The Art of Betrayal

Part 4 🌕

"MARIA!" I whisper as I enter my room.
"Why are you whispering?" She answers.
She's pulling back my sheets and setting out my night gown.
"Guess what!"
"I'm not guessing just tell me."
"Nathaniel wants to be an investor in the shop!"
"Like your shop?"
"My shop!"
I can barely contain my excitement at the news.
"And if his deal is crap. He said that once news hits that my shop was the one selling the dress I was wearing, inverters will come running in!"
She smiles at me.
"That's wonderful news! When is he going to meet with your "manager"?"
"I've got to find out a time that is good for him." I answer as I start changing.
"However it needs to be soon I don't wanna lose this opportunity. If he's wrong about the other investors then this could be my only chance to find funding for the seamstresses." I slip out of my evening dress into the night gown she had laid out, then take a seat at my vanity. She walks over, takes out my updo, and begins braiding my hair.
"Well I'm sure you'll figure it out. You always do. But I have something else I wanna say."
"Then say it." I turn to her.
"Did you see the way he looked at you?"
"Ugh." I face back towards the mirror and fold my arms.
"Maria he looks at everywomen that way. If you were at the ball you would have seen it. He looked at you that way, studying you."
"He did? Dang I should have taken my chance..." she says in a sarcastic sad tone.
"Ugh. You're a lost cause."
"No you are! I've heard nothing from anyone but story's of his charming personality?"
"He punched a duke."
"HE WHAT!?!?"
She turns me around, unraveling the braid she just did. The look of shock in her eyes makes me want to laugh.
"Shhh keep you voice down! My mother doesn't know and I don't want her finding out through me. I would rather Lady Harrington break the news, or Lady Kingsley."
"Are you serious. Punched a duke?! I know he's an important man but definitely not important enough to do something like that?" She begins to braid again.
"Oh I know. I've been told all about him by the other women. His love affairs-"
"All men have love affairs. It's until they find the right one."
"My in my father's case two of the right ones." I look up at her with an eyebrow raised.
"Your father was a one of a kind ass hole. Who deserved going bankrupt."
"I just wish my mother would have stayed single. Jason is such a terrible man, he's always of doing who now's what."
Maria finish's my braid.
"Did you see the way he boasted about being retired when 3/4 of his money comes from his father." I look at her.
"Oh I know. I heard that too, but you on the other hand almost got in trouble. You need to contain your hatred towards him for your mother's sake."
I roll my eyes.
"I ask Nathanial to make sure his mother or Lady Kingsley plans something for just my mother to attend. Hopefully she can make some friends before any rumors about my father starts. You know news travels fast, even if it old news."
I stand up and walk towards my bed flopping on the end of it. Maria flops down next to me.
"This might be an insensitive question but have you ever wonder what made him choose them over you?" She looks at me, her eyes are full of pity.
"No. I don't want to know what was so wrong with me that my own father couldn't even love me." I look at her, just a blank stare.
We both face the ceiling.
My father left us when I was 12. Maria had worked with us for around 3 years, and she was my rock through it all. I kept a strong face for my mother who was shattered when it happened, when she discovered his other family. She however never would have found out if my father wasn't on the verge of bankruptcy. He had to choose a family to support, and chose his other family over us. From what I know he had a boy on that side. I've thought about it countless times. Is that what was wrong with me? I was a girl? A year after my mother divorce she met Jason. I hated him from the start, but he seemed to make my mother happy. He was also filthy rich, and I'm not gonna act like that didn't help his case. However about 6 months ago I believe my mother caught him with another women, though she wouldn't tell me. She refuses to except it, but I know that's why we moved here. And people wonder why I don't wanna get married.
Maria sits up and faces me.
"Well you should be getting to bed. You have quite a lot to do tomorrow, and you can't be exhausted while doing so." She gives me a smile and heads out the door.
She is right.
I crawl from the end of my bed to the top. Slipping under the covers and pulling them up over my shoulder. I stare out the window in front of my room at the moon. At the beautiful stars surrounding it, keeping it company in the dark night sky. My eyes grow heavy as sleep takes over. Yet I keep staring. I wonder who else is staring at you right now?
Soon sleep wins, and my eyes close for the night.