Coulson's Wife (The Coulson Series) (4 page)

L
ily stood in the
hallway looking in the open doorway of Mary Ellen’s bedroom. Unaware of the
maid’s presence, Mary Ellen was just about to dump the contents of one dresser
drawer onto her bed.

“Can I help you find
something, Mrs. Coulson?”

Mary Ellen paused a
moment and glanced up to Lily, who held a clean stack of linens. By the
expression on the maid’s face, it was obvious she was stunned. The bedchamber
looked as if someone had ransacked the room. Clean clothes were strewn across
the unmade bed; items that had been stacked neatly in the closet were now
dumped in disorganized heaps atop the clean clothes.

“Oh no!” Mary Ellen
laughed merrily. “I just felt like reorganizing my room.”

“There’s no reason for
you to do that, ma’am. Staff can see to reorganizing your things if you’re
unhappy with how we’ve arranged it.”

“Lily, I understand you’re
simply doing your job. But this is my room, and I’m used to a certain amount of
privacy. In fact, I was planning to discuss this with Mrs. Parker during breakfast.
From here on out, I’ll assume responsibility for maintaining my rooms. This
means, household staff is not to come in here without an express invitation
—
from me
.”

“Excuse me ma’am, but
Mr. Coulson is quite fastidious with the housecleaning. He expects the linens
to be changed regularly, the carpets regularly beat and…”

“Yes, yes, I understand
that,” Mary Ellen interrupted. “I’m fully capable of taking care of two rooms.
Staff can leave the clean linens on the table outside my door in the hallway,
and I’ll place any soiled linens outside my door for you to pick up.”

“I don’t understand,
Mrs. Coulson…” Lily mumbled, clearly confused.

“I want my privacy, Lily.
If those towels are for me, please set them on the dresser and then you can
leave. I’m sure Mrs. Parker has something for you to do. Oh, and please shut
the door on your way out.”

• • • •

“You should have seen
the room!” Lily told Mrs. Parker. The two stood in one corner of the kitchen
while the cook was busy preparing breakfast.

“She’s just nesting, I
suspect,” Mrs. Parker whispered, then glanced up to see if the cook was
eavesdropping.

 “I don’t understand.” Lily
frowned.

“Women in her condition…you
know…”

“Oh, do you think
that’s it?”

“My sister did the very
same thing when she was carrying her first child. Insisted on cleaning all the
closets and the attic, had the entire house torn up. Of course, she decided to
do that just hours before she went into labor. Seems our Mrs. Coulson is an
early nester.”

“I suppose that
explains it. But what are we to do? The room is an absolute mess! I don’t see
how she’s going to get it put back together today. Shouldn’t we insist on
helping her?”

Mrs. Parker chuckled. “Lily,
haven’t you learned your lesson with her yet? Leave the girl be. If she wants
to reorganize her room and make a mess, let her. She isn’t hurting anything.
Mr. Coulson won’t be back for weeks, and I’m sure she’ll have it put together
by then. It’ll keep the girl busy, and I’m sure she’s lonely, doesn’t know
anyone here. Just leave her be.”

“I suppose…”

• • • •

Mary Ellen stood in the
middle of the bedchamber and surveyed the damage.
Perhaps I overdid it,
she
thought and then began to giggle. She understood her impulsive act may not have
the desired effect
—
it could
backfire. What she wanted was to keep her husband in Chicago for the full
month, as he initially planned. She desperately needed this time alone to figure
out some way to deal with her new life.

She hadn’t lied to Lily
when she said she needed her privacy. She did. Each night when her husband
visited her room she felt her privacy
—
and person
—
invaded
in the most intimate and humiliating fashion.

What she feared was
someone from the household staff telling him she was not pregnant
—
that she had started her
monthly. He might cut short his business trip so he could return home to
continue on his quest to make a son.

