepped out for Mary to hug her
once again.

“Is it a doll?
” Jane asked. “I’ve been wishing for a new doll for some time now.”

“Jane, you never ask someone what they
’re giving you! And you must remember to say thank you. Do you understand?” Anna gently scolded.

“Yes, Mother. I
’m sorry, Aunt Mary.”

“That
’s quite alright, Jane. Here, let me retrieve your gift so you don’t have to wait any longer to open your present.”

Jane squealed in delight as she opened the package that contained a beautiful brown-haired doll with a lovely pink dress with matching hat and slippers. “Oh, Aunt Mary, I love her. I do!”

“I’m very happy you like the doll. I’ve brought one for Matilda, also. Only hers has blond hair with a green dress and matching hat and slippers.”

“What about Andrew? He doesn’t like playing with dolls. You didn’t get him a doll
, did you?”

Everyone laughed. “No silly, I didn’t get Andrew a doll. I got Andrew a compass. I thought he might like
to know which direction he was heading when he went out for his adventures.”

“I bet he
’ll be happy to get a compass. I’m really happy you didn’t buy him a doll!” Jane added, holding her doll tightly.

“Mary, please come in and sit while Thomas gets your trunks. I was so excited to hear you would be coming to stay with us
.”

“Anna, I hadn’t known you were with child
again or I’d have never asked to come. Please, allow me to make arrangements to stay in Baltimore.”

“I won’t hear of
such a suggestion, Mary. I’m not helpless. Well, not yet. You may not realize this, but you’ll be helping a great deal by allowing your niece to spend some time with you. She asks a thousand questions a day and I swear all she ever does is dream up another thousand questions to ask.”

“Thank you for making me feel welcome
in your home.”

“If I
’m not interrupting anything special, I’d love to join in on your conversation,” Thomas said, as he winked at Mary. “Gee Mary; it’s good to see you!”

After taking a tour of the house and stables, the rest
of the afternoon was spent discussing the news that Edward Pierce was Mary and Thomas’s father. They all acknowledged how surprised they were at how quickly they’d adjusted to that fact.

“Thomas,
I’m glad Edward’s our father. He’s said over and over again he’d have never left mother had he known the truth at that time. This all makes sense, now, as to why Henry treated us so differently after mother passed. And Edward Pierce is so handsome and smart! But most of all, he’s kind. I could tell he had loved mother very much. Couldn’t you, Thomas?”

“
Yes, after I got over the shock of hearing the truth, I must say I was also very happy to know we’ve a father that’s a decent man. The fact I’d known him a little over a year is amazing I didn’t see a connection. I was lucky to have him as a friend first. I think that made it easier for him to tell about mother.

“I can
just picture the shock on Edward’s face when you told him you doubted his story upon first meeting him, Mary.”

“Oh, Thomas, I was adamant about him being a con-artist.
I’m surprised he could forgive me. Even my attorney found humor in how I treated Edward. I have trouble calling him father, though, so I call him Edward, and he doesn’t seem to mind.”

“I do the same, Mary. Maybe, in time, things will be different. I believe Edward is
just happy to be included in our lives.”

T
he remainder of the afternoon was spent on catching up with everything else that had happened in the last few months.

But w
hen Thomas asked about the funeral she had attended while he and Anna were in Washington, Mary only said she inherited a home which gave her a nice place to stay. Mary gave them no further details about her good fortune and they didn’t ask any further questions. So she didn’t really lie to them, she just omitted a few things.

Anna
made it clear she wanted Mary to go with them to the Parker plantation on Friday. She assured Mary that James wouldn’t mind if they brought an additional guest. In fact, she told Mary she was sure James would be pleased to see her after all these years.

But Mary wasn’t so sure. Yet, she had to see the plantation
so she could get a feel for what was going on with the auction. She needed to see what was there in order for the plan she made with Edward to work. Mary held no expectations at this time for herself with James, but if she could help James in any way with his predicament, she would. Whether he liked it or not!