Chapter 31
<31> London (2)
Miss Pendleton rested her chin on her hand for a moment, gazing down at the letter, lost in thought. After a while, she rose from her seat and headed to the second floor.
As Miss Pendleton opened her grandmother's door, the dim room came into view at once. Her grandmother was lying in bed, stroking the cat Anne while listening to a Sonnet read by a maid. Lady Abigail, whose health had been deteriorating lately, could barely sit up and spent her days lying down.
Miss Pendleton first dismissed the maid and then briefly explained the contents of the letter from her uncle.
"So, Mr. Price is Gerald's friend?"
"Yes."
"And Gerald is coming to London with Charles? And visiting this Townhouse?"
Miss Pendleton nodded.
Her grandmother was silent for a moment. Miss Pendleton stood there, her heart pounding, fearing that her grandmother would burst into anger at any moment. However, Lady Abigail said something Miss Pendleton had never imagined.
"Prepare the best guest room. And instruct the servants to treat them with the utmost respect."
Miss Pendleton's eyes widened in surprise. The words that continued to come from her grandmother's mouth were a series of surprises.
"And first of all, we must treat Mr. Price with the utmost care. Send a Formal dinner invitation and tell Mr. Germain to show off his skills. A head of the family's friend deserves to be welcomed in this house."
Lady Abigail noticed her granddaughter's bewilderment. She held out her hand to Miss Pendleton, signaling her to come closer. Miss Pendleton went and sat beside her grandmother, taking her hand. Her grandmother stroked her granddaughter's hand.
"Are my words perplexing you?"
"......Yes."
"And you must hate it, right? Being told to treat Gerald, who has tormented you so much, with the utmost respect."
Miss Pendleton shook her head.
"I don't hate it. He is the head of the Pendleton family."
"Then you don't mind at all?"
"I'm just... a little nervous, Grandmother."
"Laura, can I ask you for one favor?"
"What is it?"
"Can you endure it for just a few days? For me."
If she had to, she would do it as much as necessary. She was not one to avoid what she had to do. Especially if it was something her grandmother wanted.
However, Miss Pendleton could not answer easily. She could not fathom her grandmother's intentions. Frankly, Miss Pendleton wasn't even sure if her grandmother had made the decision with a sound mind.
Lady Abigail recognized the meaning of Miss Pendleton's hesitation. Her grandmother said quietly.
"...I don't have much time left. Mr. Webster keeps saying I'll reach a hundred years old, but I'm not a fool. I won't make it past this year. I'm sure of it. Before that, I want to reconcile with your uncle. With my only son... and I want to see my grandson too."
She was surprised, but she calmly asked again.
"Do you really want to reconcile with Uncle, Grandmother?"
"Yes."
Miss Pendleton was astonished. Her grandmother wanted to reconcile with her son. She wanted to see her grandson's face to her heart's content.
Miss Pendleton stared at her grandmother's face for a moment. The wrinkles that covered her face due to the darkness seemed endlessly deep and dark. When she had first seen her, only her hair was sparsely white, and she was a young and dignified Lady beyond comparison to now.
That's right. So much time had passed. Now, her grandmother was far from the middle-aged Lady who had first taken her in. Now her grandmother was weak. Sick. And... dying.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Just do as you have been doing. What you have been doing as the mistress of the house. Not only to the Pendleton men but also to Miss Jenson and Mr. Price. Gerald seems to think those two are important people."
Miss Pendleton nodded.
"Yes. I understand. I will prepare everything without fail."
Lady Abigail took Miss Pendleton's hand.
"I'm sorry for asking you this, Laura."
Miss Pendleton shook her head.
"Don't be sorry. You have every right to ask me. You became a mother to me, who was practically an orphan. I'll show them how well you raised me. I'll treat them with the utmost respect."
Miss Pendleton kissed her grandmother on the forehead, straightened the bedding, and came out.
All afternoon, Miss Pendleton spent planning how to receive her uncle and cousin Charles when they came to the house.
The guest rooms to give them and the servants who would be their hands and feet. The dishes and carriages to suit their tastes. She was thinking of getting rid of the house repairs that had been put off until now so as not to offend their eyes.
The plan was put into action immediately. Soon, Miss Pendleton became frantically busy.
Miss Pendleton spent the whole day chasing after a major cleaning of the mansion, repairs to the stairs and roof, and the rearrangement of new furniture in the guest rooms.
Each plan was not properly executed without her attention and instructions. Numerous servants and workers sought her out, and she had to move without a moment's rest to get everything done on time.
After working so hard all day, she would return to her room exhausted. So much so that she wanted to collapse straight into bed. But Miss Pendleton couldn't easily go to bed.
