A Heart Made for Love by Tillis Linda

Author:Tillis, Linda [Tillis, Linda]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Women's Fiction,Historical,Scarred Hero/Heroine, Small Town
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press, Inc
Published: 2016-08-24T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

Samuel figured he might as well catch them all at one time, so he waited until after breakfast to break the bad news. Martha made the sign of the cross and immediately burst into tears. A very pale Mae crossed the breakfast room to console her. Mr. Bennett sat slowly, looking wide-eyed with shock.

“Well,” he said, “we’ve never lost one of our own before. Oh, certainly we’ve had folks leave for one reason or another, but never anything like this in all the years we’ve been here.”

With one arm around Martha, Mae turned to Mr. Bennett. “Sir, do we know if Margaret had family near?”

“I would have to check my records,” he replied.

Martha was shaking her head, as she wiped away a stream of tears. “No, miss, she had an elderly aunt in Dublin, who passed on a couple of years ago. The poor girl was all alone except for us.” She hiccupped as a new stream of tears came forth.

“Well, then, we will take care of her now,” Mae declared, as she handed Martha a fresh handkerchief. “Samuel, since you spoke with the deputy last night, I’ll leave it to you and Mr. Bennett to get with the sheriff’s office and make arrangements. Mr. Bennett, does the estate have a cemetery other than where Lady and Lord Wellington were laid to rest?”

“As I said before, Margaret is the first employee we’ve ever lost to…death.”

Arthur Bennett had stopped short of saying “murder” and was thankful he had managed to do so. He didn’t think poor Martha could have stood hearing it one more time.

“Well, then, we will decide where we would like to have one, and act accordingly. Martha, I need you to pull yourself together and help me, because I’ve never planned a funeral before.” Wisely, Mae understood the “help me” portion of that statement would give Martha the distraction she needed.

While Bennett had been overwhelmed by the horrible news of Margaret’s demise, he was fully aware of, and approved of, the way Mae was handling all this. Obviously the girl had some backbone and could make decisions under pressure. These characteristics showed she was much better equipped than he had first suspected. Grudgingly, he considered how capable she was to handle the project she was about to undertake.

“Martha, can you break the news to the other maids, or do you need me to handle that for you?” Mae asked.

With one last sniff and swipe, Martha shook her head. “No, miss, I’ll take care of it meself.” With a nod, Martha retreated to the kitchen.

When Mae was sure Martha was out of hearing range, she turned to Mr. Bennett and Samuel. “Now, do either of you think we are in any danger here? I mean, obviously this occurred off our property, but do we need to take some kind of security measures?”

Bennett turned to Samuel. He didn’t want to betray any of their previous conversations to Mae. He thought the answer should best come from Samuel, or her father.

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