The Fourth Mistress

It was only seven past nine, and Louise wondered who wanted to meet her this early morning, especially when it was Sunday. She took the glass of water that was on the table so that she could drink.

"For me?" Louise asked with a frown on her face in between her sips.

"Yes. They have come here to ask your uncle's permission for your hand in marriage and-oh my!" exclaimed the helper girl as Louise had spat water out of her mouth. "Are you alright?"

Louise coughed, clearing her throat while her eyes watered. Last night neither her uncle nor her aunt had mentioned anything regarding the guests coming to see her.

"I think I must see who it is who has come to visit me right this moment."

"Milady, you mustn't go like this!" Poppy was quick to stop Louise from leaving the room.

"You are right," Louise nodded her head. The helper girl let out a relieved sigh which was short-lived as Louise only tied her hair and picked up the oversized coat, wearing it as she stepped out of the room when Poppy had turned her head in the other direction.

"Milady!" whispered Poppy, her eyes widening in worry.

It wasn't often that Louise received marriage prospects. The few men who did come to talk to her were either for work purposes as Mr. Winkle was unavailable, or they were people who wanted to marry her, but they found her a little too much to handle and were quick to drop the idea of taking her as their domesticated wife.

When Louise had stepped into the living room of the house, she had already expected to see the parents sitting with her uncle and aunt along with the person who intended to marry her.

But her mouth fell slack on seeing the woman who she doubted would ever step her foot in her home. It was Mrs. Viola Reed, and it took her a moment before she greeted,

"Mrs. Reed, what a surprise," said Louise.

Aunt Merlin's eyes turned wide as her niece hadn't changed her clothes from the previous night's nightgown. She had specifically sent Poppy to help Louise in getting ready as quick as possible, knowing Louise was still asleep in her room.

"It's good that Louise is here," chimed Aunt Merlin with a friendly smile on her face. She got up from her seat and said, "Why don't you come and sit here" Louise was quickly ushered to sit between her uncle and aunt with Mrs. Reed and a young woman sitting right across her.

Mrs. Reed sat there on the sofa with a straight back and with her knees and ankles slanted. The woman looked at Louise with the same judgy eyes like the first time they had met in Boville's manor. The woman's lips were set in a thin line and her eyebrows slightly raised.

"It seems like your morning starts quite late than most of the people do, Ms. Evardon," said Mrs. Reed, her gaze not leaving the nest head of the girl who sat in front of her. "Did you have a good sleep?"

If it was in the middle of the day, Louise would have been able to retort something, but it had not only been a few minutes since she had woken up, but the shock was that it was someone from the Reeds family who had come to speak to her. Maybe a couple of splashes of water on her face before she stepped out of the room would have done good, thought Louise to herself.

"I did. They were good dreams," Louise put up a smile on her face, and she looked at the young woman, who had blonde hair and smiling at her now while sitting next to Mrs. Reed.

"This is my daughter, Alison," Mrs. Reed introduced the young woman.

"It is good to finally be able to meet you, Ms. Evardon. I have heard a lot about you," said the young woman named Alison.

"I hope they were decently good," said Louise with an awkward laugh.

Considering how the only interaction she had with Mrs. Reed did not go well, she could only imagine what kind of reputation she had garnered. But it didn't help her understand if Poppy was being serious about what she had said back in the room.

Alison smiled at her warmly and said, "I find it remarkable that you one day want to be a counsel. Are you going to attend this year's exam for it?"

"Maybe next year as I still have a long way to go," answered Louise politely. She would have never guessed that Graham had a sister, and on the sight of the ring in her left hand and ring finger, Louise guessed Alison was married.

"I happened to find out about your work days and decided we would come when you had a holiday so that we wouldn't overwhelm you," smiled Alison.

Louise waited to hear what exactly the Reed's were doing in her home with her uncle and aunt. There were two cups of tea and cookies that were kept on the table. Her eyes looked back at Mrs. Reed.

The woman seemed to have a look of disapproval in her eyes that quickly disappeared when Louise's eyes met hers.

Mrs. Reed then said, "Ms. Evardon, you must be wondering what we are doing here early in the morning," she paused for a moment so that she had Louise's complete attention. "I have come on behalf of my son to seek your hand in marriage."

"I don't understand," Louise whispered.

Aunt Merlin turned to look at her niece, who appeared to be in shock. "Mrs. Reed would like you to marry her son, Louise," said the woman with a soft voice. "She spoke about some things with us that might work well for you."

Louise was taken aback as it was only a few weeks ago where her aunt had not bothered to mention Graham Reed being one of the possible groom prospects.

