Chapter Eighteen

Meredith found it hard to sleep, however. She paced the floors of the house for an hour or so, coming to the music room, only to turn around and go to the dining room. It didn't make any sense why she should be so restless, but she wished that Jack would come to her, suddenly and in the middle of the night. She closed her eyes upon returning to her room, her back against the wall as she imagined him there, in her room.

It would be scandalous and yet she was alone and had no better thing to think about. As she laid down, she imagined his thick fingers, gripping her soft skin at her hip, her thighs. Pushing her legs apart as he found her center. She let her hand move down towards her legs and imagined it was Jack's hand.

Her dreams were equally filled with visions of Jack. She couldn't seem to outrun him and when she woke up, she had decided that she would go to visit him.

Dressing in a flattering green and gold striped day gown, she entered the dining room to see Sarah, Daniel, and a visibly exhausted Simon, sitting around the table. Simon had worked late the night before and had gotten in very late. He was covering his mouth as he yawned, nodding while Sarah beamed at her sisters.

"Meredith, you're looking particularly lovely this morning," she said, taking up a glass of water.

"Thank you," she said as she fixed herself a plate.

"Beatrice, how was your ride yesterday?"

"Fine," Beatrice said, though her eyes seemed fixated on her plate.

They had hardly sat down when a screeching, banshee-like yell echoed throughout the house.

"Where is she? I demand you return her at once!"

Meredith, Beatrice, and Sarah all looked up from their breakfast, recognizing their mama's voice instantly.

"Oh, dear," Sarah said as she pushed her chair back to stand.

A long faced, full brow woman with deep-set wrinkles and hair the same hair color as Sarah, but hers was white on the sides, came charging into the dining room.

"Mama," Sarah said, but the woman held up her hand.

"Don't you dare speak to me!" she barked, walking straight towards Beatrice. "That you would actively aid in her running away while I am her mama."

"Mama, Sarah didn't have anything to do with it," Beatrice tried as she stood up. Meredith did as well and came towards her youngest sister, putting a protective arm around her. "Neither of them helped me."

"You will stop talking this instant!" she yelled. "I've every right to lock you away for your insolent behavior!"

"Mama, please," Meredith started. "Beatrice only wanted to visit for a while."

"Oh! And now the harlot who killed her father wishes to speak?" her mama snapped, her wild eyes flickering from one daughter to the next. "God forgive me for having such wicked girls!"

"Mama!" Sarah tried.

"Do not speak to me! You no longer outrank me, dear daughter, having decided to lower yourself to this," she waved a hand at a still sitting Simon. "Rubbish."

"Now see here—"

"How dare you!" Meredith said, seemingly unable to hold back any longer. She felt an uncomfortable tremor rise up in her chest as her hands begin to shake. She hated conflict, but her mama was behaving irrational and she had had enough. "How damn dare you come into Mr. Archer's home and throw insult after insult at him and your own children. You've no right to say such things."

"Don't you—"

"No. It's your turn to listen," she said. Sarah and Beatrice stared at Meredith, mouths agape. Glaring back at her mama, she took a deep breath. "Mr. Archer loves your daughter, most ardently and she loves him. They are the kindest, most generous people and you refuse to acknowledge them because of your own foolish prejudices. It's reprehensible. You simply do not care if any of your daughters are happy and it's positively shameful."

"You dare speak—"

"Yes, I dare. I've witnessed a vast amount of love and honesty in this household and anyone who would come in here and try to diminish it, simply for some archaic belief on a human constructure is ridiculous."

Mrs. Taylor grabbed Beatrice by the wrist and yanked her forward.

"It doesn't really matter what you think, daughter. The law is on my side."

"Not for long," Simon said, standing up.

That earned Simon a vicious glare from Mrs. Taylor. She practically seethed at him.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm going to petition that Beatrice be placed in Sarah's and my protection."

"I'll never allow it!" she screamed, pulling Beatrice behind her. "Let's go."

"But Mama—"

"Now!"

"Mama!" Sarah tried as Simon came up behind her.

"I am not your mama anymore!" she bit out as she dragged Beatrice from the room, leaving the rest of them in shock.

Beatrice had said that their mama had seemingly lost her senses, but Meredith had never believed that it would come to this. She glanced at Sarah, who was having a difficult time keeping her bottom lip from shaking. Simon pulled her into a tight hug and whispered gently into her ear.

"I know," Sarah mumbled, wiping a rogue tear away on his sleeve.

"I think Beatrice was right," Meredith said after a few moments. "Mama is not herself anymore."

"I'll see to it that the lawyers are involved this afternoon," Simon said, nodding at Meredith. "That was kind of you to defend us."

