Bailey Robinson's orders were simple; get rid of the letter and get back to work.
When Bailey begins a correspondence with a mysterious woman, the last thing he expects is to fall in love with her. Or worse, find out that the woman behind the words...
Gary just sat on the settee in the parlor, listening to Frederick stutter and try to come up with an explanation of his need for money within such a short period of his father's death.
"I do not have the money to loan you, Frederick." Gary answered, tiring of Frederick's transparent lies.
"But grandfather..." Frederick protested and Gary just took another sip of his tea in an attempt to keep the obscenities that threatened to spew out of his mouth, in. "I can assure you that I'll pay back every penny. It is only because the factory is in dire need of new machines and with the state of the country's economy..."
"The last time I was in Birmingham for you father's burial, I took a trip to the factory and I'm certain your father had just installed new machines. That was a year ago, Frederick."
"Y-ye-yes but you see..."
Furious, Gary rose to his feet and made for the exit.
"Grandfather!"
"If you had the guts to throw an entire life's worth in the bin, Frederick, at least have the guts to admit to doing so!" Gary yelled, turning around to face his grandson whose gaze had now lowered to the marbled floor. "Your father's life was that factory!"
"I know."
"Do you?! Edward was such a fool to have entrusted you with so much! You and your snake of a mother!" Gary felt his heart thump loudly in his chest as he addressed his grandson and he immediately waited a few seconds to catch his breath. It was becoming more and more difficult to breathe daily and while Gary knew he needed to see his physician, he always managed to put it off so often.
His eyes ran over Frederick and he couldn't help but feel disgusted. Standing before him was not only the heir to Edward's wealth, but the heir to Gary's as well. Oh, but what wrong had he done to be accursed with such a grandson?!
Gary couldn't help but feel bitter towards Edward. If Edward had listened to him and refrained from marrying Chloe! If Edward had simply given himself the time to mourn his dead wife and son before jumping into a marriage with the woman that was now turning out to be a thorn in the entire family's flesh.
Chloe had managed to guilt Edward into marrying her by convincing Edward that their marriage was his dead wife's last wish but Gary never bought Chloe's ridiculous lies. What woman, on her death bed, would wish her evil best friend on her husband?! Unless of course, Sophia had been ignorant of how evil Chloe was.
Other than the fact that Chloe was in herself a terrible human being, she had managed to birth a complete replica of herself.
Gary knew he was doomed. The more he stared at Frederick, the more convinced he was that he'd rather will his entire property to charity than will it to his grandson and daughter-in-law.
"I messed up!" Frederick said, falling to his knees. "Please, Grandfather, do not turn your back on me just yet, I beg of you!" He crawled forward and grabbed his Gary's legs, burying his face in his knees.
Gary heaved a breath. Frederick needed help, Gary couldn't ignore that fact. But he wasn't going to hand over the money to him just like that. For some reason, he couldn't imagine a cent of his hard earned money going into Frederick's raunchy living.
Perhaps if he got Frederick to marry into a good family...
Gary remembered speaking to Lord Ethan Williams about match making Elizabeth with Frederick. Perhaps the marriage between the two will help straighten his grandson. Besides, Chloe's influence on Edward had turned him into a completely different man and had strained the relationship that existed between Gary and his son. If Chloe had that much influence on Edward, perhaps Elizabeth could be of good influence on his grandson.
Gary desperately needed to salvage the situation with his grandson, the only heir to his estate! He couldn't die knowing the man who would carry on his name would eventually die a failure and a peasant. He couldn't imagine the great Wellington name dying or being tarnished and with the way his grandson was going, he knew it was only a matter of time before the name was dragged through the slum.
"I will set up a dinner with Lord Williams family, you will meet with his daughter and you will convince her to marry you."
"What?!" Frederick scrambled to his feet. "Grandfather," He laughed nervously. "I do not wish to be tied down to just one woman at the moment. Perhaps when I'm fifty or your age." He smiled.
"You will marry Lady Elizabeth Williams, Frederick! I do not care what you will have to do to convince her to be your wife, but you will do it! You will marry her or you will return to Birmingham or whatever hole you crawled out of, a peasant!"
