The few days that passed by after my encounter with Marjory were awkward. She tries to be nice to me which made me very uncomfortable so it made me avoid her at every chance I got.
Lionel tried his best to avoid me, probably because he knew I would inquire more on what he told me, but this made me even more curious. However, the one thing that made me appreciate being here, even though it was against my will was that I had forgotten that I had been married off against my will.
"We have guests coming over tonight." Lionel told me that morning as we had our breakfast, which in every sense felt more like a routine rather than an actual meal.
"Who?" I asked out of curiosity.
"My best friend and his wife." He said not giving any more detail.
I had no idea what that meant, all I knew was, I would need to be on my best behavior for us to sell this whole marriage situation.
"Marjory can you send Josey to my room right after breakfast." I told her as I finished my pancakes.
"Yes ma'am." She replied immediately walking away, probably to deliver my message.
A slight knock on my door brought me back to life a si sat on my bed thinking about what I would wear for the dinner tonight.
"Good morning ma'am, you asked for me." Josey said after I asked her to come in.
"Yes Josey. I need us to go to town. I need to find a nice dress for dinner tonight. It would be too late to design one from scratch." I responded as I got up tp pick my bag.
"Ma'am I am not allowed to leave the household." Josey said regretfully.
"Excuse me?" I asked a bit shocked from what she just said. "Am I not the one to decide that?"
"Well, my immediate command in Miss Marjory and she made it expressly clear that my duties stay within these walls." She replied trying to be as polite as possible.
"Josey the only person who will order you around in this house is me. Now get ready, we leave in half an hour." I told her not worrying about the consequences that would follow my rash decision.
Our drive to town was awkward. Josey tried her best to act calm when it was pretty clear she was panicking, so I tried to converse with her to avoid her mood affecting mine.
"Tell me the truth Josey, what is the deal with your aunt? She doesn't seem to like you very much." I asked her as we now walked through the stores.
"I don't think it's because she doesn't like me ma'am. I think it's just hard for her to work with me instead of her daughter." She said honestly.
"What really happened? Lionel said something, but not enough to fill in the dots." I asked her hoping she wouldn't refuse to tell me.
And she didn't. "Well," She started, "May worked with Miss Marj for a while but it got complicated because she fell in love with Mr. Lionel. The only issue was he didn't feel the same way."
"How do you know he didn't feel the same way?" I asked.
"He was in a relationship with another woman. They had only gotten together and were trying to make it work. But every time she visited the household, something went wrong. It turns out, May made her visits a living nightmare."
I was a bit shocked at what Josey was telling me, but I needed a better understanding.
'What do you mean?" I asked again.
"Every time Miss Jane visited, May never gave her and Mr. Lionel privacy. She always = insisted on being in the room and eventually started telling Miss Jane outright that she and Mr. Lionel were in a relationship and that she was not welcome in the household." My mouth opened in shock at her words.
She continued anyway, "Miss Jane eventually stopped visiting openly. She would only come in at night and that was after she was sneaked in by Mr. Lionel. But this got old because May found out about the secret visits."
"Did Marj know what was going on?"
"Yes she did. She attempted to stop it, but only after she realized May was losing her mind."
"What do you mean by only after?" I asked again.
"Marjory seemed to believe that the two had a relationship. The idea actually excited her, it was only when May started acting crazy that she realized that she was wrong all along and that May needed help."
"What made her realize this?"
"One night, May knew Jane was coming by and so to prepare for a good surprise, she stripped naked and lay on Mr. Lionel's bed. He and Jane walked in on that and it was a serious issue. That was when Jane left Mr. Lionel and it was decided that May should be committed."
"Did Mr. Lionel love Jane?" I felt this was the only way I would understand the whole situation.
"It is said, that he loved her more than anything or anyone. He has preserved his friendship with her by not telling her how he felt, but it was known to all that she meant the world to him."
It now made sense, the loss of the woman he loved and the guilt of having May committed. It ate him up inside. And now, I understood why he tried his best not to piss off Marjory.
That night, while I got ready for dinner, I could not help but think of how Lionel must have been struggling after such a terrible situation. The fact that the workers around him knew so much and must have gossiped about it all must have made things worse.
However, despite how humiliating it was for me, I understood why he was so careful with Marjory. I get that her daughter was crazy, but that on its own was enough reason to hold him accountable for anything that happened. No wonder he took caution.
As I thought so strongly, Lionel walked into my room bringing me back to life. "They're here." He told me.
"Great, I am ready." I said as I turned to face him.
"You look dashing, Mrs. Campbell." He offered.
"Thank you. Shall we?" I said now putting my arm in his.
As we walked to the dining area, I tried hard to convince myself not to think of what I had heard that afternoon. Otherwise, I would not pay attention to the environment around me.
As we walked into the dining room, Lionel's arm tensed up as we saw the guests ahead of us. It made me wonder why.
The man and woman ahead of us smiled pleasantly. The man had a happy smile, and the woman had an awkward smile.
Frank, Jane, this is my wife, Anna Sue." Lionel spoke up now bringing me to a pause.
"Jane?" I said in a small voice now bringing back to my head what I had been avoiding.