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Summer of 1770

Panic was a normal emotion for him. The feeling of worry rushing through his veins was nothing unusual or strange; and neither was the look of fear that would settle into his eyes before he knew that the first physical or verbal blow was coming his way. He suddenly felt weak and like he was 5 years old, experiencing the weight of his father’s hands and words for the very first time. The pain wasn’t bad then, it would only hurt for a short while then suddenly fade away. There was always an excuse running through his head when he was younger. ‘He had too much to drink.’ ‘He had a terrible meeting with a client.’ ‘Mum said something that upset him.’ As the years went on though the need to make up reasons why thinned out and eventually left. It was just Ethan being Ethan.

He could feel her hand in his tighten and her own fear through that strong grip. He saw her chin trembling and her eyes that he loved so much widen with fear and wonder of what was to come. William knew then that she would never know of Ethan’s physical rage or it would be the last thing he ever did. She would never be able to handle it. She was so fragile yet filled with so much fire that was not right for a girl of her age or of her status in life.

“Was I interrupting something?” His condescending tone was like fire. It burned William and something began to stir up inside him.

“Actually, to be quite honest with you Ethan…you were.” William was never the one to talk back to Ethan but that something that was stirring up inside him was taking full force of his body.

“Been away too long, William.” Ethan’s shoes scraped across the wooden floors, slowly advancing towards his son, while his face was as innocent looking as it could be but it was easy to see that it had a darker purpose in mind. William backed away quickly, his sudden boost of confidence shattered. He had forgotten how horrible and nasty Ethan could get when he had several drinks in him. “I am trying to decide if I like it or not that you have suddenly grown a backbone.”

The backs of William’s legs hit the back of the bed, his eyes wide from fear and dreading of what was to come next. Ethan was coming closer and it was getting to the point that William could smell the strong, stinging liquor on his breath. He could also see how unclean and unkempt he was. How the stench of his whores’ perfume was soaked into his skin and fingernails. Soot and ash covered him and his clothing, which was ragged and torn.

“Mr. Rayne! Please! Don’t hurt him.” She couldn’t be more afraid of anything or anyone at that moment. Especially when the older man turned his attention to her and a twisted smile touched his lips.

The whole world spun as Elizabeth was grasped tightly by the hair and thrown onto the floor. All she could hear was shouting and things breaking all around her. She wasn’t aware of what was happening until she saw a body fall down beside her in dead weight. Ethan’s feet soon came into view behind William’s unconscious body and then he crouched down beside her.

“Now listen here girl.” His harsh whisper crawled over her face and made her skin itch like nothing else. A hand tilted her chin and made sure that she was able to see his face clearly. That twisted smile that she had seen before he had thrown her on the ground was still there. A cold rush passed through her body when she felt the pressure of his fingers dig deeper into her skin. “You are not to say any of what has happened to anyone, especially your father. Do you understand me?”

“Y-yes, s-sir. Mr. Rayne.” It was meant to come out more strong but instead passed through her lips like the whimpering of a small child.

“You should teach William some manners…maybe he could learn from you.”

The sound of leaving footsteps echoed heavily throughout the room. When it had finally disappeared she quickly reached for the body that lay beside her. A large, angry red mark was slowing showing itself on William’s neck in the form of Ethan’s handprint.

“William?” Grabbing him lightly by the shoulders she shook him but he was still refusing to wake though. “Please wake up.”

As her fingers gently grazed the small cut on his cheek, William inhaled sharply and quickly roused. “What happened?”

“Ethan.”

Holding his head, he sat up and then began to look over her with worry as he checked for bruises or marks of any kind. “Are you all right? He didn’t hurt you did he?”

She couldn’t help but smile at his worry and for a moment felt what Jenny felt when she would have this young man dote and care for her, if it was only going to be for a couple of seconds. “No, just my pride is all.” She quipped but saw no smile in return. “You don’t need to worry about me William. I will be fine. Come on…we need to get you cleaned up for dinner. Your mother wouldn’t be to happy if I brought you to dinner looking like you got in another scuffle.”

“But I-“

“Come now.” With allowing him to say another word, she took him by the hand and took him back to his own room.



Dinner had been purely dreadful. It had been filled with uptight conversations about vacation spots or local business gossip. Most of the women had done nothing but backstab others that they knew, spreading rumors and hearing new ones. At the beginning of the evening there had been a big welcome for Ethan and his arrival. All of them acting like it were a gift from the heavens that he was there. There were million and millions of questions of where he had been over the past couple of days. Ethan being Ethan, he lied about it, saying that he had work that had to get done with one of his crazy clients that he really couldn’t tear himself away from. It was a ridiculous story but everyone except William, Elizabeth, Xander, and Jenny believed him.

When dinner was all through, William, Elizabeth, Xander, and Anya managed to sneak away from everyone else and down to the small wooded area that was behind the house. Somehow during their walk through the woods, Xander and Anya had managed to split up from the other two.

“Do you think they will be all right? Anya is not much for going outside. She has this fear of rabbits for some odd reason that I have yet to figure out.”

William took her hand and began to lead her through and area of trees that wasn’t shadowed in moonlight. Everything was black and dark. She held onto his hand as firmly as she could.

“Well if you haven’t noticed. Anya is not that normal of a girl.” He then tugged her to the left and the sound of running water could be heard faintly and the moon started to show once more.

“That is true.” Her lips pursed as she asked him hesitantly, “What do you think of that Harmony girl? She seemed pretty interested in you during dinner.”

