Luncheon was just as bad as breakfast, and Father made it worse by smiling at me from across the table. He looked far too pleased for a man who had just sent a young boy into the village to fend for himself. I wanted nothing more than to wipe the smug look off his face, but George's words kept me from doing so. That and Alice had given me a sharp kick under the table when she caught me staring at him. The kick shocked me enough to pull my eyes away from Father. It also hurt.

"Did you have to kick me so hard? I'm going to have a bruise now," I said, rubbing my shin as Alice and I stepped into the hallway.

"Yes. You were seconds away from throwing yourself over the table and attacking him. Your whole body was shaking, Nate."

I glanced down at my hands, noting the slight shake in my fingers that I hadn't felt when we were in the dining room. The more I saw Father, the angrier I became, and I knew it would not go away anytime soon. He didn't feel an ounce of remorse over what he did to Joseph and he certainly didn't care that I had been right about Rebecca. That had just made him frustrated since I had proved him wrong. He hated being proved wrong.

Our relationship had reached its most strained point, and I knew it would be difficult to repair now the damage had been done. I did not know if he saw it too.

"Forget about Father for the time being. You being agitated won't help us find out what happened to Miss Rebecca and I would like to find out before Father changes his mind and sends her away."

"Alright, I'll try, but his attitude has set me on edge."

"I know. To be perfectly honest, Nate, that has probably been his plan. He wants you to be on edge and you cannot let him know how much his behaviour has affected you or it will only get worse."

"You know, I hate it when you're right."

"I would say the same, but I'm never wrong and, to the best of my recollection, you've never been right."

Alice grinned at me as we reached the top of the stairs, both of us visibly sweating in the afternoon heat. Even with all the windows open, it was still far too hot. The two of us walked down the hall, trying our hardest to not appear suspicious, but we always managed to, especially as it was unusual for the two of us to be going anywhere together. We reached the room where Rebecca was staying and Alice knocked lightly. She barely waited for a response before she opened the door and the two of us stepped inside.

Rebecca sat in the bed, the blankets pulled up to her chest despite the stifling heat that could not be chased away by the open window. On the bed beside her sat a tray with an empty glass and plate, a sign that she had eaten at the same time as us. She barely moved when Alice and I entered the room, the two of us offering warm smiles, hoping to ease whatever worries she might have had. If it had the desired effect, Rebecca did not show it.

At the sight of her looking so small and fragile in the bed, I pushed my thoughts of Father to the back of my mind and even tried my hardest to forget about Joseph. The last thing I wanted to do was frighten Rebecca any more than she already was. She had started to trust me and after what Doctor Merrick said about her being cautious of men; I did not want that to change.

"Good afternoon, Miss Rebecca," Alice said, closing the door behind us. "How are you feeling?"

Rebecca shrugged.

"Nate and I were wondering if we could talk to you."

I held my hands up, my palms facing Rebecca. "It was all Alice's idea. I had nothing to do with it."

Rebecca smiled slightly, and I took that as a sign that she had at least a small amount of trust in us. I knew it would be awhile before she trusted us completely, but it was a start. At least, I hoped it was.

"Ignore him," Alice said, "he's an idiot."

"Now that I cannot deny. Even if I wanted to."

"Finally! You admit it! I have been wanting to hear those words for years."

I rolled my eyes. "Of course you have."

"Well, at least I have heard it with my own ears."

"And no one will ever believe you."

I stepped away from the door and into the room, deciding that the two of us must have looked rather intimidating just standing there. Rebecca watched me cautiously, but she didn't move as I sat down on the wooden chair beside her bed. Alice followed me. She perched herself on the very edge of the mattress, as far away from Rebecca as she could. I watched Rebecca shuffle a little, but she stopped shortly after.

From close-up, I could see more of the injuries Doctor Merrick had described. Alongside the scrapes and bruises I had seen the previous day, I noted the dark circles under her eyes, a large scar across the left side of her forehead, and the way her fingernails appeared to be bent backwards slightly. Rebecca gripped the edge of her blanket so tightly that her knuckles turned white under the multi-coloured bruises. If her malformed fingers hurt her, she did not show it.

By just looking at Rebecca's injuries, I knew it would be difficult to get her to open up about what had caused them. She didn't trust us enough yet, but I had to hope that she would, eventually. Whoever hurt her needed to be punished. We would only find out who it was if Rebecca herself told us. It had to have been bad for her to have taken refuge in the woods, and part of me wasn't sure if I wanted to know the truth. I wasn't sure I could control my anger if I knew.

We sat in silence for what felt like an eternity. Although Alice had been the one to suggest talking to Rebecca, it was clear that she had put little thought into what to say. Neither of us knew what the right question to ask would be, and I didn't want to risk being too forward and pushing her when she wasn't ready. Alice and I had never been prepared for a situation such as this.

"What is your surname?" I asked, realising we did not already know. Perhaps knowing would bring us closer to solving the mystery. At least we might have better like finding out where she came from if we knew it. "We're been referring to you as Miss Rebecca, but it would be far better if we knew."

Rebecca tilted her head at me, as though she was trying to decide whether I needed to know and just what I would do with the information.

