14th June 1865
I think I will die. It has been weeks since my husband, my beloved Jasper had died, and none of the pain had eased. It grew stronger every day. Why had I not felt it when he died, somewhere in my heart? Why could I still not believe he was dead?
How will it go on?
...§...
18th June 1865
I cannot feel anything anymore. Pain has made me numb. Every night I feel the black hole inside me devouring me.
But then I look at my children and force myself not to waste away. I had done so much for them, I would go even further.
The accounts have me worried. Jasper had been wealthy indeed, but I only now see the problems of being rich. All his wealth would legally go to me, and I technically wouldn't have to worry about money. However, the Union threatens to claim the riches of Confederates as compensations for their damages. Those soldiers still alive can defend their wealth, but with my husband being dead I have little chance of keeping the money, the house...
What future will I be able to give my children once we would be penniless?
...§...
Georgiana's P.O.V.
"Mrs Whitlock?" I rose my head from the documents I had been studying and saw Susan waiting in the doorway. It hurt me to hear Jasper's last name and being addressed with it, but at the same time, it soothed me.
I pushed the papers away. I was corresponding with the people in charge about a peace treaty, or anything that would draw a finite line under this war that had cost me so much. I was eager to finally end the last of remaining issues, but since I was but a general's wife, I had not as much as influence as I wished I had. All I could do was influence the people who had the influence.
"A letter has arrived for you. It is from Mr Whitlock's brother."
I tensed and took the letter from her. I knew from the little bit of information Jasper had told me that his brother and he had not been on best of terms. Richard Whitlock was the older one of them, but had not even been nearly as successful in the army as his younger brother. The stranger it was that their stepfather preferred Richard, and had never loved Jasper as he should - Jasper had told me all of this unmoved; long detached from his family and untouchable from their repudiation.
"When I was seventeen, I went to enter the army. It was before the war started. I wanted to get away from my family, and they were glad to see me go. Ever since I had not been in contact with them. I am dead to them, just as they are dead to me." I clearly saw Jasper before my inner eye, how he had elegantly rode beside me in the morning light and told me about his family. "My family had never been whole after my father Jonathan died and my mother remarried."
I had believed myself lucky then to have such a loving family - but what had I done with it? Wrecked it.
Frowning as I broke the seal of the letter, I wondered what Richard Whitlock could want of me.
Dear sister-in-law Georgiana Whitlock,
I write to you in the matter of my late brother's legacy. According to the law, all his wealth will fall into my family's hands, and we will be as generous as grant you an annual payment and a cottage near Southville where you will live with your children.
My solicitor will take care of all the proceedings, you shall not be burdened with anything.
Yours sincerely,
Richard Whitlock
Blind rage surged through me and assured me that I was still alive, and that I was still able to feel something else beside grief.
Richard Whitlock bluntly lied to me and tried to deceive me, robbing Jasper and me of his well-earned wealth. There was such a law indeed, but Richard had forgotten to mention that this law only came into action in case there was no closer family, or if the wife decided to abandon the inheritance.
"Bad news?" Susan asked, and I only noticed now that she was still standing there.
"In a way, yes. But I do not intend on letting them affect us." I replied grimly and pulled out parchment, quill and ink. Not with me, Richard Whitlock.
I did without a formal greeting.
Richard Whitlock,
do not mistake me for a ignorant woman who knows nothing of this world. I would have believed you knew your brother better than judging him to marry an obedient lady.
I will not let you take my rightful inheritance from me. We both are aware of the fact that my husband's wealth will solely fall into my hands, and that I do not depend on your family's mercy. I will not ever leave this house, and I would advise you to save your money and not call a solicitor, for you are bound to lose.
Should you decide to fight for Jasper's wealth, then be assured that I will not give it up. It is my children's and my own rightful inheritance.
It surprises me you address me concerning your distanced brother's legacy. You must be quite desperate for money indeed that you quarrel like fishmonger's wife for my husband's money, which you know is mine.
Yours sincerely,
Georgiana Whitlock
The ink nearly blotted towards the end, with the ferocity I wrote. I knew that I had just brought up a powerful family against me, and I was standing alone against all of them. But it didn't matter who was powerful, not anymore now that the Confederates were defeated.
I leaned back and rubbed my eyes, feeling a headache coming on. I did not even dare imagine how blissful my life would be if my husband were still alive.
Somehow I sometimes still felt as if he were still alive, somewhere out there... But then I called myself silly and delusional.
No P.O.V.
She had made the right decision in Changing him. He was the very man for her. His ability to manipulate the feelings of others served her more than well, and her influence was quickly growing.