“I told you before Elizabeth,” he began looking back at her with a smile on his face. “That Harmony girl is nothing but a silly chit who cares more about where she stayed for her Christmas holiday and the pain of others than anything of substance.”

The sound of rushing water grew louder and louder as they neared until they finally came upon a rushing stream. Large oak trees were surrounding it and other plants that Elizabeth couldn’t name, and standing above the body of water was an old wooden bridge. William looked over at the girl beside him and smiled before running over to the wide rail of the bridge and climbed upon it.

“What are you doing?” She watched as he began to walk across the rail, slightly wobbling every other step because of his loss of balance. “You sure look silly.”

He immediately stopped his journey across the bridge and scowled at her. “Me? Silly?”

“Yes, you do. What if you fall? You will drown and get all wet.” She noted, clasping her hands behind her back and walked beside him.

“And if I do fall…” He smirked, “would you come and save me?”

“As much as I like you, I am sorry to say that I wouldn’t.” She told him as a matter of fact with her held slightly high but hid a smile on her lips. “I wouldn’t want to get my nice dress that mother bought for me all wet.”

“I thank you for your consideration of me. I’m so glad my relationship with you means so much.” He grinned as he stopped his journey and turned to look down at her. He clasped his hands behind his back in mimic of her and leaned in. “I know that you are jesting with me thought right?”

“I’m not. I am being intensely serious with you.” She smiled before turning away from him and continued on down the bridge. “William? What do you want to do when you get older?”

“When I get older?” His walking ceased once again and looked down at the ground as his eyebrows drew together. “To be honest with you I really don’t know. What I do know is that I don’t want to end up like Ethan, which would be…my worst nightmare.” He continued on his journey and shrugged his shoulders. “I could go live with Xander…work on the farm for awhile. That would be nice. You know what would be my dream though?”

“What?”

He hid his head bashfully as he told her, “I know it will sound silly…but…do you remember that Christmas you spent in the city with me?” She nodded. “Well, your father gave me that book and ever since then I have wanted to be…a pirate. And I know that sounds ridiculous but it has always sounded amazing and romantic and this huge adventure.” He bit his lip and finally looked at her in the eye. “You don’t find that silly do you?”

“Only a little,” She giggled, “but, you’re right, it does sound adventurous. Maybe, if it does work out for you, I will join up with you. We could sail the 7 seas together.”

“Girls can’t be pirates! That isn’t right!” He threw his hands up in the air and stomped down on the beam but she quickly ran after him and grabbed him by the sleeve of his coat, almost causing him to lose his balance but he got it back quickly. “What is your problem?”

“What was that load of rubbish I heard come out of that mouth?” She grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest and started to pout, sticking out her bottom lip as far she could. “‘Girls can’t be pirates!’ That is a load of rubbish and you know it. There are some female pirates out there and you know it! You are just afraid that if I was a pirate that I would be better than you!”

William crossed his arms over his chest as the same as Elizabeth and furrowed his eyebrows at her as if he were challenging her to something. “Oh you are definitely wrong on that one Summers! You know I could beat you at anything. I use to beat you all the time when we were little, when we use to get in our little scuffles and fights.”

“Oh, I cannot believe you!” She growled marching closer to the rail on where he was standing. “How come one minute you are perfectly fine and nice and gentle and then another minute you become mean and arrogant towards me! You are so frustrating!”

“You are one to talk!”

Elizabeth growled and before she could think straight she looked up at William and then pushed him right off the bridge and into the water with a huge splash. A few seconds later she heard him come up for later, gasping for air while shouting her name and several obscenities with it that made the girl blush. Eventually the splashing stopped and out from under the bridge came William, wet from head to toe. He looked exactly like a drowned rat.

“That was unnecessary, and you know that.”

She couldn’t help but smile brightly out of amusement for what she did to him and the shape he was in. “Actually, I think you quite deserved it really, being mean to me and all.”

“Well, Ms. Summers,” He quickly shook off any excess water that he had left on his body. “If I weren’t a gentleman, I would push you into that water right this second, but since I am one, you are lucky.”

“That is good, I suppose.” She smiled at him and then took his hand as they started to walk back to the house.



A week later, the summer was officially over. Parker and his family went back to the city with Harmony in tow, promising to visit Elizabeth again because according to her they had become ‘the best of friends’ over the last couple of weeks, despite what Elizabeth thought. It was sad for her to see William and Xander leave the next day. Anya had cried herself to sleep that night, thinking that she would never see ‘her Xander’ ever again and then for the rest of the night told Elizabeth detailed stories of their time together, which scarred the girl for life and would never look at Xander the same way again.

When William and Elizabeth said goodbye, they just held onto one another tightly, not say a word or doing anything else but just hold the other person. Telling one another, without any words at all, that everything would be all right. Before getting inside the carriage, William held her face gently in his hands and kissed her lightly as her parents looked on in shock and Anya smiling at them with a wicked grin on her lips.

The next day late in the evening, Elizabeth had returned from her afternoon ride in the country to fide both of her parents sitting in the drawing room with a strange woman that she had never seen before in her life. They had been talking vividly before she had entered the room and once she did they all fell into a dead silence. The woman that had been sitting with her parents stood up and took her shoulder gently.

She smiled strangely at her and it scared the young girl, sending shivers down her spine. “Hello Ms. Elizabeth, your parents have told me so much about you. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”



To be Continued…





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