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Summer of 1770

Elizabeth’s cheeks burned a bright red. She wanted to die right then, begging for someone to hand her a pistol so that she could end her misery. Fiona had caught them outside by themselves and Elizabeth wasn’t sure if she had seen anything more.

"I’m scared." William whispered as he sat beside her inside her bedroom. Fiona had immediately ushered the pair upstairs without a word to them and said for them to stay there until the party was over so their parents could have what Fiona had called ‘a meaningful discussion.’ "D-do you think she…saw us?"

Elizabeth chewed on her bottom lip as she thought of her answer. "I do not know…she could have…she would’ve said something, right? Fiona knows everything…she knows things that I tried to hide from her and thought she didn’t know…but she does."

"Elizabeth?" William voice wavered as he hesitantly reached for her hand. "I don’t know…if you know by now, but…I fancy you."

Elizabeth’s eyes widened at him and she felt a sudden urge to run out of the room and hide away. All of these new feelings overwhelmed her and there were so many that she couldn’t name. He scared her sometimes. He scared her with the way he looked at her. He liked to smile at her all the time. Elizabeth thought it was a bit unnatural for a person to smile that much. And then he scared her again when he had kissed her. She had wanted it though and it was wonderful, she must say. He was always nice and sweet to her…no matter how much they would bicker. He was different from most boys…and she liked it.

"I suppose, I fancy you as well." She said with a coy smile on her face and felt her face begin to turn a deep red again. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "You need to stop making me blush, William!"

His lips quirked into a smirk as he let the knuckles of her hand brush his lips. "Sorry, I’ll try better from now on."

Elizabeth giggled and could feel tingles shoot up her arm from the kiss he had planted on her knuckles. She licked her lips nervously as she scooted closer to him. "William?"

"Yes, ‘Lisabeth?"

She didn’t answer him, but instead gently placed her lips on his again. She wanted to feel it again…just for a few seconds and maybe longer if they had enough time. Before he could respond to her though, she pulled away. A goofy smile was on his lips when she finally opened her eyes to look at him. It was the type of look she didn’t mind seeing on his face. It brought back his innocence that he had lost not too long ago. She could feel a swell of pride in her chest that she could bring back that kind of bliss to him, if not only for a few moments.

"I had to feel it again." She whispered, running her hand softly on top of his head. "Hope you didn’t mind."

"No. Not at all." He murmured deeply, trying to find reality amongst the fog that was now in his brain.

"I cannot believe this!" The sound of Rupert’s booming voice coming down the hall snapped both of them back into the real world. They both flinched when Elizabeth’s door was shoved open and in stormed a fuming Rupert with a disappointed Joyce behind them. Dawn slowly crept in behind her mother, hiding behind her skirts. She waved affectionately at William and then blushed at him.

Elizabeth could feel tears begin to well up in her eyes. She had never seen her father this mad before and he was rarely ever mad. Mother had told her several stories of when she and Rupert had been younger. Apparently, Rupert had quite the temper when he was younger and was very stubborn, that people in their town had given the name Ripper whenever he would get into a row with a local they would call him that. And now, Elizabeth was seeing Ripper for the first time and it was both exciting and scary.

"Rupert," Joyce tried to soothe him, gripping her husbands shoulder and squeezed it lightly. "Try to control your anger. They are just children."

"I know." He hissed underneath his breath, closing his eyes as he tried to not let his anger control him. When he opened his eyes though and saw both William and Elizabeth looking at him with guilty faces, his anger was building again. "What were you both thinking!"

"M’sorry, daddy." Elizabeth sniffled, her tears threatening to fall.

"Do not ‘daddy’ me, Elizabeth." He warned her with shake of his finger and then began to pace. "You know that you are not allowed to go down there to that lake by yourself, especially alone and with a boy! You remember what I told you about that, correct? Thankfully, I hope nothing indecent happened?" Elizabeth responded with a weak shake of the head. "We were all worried sick about you both! We realized that you both hadn’t made it back from dinner and went crazy trying to look for you. The Abrams family and us had important business to discuss!"

Elizabeth fumed as she jumped to her feet. "I know what ‘business’ that was. You want Parker and I to be betrothed! I heard mother talking about it over dinner with that snot nosed woman! I hate him father! I hate him!" The tears pooled down her cheeks as she continued to shout and William wanted nothing more than to hug her tightly until she was all cried out. "Why must you do this to me father? I thought you loved me! And instead all you care about and love is the success of your business! Do you hate me that much that you would force me to marry such a horrid boy! He’s insolent and a cad! Why-!"

"Enough Elizabeth!" Rupert shouted, silencing the girl who immediately sat back down on the bed next to William. "How dare you speak about my colleagues and my friends like that. You should know better. You know I love you but this is for the best. We haven’t made any decisions yet on what your future with Parker will be and that is why your mother and I have asked the Abrams to come and spend some of the summer holiday with us and the Rayne family, to discuss our futures together."

Elizabeth’s face paled at the news and she eagerly sought out William’s hand and grasped onto it for dear life. "They are going to be staying with us?" She asked in a weak, shocked tone.

"Yes."

