Can my American readers please read the Author's note? I need your help with something!
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Chapter Sixteen
Maggie decided to go off to visit some children that she’d met before leaving Max alone on the porch.
It was on a day like today that he did dearly miss his family. He did not at all regret journeying to America with Maggie but the trip had only solidified his belief that England was his home. He did look forward to when they would return. He looked forward to seeing his father, Rose and sisters. He looked forward to being in his familiar surroundings and going about his day as usual. He did want to make more of his life though. It had been a very recent decision. He would use his Uncle Emmett’s connections to secure an artist’s apprenticeship at the Royal Court. He wanted to paint official portraits and bring in an income. He couldn’t spend his days doodling away waiting for his father to entrust him with the running of the hotel empire. Truth be told, Rebecca would do a better job at that. She was more academic than Max was.
“Good afternoon, Mr Montgomery.”
That slick voice that Max had grown to resent interrupted his thoughts. He looked up to see Zachary standing before him with his hands behind his back. He flashed him a confident smile.
“Good afternoon, Mr Kincaid,” mumbled Max in reply. He was disinterested in listening to whatever suave boasting Zachary had come to him for. He was not as easily charmed as women were, though he was glad Maggie had confessed that she did not intend to pursue the romance any further. That was a great comfort to him.
“Do you mind if I sit down?” he asked politely, gesturing to the vacant seat beside Max.
Yes, Max thought bitterly. “No,” he reluctantly replied.
Zachary sat down and sighed, looking out onto the sculpted gardens. “You and Miss Maggie are very close.” It was not a question, merely an observation.
What was it with this family and their need to question his friendship with Maggie? It was almost as if they’d never seen gender opposite friends before. “Yes,” he muttered.
“I do hope you understand that this closeness will have to stop very soon,” he continued, not looking at Max.
Max furrowed his brows and turned to look at him. “I beg your pardon.”
“I won’t have any woman of mine spending time with other men, Mr Montgomery. That would reflect poorly on me and I don’t like my belongings wandering away from me, you see.” His tone was as smooth as silk, as if he were casually discussing the changing weather.
“That would imply that Maggie is your possession, Mr Kincaid, which she clearly is not,” Max replied icily.
“Well, you mustn’t have heard the news,” he remarked. “Miss Maggie and I came to an understanding while we were playing town ball. A courtship will soon commence and not long after, a wedding.”
Max scoffed, knowing this to be a lie. “Maggie is not interested in pursuing anything with you,” he snapped, “so I suggest that you leave her alone. Go and find another heiress for you are wasting your time with mine.” Max internally chided himself. He could not get carried away. Joanna already had deduced his feelings for Maggie, he did not want Zachary to join in!
Zachary’s lips upturned into a wicked smile. “Yours?” He chuckled. “I don’t think so.” He rose from the porch swing and combed his dark hair with his fingers. “I’ve never failed at charming a young woman into bed, Mr Montgomery, so I doubt I’ll fail with this one. Even if she is a little reluctant to come down to the church, she won’t have a choice once she’s realised she’s ruined without a wedding.”
Max growled and stood up to look the cunning man in the eye. “You lay a finger on a single hair on her head and I’ll –”
“You’ll what?” challenged Zachary condescendingly. “You’ll tell Maggie?” He sniggered. “I’ll flash her a smile and throw in a compliment or two and I’ll have her eating out of the palm of my hand. All you’ll look like is a desperate man trying to stop his friend from growing up.”
“She won’t have you,” warned Max furiously.
“She’s a woman,” said Zachary simply. “They are fickle creatures. Watch and learn, Mr Montgomery, and you might finally lose your virtuous status.” He laughed and turned on his heel before walking in the direction of the cotton fields.
That was the last straw. Max did not care that they had only been on the plantation a short while. Enough was enough. It was obvious this family’s intention was to manipulate Maggie in whatever way they could. He wasn’t going to let it happen. They were going to leave immediately.
He huffed impatiently before starting around the house to find the front door. He would pack their things and they would travel for New York before the sun was down. He would drag Maggie kicking and screaming if he had to. This place was dangerous.
As he opened the front door and held it ajar he could hear an angry voice inside belonging to Joanna. What was she complaining about now? And was the target of her anger to receive a slap like he did?
“It isn’t working, Isaac!” she hissed. “Zachary thinks that he has Maggie in the palm of his hand but I can see that he doesn’t. She resists. She has far too much brain in that head of hers!”
