SUTHERLAND ▹ Colin Bridgerton

act iii; part iii

act iii; part iii
IN LUTON

TIME SEEMED TO BE SLIPPING THROUGH HER FINGERS AS MAISIE IMPATIENTLY WAITED FOR WEDNESDAY. After finding the note left by Maude and Maxwell, Maisie was hardly able to sleep that evening. The night hours were ridden with twists and turns, the sheets caught around her legs and her nightdress tangled at her knees. She was overrun with excitement and hope, eagerly praying the following days to trickle through her fingers as if it were water. She only wished to reach Wednesday unscathed. She did not know when her wedding with the Marquess of Hertford was supposed to take place, but she assumed it was soon approaching. Maisie wanted to be far gone, days into her journey to the Scottish border before then.

All of Tuesday Maisie paced about her room, sitting here and there for a few minutes before becoming too antsy, moving around once again. The journal was left untouched on her nightstand, as she was too wound up to read it for what would be the seventh time now. Yet distinct phrases clung to her memories, popping up in random thoughts. Her great-grandmother's words followed her with each breath she took. Maude paid Maisie a brief visit in the afternoon, holding a platter of food. Their mother waited by the doorframe, the key firm in her grasp, glaring knives at Maisie. Even though Maisie attempted to ignore her mother's intense stare, she could not rid herself of the unease spreading inside and the goosebumps rising.

And when her mother spat, "You're a pitiful disgrace to the Sutherland name", Maisie held her tongue, not wishing to add fuel to the fire. Yet, despite the unease pricking at her skin, she was overcome with a sense of tranquillity. Her mother may hate her for the rest of her life, but what was Maisie losing in the relationship? Nothing. She was losing nothing at all, for whatever positive qualities in their mother-daughter connection had dissipated already. Maisie had already lost everything about her mother that she cared about, that she would miss. So instead of responding with a cruel tongue, Maisie remained silent and allowed an unbothered stance to overcome her features.

She continued in her silence when Maude left the platter — carrying the smell of fresh biscuits — on the side table by the fireplace and sent a soft smile in Maisie's direction, as they shared the secret knowledge of what was to come in just over twelve hours. Maisie did not react to Maude's smile nor did she react to her mother's heavyset scowl. She remained impassive, much to her mother's dismay.

Maisie knew what was coming and she needn't set any blazes before she left.

Then, less than sixty seconds after the door first opened, it shut once again followed by a click of the lock being locked.

Maisie dropped onto the upholstered chair by the fireplace and reached for a biscuit. Nimbly picking at the biscuit, Maisie waited for the rest of the day to slip through her fingers. She would miss her siblings greatly, including Montague, as he never used to be so cold-hearted, only recently becoming worse due to their mother's toxic influence. Maisie knew more or less what her siblings were feeling about the current situation, except Mildred. Whilst she had only spoken to Maude and Montague since becoming locked in her bedroom, she heard a snippet of conversation between Moses and Montague and from the note slipped under her door, she assumed Maxwell, while still not happy about the relationship between her and Colin, was open to it. Moses was not enthusiastic about it nor open to the forbidden love, but he was rather put off by the idea she was due to marry Hertford.