The girl clenched her jaw as she released William’s hand and stood on her feet once again. "If I have to marry him father, I will never, ever forgive you!" She sobbed, running out the room and down the hall with a distressed Joyce and curious Dawn behind her.

William’s eyes widened with fear as Rupert stepped towards him. "Now listen here William. You listening?" William nodded his head firmly and let the older man continue. "I love you like a son but, mark this…you are not allowed to be with Elizabeth alone ever again. Your mother is not happy with you and she agrees with me on this matter. You understand?"

"Yes, Mr. Summers." William managed to squeak out as Rupert gave him one last look before marching out of the room in search of his wife and daughters. As soon as Rupert was out of sight, William collapsed back onto the bed, letting out a long breath as he felt the tension leave his body.

~*~

"My father always said that being clean should always be a priority to me and the most important one. That was before he sent me to live with my uncle and auntie Abrams you see. My mother and my father, you see, they wanted some time to themselves for awhile. They thought I would have a better time with uncle and auntie Abrams. And I am, having a wonderful time. They have such a beautiful home in the country…it is about twice the size of this one though and has better furniture…but that is not my point. I prefer to live in their home in the city though, not so much peasants by their home in New York. There is also better clothing and food as well. Another—"

"Do you ever breathe?" Elizabeth mumbled as she and Anya listened to Harmony ramble. This girl had been talking non-stop all morning and it was wearing on the cousins’ nerves.

To make this summer even more dreadful, the Abrams had decided to bring their niece Harmony Kendall along with them. She was a typical upper class girl who loved to look down on other people. The kind of person that Elizabeth couldn’t stand. The rest of the summer was going to seem like an eternity.

"I’m sorry. What did you say?" Harmony asked with the sweetest smile on her face. Having no idea that Elizabeth made a remark about her.

"Nothing, Harmony." She mumbled, wishing that William and Xander would already get up and come down for breakfast. And as if wish had been granted, Elizabeth felt a tug on her sleeve and let a coy grin spread on her lips when she turned around and saw William standing there with the same type of smile on his face. "Hello, William."

"Hello." He murmured silently, and thought about reaching out for her hand to kiss her knuckles like he had done before but decided not to. "How did you sleep?"

"She snored all night." Anya chirped, grinning over at Xander and then brought her attention back to William. "She kept tossing and turning as well. Kept me up majority of the night. I wanted to shove her off the bed and onto the floor, but I knew that would be rude."

Xander rolled his eyes and shook his head. "You should keep your thoughts to yourself there, Ahn." He chuckled, grasping her hand and tugged her along to the dinning room.

Harmony pushed Elizabeth out of the way and beamed at William. "Hello there, I am Harmony Kendall. You must be William Rayne. My father talked a lot about you and your family. He said your father is quite brilliant and he didn’t have a lot of nice things to say about you but I am sure none of them are true." She told him flirtatiously, batting her eyelashes at him in order to get his attention. Her attempts were all ruined though when Elizabeth took William’s hand and dragged him away from her.

"She’s strange bird, isn’t she?" William chuckled at the blonde girl who was waving excitedly at him as Elizabeth continued to drag him towards the dinning room. The boy then noticed the look of frustration on her face and stopped her in her tracks. He then led her into the empty library across the hall. "What is wrong? You all right?" He brushed his lips across hers and gave her a reassuring smile.

"She is very annoying. I hope I do not have to spend my entire time with her." She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"If so, I will just have to whisk you away, won’t I?" William replied as he took her hands in his and kissed them softly. "Your knight in tarnished armor and all that rot, right?"

"It’s shining armor, you daft boy." She giggled at him, feeling a blush creep upon her cheeks. "Stay with me today? So I don’t have to put with that Harmony girl all by my lonesome."

"Sorry, gentlemen’s day out apparently." He frowned at her and it broke his heart when her bottom lip jutted out in a depressed pout. He didn’t like to upset her. "Hey, don’t be that way." He chuckled, sliding his hand into hers and squeezed it lightly. "You know I would rather spend the day with you than listen to Mr. Abrams and Parker and his mates chatter on."

"His mates?"

William shook his head and snorted in wry amusement. "Yes, our lovely friend Parker decided to invite his friends over for the day. They want to go out riding behind the house and try a bit of hunting…maybe. This is what Xander told me late last night though…plans could’ve changed by now."

"That means I will be spending the day in the den listening to the latest town gossip. How lovely." She groaned, resting her forehead on his shoulder with her face twisting in annoyance and slight anger. She suddenly felt a tentative hand rubbing her back soothingly and she couldn’t help but smile softly.

"We probably should head back to the dinning room. Your father will get mad for me being alone with you." He murmured into her hair and then reluctantly moved himself away from her. If Rupert managed to walk by and saw them together like that…he would not be pleased.

"I hate him for that." She hissed, her tiny jaw clenching in hostility. "I am not marrying him…over my dead body!"

She watched as he closed his eyes and let out a long and heavy sigh, "I wish I knew what to say to you. I’m sorry."

"It’s all right." She whispered while her anger calmed from the look on his face. A ghost of a smile appeared on her mouth as she leaned forward and kissed him sweetly on the cheek. "Come on. Breakfast is almost ready."

To be continued…





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