Free Web NovelChapter 34: A ladder to climb (2)
Chester didn’t like the idea of helping the woman before him fool a man who seemed to be married to someone else. The money was tempting as it would be just what he needed to get from where he was now to somewhere with better patients.
"Why did I pick a fool?" Beth sighed, pulling the envelope back, but Chester suddenly grabbed it. Beth moved her hands away, not wanting to be touched by him. "Does this mean you finally have some sense to accept? It is not as though I am asking you to harm someone. Just a small lie."
"I am not a well-known doctor for the person you are trying to fool to trust. Just one look at me and he might send me away," said Chester.
Beth inspected his simple clothes. "I will dress you differently and say that I have been coming to you for years which is why I trust you. You only need to speak about the pregnancy and nothing more. Don’t try speaking about something that is not important around him."
Beth also had to find him a better space for now to work out of. He could no longer accept patients who couldn’t afford him. "I hope you at least own a good carriage. Hire someone to drive you around and stop working here from today."
Beth trusted that since he didn’t have wealthy patients there would be no one to cross paths with Jack to tell him the truth.
"The story should be that I was sick when walking about the town and you happened to help me. Since then I kept coming to you as a thank you," said Beth. Jack would love this kind side of her.
While Scarlet was cruel, Beth was quick to be kind to those around her. This act would add to Jack loving her.
"I will pay you handsomely after each visit. A bonus will be if you do well with convincing him on each visit. Do well and you can have a place with many to work under you. I can see you climbing far up the social ladder," Beth said, smiling as she was proud of herself.
Beth left out a pretty important part of the deal they were going to do if she couldn’t become pregnant in time to make the timeline add up. The doctor would need to claim that stress had caused her to lose the child. She had twisted around the contract as much as she could for this to be in there but unnoticed.
Beth was smarter than most believed. She only played ditzy when around Jack as he loved how easy it was to be with her. Beth believed she deserved to be applauded for how she snatched Jack away from a woman like Scarlet.
"If that is all then," Chester said, ready to sign the contract. Like most in town, he needed the extra money to get by. It was merely a small lie until she became pregnant. If she were to go somewhere else around the area, they would agree so why couldn’t he?
With just the money she was offering him now, he had the last of what he needed for a better house for his wife and child.
Chester did another look over the young woman before him. If she was from somewhere with a lot of wealth, his life might soon change. "I will sign it."
"Wonderful. There is a little bit in there for you to go shopping for better clothes. The address is also written on a small piece of paper. I expect to see you there at nine in the morning. Do well then and I will start telling all my friends about you. I shall keep this," Beth said, taking the contract he signed.
Finished with her business, Beth was ready to get from this side of town. Now that she had Jack, this side of Lockwood looked dirty in her eyes.
Beth stood to leave and walked to the door without offering a goodbye. She had to get back to the shopping trip she had told Jack that she was doing and then head back home in time to meet with him.
As Beth was leaving, she spotted someone walking by with a paper in their hands and noticed Scarlet’s name.
"Why are they suddenly curious about her lover?" Beth questioned, annoyed by the paper’s sudden turn in what it printed about Scarlet. All it took was Scarlet to be seen with a man and now the town was curious about who he was and stopped speaking about the divorce.
Beth didn’t believe Scarlet had a lover after some thought. It made more sense that Scarlet would have hired someone to be by her side for the ball. Of course, Scarlet would be embarrassed to attend the diamond ball alone.
Scarlet didn’t stay long to avoid being questioned about the divorce and not having a child. Beth had a gift she wanted to send Scarlet without putting her name on it for Scarlet to retaliate and Jack to be angry. She couldn’t forget how Scarlet had insulted her by offering to pay for her food.
Beth made a promise to no longer approach Scarlet, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t taunt her.
"She must be pulling her hair out," Beth said, wishing to be able to see the state of Scarlet.
Beth’s mood became better now. It wouldn’t be long before the paper and everyone else realised that Scarlet didn’t have a mysterious lover and went back to dragging her through the mud. It was time for a woman like Scarlet to be knocked off her high horse.
Beth looked forward to the day that she would be the one looking down on Scarlet. She would keep climbing the social ladder day by day for it to happen. Then she would be the one gracefully offering to pay for Scarlet’s meal and walking out. ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com
"Lady Beth-" freёwebnovel.com
"How many times must I instruct you to refer to me as Mrs. Humphrey?" Beth scolded the driver who would be out of a job when she returned him. "It is best you start to practise now. Hurry to get me out of this side of town now."
"I am sorry," the driver apologised. It was odd to refer to her as Jack’s wife when Scarlet still had that name. The driver shook his head as Beth was a woman who didn’t know about shame. He couldn’t understand why she kept insulting this street as it wasn’t at all for the poor.
There weren’t any grand businesses here but it was an active street that shouldn’t scare a woman like Beth. Maybe she was used to so many fine things that everything else seemed poor.
Beth glared at the driver from where she sat inside the carriage. Some of the servants did not respect her since they knew her to be a mistress first and there wasn’t a ring on her finger yet. Most probably didn’t believe she was going to get married to Jack.
’I’ll fire them all,’ Beth thought. Many of them wouldn’t be following her to the mansion she wanted Jack to buy for her here in the heart of Lockwood. ’He should have asked for the estate.’
Beth considered Jack a fool for letting Scarlet keep the estate to herself. It was too big for a woman and it would never be filled seeing as she could not keep a man or have a child. It was a big sacrifice to be made as fighting for it would hold the divorce back and Beth wanted to be married now.
Beth looked out the window as the carriage moved. Not far from here was the first room she rented when she lived on her own.