Louise then spoke her mind, "I do not understand why you would choose me when there are many willing young women who are of your class and status, who will suit better to be next to your son than I. Thank you for considering me, but I doubt we will be a suitable match, Mrs. Reed."

The few conversations she had with Graham Reed felt like they were both locking horns with each other like two rams who didn't want to back down.

Mrs. Reed's composure didn't change.

The posh woman couldn't herself believe that she was sitting in this moderate looking house and in front of the young woman, whom she had not only not considered but had decided to not think about because of her rude manners the last time they had met each other. If it weren't for her son's sake, she wouldn't be here right now. The girl was too quick to decide upon things, and Mrs. Reed could only hope that the girl would learn to accustom herself to the way the Reed's were in time.

"You haven't heard the benefits from the proposal that I have brought with me, Miss Evardon. If you want, why don't we two take a step outside so that we can freely speak," said Mrs. Reed without breaking her eye contact with Louise.

Louise wondered what the woman had on her mind that she believed she would agree to marry the woman's son. "I am fine talking here," replied Louise.

"I believe you want to be part of the legal system, wanting to be a counsel and if I am not wrong, I believe there have been quite some people who came to marry you but either you or they rejected the idea of marriage because of your aspiration," said Mrs. Reed. "You must have already heard about my son, Graham. The death of my last three daughter-in-laws has turned the possibility of my son marrying very difficult. People have nothing but idle chatter."

"I am sorry to hear about that," responded Louise.

The woman's expressions barely changed as she continued to speak, "Graham refuses the idea of marriage with the ones I have brought to him-"

"Does he know that you are here?" asked Louise in curiosity.

"Yes," replied Viola. "It would be odd to bring this subject with you without discussing it with my son first."

That meant Graham was willing to marry her? How strange, thought Louise to herself. Somewhere Louise could see that Mrs. Reed was much more unenthusiastically fervent about wanting to talk to her before Graham would. How interesting.

Mrs. Reed then said, "I know a relative who works closely in the higher department of the legal system. I can put in a good word for you so that you can work in a place which handles the best cases. Graham will have a wife who doesn't believe in the made up stories, and you will have your dream job. How does that sound, Ms. Evardon?"

Louise's eyes widened when she heard about receiving the best cases. In society, the small number of women who worked in this field were often not given the position to work with the high profile cases and were usually put behind the desk to do the paperwork.

"I need some time to think about it. You wouldn't mind if I took some time before I tell you what I decided, would you?" asked Louise to the woman. She needed time to think about it, to evaluate the pros and cons.

Mrs. Reed nodded her head, "Please do. I hope that you will let us know in two days?"

What was the woman thinking? That she was deciding what plant to pot behind her backyard? Asked Louise to herself.

"Forgive me, but I will need at least a week," said Louise.

Alison, Mrs. Reed's daughter, intervened by nodding her head, "Of course, please take your own time to decide it."

"We should get going on. We have some other things to do. Thank you for having us," came the impassive words from the woman.

"It was nice meeting you, Ms. Evardon. I hope to see you soon," said Alison with a warm smile on her lips.

"The pleasure was mine," Louise bowed her head.

The Evardon's and the Reed's exchanged a polite exchange of bow and words before seeing the Reed's taking their leave in their carriage.

"I would have never expected for people like the Reeds to come to visit us today. If I would have known beforehand I would have got a haircut yesterday," said Uncle Hugo.

Aunt Merlin had a small frown on her face, "I doubt even the Reeds thought they would be visiting us," she muttered under her breath. "What are you planning to do, Louise?" she asked, turning to look at her niece.

Louise was stunned by the mere fact that Mrs. Reeds had come to her home to ask her hand to marry her son. It felt surreal. Even though what the woman said made sense, the Reed's were still wealthy people who could suppress the news.

The day passed by sooner than she thought, and the night was quick to approach with the blanket of stars spreading over the sky. Now in the kitchen, Louise was helping her aunt in preparing the dinner while they spoke about what took place in the morning.

She was stirring the ladle in the pot when she heard Aunt Merlin, who was cleaning the spinach, say to her, "You don't have to feel pressured about what happened this morning. Your uncle and I don't think you are a burden to us."

Louise smiled, hearing this, "I know that, Aunt Merlin and I love you and uncle for that."

"And I love you, dearie. I just thought I would tell it out, you know," said her aunt, stopping what she was doing and placing her hand on the rim of the bowl. She looked at Louise. "It just sounds strange that Mrs. Reed would come here, not that anything is wrong with you. You are a perfectly capable young woman, but it is still strange, isn't it?"

Louise turned the ladle around inside the pot, "A few days ago, I asked Mr. Winkle about the case if he had heard about it. The Reed's."

