Dorothea Hall Mysteries

Expert Advice

Mrs. Beckham sighed an put a hand on her husband's arm. "Thank you for that. You have always been bad at talking about things.."

Mary said, "I can confirm that my mother never told Father about me. She just wanted a child, not a relationship."

I was impressed with her calm demeanor. It had to be hard to hear her father's description of his brief affair. It hadn't even been an affair, but simply an encounter. I was also glad to hear Mrs. Beckham didn't really want to be part of a wife auction, but it was frustrating that all of this could have been avoided if the family had talked to each other instead of staying silent and hiring me. There was one more topic I felt a need to address.

"As a newlywed, I'm not expert on marriage, but I suspect there is one more thing you need to communicate, Mr. Beckham," I said.

He took a sip of coffee. "You seem pretty expert to me. What is it?"

"Did you suspect your wife of having her own affair back when this all happened?"

Mrs. Beckham flushed at this suggestion. Her husband looked at me like he wished I would go to the devil. Mary and Maggie shared a glance of confusion and surprise. The room was silent for a long moment.

Mr. Beckham grasped his lady's hand. "I guess since I had played the crooked cross with you, my love, you might have returned the favor."

"You thought Maggie wasn't your child? All these years and you didn't say anything. That's a fine kettle of fish. I was almost not angry with you anymore. Well you can clearly see that Mary and Maggie are both your daughters." Mrs. Beckham didn't pull her hand from his.

"I think you need to apologize to your wife and find a way to make things up to her," I said.

"You may not be an expert in marriage, but you give expert advice. What can I do for you today, Linnie?" He kissed his wife's hand.

"I think that we should take our daughters out to lunch," Mrs. Beckham said. "I want to get to know Mary, if she wishes it."

"I would love to go to lunch, Mrs. Beckham. The reason I took a chance to approach Father, is that now that my mother died I'm all alone and I've always wanted to reach out to family. Her people disowned her long ago and want nothing to do with me," Mary said.

"Maggie and I have always been outnumbered by six males in the house. It will be good to have another woman around."

"My work here is done," I said. "If you do feel my advice is helpful, take one more piece of it. Don't stop talking to each other."