Meredith felt her cheeks flare.

"I didn't say anything that was untrue."

Simon nodded and pulled Sarah back to the table. They tried to resume their breakfast, but it appeared they had all lost their appetites. Simon began to read the paper, while Sarah stirred her tea endlessly. After a few moments, a servant came in to deliver the mail. Simon put down his paper and took several letters out of the footman's hand.

One by one he read them. When he had reached the second to last one, he held up the last, large package. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his eyes, before pinching the bridge of his nose. Meredith could tell that he was tired, but there seemed to be something else plaguing him. She glanced at Sarah, who was obviously worried about her husband.

"Are you feeling all right, dear?" Sarah asked him.

"Fine," he said, shaking his head. "Just work."

"I hope everything is all right?"

"Actually, I'm a little out of sorts." He paused and when Meredith lifted her gaze up, he gave her a searching look. "I'm afraid the workload has been a little heavy lately and it seems it will be doubled these next six months." His hand reached for a large, folded missive. "This is for you, Meredith. Something from the offices."

"For me?"

"Yes, from Jack."

"What is it?" Sarah asked.

Meredith opened up the letter and saw several legal documents fall onto the table. Divorce papers in fact, with all her information on them. Her eyes went wide as she sorted through them, including finding a page from the church of England stating that her marriage had been annulled due to desertion.

Shaking, she picked up the last paper and reread the words carefully. Her marriage to Clyde Peterson had been annulled. She was free.

Free.

She could hardly believe it. Tears blurred her vison as she looked up to see a startled Sarah.

"My dear, are you all right?" Sarah asked, but Meredith only nodded, unable to speak. "Simon, what's going on? And isn't it good that the business will be so busy?"

"It is for making money, but not keeping me pleasant," he said gruffly. "I'm going to have to hire two more managers."

"But why will the workload be doubled?"

"Jack has decided to go to America to follow up with the grain elevator. He sent a note over with Meredith's package, addressed to me. He wrote me that that," he nodded at the papers in her hand, "was for your sister and that he was departing on the first ship to America. Leaving me in the thick of it."

"W-what?" Meredith stuttered. "He's leaving?"

"On the next ship it seems," Simon said, his eyes intent on her, seemingly interested in Meredith's response. "His letter smelled of scotch, so I'm sure he was drunk when he wrote it."

"If he was drunk, maybe he won't go?"

Simon was shaking his head before she finished the sentence.

"Jack's not one to make empty threats. And while I don't think it's terribly fair to saddle me with his workload on top of my growing one, I know he's determined. I can't imagine he wouldn't go."

"But why?"

"Meredith," Sarah tried, but seeing the eagerness in her sister's eyes, she simply stared.

"Well, if I had to guess," Simon started, his words slow as he played with the fork in his hand. "I would think he wanted to oversee the grain elevator, but then that doesn't make sense. He's never been interested in leaving Bristol before, but I've noticed a change in him these past few weeks. Jack's been unsettled for some reason and it seems that he's determined to leave," Simon said, giving Meredith a concerned glance. "Either way, he asked me to give you your investment along with a bonus."

"A what?"

"It's a finder's fee, one he usually keeps by for this particular investment, he told me to hand it over to you."

"When?"

"Immediately."

"How much?" Sarah asked, curious.

"About twenty thousand pounds."

The amount shocked Meredith and her sister into silence. A tense moment followed.

"Excuse me?" Sarah said, breathlessly.

"But..."

Meredith felt dizzy. Whatever money she made from her investment; it would surely go to paying him back for freeing her from Clyde. She wouldn't take any of it.

"I can't," she said, shaking her head.

"His letter said you needed it."

"For what?"

"That was the odd bit. He said you needed it for a view of the sea."

The air went out of her lungs as her throat tightened. Tears suddenly stung her eyes as Meredith remembered her confession during her first meeting with Jack. Emotion cracked at her heart and before she realized what she was doing, she stood.

"When does he leave?"

"I believe the ship sails at 10:00 this morning, but—"

Meredith was rushing from the room before he could finish. She couldn't' possibly let him leave England without knowing full well that she would never accept that amount of money from him, especially since she was properly indebted to him now.

She ran to the stables and ordered a carriage to take her directly to Burwell. Of course, upon arriving, she learned that he wasn't there. Feeling panic set in, she demanded to be taken to the dockyards.

What she was doing, she didn't really know, only that she was desperate to find him. She needed to tell him that truth. The whole truth.

As she raced towards the dockyards in her carriage at breakneck speed, Meredith clutched her hands together in a painful grip, hoping against hope that she wouldn't be too late.