Max smirked. He was glad that she knew their plan was failing.
“All is not lost, Jo,” Isaac replied reassuringly. “It has only been a few days. Give them time.”
“We don’t have time!” Joanna huffed, though Max could sense quite a bit of emotion in her voice. “You are ten times worse now than when you went away. I can see it! I don’t know how much longer you have, my darling, and we needed Zachary and Maggie to be married yesterday!”
Max’s eyes widened. Isaac was ill. Badly, it seemed, and he wouldn’t survive. Max did not trust the man but he certainly did not wish him harm.
“It will happen, Jo,” promised Isaac. “I will persuade Maggie if I have to. I want the plantation to go to Zachary as much as you do but I can’t force her.”
“Perhaps you should force her!” Joanna urged. “You are her father, you can tell her what to do! It will be so much easier, legally, to entrust the plantation to your daughter’s husband than having to put it into his name posthumously.” Max could hear a sob escape Joanna’s lips.
“Jo, if I force a marriage and she writes home about it, then I can guarantee you her Brit father will be here harassing you and doing everything he can to secure his little girl a divorce and a one way ticket back to England.”
“I don’t care,” huffed Joanna, “so long as Zachary is the master here.”
“Now, Jo,” scolded Isaac.
Max decided to make his presence known. He pushed open the door and Isaac and Joanna jumped. Realisation flooded their faces when they knew that Max had heard every word. “If you think for a second that I will let any one of you vindictive people manipulate Maggie into anything that she does not decide for herself then you are dreaming!” he exclaimed angrily.
Isaac held his hands up in defence. “Max, nobody is trying to manipulate Maggie. I just want to ensure the safety and prosperity of my plantation. Maggie doesn’t have a clue about running a plantation but Zachary does. He’s been helping me since he was a boy. It’s the smart thing to do.”
Max scoffed. “Is that why you’ve brought her here?” he asked is disbelief. “You never wanted to just know your daughter, did you? My uncle was right not to trust you.”
“No,” Isaac said firmly. “I never lied to Maggie about that. I have been searching for her for a long time and I always regretted not knowing her in her childhood. My search for her only accelerated after my unfortunate diagnosis.”
Max wondered what was wrong with Isaac, but he honestly did not care to ask in that moment. “Well, whatever you are doing stops now. I am taking her home to England.”
“You can’t do that!” Joanna exclaimed.
“Watch me,” Max retorted.
“No, no, I understand.” Isaac nodded. “But let me speak to her first. If she decides to leave afterwards then I won’t object. That’s a promise.”
Isaac’s word did not mean anything to Max. “I will be there when you speak to her. There will not be any manipulation.”
“Of course,” Isaac allowed.
Maggie watched in delight as Anthony and Albert ate hungrily. She had collected the remains of their luncheon on a single dish and had brought it to the boys. If Nora couldn’t have the day to spend with them then Maggie would do all that she could to ensure that they had a happy Christmas.
“Thank you so much, Miss Maggie,” Albert mumbled through a full mouth of cold turkey sandwich.
“You are very welcome, Albert.” Maggie smiled.
Anthony and Albert had never eaten pudding before and they shovelled the sweet pieces of pie into their mouths.
Anthony, whom Nora had said thought Maggie was easy on the eyes, spied Maggie shyly. His opinion towards her had dramatically changed now that he knew she was kind. “You are a real kind lady, Miss Maggie. I ain’t never met a lady like you before.”
“Thank you, Anthony,” Maggie said gratefully. “Have you had a nice Christmas?” she asked.
Anthony nodded enthusiastically. “Best one yet,” he replied happily.
Maggie was happy to hear that. At that moment, though, Anthony’s eyes widened with fright and he slapped the pie that his brother was holding away. “Anthony,” she scolded.
“Come on,” he urged his brother, pulling him to his feet before scurrying away.
Maggie soon saw that the reason they had quickly departed was because Isaac and Max were heading towards her. Maggie quickly tidied the food back onto the dish and then rose to her feet.
As they drew closer she could see that Max was not at all pleased and Isaac looked quite tense. What had occurred at the house in her absence?
“Is everything alright?” Maggie asked when they were in earshot.
Max merely pursed his lips and looked to Isaac. Isaac smiled meekly as they joined her.
“Maggie, I want you to understand that you being here is very important to me and I’m so glad that I found you,” Isaac began.
