“Father doesn’t care about such things. All you’re thinking about is yourself.”
Mother’s hand snaked out and slapped my face. “Do not speak to me that way, Anna.” She hadn’t struck me in years, nor called me Anna. “You will do as I say and as your father says.”
I put a trembling hand to my cheek.
“When Lord Cumberland arrives tomorrow, you will be here to greet him and to attend to whatever plans he has made. If you do not”—she paused, and my heart slowed—“I will turn Edith out on the street.”
“Edith?”
“I know how close you are to that maid.” She spat out the word as if it tasted sour. “She’ll be the first to go, and I’ll tarnish her name so she will be unemployable. Not even the street urchins will want her.”
I shook my head. Edith could not be dismissed without a reference. Where would she go, especially here, in England? She had no family and would be destitute and ruined. I couldn’t live with myself if I was the cause of her downfall.
Mother must have seen the panic in my eyes, because her smile returned. “I expect you to be ready and eager to please Lord Cumberland tomorrow. If not, Edith will be the least of your concerns.”
Her threat hit right where she intended. I had no choice but to attend a few social functions with Lord Cumberland. It didn’t mean I must marry him. Perhaps I could use the time todissuade him from pursuing me. Delay until my time ran out in 1915. I still had options, but fighting Mother Wells was not one of them. I needed to save my strength for what truly mattered. There were other ways to get around her.
“I do not wish to see Edith put out,” I said.
“Very good.” She turned away, dismissing me with a wave of her hand. “You may go.”
I left as quickly as my feet would carry me and arrived in my room moments later, my cheek still stinging from her hand.
Edith was there, tending to the fire, completely unaware of Mother’s threats.
“I’ve laid out your nightgown,” she said as she stood, her expression warm and comforting. But her smile quickly disappeared. “Did she strike you?”
I wanted to turn my face from that look in her eyes. It made me feel defenseless and weak. Instead, I held my head high. “Mother has decided upon a gentleman.”
“So soon?”
“His name is Lord Cumberland. He’s a marquess who lives on the coastal moors in Whitby.” I didn’t even know where Whitby was located. I’d never seen the moors, nor did I want to see them. They sounded so forlorn and uninviting.
Edith clasped her hands, the firelight dancing across her worried face. “How will you stop her?”
If Edith knew she was the reason I had no choice, she would insist I follow my heart, no matter her fate. But I could not let her sacrifice everything for me. Mother had always proven good on her threats, and she would see that Edith was ruined if I didn’t obey her.
“I will rebuff his advances.” I sounded more confident than I felt. “I will delay his agenda and convince him that I am not a suitable wife.”
I couldn’t even imagine marrying Lord Cumberland. There was nothing about him that appealed to me. Nor could Iimagine staying in England. If I only had a year left in 1914, I wanted to spend it with my father, doing as much good as I could for the social causes I had adopted. I was wasting precious time here.
“I will help you,” Edith said, her voice solemn.
I took her hand and squeezed it, thankful for her friendship.
Not for the first time, I wondered why God had allowed me to be in this time and place. What was the purpose? I belonged in 1774, and my life here was superfluous. Other than Father and Edith and a few friends I volunteered with, I had no one in this path. Mother had prevented me from forming relationships, afraid I would be tempted to stray from the plans she had laid for me. Surely God was aware of my plight and intended for me to leave here.
Edith helped me undress and slip into my nightgown, and then she removed the black headband from my hair and the dangling emeralds from my ears. As she brushed out my curls, all I could think about was tomorrow and waking up with Rebecca and Hannah beside me. They had both grown out of their gowns and shoes. We would have to find a way to make the budget stretch for new ones.
The emerald earrings on the vanity caught my eye. The excess of my life in 1914 mocked my every step in 1774.
Not for the first time, I wished there was a way I could leave the twentieth century early. If I tried to change history, I could forfeit the timeline I tried to change—but there was no way I could change history in 1914. I didn’t know what would happen, so how could I change it?
But Mama knew.
A glimmer of hope sparkled in my heart.
Mama had lived from 1973 to 1994. She knew all sorts of things about the future. Did she know something that could help me?
