The Unexpected Heiress. Kaitlin O'Riley
The ugly truth felt like a slap in the face.
How could they have no money? Nothing left? Meredith had never thought about money before.
She had been fortunate enough not to have to wonder where the money came from. She had always lived in this lovely brownstone house in New York City, and had always had enough for her pretty dresses and whatever else she wanted. She never even had to ask for what she needed. Everything had always been provided for her without question.
She and Aunt Delilah hadn’t lived extravagantly by any means, but they had always been more than comfortable. They certainly had not been part of the Knickerbocker social set, but their lives had been quiet and peaceful. Her aunt was occupied with raising Harry and Lilly, and Meredith was content with her writing and her own devices. They mostly waited in limbo for when the Remington brothers would return home after they struck millions in oil.
Money had never been a concern for Meredith before. But now that she thought about it, she was overcome with guilt. Who was she to have never given a second thought to the cost of things? To have never worried if she had enough money for her food and shelter? She had all of this security simply by virtue of being born to a well-off family.
Then a frightening thought occurred to her.
What would her life be like now, without her father’s money to keep her safe and in comfort? What about Aunt Delilah? And Meredith’s two little cousins, Harry and Lilly? What would become of what was left of their little family? Meredith’s heart began to beat faster. For the first time in her life, she was truly worried about her future.
“Well, what shall we do?” she asked her aunt helplessly.
Delilah gave her a pointed look, her eyes intense. “I’ve come up with a plan. But it involves a bit of deception once we arrive in London.”
Puzzled, Meredith shook her head trying to make sense of what her aunt was saying. “Why on earth must we leave New York City?”
“Because there is nowhere else for us to go. I’ve given this a great deal of thought. After paying off the creditors with the proceeds from the sale of this house, we will have just enough to get by for a short time. My sister Lavinia lives in London. Her husband is away in India, and we can stay with her for a while. Although, to be honest, staying with my elder sister is not anything I’m looking forward to. In any case, that’s neither here nor there. I’ve already sent her a telegram with our arrival date. So I suggest you begin packing right away.”
A thick lump rose in Meredith’s throat.
She was to leave New York? The only home she had ever known? To go to London and live with people who were complete strangers to her? Her mind raced with alternate possibilities. She was educated and bright enough to work. In fact, she was certain that she could find employment and support them all somehow.
“Surely there must be another way. . . . Couldn’t we stay here, Aunt Delilah? Perhaps I could get a position somewhere? I could g—”
Delilah interrupted, holding up her small hand to hush Meredith.
“And do what exactly? Get a job writing for a newspaper or a magazine? It’s highly unlikely they would hire a young girl like yourself. You have absolutely no experience, and even if you somehow managed to secure a position somewhere, you certainly would not make enough to support all four of us, and you would not earn near enough to what we would need in order for us to remain in this house. So what other option is there, Meredith? Do you wish to become a lowly governess . . . and have to go live with another family? And what about the children and me? What would we do? No. There is no other option.”
Meredith was about to protest.
Delilah shook her head firmly. “Besides, I wish for my children to finally meet what little family I have left back in England. And since I couldn’t possibly leave you behind, my dear, we must go stay with my sister Lavinia in London. She is Lady Eastwood now, and she will take us in and introduce us around town until we can get ourselves established.”
Hot tears welled in Meredith’s eyes. Her aunt was more than likely right, but Meredith couldn’t help but think there must be another way, although she couldn’t think of one just then.
She certainly didn’t wish to go live with a strange family as a governess and leave Aunt Delilah and Harry and Lilly, who were more like her younger brother and sister than her cousins. She loved them dearly and definitely wanted them all to stay together. After losing her mother when she was so young, and now her father, her aunt and two young cousins were all the family Meredith had left in the world.
Handing Meredith a lace-trimmed handkerchief, Delilah stared at her with kind eyes.
“I understand how you feel, my dear. Truly, I do. I’m quite loathe to leave New York myself. When I first met your uncle, I was a young widow, and I—”
“You were married before?”
This was news to Meredith. The shock of discovering that Aunt Delilah had been married to someone other than her uncle was shocking enough to make Meredith stop crying.
“Yes, my dear, your uncle Joseph was my second husband. My first husband was Peter Martin, and he died of a terrible fever about five years after we married. It was after he passed away that I came to New York with my cousin Laura. It was supposed to be a fun visit to cheer me up, but I never expected to meet someone like Joseph Remington.”
Meredith listened to this chapter of her aunt’s life with rapt attention.
Delilah continued her story. “I fell head over heels in love with him. I never even felt that way about my first husband, and I gave up everything to be with him. My family, my friends, and England. I stayed in America to marry him. Joseph promised me the world and riches beyond my wildest dreams, and I believed him. But after years of being left alone while he and your father went off chasing their oil fields, I’m finally finished with waiting. Now that Joseph is gone and I have nothing left here in New York, returning home to England is my only recourse. I have my two children’s futures to think of. And your future as well, Meredith. I promised your dear mother, before she died, that I would take care of you.”
At those words, Meredith felt tears well again. Thinking of her mother still tended to make her weepy, even though ten years had passed.
Delilah sniffed too. “We simply cannot remain in New York with no place to live, but I certainly don’t intend to live on my sister Lavinia’s charity for the rest of my life. We both need to marry well and secure our futures. We need a fresh start and a change of scenery.”
Delilah took a deep breath and waved her hand at everything in the room. “It will do us both a world of good to leave all this behind.”
A long silence followed. Meredith was lost in the many thoughts that filled her head about their current situation.
“You do see that I’m right, don’t you, my dear?” she asked softly.
It was all too much to take in. She would have to marry. Meredith supposed finding a husband was her only option after all. Marriage would provide security and safety in a hostile world. All girls married at some point, and at twenty years of age, it certainly wasn’t unusual to assume that Meredith would too. It was time. Marriage wouldn’t be the end of the world.
Just the end of her world.
“When do we leave, Auntie?” Meredith managed to choke her question out between her tears.
“In five days.”
Wiping her eyes with her aunt’s lace handkerchief, Meredith sniffed and straightened her spine.
If her aunt could be so pragmatic and brave about this, then certainly Meredith could as well. She had to be courageous, like the heroine in a novel.
Yes, that was it!
What if she regarded it all as a great adventure? Or what if she tried looking at it from a different perspective and viewed it all through