An Innocent Affair

XXII

"Evil begins when you begin to treat people as things." Terry Pratchett, I Shall Wear Midnight

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XXII.

Cressie ate her supper in silence as Everett laughed with musical delight as Zara regaled him with stories from school.

Everett was so charming. He was so, so charming with others. It made Cressie feel like nobody would believe her if she told them what he was really like.

Usually, the lady of the house would take her place at the opposite end of the table. But not Cressie. Everett liked to keep Cressie beside him on his right. When dining with some of Everett's friends or relatives in the past, Cressie has heard comments about her husband's attachment, and how theirs must have been a love match. In reality, it was so that Everett could closely monitor what Cressie was eating.

"I was certain Mary would be spotted leaving that frog in the kitchens, but she wasn't!" Zara giggled as she took in a spoonful of her soup. "It serves that wicked cook right! She promptly quit the school, and the headmistress was forced to hire someone else."

"They certainly did a marvellous job bringing you up to be delicate young ladies, did they not?" Everett replied in an amused tone.

"Oh, please, Uncle Everett. I know French and Latin. I can draw and sing and embroider, and I am told I am excellent on the pianoforte," Zara retorted with a smile. "I would make an excellent bride."

"You certainly are accomplished," murmured Everett. "You could learn a thing or two from her this summer, wife," he added under his breath for Cressie.

Cressie said nothing. She did not rise to the comment. She did not refute it. She did not defend it.

She simply pooled her soup onto her spoon to take another mouthful, before Everett placed his hand atop of hers and said, "That's enough."

Zara did notice this, and she frowned. "But Cressie has not finished."

Everett chuckled. "Cressida doesn't like to spoil the next course," he replied dismissively. But he kept his hand on Cressie's until she released her spoon and submitted to his order to stop eating. "I have already sent word ahead to the house in London to have it prepared for you. You will, of course, take Cressida's maid, Wrigley, with you. There is nobody I would trust more to keep the both of you safe."

Cressie heard the word 'safe', but she knew that Everett meant 'in line'. Imelda Wrigley would act as Everett's bloodhound while he was not there. Right down to the amount of food she took in to ensure that Everett would not be burdened with a fat wife.

"Oh, I have never had a maid before," Zara said excitedly. "Of course, I understand she would not be my maid, but still, it is all so exciting! I cannot believe that I am to come out!"

Zara did not understand that Imelda was not a maid but a watchdog. Would Everett force his niece to undertake his rules? Cressie thought on it for a moment, but then decided that he would not. Everett was not obsessive over any other aspect of his life. Not his family, not his work, not his friends. It was how he appeared to be so charming. It was only Cressie. She was his only victim. Because he could not have her exactly as he wanted, he had become this.

"When do we leave, Cressie?" Zara asked with a wide grin. "Tomorrow? Oh, please say tomorrow!"

Everett chuckled before he took hold of Cressie's hand atop the table. His grip quickly tightened to a point where her knuckles began to crunch together. Cressie wore her pain well, and her face did not contort beyond a brief grimace.