"Edwards," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Well, Miss Edwards, it's a pleasure to formally meet you. I'm Nathaniel Thorpe, but everyone just calls me Nate unless I'm in trouble." Even though I had told her my name when we first met, I thought it best to remind her. We were being pelted with rain, wind, and leaves during our first introduction, and that would have been enough for her to forget.

"Which is all the time," Alice added.

"No, just most of the time." I laughed, which received a small smile from Rebecca. "So, Miss Edwards, where are you from? I don't think I've seen you in the village before."

"Not that you would remember if you had." Alice raised an eyebrow at me. "Your memory is terrible."

"Are you actually going to contribute to the conversation or are you going to spend the entire time insulting me?"

"My contribution to this conversation is by insulting. It's a lot more fun."

I looked over at Rebecca, expecting some sort of reaction from her as she appeared to enjoy watching Alice and me insult one another. She was not looking at either of us. Her attention was drawn to the edge of the blanket that covered her, her fingers wrapped in the soft wool. Alice and I exchanged glances, the two of us unsure how to react. I thought it had been a simple enough question, but it had been enough for Rebecca to clam up once more.

It quickly became clear to me that finding out what happened to Rebecca would be an almost impossible task. If she couldn't even tell us where she was from, we didn't stand a chance of uncovering any other information. With a limited time scale to gain Rebecca's trust; we needed her to trust us far more than we did, but I wasn't sure how we were supposed to gain that trust. Father's hospitality would not last for much longer, and I did not want to see her leave before we knew the truth.

Before I could say anything else and try to draw the attention away from the question, the door to Rebecca's room and one of the servants entered. She looked startled upon seeing us, not expecting us to be in the room.

"I'm sorry, Master Nate, Miss Alice. I did not know you were in here," she said, the glass of beer in her hand trembling.

"That's quite alright, Lucy. We should probably leave now. We just wanted to see how Miss Edwards was getting on," Alice said, standing up.

"I can come back later."

"Not at all, Nate, come on."

"We shall see you again soon," I said to Rebecca.

She looked up for a moment before her eyes darted back to the blanket and a small string of wool that she had pulled out. I stood up from the chair and followed Alice through the door. Lucy glanced down at the floor when we passed, refusing to make eye contact with either of us. Father had made it a habit of making sure the staff knew their place.

Alice closed the door behind her, and the two of us stood in the hallway in silence. I didn't know what to make of our brief conversation with Rebecca, and I knew Alice was thinking the same thing. We both knew that it would be difficult to get information out of Rebecca so early on, but neither of us was expecting her to freeze over such a simple question. If we were going to find out what happened, we needed to be more cautious about what we asked and keep things simple.

"Well, at least we know her full name now. It might be easier to find out where she comes from," I said.

"I did not expect her to react like that to your question. I thought it was simple enough."

"Me too, but I don't think any part of this situation is simple. She definitely didn't come from the village, that much I'm certain of."

"Then where did she come from and how on earth did she end up in the woods? It's not as if we are close to the city, and I don't think she would have had the money for a carriage ride."

"I don't know." I tugged on my bottom lip. "I'll speak to George, see what he can find out. He seems to know almost everyone and might be able to help us uncover some information about her."

"Alright, maybe he'll be able to find something because I doubt we'll get too much from Miss Edwards herself."

"Not yet, anyway."

"We'll get something eventually, Nate." Alice ran her hands over the back of her dress. "For now, we should probably go our separate ways. We look rather suspicious standing here and I doubt Mother and Father would be too pleased if they knew we had been in to see Miss Edwards. Especially you."

"Hm, I suppose so."

"Remember, try to keep your head around Father."

Without waiting for a response, Alice turned and walked the length of the hall before disappearing from view. I shook my head and followed her, reaching my bedroom and swinging open the door. Closing the door behind me, I collapsed back on my bed and resumed the position I had had earlier on that day and just stared up at the red canopy above me. My mind moved faster than it ever had as I tried to sort through everything that had happened that day.

I couldn't believe that so much had happened simply because I had spotted Rebecca hiding in the woods a week before. Joseph being sacked, my relationship with Father crumbling, and a strange girl staying in our house who couldn't talk about what led her to us. So much had unfolded and yet I couldn't do anything about it. George would be of more use to Joseph and for finding out information about Rebecca. My relationship with Father would not be repaired overnight.

It had been me that caused all of it, and there was nothing I could do to help. I felt useless against a pile of problems that kept growing, no matter how much I tried to fix them or solve them. The issues just grew, and I knew it would only get worse as time went on. If everything had fallen apart in a week, how much more could fall in the days that followed?

I ran my hands over my face, trying to calm the thoughts that seemed out of control. My fingers shook slightly and my heart seemed to beat faster than usual. It felt like I was losing control.

~~~

A/N - Here we are, Chapter Ten! I only have another two chapters prepared which is scary, but I'm trying to get more written so I don't have a pause in updating.

Questions!

Do you think Rebecca trusts Nate? Will she tell him what he needs to know? As for Nate, do you think he can fix the ever-growing problems?

Comment below! 

Dedication - There is no dedication this week, but comment or interact with the story for your chance to have a chapter dedicated to you!

First Published - December 6th, 2022