After Anne had done her hair, she was left alone, and she would put on her pajamas and wander in front of the window. Her chest tightened. Due to the presence of her uncle, who was getting closer and closer to her.
It was a contradiction. She had been busy all day preparing to welcome her uncle, but she was afraid of her uncle getting closer.
But Miss Pendleton felt no irony whatsoever. She knew the truth in her heart. The truth that was becoming clear as her grandmother's death approached.
If she had to pick one person she loved most in the world, it was her grandmother, Lady Abigail Pendleton.
Another mother who raised her in place of her mother, who died before she even started babbling. A warrior who fought against her uncle for her. And a strong supporter who allowed her to live as a Lady. Miss Pendleton sincerely loved her grandmother, who had given her everything.
However, whether the life her grandmother had provided was happy was another matter. There was a secret she would never tell anyone. A truth she whispered to herself only in her heart.
Miss Pendleton was much happier before she lived the life her grandmother had taken her in to live.
She had memories of her life with her father. A life with her father, who was a wandering painter. The path of a wanderer, holding hands with her father throughout her childhood.
Long train journeys spent leaning on her father, playing cat's cradle, and playing the harmonica. Large and small galleries that she frequented to sell paintings. Mansions she visited to paint portraits for money. Country roads. Old sidewalks in the city center. Strangers. Unfamiliar towns.
The countless roads she had walked side by side with her father were still vivid in her mind.
Miss Pendleton had never resented her father for entrusting her to the Pendleton family. It was inevitable that there would be many restrictions on living with a young daughter. In order for her daughter to grow into a proper adult, she needed a home and someone to take care of her. She knew that her father's choice to send her to the Pendleton family was the best.
Nevertheless, she often wondered. What would have happened if her father hadn't entrusted her to the Pendleton family back then? She wouldn't have learned as much as she does now, and she wouldn't have lived in such a comfortable environment, but wouldn't she have been a little happier?
Miss Pendleton often, no, honestly, whenever she had a hard time, she would fall into such thoughts. Imagining herself living a completely different life from now.
Reading quietly next to her father when he was painting, sitting across from her father in the train dining car drinking coffee, and while her father was painting portraits in the mansions of the nobles, she would go out to the village and freely make friends. She would have become part of the scenery, walking wherever she pleased, wherever her feet took her.
A free life. What would that feel like?
She would often get lost in such thoughts and then return to reality at the sound of a servant calling for her. When she came to her senses, the first thing she always felt was guilt.
She felt sorry for her grandmother. Her grandmother had given up most of what she had in order to give her the life she had now. She had given up most of her property, chosen to break up with her son, and given up her life in the magnificent Pendleton family.
And she was living in a Townhouse that was less than half of that, looking only at her granddaughter. Because she loved her so much. But she was…….
Miss Pendleton tried harder to hide her true feelings. To become a better granddaughter, she went to Balls as her grandmother wanted, and she held Formal dinner parties, Concerts, and Tea parties to entertain people.
She tried to recreate the image of a Lady that her mother would have shown if she hadn't met her father. And she played that role very well. She became her grandmother's pride and comfort.
Nevertheless, the truth that could not be hidden pricked her like a tack in her pocket.
She was not happy living as Miss Pendleton. Being gossiped about in a society that did not accept her, being treated as half-baked, always having to be careful about her actions, and never losing her smile even in front of people who hated her.
'What would it feel like to live as just 'Laura,' nothing more?'
Miss Pendleton thought from time to time, and the thought brought about imagination. Imagination brought about desire, and that soon became a dream.
And before she knew it, that dream was about to come true. Sadly, through the death of her grandmother, whom she loved most.
When her grandmother passed away, she could never stay in the Pendleton family. Her uncle would never take her in. That was not what Miss Pendleton herself wanted either. She had enjoyed what was not originally hers for far too long.
She would have to pack only a few of her clothes and leave the Pendleton family. It was a miserable downfall in anyone's eyes. An heiress of a noble family being kicked out onto the streets without a penny. But for her, it was the beginning of her life as 'Laura,' not 'Miss Pendleton.'
Miss Pendleton had made many preparations for that day. She reviewed what she had learned in order to make a living, and she even found out about a job placement agency to ask for a job.
The preparations to welcome her uncle Gerald now were part of the preparations for a new life. No matter how unhappy she was, she knew her grandmother's grace.
She wanted to help her grandmother, who loved her like a mother, leave with a peaceful heart. To reconcile with her son and leave peacefully surrounded by the faces of her loved ones. Only then would she be able to shake off even the slightest bit of guilt and start a new life.
She was chased by work all day long, preparing for her farewell to the Pendleton family in her heart. Calmly and quietly.
