[Reviews - 29]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story | ePub eBook Chapter or Story | Printer Chapter or Story

Has been viewed 1634 times

- Text Size +




Summer of 1770

William huffed as he threw his overcoat on top of his bed. They had gotten home not too long ago and already William was longing for the comforts of the Summers’ mansion. The house here was filled with emptiness and everything was cold and dark. It had been worse over the last 2 years; that was when Abby left. Ethan had thought his son was too old for a nanny and that her services were no longer needed. So he shipped her back to England to live in a small shack in the countryside with her family of 11. William had begged his father for her to stay, saying that she was still a wonderful maid and cook.

His thoughts became jumbled as he relived past events inside his head. He experienced the emotional pain all over again. His fingers curled into his palm, forming into a tight fist as his bright eyes shut and tried to block out the fast, oncoming images.

“William?” Jenny called out to him from his door but he did not move an inch, not realizing she was there. She looked down at his hands and saw them clenched tightly, his left holding the silk cravat that she had bought for him while the other was bare and could see small trickles of blood escape. “William, stop!” She rushed to his side and snatched his hands and pried them open while she tried to get his attention. “Answer me! Please! Open your eyes!”

Blue eyes met dark brown as he sucked in a wavering breath of air. He felt a stinging in his hands and finally noticed the small amount of blood caking his palms. “I-I’m sorry. No more thinking for William.”

She gently rubbed his wrists before pulling him into her comforting arms. “Shh…” She soothed as one of her hands rubbed his back as she use to do when he was younger. “It’s all right. Everything is okay.”

“You take me for a fool don’t you, boy?” William’s eyes drew themselves to his door where Ethan was standing, his hands shoved into the pockets of his overcoat and a permanent scowl settled on his face.

Jenny gave her son an affectionate cup of the cheek before she turned to her husband. “What are you talking about Ethan?”

Ethan’s scowl wasn’t as permanent as William thought when he suddenly began to laugh as if his wife’s question amused him. “It seems that our William has taken a liking to the Summers’ girl.”

“And what is the harm in that? They are young adults and can feel however they desire.”

Ethan chuckled once again as he went to his wife and reached out to touch her wrinkling face that use to be so smooth. “You’re getting old, Jenny dear. I do not think you have realized how much times have changed.” His striking eyes briefly fixed their attention on William before going back to Jenny. “I do not think our son realizes that by getting mixed up in a romantic relationship with Ms. Summers is not wise…it will be nothing but heartache and chaos.”

“How do you mean?” Jenny reached behind her to grab her son’s hand and squeezed it tightly.

“Rupert has informed me that our pretty Elizabeth is to eventually be promised to the Abrams boy. It is all about business you see…our firm needs another investor and the deal with Abrams will make sure of that. They will marry and we will get money out of it. I won’t stand by and watch as our son screws up something that will be so good for business and I do not think Rupert likes it either.”

William’s glowered up at the older man and his fists began to clench once again. “I LOVE HER!” He yelled at the top of his lungs.

“You don’t know what that word means, boy!” Ethan growled marching over to his son and grasped William’s chin tightly in his hands and forced him to look at Ethan. “You are young and insipid. You don’t really realize what a powerful word that is. Love is nothing but hell and misery and you drown yourself in it just so you can get a kiss from a pretty girl. Oh, how stupid you are!” Ethan shoved William away from him and continued on in his tirade. “And because you love her, she will leave you. Love will always cause people to leave you. Your mother will leave you and Xander will leave you and Rupert will leave you and even your precious Elizabeth will leave you. Then you will be all alone and cold because everyone in the world that you loved is gone. Loving is the most idiotic thing you could ever do and you will die for it…mark my words.”

“Ethan that is enough! That is enough!” Jenny stepped in front of her child and held out her arms, as her hand reached out for her son’s.

Ethan smirked and gently caressed the side of his wife’s face, “Jennifer, dear, you are in my way!” His hand that had been touching her with such softness quickly grasped her shoulder and threw her to the ground. She let out a sharp cry as her head hit the floor and her eyes rolled into the back of her head. “Stupid, cow.” He muttered before marching towards William.

Even before Ethan could lay a finger on the boy, William squeezed his hand into a tight fist and slung at his father as hard as he could, connecting with his jaw and sending him to the ground; not too far away from his mother.

