Dorothea Hall Mysteries

Settling The Scores

My mother was resting by the fire after a long day of selling pies and dispensing advice. Not having Carmella at home, meant I could visit my family any time I wanted to. As an up and coming carpenter, Emory often had to work late into the night. Freddy and I would go and help my sisters make dinner, as Mother fed other people all day long. We wanted to give back to her.

My younger siblings were asleep, and the older ones were out on the town, so it was just the two of us as I told her the story of the Beckham family and the proposed wife auction.

"What do you think?" I asked. "Can their marriage be saved?"

She took a sip of her tea. "From your description, it seems to me that Mr. Beckham has his own score to settle that he hasn't admitted to you or his daughter. You need to get him to open up on this matter."

"I did get the feeling he was hiding something. What do you think it might be?"

"It could be anything, but I do wonder how Mrs. Beckham reacted back when she first found out about him having an affair. I doubt she simply seethed in silence. A lady who would propose a wife auction so many years after the original offense, seems hot tempered to me. Perhaps she got some sort of revenge back then and he's still secretly angry about it."

"What about what's good for the goose is good for the gander?" I asked.

"She might have had an affair. It's a possibility. There are very few men who can take a cuckolding in stride. Logic might dictate that she deserved to have her own, but that doesn't mean his heart wouldn't want revenge."

"I suppose he wouldn't want to tell his daughter about it. It would be embarrassing and distressing to discuss."

"He might even suspect that one of their children isn't his. Perhaps finding out about Mary seems like appropriate punishment for his wife."

I sighed and took a sip of tea. "If we're correct about this, it doesn't sound good for their continued partnership."

"I don't know about that. It might be good to get everything out in the open. He might suspect one of their children as being another man's, but he doesn't know. She suspects he's having an affair with a much younger woman, but he's not. It might be a relief to know that Mary's mother simply wanted a child and wasn't trying to take Mr. Beckham away from his wife and family. It would certainly be good for Mrs. Beckham to confirm she did not have another man's child. If they will be honest with each other, things could become much better."

I sighed again. "It sounds like it's going to be my task to get them to be truly honest with each other."

"No easy task, but I believe you're up for it."