The Mute Mistress

The Mute Mistress: Chapter 17

Chapter 17

The following morning, Mary walked into unlocked '405'. She moved without haste, holding her purse and pressing her back against the closed door.

"Mary?" Nellie gasped from the kitchen. "What's wrong? Why did you need to leave the estate and talk to me in person? Was he drinking again? Did they hurt you?"

Her sister's fear was uninspiring of a quick answer. Mary shook her head sluggishly, "No."

Nellie sucked air in through her teeth but closed her eyes to keep composure. She wasn't known for practicing patience when waiting for an answer but she tried. Mary moved for the couch, her attention torn between the guilt from the urgency of her sister and the events of last night.

"Okay, I'm sorry." Nellie kneeled in front of her. "I'm calm, see? I'm sorry for overreacting, but your call had my heart racing since I got it and you didn't sound okay. Did something happen with him?"

Mary's eyes fluttered and nodded. Her voice was barely a whisper, "We ..."

"We?" Her sister leaned back. "As in you and Nathan?"

Seeing a tearful nod, Nellie shouted and sprang to her feet. "What the hell?! You didn't. I know you didn't. He had to have taken adv–"

Mary stood and grabbed her sister's hands. She shook her head and confessed tearfully, "I care about him. I didn't want to have a heart for him but I do."

Her sibling slipped away and stepped back, unable to hide the disgust distorting her face. "Unbelievable. I hoped and hoped that he wouldn't take advantage of you, but–"

"He didn't."

"You are his maid! Doesn't he have a girlfriend? Jesus Christ, Mary!"

She tried to convince her, "They're not together anymore."

"Is that what he told you?" Her eyes opened wider with fury. "Tell me when he broke up with his girlfriend. Was it like the day or so before? Huh? Or did he even tell you when?"

The questions were so painful, Mary crouched before curling her fingers in her hair. She knew it. Nellie would see what she was too naive to believe. How could one of the most incredible nights have been a lie? The reality was she slept with her employer. She couldn't return to the mansion and pretend like nothing happened.

"From what is out there, publicly, Nathan Vanderbilt has been dating Karina Burke. But he suddenly dumped her just before taking advantage of you."

"I wasn't vulnerable," Mary wept. She couldn't have been, she figured. The thought of losing trust in herself again hurt too much. The night was perfect, she had to cherish it but the truth of the deception riddled her poor, sweet memories of his face and his touch with a disease of the truth. Even now, she still felt his heat inside of her. How was she supposed to forget a night of unrestrained passion?

"Girls!" Freya frowned from the hall. "What is going on?"

"Tell her! Or don't! You've been keeping so much from us anyways." Nellie spat.

"I was afraid of this," Mary said shakily.

Freya inched into the room with her cane. The throbbing pain pinched their mother's face. "What happened?"

Mary looked longingly to her sister who crossed her arms. The resistance tore her apart. She couldn't stand the rejection from her best friend.

"I messed up. I just wanted to help everybody and I messed that up."

"It's not about the damn money!" Nellie hissed tearfully. "All I have is what you tell me, and as far as I know you were upset enough to quit because he was an insensitive asshole, but then he swept back here and took you away. And then after a few nice gestures, I don't hear much else about his behavior until you come back and tell me what you said. "

Mary blinked the wet blur away and confessed to her mother, "I was with him... last night."

"And let's not forget he's an alcoholic," The eldest daughter added shakily for good measure.

"What?" Freya gasped.

Ashamed, the last Georgia girl hung her head. Suddenly, Nellie staggered back into the chair and covered her mouth with a trembling hand. Freya moved as quickly as she could to her eldest, calling her name. The sound of shortened breaths whipped fear into the room.

Her words slipped between the tears and the heaving, "This is all my fault."

"No, it's not. It's my fault," Mary pleaded, squeezing her eyes tight.

Freya cupped her oldest's wet face and contested her thoughts. Nellie refused, "I shouldn't have agreed to let her go there. I couldn't protect her. I couldn't do anything."

"Breathe, sweetheart. You and your sister are young women," Freya wiped the tears from under her eyes. "You can't always be there the way you were when you two were children."

Nellie looked to her mother, "How could you let him back in?"

Freya lowered her hands. "Please don't, sweetheart. Please don't go back there."

"I have to when I've spent most of my life protecting her."

Breath slithered from Freya's lips. "I knew it. I knew you were always angry with me for letting him come back. But you girls are my children, and he was my husband. He wanted to try, and I thought we could be a family again. All I wanted to do was protect you. I didn't want to deprive you of a father. We were struggling then too, and I wanted to be a family again. I didn't know what else to do. I had so little help. He promised me he would try, and I believed him. I'm sorry."

Her brown-eyed girl tucked stray hairs away and caught her breath. "He ruined our lives once and you gave him the chance to do it again."

Freya's shoulder struck the wall as she tipped over in tears. Nellie turned to her sister. Her mouth trembled again. "Every day you're away is hard for me. I don't want you to get hurt... ever. Do you understand me?"

Mary was too stiff to move. Sound hopped in her throat, as her sister sat her down quickly on the couch and held her hands.

Nellie cried, "Forget the money. You have to reconsider this job. I can't pretend I'm okay with this anymore."