Chapter Eight:
Mrs. Landon
A Little Over One Year Later
————————————————————-
Today was supposed to be great, it was supposed to be wonderful and perfect and just overall amazing. So far, it was not. Instead of a day full of happiness, Clara was stuck in the kitchen, listening in growing dread to Mrs. Landon speak.
"You're leaving?"
"Yes," Mrs. Landon said, not turning from her cooking to look at Clara. "Your stepmother informed me today."
"Today? But when do you have to leave?"
"Tomorrow morning, a little after breakfast."
"I don't understand. What about your husband and Tom? Are they leaving, too?"
"Just Mr. Landon and I are leaving," Mrs. Landon answered stiffly. Clara frowned. This wasn't right at all! The Landons had always been at the Corden home, it was just as much their home as it was Clara's. Not to mention Tom was only ten, surely he wasn't ready to be left on his own?
"Why? Did she tell you her reasons?"
"No," Mrs. Landon answered and Clara pulled on the woman's arm so that way she could see her face. "Miss Clara I need to-"
"Are you saying that she just went up to you and told you to pack your bags and leave?" Clara was surprised to see Mrs. Landon's face crease with a slight smile.
"It looks like you know your stepmother better than you think you do. Those were almost her exact words."
"You're kidding."
"Not in the slightest, my dear." Mrs. Landon went back to using her rolling pin. "Why don't you go spend time with your siblings? I can handle this."
"But-"
"No. Go on, shoo! Don't think I've forgotten the date. Goodness knows you deserve a spot of happiness on your birthday. In fact, I'd say you deserve more than that," Mrs. Landon stated matter-of-factly as she made a shooing motion at Clara.
When Clara didn't automatically move, Mrs. Landon took her by the shoulders and steered her out the back kitchen door, closing it behind her before Clara could come back in.
Standing out in the garden, Clara let out a sigh. Today was her seventeenth birthday. Today was the day she would be considered of age, the day her mother had promised would be one of the best of her life, the day, that if she was still the daughter of a lady, she would've been presented at court.
She would've met the royal family, and later, she would've been allowed to go to her first dinner party or ball. She'd have her first dance, her first glass of wine, although only a sip of it. Her mother and father would've smiled, looking on proudly, and Clara would've been nervous but excited. It would've been perfect, and just thinking on it made Clara's throat tighten.
None of that would happen now. The best she could do was spend time with her family, or what was left of it.
However, as much as she wanted to go spend time with her family, to at least get a portion of what had been promised to her for the first fifteen years of her life, she had something she needed to do. Climbing the front steps, she let herself back in and made her way to the parlor.
The sounds of high-pitched laughter and the clinking of teacups on china plates reached her ears before she got to the doorway. Part of her wanted to barge in and demand an audience with her stepmother, but she knew that wouldn't get her anywhere.
After the death of her father, the small pieces of Linette that had been kind to Amelia or James or had been friendly on occasion to Clara had seemingly disappeared. They'd been replaced by a mask of cruel words and bitter motives.
Well, Clara hoped it was a mask. Ever since their conversation on the day of her father's death, she'd couldn't shake the feeling that she misjudged Linette terribly, but after over two years of living with the woman, she was convinced that the misjudging had nothing to do with her supposed goodness.
Linette had proven to be unforgiving, cruel, and prejudiced over the past year, and all Clara's hopes of a second chance to possibly reconnect flew out the window.
Now, as she stood in the hallway, she couldn't help but wonder if she was doing the right thing. Maybe if she waited for her step-sisters to be gone she wouldn't be ganged up on? But then she'd be alone with Linette.
Hesitantly, she knocked on the side of the doorway to the parlor, stiffening when the attention of her step-family was suddenly on her.
"Yes?" Linette said, her sneer carrying across the room to Clara.
"May I have a word, your Ladyship?" Clara asked tentatively, using the name that Linette had "requested" her to use.
"Is it important?"
"Well, to me it is."
"Then you can wait." Edina didn't bother to hide her unladylike snorts of laughter behind her hand while Estella just frowned at Clara and took another sip of tea. "I'm sure you have some sort of chore to do. Or did you finish everything I gave you?"
