Lady Tremaine put her hand to her chest to feel for her favorite brooch, but it wasn’t there. She needed it. She needed that extra layer, something to protect her heart. She stood there feeling exposed, hurt and lost, but she found her composure and walked down the length of her servants, all of whom were giving her sad looks, to join her husband and daughters.
“I did miss you, Papa! I don’t have to go to bed already, do I? Nanny says that Stepmother says we do, but I want to stay up and hear about your adventures. And I don’t have to get rid of my mice, do I?” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck.
He laughed. “Of course you don’t have to go to bed early or get rid of your mice, my angel. And who is this Nanny?” He looked up then, finally noticing the assembled staff.
“Excuse me a moment, my beautiful girl, I have neglected to say hello to your stepsisters and stepmother. Anastasia, Drizella,” he said, looking at them. “And my lady. May I speak with you in the other room?”
Lady Tremaine flinched. She wasn’t sure what to expect. Did he want to be alone with her because he didn’t feel comfortable showing affection in front of the servants? From the tone of his voice it sounded like she was in for a scolding, though she couldn’t fathom what would warrant it.
“Of course, my husband,” she said, narrowing her eyes at him while she followed him into his study.
He took a seat behind his large antique desk, leaving her standing like she was a petulant schoolgirl about to be reprimanded by her headmaster. “What is the meaning of this? Explain yourself.”
She blinked a few times, trying to figure out what he meant. “Are you talking about the mice? I told her I’m sorry, Richard. I didn’t realize they weren’t like London mice.”
Sir Richard shook his head as if shaking off a bad thought. “Of course our mice are different from London mice! Did you say she couldn’t have her mice? You’re not to deny Cinderella anything she wants, do you understand? She’s lost her mother.”
Lady Tremaine stayed silent. She understood his sentiment. She had felt the same way after her husband died.
“I’m not talking about the blasted mice anyway. What is the meaning of all these new things and hiring all this staff? Did I say you could do that?” he asked.
She reached again for her brooch, feeling like she needed it. “I didn’t think I required your permission,” she said, finding her courage and her voice.
“Well, you do.”
She didn’t understand why she was holding her tongue. She never would have with Lord Tremaine. Perhaps it was simply that she couldn’t believe this was their first real conversation after they were married. Perhaps it was that she didn’t want to start off his return on the wrong foot, like she had with Cinderella. “I know you’re used to being independent, spending your money as you will, but your overindulgence and extravagance have no place here, my lady. Your rank means nothing in the Many Kingdoms. I am the lord of this domain.”
Lady Tremaine shook her head. “If it’s a matter of expense, Sir Richard, let me assure you that the money I spent was entirely mine.”
Sir Richard scoffed. “No, the money is mine. We are married now. And I will dictate how it’s spent.” He continued, “To that end, where are all my wife’s tasteful things that you have so thoughtlessly replaced with all this garish rubbish?”
Lady Tremaine lowered her eyes. She felt horrible. She didn’t think replacing their old things would upset him so much. It hadn’t occurred to her that all the shabby furnishings held meaning.
“I’m sorry, Sir Richard. I donated them,” she said.
He slammed his fist on his desk. “I’m not sure I can forgive this. You have really overstepped.” He looked up at the portrait of his wife hanging over the fireplace, and his face softened. He looked sad, almost resigned. “Well, there is nothing to be done about it now,” he said, “but you will let the staff go first thing tomorrow.”
“And who will clean the house, make the meals, and care for the children?” she asked, willing herself not to cry before him. She reached for her brooch again and was again disappointed not to find herself wearing it.
“You will,” he said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I want to spend some time with my daughter.”
Lady Tremaine let most of the staff go as her husband had demanded, except for Nanny and Rebecca, whom he reluctantly agreed to let stay on. She had lost everything. Her home in London, all her money, and her dignity now belonged to him. She had written to her old solicitor at the behest of Lady Hackle, but there was nothing Lady Tremaine could do about her circumstances. All her money was now her husband’s, as was the law in the Many Kingdoms: upon marriage all assets are controlled by the woman’s husband or father, unless both are deceased. Lady Tremaine had known this going into the marriage. It wasn’t, after all, very different from how things worked in London, and she hadn’t been worried about it at the time. Based on his rank, she had assumed Sir Richard had more money than she did. But she soon found out she couldn’t have been more wrong.
Her solicitor had done some investigating and found that before his marriage to Lady Tremaine, Sir Richard had been penniless and in desperate need to marry a lady of means to keep his estate. He had been in considerable debt to the Crown and used the majority of Lady Tremaine’s fortune to pay it off. She understood now why he was so furious she had hired such a large staff and assumed that his debt was the “court business” he had rushed off to sort out, though as far as she was concerned it didn’t account for the amount of time he was away. She had asked him several times what he had done while he was at the castle, but he had skirted the subject, saying it was a matter for men and that she should stay in her place as lady of the house
.
She soon found herself miserable, alone, and depressed. She collapsed on her bed at the end of each day, too tired to even spend time with her girls. Frankly, she was ashamed to have them see her in such a state. Her only companion was her kitten, Lucifer, who was always at her side—that is, when he wasn’t hunting the mice that Cinderella tried to bring into her foul menagerie. There was nothing she could do about the mice Cinderella already kept, Sir Richard made that abundantly clear, but she was determined to keep the girl from acquiring more.
Lady Tremaine’s days were spent cleaning the entire house, scrubbing its floors, dusting, beating the rugs, doing the dishes, making the meals, polishing the silver, replacing the candles in all the sconces and chandeliers, lighting the fires, doing the laundry, and more—all under the watchful eye of Sir Richard’s first wife. She surveyed everything Lady Tremaine did from the portraits of her that hung in almost every room of the château. And Cinderella was always there to remind her that the house was still her mother’s, to complain that she missed their old furnishings or the way her mother used to keep things. Lady Tremaine felt unwelcome. She had become a servant in her own home. Thank goodness for Nanny, who saw to the girls, and for Rebecca, who did her best to help Lady Tremaine as well as she could.
Before long it was Christmas Eve, and Lady Tremaine wanted to make an evening of it. She and her girls were entitled to a bit of celebration. Rebecca was preparing a lavish meal for the family at her request. Lady Tremaine wasn’t able to buy gifts for the girls, but she had a few things of her own that she thought they would appreciate, so she had wrapped them up. She planned to put them under the tree, which Nanny had so thoughtfully agreed to decorate while the girls were napping.
Nanny had arranged a special project for the girls that week, helping them to make silver stars and golden moons out of paper, without telling them they would be used to decorate the tree. She and Lady Tremaine thought it would be a lovely surprise for the girls to see their creations displayed so prominently on the family tree. It would be one more way they all could celebrate together.
Lady Tremaine was exhausted from this long day. She had gotten up early to finish all her housework. Without the assistance of Rebecca and Nanny, she wouldn’t have had time to make herself presentable for dinner, or to arrange the gifts that she was so excited to give the girls. She just wished her husband would agree to let her hire some more staff. She hated adding to Nanny’s and Rebecca’s duties when they already had so much work of their own to do.
As she was passing Sir Richard’s study, she decided she would ask him if they couldn’t hire someone, at least in the kitchen. As it was she had been prevailing upon Rebecca too often with special meals, even though it wasn’t her job.