"And what did he say?" asked Aunt Merlin in curiosity.

"Nothing much, just that Graham Reed's first two wives fell sick and the third one died because of an accident by stepping on the stool in the attic," responded Louise in a calm voice. "It was just a series of unfortunate events."

"Is that so. Well, I am glad the rumours that spread around the town aren't true," hummed her aunt. "It must be indeed hard to be viewed as an unlucky person and called as a widower. But it happens only in whispers because Mrs. Reed seems like she could kill someone with her glare. I was watching her this morning, and her expressions barely changed."

Louise chuckled, hearing her aunt's words as if her aunt was astonished about it.

She had given some deep thought to what Mrs. Reed said, and it was hard to disregard the offer as it was enticing. The families who often came to see her wanted her to stop working after marriage, something Louise was unwilling to do.

Mrs. DeRose looked at her niece's back that faced her as Louise was busy looking at the lamb broth she was preparing.

"We don't mind whatever decision you choose, Louise. I know that you don't have anyone particular in your mind except for the files that are in your room. But then, you need to remember that on one side, you are growing older and though we don't like the way things work, men prefer younger girls than the older ones. And on the other side, you need to remember that you won't be his first wife, but fourth wife."

Louise had turned around to listen to her aunt's words. She knew what her aunt meant. It wasn't like she didn't want to marry and have a family. It was only that she never met the right person. She wondered if the idea would turn to normal after becoming someone's fourth wife while she was still considering it. And that someone was Graham Reed.

"I was thinking about talking to him, to know why exactly he agreed to marry me," said Louise,

"That might be a good idea. Who knows what Mrs.Reed is actually up to. I was quite surprised that after that little exchange of words at the soiree, she would choose to come to the house," Aunt Merlin openly expressed her surprise. "You don't know how the man is, closely. Conversations are always good, look at me and your uncle-AH!"

Louise looked startled at her aunt, who had bent down as if she was in pain.

"What happened?!"

She quickly went to her aunt's side to see the knife that was earlier there next to the bowl, the tip had fallen straight into her aunt's feet. Thankfully, her aunt was wearing her house shoes, but because of the soft material that the shoe was made in, the knife's sharp tip had penetrated.

"Here, let me remove it," said Louise to her aunt, and she pulled the knife and helped her aunt in removing the shoe.

Her uncle, who heard her aunt yelp, quickly came to the kitchen to see what happened.

"Aunt Merlin hurt her feet," Louise informed her uncle. It wasn't a deep wound, but it would hurt for two to three days.

"Let me get the first aid box," said Uncle Hugo to disappear and appear back after a few seconds with the first aid box. "How did it happen?" he asked.

Aunt Merlin shrugged her shoulders, "I am not sure. The bowl must have pushed the knife while I was cleaning the spinach. I will be fine," she said as Louise dressed the wound. Her uncle helped her aunt to stand up on her feet.

"Why don't you sit down and I will take care of bringing dinner and cleaning it up. Everything is almost done," Louise offered her aunt an encouraging smile. "You should go and take some rest."

When her aunt left the kitchen with her uncle, Louise looked at the knife and the bowl on the table. Her eyebrows knit together because she hadn't seen her aunt move her hands or the bowl unless she had closed her eyes, which she was sure she hadn't.

Pursing her lips, Louise picked up the knife to clean it in the water with soap before putting it back in its stand.

After finishing dinner and cleaning the utensils, putting the other used items back in the cupboard, Louise blew out the candles in the kitchen. She held a candle lamp in her hand while she made her way to her room. On her way, she blew out the other candles while keeping one of them lit on the dining table so that the room wasn't completely dark.

Entering her room, she closed the room's door before placing the candle lamp on her bedside.

Walking around the room, she changed herself to her nightclothes, making her bedspread proper to make it smooth with fewer wrinkles. She then sat in front of the dressing table. Picking the hairbrush, she started to untangle her hair one section at a time.

She loved her uncle and aunt, but she also missed her parents, wondering what their advice would be to her if they were still alive. Would she have been married if they were alive? Or would they support her decision to study and work? These were the questions that often passed in Louise's mind, and she only hoped that they were doing well in Heaven.

Wind whispered through the open windows, and Louise wondered if it would rain as the clear sky had started to cover with clouds again. Once she had tied her hair into a braid, she combed the ends of her hair before putting the brush down.

With the bit of light that belonged to the night, Louise blew out the candle on her bedside and got on her bed before pulling the blanket and lying on her side.

She stared at the window that she had opened, curtains gently moving because of the wind, and she continued to think about Mrs. Reed's proposition. With her back facing the other side of the bed, Louise had failed to notice the crumple and dip of the sheets.