"I finished everything this morning, but-"
"Have you really? So you've washed the linens, folded the laundry, fed the animals, restocked the kitchen, dusted the upstairs hallway, polished the doorknobs, and cleaned your step-sisters' rooms?" Linette finished, taking a sip of her tea from her favorite olive green and white teacup.
Clara tried to contain her nervousness at the sound of cleaning her step-sisters' rooms. She had done everything but that.
"I have done most of it. I have not cleaned their rooms quite yet," she admitted, trying to ignore the exaggerated gasp from Edina. She couldn't help but glance at them out of the corner of her eye, but she had to hold back a frown. Based off of Edina's poorly hidden smile and Estella's grimace, Clara guessed they had known... which meant both of their rooms were going to be very, very, messy.
Estella, at least, looked apologetic.
"Most?" Linette set her teacup back in its saucer. "Oh no, no, no, that simply won't do. Why don't you go clean their rooms, and once you've finished that, you can start to work on polishing the cutlery."
"Polishing the cutlery? We only do that if we're having guests."
"Did I not tell you? Oh yes, tomorrow we're having a dinner party of sorts in celebration." For a second Clara's hopes rose slightly. Linette couldn't possibly mean for her birthday, could she? Or was she talking about Mrs. Landon leaving?
"A celebration of what?"
"Why the twins coming out into society!"
"But they're- but they're not even sixteen."
"Precisely, we want them to have an advantage by being out early. They'll have more time to catch a suitor! Now, enough stalling. Off you go!"Clara stared at Linette as she watched a slight smirk fall upon her thin lips. She had done this on purpose. Without another glance, Clara fled from the room and ran all the way up the stairs and into what was once her old bedroom.
She slammed the door behind her and slid against it until she was sitting on the floor. The tears that had threatened to fall since that morning were finally making their appearance, but Clara furiously brushed them away.
She couldn't cry now, she had things to do, and she was sure other people had it worse than she did anyway, like Mr. and Mrs. Landon who, for the first time in more than twenty years, would be out of a job.
Though still sporting flushed cheeks and blurry eyes Clara started to clean up Edina's mess of a room. Everything was either a putrid yellow or a very vibrant peach, and by the time Clara had picked up, folded, put away, and organized all of Edina's belongings, her eyes were beginning to hurt from the bright colors... and she still had Estella's room to do.
Leaning tiredly against one of the bedposts, she finally deposited the last of the rumpled gowns into a basket and bent over to take it with her to Estella's room. As soon as she opened the door she was once again assaulted with a mess of bright colors but these ones were a slightly more bearable salmon and bright turquoise. She was just finishing when the door slammed open and Harriet came rushing in.
"Clara! Tell me it's not true!"
"What?"
"That Mrs. Landon is leaving and Linette is throwing a party for the twins!" Harriet shouted, flopping onto the bed that Clara had just made.
"I'm sorry, Harriet."
"No!"
"Yes. Mrs. Landon is leaving tomorrow, but Tom will be staying," she tried to say it gently but she could already see the tears brewing.
"I don't care! It's not fair, why does she have to ruin everything?"
"Ruin?"
"Your birthday! Remember, you were supposed to be presented at court tomorrow and wear a pretty dress and meet a nice guy and fall in love and get married and just everything!" Harriet said, sounding more upset than Clara had ever heard her.
"Get married? Oh, Harriet." Clara sat down beside her, rubbing small circles on her back. She'd had no idea that her sister had held such hopes for her.
"That's what you'd said!" Clara gave her sister a strange look and then frowned as she remembered. When Linette had just arrived and Harriet had already started to hate her, Clara had seen many nights with both of her sisters in her attic bedroom.
She'd tell them stories about so many different things. Fairy tales, adventures, and occasionally even her dreamed up versions of their own happy endings. She hadn't thought that Harriet had taken them so seriously. Harriet was the realist of the three Corden sisters, and the girl, who was eleven now, had a tendency to be blunt as can be. But maybe she'd just needed something to hope for.
"They were just stories, Harriet."
"But they will come true won't they?" Harriet asked, her head tilted up to look at her older sister. "You will meet someone, fall in love, get married, and we'll all live happily ever after... Away from Linette."
"Maybe. Who says I have to get married in order for us to have a happy ending, anyway?" Clara teased, nudging her sister slightly in the side. "I could get a job working as a maid at the palace, or in the local bakery, or maybe even the library. Wouldn't that be lovely? To be around so many books all day!" Harriet nodded in agreement, leaning back against Clara as she talked. "Our fairytale ending might still happen, just not the way we thought it would."