If household staff kept
barging into her room whenever they felt necessary, keeping track of what linens
she used, surveying the missing rags in the closet or questioning the freshly
washed rags in her private bath area, someone was bound to convey that
information to her husband.

She understood the conjugal
visits would resume when he came home and discovered his wife was not yet with
child. But she was determined to delay that return, and to do that, she needed
to keep the household staff out of her bedchamber.

 The impulsive plan
came to her when she woke up that morning and removed a clean rag from its neat
stack in the cupboard. Even if she simply disposed of the soiled rags, instead
of washing them
—
one of the
nosy staff would notice the dwindling pile and they could easily determine what
that meant.

Now, if one of the staff
happened to come into her room and looked in the cupboard and discovered the
rags missing, they would assume she’d moved them somewhere while
reorganizing
.

Glancing at the clock on
the dresser, Mary Ellen realized she was going to be late for breakfast if she
didn’t hurry up; the room would have to wait. William would be arriving soon to
take her on the promised drive. Before going downstairs, she shoved several
clean rags into her handbag.

• • • •

 “Would you please tell
Mrs. Parker I’d like to speak to her?” Mary Ellen asked one of the maids as she
sat down at the dining room table to eat her breakfast.

“Yes, ma’am. She’s in
the kitchen, I’ll send her out.”

“Thank you.” Mary Ellen
flashed a smile. Snatching a biscuit from her plate, she tore off a small piece
and popped it into her mouth.

A few minutes later
Mrs. Parker entered the dining room.

“You wanted to talk to
me, ma’am?”

“Will you join me for
breakfast so we can chat a moment?”

“Thank you, but I’ve
already eaten.”

“Perhaps some coffee
then?”

“Yes ma’am, if that’s
what you’d like. I’ll fetch an extra cup.”

“That’s not necessary.”
Using her empty and unused coffee cup, Mary Ellen poured the housekeeper a cup
of hot coffee and slid it across the table to the older woman.

“Shall I get you another
cup?” The housekeeper offered before sitting down.

“No thank you. I’m
really not much of a coffee drinker.”

Mrs. Parker nodded and
sat down at the table.

“I imagine Lily’s told
you I’ve my room pretty much torn up.”

“Yes.” Mrs. Parker smiled.
“She did mention something about it.”

“I wanted to reorganize
my room. I don’t mean to offend the staff
—
you had everything put away so lovely
—
but, well, it wasn’t how I wanted it organized and
since it’s my room. I hope there are no hard feelings.”

“No, of course not. But
why don’t you let us help you? You can tell us just where you want things.”

“No!” Mary Ellen didn’t
intend to blurt out the word so enthusiastically. She blushed and then took a
deep breath before continuing. “No, I’d rather do it myself. Please don’t take
this personally. But you see, I was raised with ten brothers. With a household
full of curious and rambunctious boys, I learned to fight for
—
and treasure
—
my privacy. I simply don’t like
other people going through my things
—
regardless
of the intent. I know that may seem a little strange to you, but I hope you
understand.”

“It’ll make it a little
awkward for us to do our job.” Mrs. Parker hadn’t intended to voice her thought
but she spoke before thinking. Hastily she added, “But of course, whatever you
wish, Mrs. Coulson.”

“Like I told Lily, I’m
perfectly capable of keeping my rooms clean. If there’s a problem with my
husband when he returns, I’ll handle it.”

“Whatever you say.”

“Thank you, Mrs.
Parker. Mr. Hunter’s taking me for a ride after breakfast. He tells me I need
to get out of this house, so I’m afraid I’ll be leaving my room in a frightful
mess. But I promise I’ll get back to it when I return. I’d just appreciate it
if the staff would simply ignore it for the moment.”

“Certainly. And I
agree, a ride would be good for you. It might be rather warm later this
afternoon, but I imagine it should be nice this morning. Mr. William has always
been a considerate young man.”

“Have you known him
long?” Mary Ellen found it quaint how Mrs. Parker called him
Mr. William
,
instead of Mr. Hunter.