“Mum?” He crouched down beside her and gently pulled away the hair that had fallen in front of her face. Her eyes still shut and her head slouched to the side. His gaze darted over to Ethan and was not surprised to see that the older man had already gotten his bearings back and was picking himself up off the floor. Kissing his mother’s forehead gently, William ran out of his room and down the hallway.

Ethan’s footsteps stomped heavily against the carpet as he chased after his son who fleeing for his life. “Will! My boy, we need to have a talk…father and son!”

Feeling him drawing closer, William pushed himself forward. Chanting to his legs to keep going…to keep moving faster. As he continued to run faster and faster, William thought that he might have finally lost Ethan. However, his joys were doused when he was grabbed the back of his jacket tightly and thrown up against the nearby wall, smashing into his grandmother’s antique mirror causing it to shatter into millions of pieces. Cuts were now marring his youthful face, a deep cut slashed through the thicker part of his eyebrow while blood spilled down his face.

William’s scratched, scarred hands grasped at the floor in front of him as he attempted to drag himself to his feet. Strong hands gripped William’s collar as he was turned onto his back, the shards of glass scraping and digging into his back.

“Shh…” Ethan cooed as he held his son to the ground and gently pulled William’s hair away from his face. “It will all be over soon…”

William’s legs flayed in the air while Ethan tried to hold him down securely to the floor and tried to call out for help but no one would hear him. All the servants had retired to their wing and his mother was knocked out cold in his room. Tears of fear fell down his face as he begged and pleaded for Ethan to let him go.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” William sobbed, jerking his wrists while his legs tried to move Ethan.

“Shut up you piece of filth!” Ethan smacked his son hard across the face before wrapping that had in William’s hair and began to tug hard. “You do realize how hard it has been for me these past 14 years! You have ruined everything! My wife hasn’t even touched me in years because of you! My business almost collapsed before my eyes because your insipid, idiotic infatuation with that silly little girl!”

“Ethan! Please! Pl-please st-stop! Please, I’m sorry!”

“You were just a mistake you realize!” Ethan hissed in William’s ear, pulling on his hair so hard that William thought he was going to rip it and his scalp right off the top of his head, the pain was excruciating. “I didn’t even want to have children! But your mother, the stupid cow that she is, wanted one. So I gave it to her and look what happened…we got you! A disappointment!”

William screamed at the top of his lungs as Ethan pulled hard, taking a patch of William’s curly hair with it. Hot, painful tears poured down his eyes as white searing flashes passed before his eyes and electric shocks passed through his brain causing his eyes to shut while trying to calm the pain. Suddenly, a large amount of weight slumped heavily against William’s chest as the struggle for breath became vital. Opening his eyes, William was surprised to see Ethan’s body on top of his, unmoving.

“Oh Lord…” William gasped trying to shove the heavy weight off of him, thinking Ethan was dead.

Ethan rolled off of him and hit the floor with a heavy thud.

“He’ll be fine…” William’s eyes looked up and saw his mother standing before him, holding a brass candle holder tightly in her hand while a bruise was already forming on her cheek from where she hit the floor. Dropping the holder onto the floor she collapsed to her knees having used up most of her lacking energy hitting Ethan. Her arms opened wide and William fell into them, clinging to her as if she were the only thing keeping him alive and connected to the world. His tears ran down his cheeks and onto her chest. “It’s all right my son…it’s over…it’s over for you. No more.”

William looked up at his mother with confusion embedded in his gaze. Without saying a word she took his hand and took him back to his room. “Mum?”

“We don’t have a lot of time left…its best we hurry.” She went over to his trunk that sat at the edge of his bed, which had not been unpacked from his trip from the Summers’ mansion “Pack what ever else you need. I will be back.”

William watched her leave before eagerly throwing things away inside his trunk while a tiny smile lit up on his face. Though he was still reeling over what Ethan had done to him, William couldn’t help but think that it was over. He and his mother were finally leaving. All the praying that he had done was finally paying off. He could go live with Xander and his Uncle on the farm. All was going to be right in the world now. Ethan would never harm them again.

When William had been done packing and cleaning his wounds, Jenny returned with her shawl wrapped tightly around her shoulders. One of coach masters brushed passed her and took William’s trunk. William smiled at his mother, hoping to see her glow with this new freedom she had been given but she still looked like ash.

“Come now.” Her pale hand enveloped his as they followed the coach master out to the carriage. William watched as he loaded it onto the coach but was surprised to see only one trunk.

“Mother? Where is yours?” When she didn’t respond and only cupped his cheek in her hand, William began to worry. “Mother! Tell me! Where is your trunk!”

