The Unknowing Heiress

Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Maggie visited Isaac frequently over the next month, sometimes with Max and sometimes alone. Maggie did not dare invite him to Montrose Manor. That would be trying on her father’s patience.

Nate had visited Isaac, though. Neither Nate nor Isaac would tell Maggie what they had discussed but Maggie knew her father would have threatened him in some way. He was only concerned for her safety and she could understand that.

Maggie did try to spend as much time with her family as possible as she would be leaving for a very long time. They all gathered together to farewell David as he went off to his first year of Eton. Her Aunt Bess was a mess of tears but Emmett and Nate enjoyed reliving their glory days as Eton’s badly behaved boys.

But it was now a week later and Maggie was a mere day from travelling to London with Max ready to travel to America. She could not stem her excitement. She truly felt as though she was on the right path. To be on any path other than the one she had been on was wonderful. Previously she’d been an imposter in a ballroom. Now she felt genuine.

Isaac had left for London several days earlier to make sure that their passage was booked and everything was ready for them.

Maggie and her mother worked together to pack for the voyage. She had two trunks filled with evening, day and practical gowns. She knew they would not necessarily be in style in Georgia but it would do until she could source something more appropriate once in America. Charlotte had also provided Maggie with an assortment of her jewels and necklaces and she concealed the valuables inside her packed gloves. Next was her stationary and ink as well as her collection of treasures. Maggie’s treasures were Max’s drawings and paintings. Over the years as his skills improved he was able to paint proper miniatures of her family. The pictures were set in a small, oval shaped timber frame. When she was terribly home sick she would look upon them and weep no doubt.

“Thank you for being so understanding, Mama,” Maggie said gratefully.

Charlotte smiled warmly. “I was young once,” she replied, “and as much as I will miss you, I know what it is like to go after something that you want.”

“You are still young, Mama,” Maggie assured her mother who was barely in her early thirties.

Her younger sister, Lizzie, watched on from Maggie’s bed as Charlotte and Maggie continued to fill her trunks with anything and everything that she might need. Aside from some temporary tears, the news that Maggie was leaving had not yet properly sunk in for Georgie and Lizzie. Edward understood and comically informed his elder sister that he would not miss her though Maggie knew that he would, just as she would him.

Lizzie’s fluffy, blonde curls were fixed in two bunches secured by pink silk ribbons and she wore a curious expression on her face. “Will you buy me a present from America, Maggie?”

“Of course,” Maggie replied. “I will buy you all something fine from my travels.” Maggie would look for something authentically American, something that she could not purchase in Britain for it was highly likely she would be the only one in her family ever to cross the Atlantic. Maggie abandoned the trunk and went to sit by Lizzie on the bed.

“I want you to send a letter every month at the least,” Charlotte insisted. “I know it will take several months to reach us but I want news as often as possible.” She closed one of the trunks and placed her hands on her hips. “You must tell me how they are treating you. You must describe to me Mr Lavelle’s wife. You must describe her character and temperament. You must –”

“Mama,” Maggie interrupted. She climbed off of the bed and went to Charlotte to hug her. “I will write you as often as I can.” Maggie knew that Joanna Lavelle was a person who worried Charlotte for two reasons. The first being that Charlotte did not know anything about the woman and the fact that her husband was returning with an illegitimate child could mean that she would be quite hostile towards Maggie. Maggie liked to remind her mother that she had experience in handling hostile women. Her grandmother, Marie, had not always been cheerful. The other part of Charlotte’s concern was for opposite reasons. She worried that Joanna Lavelle would be lovely. She worried that Joanne Lavelle would take her place, just as Nate feared Isaac would take his.