Maude's Trials (Widows of Virginia #1)(3)

Chapter 3


Someone knocked on her bedroom door. A bedroom that was larger than their biggest room back home.

“Excuse me ma’am, you have a visitor,” the servant, Fidelis, they had assigned to her the day before announced through the door.

Maude turned away from the dressing table mirror one earing still in her hand. She was almost ready for breakfast. Or at least ready to be called for breakfast. Everything is so official here. She wasn’t even sure she was meant to be up this early, but you can’t erase a lifelong habit in a day. So she had already made her prayers and made her bed.

But apparently she wasn’t the only one up early. A visitor?

“Come in, please,” she said.

Nobody had told her she would be receiving visitors.

Fidelis opened the door and let a young lady through, before bowing and leaving them alone. The woman marched into the room and looked Maude up and down.

“I’m sorry for coming unannounced, Maude Lafayette.” With her head up, the stranger walked up to the dressing table, her silk and lace black gown sweeping the floor.

She posed in front of the mirror, almost ignoring Maude, and fixed her make up with her fingers before closing her fan. She smiled in a somewhat cruel way and finally turned to Maude.

“Hello.” Maude stood up lost for words. Who was this strange woman?

They stared at each other for a brief moment in silence.

“Oh, how inconsiderate of me, I should have started with an introduction.” The woman opened the fan again and swayed it gently near her pretty face. “Everyone here knows my name, even two towns over. But where are my manners?” She giggled.

Exactly, where? Maude thought.

“I’m Claire Ashton. You should feel honored by my visit. I don’t take invites from just anyone.” She cleared her throat, and then fanned her face. “Anyway, I will not take long.”

She rolled her eyes, and her smile instantly faded. Maude sensed something bad was about to happen, but she determined to stay polite.

“It’s nice to meet you, Claire. How can I help you?”

“I heard that Raymond got himself a mail order bride. I couldn’t believe that, I had to come and see you with my own eyes.”

Was it wrong to be a mail order bride? Maude didn’t know how to react to that. Sure, some people objected, but they had kept everything proper. She wrote no indiscretions in the letters and she had her own room at the ranch until they married…

She folded her hands and stayed quiet.

“How does it feel to be a mail order bride? I mean... why would someone rich and handsome like Raymond take a poor spinster woman for a wife?”

The handsome part was evident, but rich, was something Maude was surprised by when she arrived. In the letters Raymond only said he was able to support her and her children. He didn’t mention the vast ranch, servants and a lavishly decorated house. It was as if Claire had voiced her own concerns. Why would a successful man like Raymond want a mail order bride, and a widow with children at that?

“That’s a very good question, ma’am, but don’t you think you are asking the wrong person?” Maude finally got her words. She spoke calmly, but with a firmness in her voice.

“Nobody makes fun of me, woman!” Claire raised her voice.

“I would not dare such a thing… but did you come here just to see what a mail order bride looks like?” Maude maintained her tone.

Claire adjusted her hair, cleared her throat and perched at the edge of the nearby armchair.

“You’re right and there’s no point wasting time on small talk. I came here to let you know that you are most unfortunate. It’s not really your fault.” Claire looked Maude up and down again as if to say the opposite, but then continued in a sweeter voice. “You see, you’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Maude took a step back.

“Oh, you’ll see soon enough.” Claire snickered and snapped her fingers. A tall black gentleman entered the room.

Maude stared at the servant who must have been stood just outside her door. He carried a brown leather bag, which he handed over to Claire. Being careful with her delicate fingers and long, painted fingernails, Claire pulled out a file.

“I don’t have to waste my breath.” She opened the stack of papers on a bookmarked page and handed it over to Maude. “I assume you can read?”

Maude reached out for the file with shaking fingers. What could the paperwork be hiding? And how could it pertain to her? Her eyes quickly skimmed through the first few lines of the document.

“This can’t be happening,” Maude whispered barely remaining standing.

She had not seen that coming.

Claire took away the file and handed it back to her servant. “Oh please! Just don’t put up a show now. I don’t know how to deal with crybabies.”

Maude sat on the bed, devastated. My mother was right. I shouldn’t have done this. I should have gone back home when I still had the chance. She let her tears flow, not saying a word.

“Well, take care now, Maude Lafayette.”

Claire stood up, dusted her gown, brushed her hair with her hands and walked out of Maude’s room. “Such a horrible name…” she murmured as the servant closed the door behind her.