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Heartless
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2021-02-25 04:58:22“What’s past is past?” Meg asked, struggling to keep her voice down. “No, what’s past is present, Mother. It continues to follow me around everywhere I go. Every time I close my eyes. Every time I lay my head down to sleep. You can’t honestly think that, can you? That I should simply forget what’s happened to me here?”
As Meg’s eyes bore holes through her uncle, without looking up, he quietly said, “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
She couldn’t quite believe her ears. She looked at Charlie and saw his jaw set in such a way she knew he was doing his best not to fly out of his seat and knock her uncle into the next room. “Don’t you dare!” Meg said, her tone menacing. “Don’t you dare sit there and make it seem like an accident. Like you didn’t mean to come into my room night after night to torture me, to make me feel helpless, to invade my personal space, my own bo
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Meg’s tears had dried up by the time her mother finished speaking, and even though the reasoning seemed sound, Meg didn’t think it was much of an excuse. Her entire life she had been of the opinion her mother was also evil, just like her uncle, and she wasn’t able to budge her stance one bit based on these remarks. “Mother, we’ve decided we will marry before my birthday on one condition, and one condition only.”Mildred’s face perked up just a bit as she turned to face her daughter. “What’s that?”“You will testify to what you witnessed the day Bertram took advantage of me, just before I left to board Titanic.” The woman was already shaking her head back and forth. “If you want to show me that you truly do care about me, then you will do this. Otherwise, we will wait, and you will get nothing. And you can rest assured there will be no more wire transfers of funds from the Ashtons.&rd
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That explanation made the rage well up inside of Meg again. “She needed help—so you dropped everything to help her? Where were you when my uncle was carrying me up the stairs?” She was shouting now, and she glanced back at Charlie to see he’d taken a few steps in her direction. She shook her head at him to let him know she was all right.“I tried to follow him, I really did,” Ezra said, moving closer to her himself. “Your mother stopped me. She said… she said if I did anything to intervene, she’d let my father go. Meg, what was I to do? My father was so ill. He needed the money he earned here to pay for his medication. Now… he’s on his deathbed, Meg. If I had tried to stop your uncle, my father would be out on the streets and likely dead.” He had tears in his eyes; his voice was imploring. He looked the picture of a son in misery, unable to help his father.“So you chose to leave him behind
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Meg was still able to keep up with his words, but they’d begun to lose meaning. The feel of Charlie’s hand on her shoulder gave her courage. “Your father believes that my mother poisoned my father?”Ezra nodded once, sharply.Charlie’s grip tightened, and Meg pressed down hard on the lids of all of the boxes in her mind—including the one that held memories of her da. Thoughts of him pushing her on the swing, just under the tree there. The pram she’d pushed around the garden after he brought it back from his trip to New York. The lilacs he’d pick and tuck behind her ear, calling her his little flower when he did so. Without wiping the tears from her cheeks, Meg looked Ezra directly in the eyes and said, “What happened to Charlotte?”“I don’t know,” Ezra mumbled, seemingly shocked that she’d reversed topics so quickly.“What happened to her?” she asked again, mor
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They began to make their way through the kitchen, and Meg noticed Tessa had moved on to some sort of baking. She offered a smile but said nothing as they passed through. Meg made a mental note to make sure that Tessa received enough money that she wouldn’t have to work anymore. It was the least she could do for the woman who’d served her mother and put up with her uncle for so long.Mildred was standing in the foyer speaking to an officer Meg didn’t recognize. The other officers Det. Weber had mentioned must have arrived, because several men in uniforms stood both inside the entryway and on the porch. Officer Brown was speaking to the ones on the porch, and Meg decided to wait for him to notice her rather than announce her presence and be forced to get on with her report of what happened with her uncle any sooner than necessary.“Mary Margaret,” Mildred said, turning to face her daughter. “You’ve returned. Did you get everythin
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She’d been in Charlie’s bedroom a few times before, but this time was certainly different. Butterflies fluttered around her stomach, some of the nervous variety, but most of them fueled by excitement.They were sitting on the edge of his bed, the door closed and locked, the drapes pulled tightly. She knew that there were a few servants elsewhere in the house, but they would leave the couple undisturbed at least until mid-morning. Glancing up at him, she could see that he felt much the same way that she did.“It turned out quite well, don’t you think?” Charlie asked, clearly meaning the wedding.“Yes,” Meg nodded.“Even though a few guests certainly had too much to drink.”She giggled, thinking of one older gentleman who had made quite a spectacle of himself trying to climb atop one of the tables to dance. He had been escorted out, but Meg was thankful for the diversion. For once, everyone wasn&r
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Ruth looked adorable in her pink dress, which hung to the floor, nearly tripping her as she danced around her parents. Kelly had stood beside Meg, along with Grace, and Charlie had been proud to have both Walter—who turned out to be every bit as silly as Charlie had described—and Quincy on his side.Now, it was all over, except for the reception. Then, Meg would return to Charlie’s house—the house they would share together—and embark on a new adventure, that of being Mrs. Charles Ashton.“Meg Ashton,” she said aloud, once the last of the well-wishers had moved along. “What do you think?”Charlie was already grinning from ear to ear, but his face brightened even more. “I think it sounds remarkable.”“That’s my name now, you know? Meg Ashton.”“What about Mary Margaret Ashton?” he asked, leaning close to her ear.“Heaven’s no. That&rsquo
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“The brain is still quite a mystery,” Dr. Morgan was saying as he sat across from Charlie in a plush velvet chair, Dr. Shaw seated nearby. Circles of smoke lingered around them from the cigars of several dozen gentlemen seated in similar groupings, discussing business and other inconsequentialities. Jonathan and Edward were sitting across the room, and Charlie glanced in his friend’s direction every once in a while, noting that he seemed unusually amused about something.“I’ve been reading Freud’s theories of psychoanalysis,” Charlie said with a nod. “Do you think there’s any truth to his findings? Particularly regarding the unconscious mind?”Dr. Morgan nodded. “I can’t say that I completely agree with all that Freud has to say, but I do with his theory that the unconscious mind plays a larger role in our actions than we previously understood.”“Do you believe memories can be tr
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They began to make their way through the kitchen, and Meg noticed Tessa had moved on to some sort of baking. She offered a smile but said nothing as they passed through. Meg made a mental note to make sure that Tessa received enough money that she wouldn’t have to work anymore. It was the least she could do for the woman who’d served her mother and put up with her uncle for so long.Mildred was standing in the foyer speaking to an officer Meg didn’t recognize. The other officers Det. Weber had mentioned must have arrived, because several men in uniforms stood both inside the entryway and on the porch. Officer Brown was speaking to the ones on the porch, and Meg decided to wait for him to notice her rather than announce her presence and be forced to get on with her report of what happened with her uncle any sooner than necessary.“Mary Margaret,” Mildred said, turning to face her daughter. “You’ve returned. Did you get everythin