Max cleared his throat obviously.
Isaac looked to be irritated by him. “But I have not been completely honest with you,” he admitted.
Maggie furrowed her eyebrows. “How so?” she demanded to know. Clearly Max was aware the deceit. He had obviously brought Isaac down to see her so that the deceit could be confessed.
“It is true that I have been searching for you for quite some time,” he began. “My search became more desperate about a year ago when I started experiencing peculiar symptoms.”
“Symptoms?” Maggie repeated.
“Symptoms,” confirmed Isaac. “Pain, weakness and cramping in my muscles. I now experience excruciating amyotrophy in all of my muscles that I control with copious amounts of laudanum whenever I can get my hands on it. My doctors describe it as a nervous disease without a cure. It will only progress to the point where I will …” Isaac choked. The poor man was dying and there was nothing that anyone could do.
“Die,” breathed Maggie, finishing his sentence. She honestly did not know how to feel. She didn’t know the man as her father but she did not want him to die, especially in not a cruel and painful way.
“Would you like to tell her the rest?” Max prompted coldly. The argument that they had engaged in had clearly been quite heated for Max to be so insensitive.
“I was getting to that,” Isaac snapped. “Zachary was intended for you,” he admitted, “because Jo and I wanted to ensure that the plantation would be left to someone who knew how to run it.”
And there it was. The true reason for her being in Georgia. How could she have been so foolish? Isaac hadn’t want to bring her to Georgia to show Maggie her inheritance, he’d wanted to bring Maggie to Georgia to marry her to the real person that Isaac wanted to leave his legacy to.
Could she be angry at a dying man? She could, if only for a little while.
“Excuse me,” she said quietly. “I wish to be left alone for a while.” She quickly lifted up the hem of her skirt and began to run back towards the house. She could hear Max calling after her but she ignored him. She really did want to be alone.
Maggie burst through the front door of the plantation house and ignored a startled Joanna in the sitting room. She headed directly to the stairs. Maggie took them two at a time before locking herself in her room. She also locked the balcony door to stop Max from entering that way if he chose to.
She wished she could talk to her mother. She wished she could cuddle up with her in bed as she did when she was a child. Maggie decided to write her that very minute. Her inks and paper were still inside her trunk so she pulled out the heavy case from underneath the bed. She began to rummage through the remainder of her belongings looking for her stationery but paused when her fingertips ran over something stiff in the silk lining of the trunk. She realised there was a tear in the lining and something was hidden inside.
She pulled the stowaway out and smiled when she realised what it was. It was something she had been aching for.
Her mother had hidden a letter for her. On the front, in her handwriting, she’d written Maggie.
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Some of you may have recognised the symptoms, but Isaac has been dignosed with ALS, or motor neurone disease. Everyone was doing the Ice Bucket Challenge when I was planning this chapter so I thought I would include it. My neighbour was diagnosed with ALS in 2010. We didn't know him that well but it was really sad. His family bought a big van to transport him in his wheelchair around when he got really bad and then one day the van was gone and he'd passed away. It was such a sad thing and it's a tragic disease.
But on a happy and nostalgic note, hiding letters in my bags was something my mum used to do when I went on school camps. I was a VERY shy kid and leaving home for school camp was literally my worst nightmare when I was little. I used to ball my eyes out. But mum would hide a letter in my bag and I would find it when I was unpacking. On my first school camp she put bright pink lipstick on and kissed the page twice, a goodnight kiss for each night I was away :) I was 8, and I was grateful :) When I was 10 I went on a camp called Somer's camp which is supposed to build confidence in the people that go, so naturally my school chose me to go. That was hard because I insulted a Canadian on my first day by asking if she was American (at 10 I don't think I'd ever heard of Canada!) so she spent the rest of the 9 days picking on me but I did meet some nice girls that stuck up for me, girls that I'm still friends with today. I actually met my best friend Tamlyn there but we didn't become friends until high school :P School camps got easier as I got older. Year 9 was Philip Island and that was awesome and Year 12 camp was just a hilarious bonding camp for our last year.
Can my American readers please tell me what you call English people? We call them poms and I didn't realise that wasn't a universal thing. Not picking on the English, just need to know for when some particular American people get a bit angry towards the English :P I've heard the English call Aussies jaffas which is hilarious. We call Americans yanks but what your nickname for the English. I tried searching the internet but couldn't find what I was looking for. Thanks heaps!!
Vote and comment :) xx