“Yes. Actually, I’ve
known both men
—
Mr. Randall
and Mr. William, since they were young boys. I used to work for the elder Mr.
Coulson.”

“My husband’s father?”

“Yes.”

“I understand my
husband’s parents were killed in a house fire.”

“Yes. It was when Mr.
Randall was away at college. All very tragic. I was off that day and when I
returned, the main house was burned to the ground. It was horrific, really. Mr.
Randall lost his parents and both his siblings. Two members of the staff were
also killed.”

“Oh, my goodness! What
caused the fire?”

“Some sort of furnace
explosion, I believe.”

“Was it on this
property?” Mary Ellen had heard her father mention the house fire. She’d never
discussed it with her husband.

“Oh no, it was in Kentucky.”

“I did wonder, since
this house seems fairly new. I thought perhaps it was built on the same
property.”

“No. The family was
from Kentucky. The elder Mr. Coulson raised horses.”

“Really? But my husband
doesn’t have any horses here.”

“No. Mr. Randall never
cared for horses much. He was thrown when he was a young boy, and after that,
he wanted little to do with them.”

“So Mr. Hunter is also
from Kentucky?”

“Yes. He lived with his
grandparents, neighbors of the Coulsons. From what I recall, his mother died of
a fever when he was just a babe, and his father was in a carriage accident when
returning from his wife’s funeral. He was the only child. His grandparents
quite doted on him. His grandfather passed away a few years after the house
fire, and his grandmother died a couple years later.”

“That’s all so sad. So
my husband and Mr. Hunter were childhood friends?”

“Oh yes. Mr. Hunter is
a little older than Mr. Randall, and when they were young boys, Mr. Randall had
a healthy case of hero worship for Mr. William. He used to follow that boy like
an eager puppy. Of course, don’t repeat that to your husband!”

Mary Ellen giggled. “I
promise. But for some reason, I would have assumed it would be the other way
around. My husband doesn’t seem like one who would succumb to hero worship.”

“Mr. Randall had a
healthy growth spurt in his teen years, but as a boy, he was a small child. Mr.
William was always a big boy, plus he was the older of the two. Early on, he
fell into the habit of looking after Mr. Randall, like a protective big
brother.

“Not meaning to speak
ill of the dead, but the elder Mr. Coulson, well he was rather rough on his
son. Was of the mind that sparing the rod spoiled the child. I’m afraid young Randall
often found himself on the receiving end of an angry riding crop.”

“His father beat him?”
While Mary Ellen’s father saw nothing wrong with giving one of his children a
firm backhanding, he never used a whip or belt on them.

“I’m afraid so. But
please, don’t discuss this with Mr. Randall. I just thought it might help you,
to better understand him if you knew something of his past. He’s not the most
talkative of men when it comes to personal matters. But he is a good man.”

“No, he isn’t
talkative, at least, not with me. I promise, I won’t repeat what you’ve said.”

“Anyway, one day Mr.
Randall failed to properly close one of the gates, in a rush was he to meet Mr.
William. The day before he’d received a harsh whipping and his back was still
raw. When his father caught up to him that day, he intended to give the boy a
second whipping. Mr. William was there and lied to Mr. Coulson, told him he
left the gate open, not Mr. Randall.

“Mr. Coulson was
furious, said he couldn’t whip Mr. William but Mr. Randall would be punished
for associating with such careless friends. Mr. William begged him to punish
him instead, and promised he wouldn’t tell his grandparents.”

“Heavens, my husband’s
father didn’t do it, did he?”

“Oh yes. My younger
brother worked in the stable and witnessed the whole thing. Mr. Coulson was so
enraged, he beat Mr. William even harder than he did his son. Mr. William took
it and didn’t cry out, but my brother said he saw tears. From both boys. I
think Mr. Randall had a lot of guilt over letting his friend take the beating.
Especially since it was so brutal.”