All Chapters of The Maidens (Crutoe Sisters): Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

"My lady?" Eliza's voice jolted me out of my thoughts."I will be there shortly." She left."I know what you're thinking." Hailey began. "You can easily go to the garden and ask him yourself, rather than giving yourself a headache thinking about it." I straightened, she was right."I need to fix my look." I said hastily, looking on the dressing table for a hairbrush."Uhm, Gwen...? You should change your dress, it's ripped at the back." I turned my back to the mirror to see for myself; it was indeed ripped, not much but enough to make sure I wasn't seen in it again if I'm to be a proper Duchess. Poor dress, that rapist ripped it and I got it mended, now Julien has ripped it too.Hailey helped me change my dress, brush my hair and made sure I looked presentable. Then I headed out in search of the garden. It wasn't that hard to find since it was the same place Julien and I got married; I couldn't forget such a place.Robert was sitting on a be

The week that followed after that was bliss. I was reintroduced to my brother-in-law who looked a lot like Julien but was a little more childish, yet he was a father of three children? I liked him immediately I met him. Of course, Martha and I made up and I spent more time in the ladies' company. Hailey, Martha, Erica and I went into the town to look around and order dresses and jewelry; we attended tea parties with Martha and I was introduced as Julien's wife which wasn't necessary as most of the ladies were present on the night we got married.After three days, Robert left with his family and Hailey left soon after as the letters from her beloved Lord Roland were almost flooding her out of the mansion.I finally met my mother-in-law for the first time and liked her instantly; she was a quiet woman who preferred being locked up in her room, lost in the world of books. She was funny and kind whenever she could take her eyes off her books and she gave me her full blessi

"What are you doing here?" Martha was the first one to speak up. Everyone else, including myself was just staring at her. I wondered why she was back, but more importantly, I wondered if Julien still loved her. Trying to distract myself, I looked past Lola to the fray old woman in a habit, standing behind her. Who was she? "Don't flatter yourself, Martha, I'm not here for you." Lola said in a calm voice, looking directly at Julien. "If you're thinking you can salvage whatever remained of your relationship with Julien, it's too late now; he's married to a far better woman than you will ever be." At that, Lola's eyes rested on me and she frowned for a moment, but then her eyes darted back to Julien. "I think I understand your kind of love now, it was so easy for you to replace me and with a younger woman." "Replace you?!" Martha was getting angry and everyone knew that, but she bit her tongue and turned to Eden. "Honey, please take the other children to

I woke up in an unfamiliar room, the walls and the furniture were nothing like the ones in Arana, so I knew for certain I wasn't home.The first thing I did was to feel my stomach, scared to find it flat and my baby gone; it was still big, yet I was scared the accident may have affected the baby.If I wasn't at Arana or at Penny's house? Where was I? And where's Martha and Arthur? Did the bandits harm them?I tried sitting up but I felt so weak! Why wasn't anyone around? Was I kidnapped? "Gwen!" I looked towards the door immediately, expecting to see Martha but I was staring at a beautiful redhead. How did she know my name? And she looked so worried for me."Don't worry, you're alright." She came over to sit next to me on the bed, rubbing the back of my palm affectionately. I kept staring at her, she looked so familiar but I couldn't remember how I knew her."Are you in pain? Do you need anything?""My baby?" I choked out. "Is m

I looked down at the box, it might have all the answers I need, I just had to read all the letters and check for clues; anything at all that could prove that Albert was William's son.I spent the rest of the night reading each letter carefully; you could tell how much William loved his Jane from the words he used. And if Janette kept the letters and always went to them when she was alive, then she must have loved him too. Why didn't they end up together? Was it because of the pregnancy? Somehow, I doubted that such a thing could destroy their love, it felt too strong.By the wee hours of the morning, I had just one letter left and so far none of the other letters mentioned a baby. All I could find out was that Jane never wanted a simple life, rather she wanted a comfortable and respectable life with status and wealth; that was enough reason to blackmail a Duke, but I couldn't jump to conclusions yet. I also found out that William was a gardener and he always sent her d