Involved: Day 4

Word Count: 24,006

Summary of Events:

Charlotte did some tasks around the house with her younger sister, Nora, while Violet and their mother were out running errands; once the errands were over Charlotte and Violet sat down and chatted, which Charlotte found very helpful — as she always felt talking with Violet was. Samuel arrived in Georgetown and was directed to the Annesley home, where he learned — to his horror — that Isabelle herself had divulged his name to Mrs. Annesley, whom he also learned was actually mentioned by Isabelle in her letters, and quite prominently . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

Samuel felt shocked — and rather annoyed — surely Mrs. Annesley could’ve told him in her letter that she was Anne. Anne was the one name that came up the most often out of all the names Isabelle had written, and often it’d been prefaced by ‘dear’.

“You could’ve told me when you wrote me,” Samuel spat.

“I didn’t even think of it, I’m sorry Mr. Manning,” Mrs. Annesley said.

“It’s Mr. Spady to you,” Samuel hissed.

“I’m sorry,” Mrs. Annesley said.

“As much as there was an oversight on the part of my wife, I don’t think that justifies your brandishing of a cocked gun in her face,” Mr. Annesley said.

“He’s grieving Watson, don’t forget that,” Mrs. Annesley said. “Judgement can be very poor when grief is involved.”

“Who else knows my name?” Samuel demanded.

“I don’t think anyone does,” Mr. Annesley replied.

“Isabelle told it to us in confidence,” Mrs. Annesley replied. “She said that she had to call you by your real name, but that we weren’t supposed to refer to you by name to anyone.”

“Not that we were ever told why,” Mr. Annesley quipped.

“You don’t need to know,” Samuel replied hotly.

“Isabelle said you weren’t a criminal, don’t worry,” Mrs. Annesley said, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. “She just said you were a soul in need of prayer.”

If Samuel had possessed the hackles a dog did they would’ve flashed upward for an instant. That was the only thing that made him angry about Isabelle: she believed in God and thought he needed to too, which he didn’t. Usually she didn’t bring it up with him — which he appreciated — but even the use of religious terminology upset him, particularly when he was in any way involved in the sentence.

“Our sincerest condolences on your loss,” Mr. Annesley said. “And our regrets about not communicating who we were sooner.”

“Yes,” Mrs. Annesley said, nodding, tears suddenly rolling down her cheeks.

“Come Theodora,” Mr. Annesley said.

Mrs. Annesley walked over to Mr. Annesley and they embraced, with Mrs. Annesley immediately bursting into sobs that were muffled by her husbands clothes and flesh.

Samuel looked at Mr. Annesley, feeling a measure of consternation.

“The day after she posted her letter to you she got one from a friend of ours who went down to Kansas because she’d had family on the train too — they weren’t as close to the point of impact and survived with only injuries — informing us that Percy died,” Mr. Annesley replied soberly. “And on Monday we got word that little Kelly succumbed as well.”

“And Blaine was Friday,” Mrs. Annesley said, her voice choked with emotion, before burying it back into her husband’s chest.

Despite having never met Blaine or Percy, Samuel felt like he’d just had a full feed sack thrown at his abdomen. He didn’t have a single nephew left. Kelly had no son to inherit his company after him.