The only thing that annoyed her was that he would not even glance at her with anything but a soldier's eyes, waiting for the next orders. She longed for him to be her lover, but she sensed that there was somebody who held his heart.
She would find out who, and then eliminate her so Jasper Whitlock's heart would be free for her.
Georgiana's P.O.V.
"Mrs Whitlock, the storm has broken a window upstairs. It will have to be repaired." Susan said when I entered the kitchen for breakfast the next day. When slavery had been abolished, I had expected Robert, Susan and all the other slaves to rejoice and leave with a happy song on their lips. But they had stayed, and I was so glad for it that I thanked them every day, and payed them well even though there was little money enough.
"More costs yet." I grind my teeth. Richard Whitlock had not surceased the pursuit of Jasper's inheritance, as he had told me in an enraged letter, and as long as there was the struggle going on, I could not access the money.
"Susan, be so kind and call Solicitor Davis, and tell him it's urgent."
"Of course, my lady."
I let myself fall onto a kitchen chair, only to stand up again when I heard Felicity crying upstairs. I picked her up and cradled her, soothing her quickly. "Everything will be alright, my darling. Nothing and nobody will ever harm you, that I will take care of."
When my solicitor Phillip Davis arrived, I put Felicity back into her bed and told Susan to feed her, and then met Davis in my office. "Good day, Mr Davis."
"Mrs Whitlock."
"We have to put an end to this quarrel. Why does it take so long to receive my legal inheritance?"
"Sadly the Whitlock family has influence still, and they fight fiercely for your late husband's money."
"But it is not them who are at right! How is it possible that it takes an eternity for the law to come into action?" I ran a hand over my tired face. "I am so wary of this! I will end these negotiations personally."
"Be warned, Mrs Whitlock, that nobody will listen to you." He made an excusing face, as if sorry for the opinion of his gender of women.
"I will be heard. Mr Davis, I thank you."
"It is always a pleasure, Mrs Whitlock."
When he had left, I called to Susan that I would ride into town. With quick, determined stride, I entered the stables and saddled Caesar.
It had been a dry, hot week, and his hooves kicked up the dirt behind us, forming a haze of dust. Within half an hour, I reached the bank, and entered it, throwing the double doors open.
The accountants looked up from their papers with a disdained look at me. I approached one of them. "I wish to see Mr Harrods."
"He is currently not available." The man replied cooly.
"Thank you, I will just go in then." I shot him a bright smile and passed him, ignoring his protests. I knew that the boss of the bank was there, and I would not be kept.
I had the grace to knock before I entered. Joseph Harrods did not look pleased.
"Mr Harrods." I said as I approached him, stepping proudly and determinedly to his desk, not sitting down so I looked down on him. I was well aware of my aristocratic appearance and my engaging effect on people. "Why am I still not granted access to my late husband's money?"
"Mrs Whitlock, you are behaving irrationally."
"I do not. Your decision and actions are irrational. I am the legal heir to Jasper's Whitlock's inheritance, and I do not see why the negotiations are still going on."
"You have to understand..."
"No, Mr Harrods, I think it is you who needs to understand. There is nothing that would even hint at a right of Richard Whitlock and his family to inherit my husband's wealth. I demand an immediate settlement of this issue."
I saw Mr Harrods' arrogant face falter as he faced my determined appearance, my imperious voice. He pulled a sheet of parchment towards him and set his name underneath it, then handed it to me.
Georgiana Whitlock is herewith granted access to her late husband's, Jasper Whitlock's, account.
30th August 1866
It has been so long ago that I lost my beloved husband, and yet I feel his presence everywhere, everyday.
Jonathan has grown so quickly, and is such a bright young boy. It grieves me so that his father is not here to watch him grow, to take him out on rides and whatnot. Felicity is more and more taking after Jasper, and I am certain she will look like him once she is grown up.
I have won the struggle for my husband's legacy, but the major struggle still lays before me: Living my life without Jasper at my side.
No P.O.V.
"I want to see my family, Maria."
Shock surged through her, as well as jealousy and anger. It had been easy to keep Jasper from returning to his family, since she made him believe he would kill them, unable as he was to restrain himself. It also served her cause that he could not remember her, only that he knew he had been married. Maria wasn't even sure that he knew he had children.
Now that his bloodlust had ceased, however, she lost that hold on him. The thought of him returning to his wife, to another woman, was unbearable to her.
She watched her general as he stood before her, the most handsome man she had ever met. She wanted him, only him, and no other woman should ever call him her lover but herself. Jealous furtiveness drove her. "You can't, Jasper. Your wife, your children...they're dead."
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