"Yeah. We still have to defeat an evil stepmother though." Clara laughed at that.
"She's not evil, just misunderstood I think. We were too harsh on her."
"She's the one who's too harsh." Harriet turned to look at Clara. "She's making you help throw a birthday party for the twins a day after yours, and they're not even sixteen for another month." Clara sighed at the reminder of all the work that had to be done, before lightly pushing Harriet to stand beside her.
"Speaking of which, I still have a lot of work to do."
"Do you want help?" A small voice asked from the doorway, and Clara spun around to see Amelia and James both standing half-way behind the door frame, they were seven and four respectively now and stood cautiously watching. Clara smiled at her siblings, put the filled basket of dresses on her hip, and motioned towards the door.
"I'd love some. How about we start with the laundry? I'm sure one of our dear step-siblings will be wanting one of these for the dinner party tomorrow."
With that, all four of the Corden siblings headed down to the kitchen and set to work. If it could be called that. More than half of the washing water ended up in James' curly blonde hair, while most of the soap ended up on everyone's clothes. Needless to say, by the time mid-afternoon came, they had all been thoroughly drenched as well as had many laughs. However, that all stopped as they reached the garden to hang up and dry the clothing.
"Just what do you think you are doing?" Instantly, all of the laughter was cut off. Clara looked up from her position over the basket to see Linette standing there with her hands on her hips. "There is a party to plan and prepare for. We don't have time for dilly-dallying!"
"We were just trying to get the washing done for Estella and Edina. I thought they would want to wear one of their best gowns-" Clara was cut off by Linette's own shrill laughter.
"They're not wearing one of those! They have new ones coming in from town, made special for the occasion." Linette eyed the Cordens. "You, however, do not."
"We're going?"
"Of course! I couldn't forget my three youngest children, not to mention as of tomorrow, I will be in dire need of a new maid." Clara froze where she stood, a realization coming to her. Was she supposed to take Mrs. Landon's place?
"Is that why you sacked them? Because you wanted Clara to be your servant?" Harriet blurted out angrily before Clara could stop her. Linette turned her critical eye onto Harriet, her eyebrow raised.
"No, that is not why I sacked her, as you so eloquently put it. Mr. and Mrs. Landon are getting on in years, and after being here for over a year, I have to say, I think young Mr. Thomas and our own dear Clara would do a better job." Linette glared down at Harriet as if daring her to disagree, but the fiery-haired and tempered eleven-year-old didn't say a word after she caught Clara's warning look.
"Now, why don't you three run along to go pick out your clothing ensembles with Mrs. Landon so I can have a little chat with Clara." All three of Clara's siblings looked reluctant but Clara subtly urged them on with a nod of her head towards the kitchen door, leaving Clara alone with Linette.
"Am I correct in assuming that what you wanted to discuss this morning no longer needs to be talked about?" Linette said, keeping her eyes on the flapping dresses hanging from the laundry line.
"Yes, ma'am," Clara answered, hating how meek she sounded. It was true though. She couldn't argue with Linette's logic. Mr. and Mrs. Landon were getting on in years, in fact, Clara had taken notice of it several times.
She had seen Mr. Landon hunch with pain in his back and Mrs. Landon's' hands shake with fatigue. Those moments she had noticed were why she couldn't find the angered words that her younger sister seemed to have so readily available. She truly should have seen it coming, but she hadn't.
"Good," Linette responded. "I want all of you present tomorrow, with no exceptions," Linette said, referring to Clara and her siblings. "And I warn you, if you or your siblings put one toe out of line there will be severe consequences, do you understand?" Clara nodded. "What was that?"
"Yes, ma'am, I understand."
"Fabulous. Well, do continue to do whatever it is you were doing, and don't forget to polish all of our best cutlery." Linette turned and walked away back into the house, leaving Clara standing alone in the garden.
She had a very bad feeling about tomorrow. Maybe it was the dinner party or the fact that someone she had seen as a second mother for much of her life was leaving come morning, but something had to go wrong. However, she didn't realize how bad it truly would be.
———————————
So what do you think is going to happen at the dinner party? Tell me in the comments!