Maude's Trials (Widows of Virginia #1)(10)

“Two days.”





Chapter 9


Dear God, why do you let all this happen? Raymond has been a good man, a man of faith, fair to his workers and a perfect gentleman to her. Why? Why did he have to lose everything to someone like Claire?

Maude almost lost hope. She stood at the window watching the sunrise, hoping with it comes something new. It had been a week since both her and Raymond, as well as the staff who refused to stay back and work for the Ashtons, moved to Byron’s house.

“I see that your soul is tortured by something, my child.” An old and gentle voice spoke to her. Byron’s Mother, Esther, tapped her shoulder.

“I don’t know what to do, mother Esther. Maybe I should have gone back to Virginia. It feels like the longer I stay the more troubles arise. With me gone, at least Raymond would have the freedom to decide. One less problem on his shoulders.” Maude wiped her tears. “I miss my children.”

It would be just like any other day I came home empty handed. They will be sad, but they will forgive me soon enough.

“I understand how you feel my dear. But don’t make any rash decisions.” Esther made her sit down. “Tell me what happened? Byron only mentioned briefly the situation. Maybe we can come up with an idea together.”

Thinking of everything that had happened brought tears to Maude’s eyes. But Esther was a kind and gentle woman. She whole heartedly took in Maude after their eviction. But a week had gone by, and nothing had changed. Maude had not seen much of Raymond, but she knew he was deep in the sea of desperation.

Somehow she trusted Esther. While the woman looked nothing like her Ma, there was something in her tone of voice that made Maude feel safe to confide in Esther.

“Don’t worry my child; I don’t think your battle is over yet. Maybe there is something we can do.”

“I thought we’d run out of options. What could we do if the menfolk found no solution?” Maude could not think of anything new.

“There’s something about the contract that bothers me. My husband was party to it too and with such a controversial matter, he would have mentioned something to me back then. The children were so young...” She paused lost in her memories.

“But Claire has the only copy,” Maude said. “She’s not letting it out of her sight and Raymond searched everywhere for his father’s copy, to no avail.”

She didn’t want to add that she suspected Rachael might have had something to do with the disappearance of the papers.

“Ah, but as I said, there were three copies. I should have my husband’s one still somewhere in the attic.” Esther smiled bringing hope into Maude’s sad day.

“You really think so? Oh, mother Esther, maybe we can find something in there!”

“Come with me. I’ll need some help digging through the boxes. Not ever throwing out any paperwork means, there is a lot of it.” She laughed and with a crack of her elderly knees got up. “Let’s see what we can find.”

They searched box after box, pile after pile, but while Esther kept all her husband’s documents, she did not keep them in order. But Maude would not give up until every page had been turned. She pushed aside an old portrait in a rusty golden frame and pulled out a dusty briefcase.

“I think I found it.” Maude called Esther rummaging at the other end of the room.

The woman walked up to her and glanced over Maude’s shoulder. “Yes. That is it. Thank the Lord we found it, I was starting to get worried.”

She turned towards the ladder. “Let’s take it downstairs, where we can read it all in peace. And with better light.”

Maude nodded and they made their way to the parlor. Once seated, Esther put on her glasses and lifted the first dusty and yellowed page.

“Hmmm. My eyes aren’t what they used to be, my child.” She let her hand down. “Even with my glasses on, the letters have faded quite a bit. You might need to go through these yourself, while I make sure we have some cake.”

Maude grabbed the page eagerly. “Thank you so much, mother Esther. You’ve already helped us more than you can imagine.”

The older woman smiled at her and got up. Her dress rustling as she rushed to check up on her servant’s baking.

Maude leaned forward and begun studying the document. Page by page, she looked through the familiar words. It was all in there, just like in Claire’s copy. This page is new… Maude paused and checked over the paper in her hand again. Over time she also found a few discrepancies in the wording of the pages that otherwise seemed to match.

“You have to excuse an older woman taking her afternoon nap.” Esther walked back in a few hours later. “Did you find anything, child?”

“I think this is exactly what Raymond needs.” Maude waved with a page. Once Esther sat down she handed the documents over and pointed out what she had found.

“Claire must have redacted her copy.”

“You’re right. How disgraceful. Then again, her father always liked to stack the odds in his favor too. I never liked those Ashtons much.” Esther frowned. “We’ll make all this right, I’ll see to that.”

Maude held Esther’s hand in her own. She couldn’t thank her enough. “Mother Esther, I don’t know what we’d do without you.”