“I’m not going.” She whispered, kissing him lightly on the cheek. “I gave the driver a letter to your aunt and uncle, be sure to give it to them when you get there.”

“Mum?”

Jenny smiled at him frailly and took him over to the coach, opening the door for him. “Don’t worry about me, dear. This old woman still has got some life in her, and I will be along after you soon. Now, go on.”

William felt a deep pang in his gut as the Rayne mansion shrunk in the distance, his mother watching him with a forlorn look on her face. He could see her unshed tears as she strongly tried to hide them from his gaze but he knew her all to well. He could see her struggle. William also knew that he wouldn’t be seeing his mother for quite awhile. She knew it too. It took everything in him not to jump out of the coach and run back to her, but she wanted this. She wanted this for him and so he stayed.

It was early dawn when the Harris farm heard a knocking on the front door. Mrs. Harris was busy in the kitchen when she heard it, fixing her family’s breakfast and at first thought it was her imagination. She furrowed her eyebrows as she heard it again. No one ever came to their door so early, except that one strange morning when that young Daniel Osbourne and come to call on Xander, but besides that the mornings were always quiet.

“Did you hear that, mother?” Winifred asked, shuffling into the kitchen with her nightgown and robe swishing around her feet. “Was that the door?”

“I think so, Winnie, dear.” She said, putting down her mixing bowl and then wiping her hands on her apron. “Do you think you could answer it? I am very busy with breakfast at the moment.”

“Yes, mam.” She grumbled, pulling her nightgown tighter around her. She hated being the first one up in the morning that always meant helping mother with all the chores before father and Xander went out to work in the fields. Although her brother was only 2 years older than she was, Fred always felt much younger. She was the baby of the family and got treated as such. She didn’t want to be treated as a child and she couldn’t wait until the day when her mother’s 9 months of pregnancy was over so that she wouldn’t be the baby anymore.

Running a hand through her dark hair, to make sure she looked at least somewhat presentable, she approached the door.

She wondered how she was ever going to find a suitor, considering the way she looked. The other girls in the village teased her because she read a lot of books and was interested in the sciences. She was also considered to be plain and mousy looking as well. It was only a couple of years ago that all the girls had stopped calling her Winifred and called her Fred instead due to her boyish intellect and the fact that she would only hang out with her brother and his friends.

She had first gotten the nickname from her older cousin William, when they were both little and he had always had a hard time saying her name, so he call her Fred instead. She had loved it -for awhile- until everyone else started calling her it and it wasn’t in a loving fashion that William said it.

Fred gasped when she finally opened the old, wooden door. “Oh, My Lord!” She shrieked, throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly while bouncing on her tip-toes. “I’m so happy to see you!” She giggled, clutching on to him tighter.

“Winifred Harris, how many times have I told you not to say the Lord’s name in vain. You know that will only send you—“

Helena held her breath as she watched her youngest grasp on tightly to her older cousin. It had been a couple of years since William had visited them and usually when he did there was always some warning from her sister. Looking outside the doorway, Helena observed the trunk sitting at the edge of steps and the coach that was shrinking into the distance and moving back towards the city.

What had Ethan done now?

~*~

Elizabeth wrinkled her nose as the stranger looked her up and down with an air of haughtiness. The girl looked over at her parents for some reassurance or information about this woman but said nothing. Elizabeth turned back to the woman and tried to ignore the way the woman ran her eyes over her.

She could pass for a woman in her early sixties due to the condition of her wrinkled and weathered skin but her eyes said differently. Her graying hair that was probably a dark, rich color at some point in her life time was pulled into a tight bun at the top of head. Everything else about her was pale and thin, Elizabeth could see the thick veins that were coiled around her throat. She of course appeared to be raised as a proper lady. The kind of woman she knew girls like Harmony would grow up to be like. This was why Elizabeth was frightened by her presence.

“Well,” the woman brought her lace handkerchief to her nose as she ran her disapproving eyes over Elizabeth again. “She smells like a barnyard, which also reflects in her state of dress. Her hair is a complete mess and her posture is terrible.” She gently slapped at Elizabeth’s hands when they began to fidget. “She also seems to like to fidget.”

“I beg your pardon, madam, but I do not like the way you are talking about me!” Elizabeth growled, crossing her arms over her chest.

“A proper lady also never crosses her arms.” The woman pried Elizabeth’s arms away from her chest and pinned them to her sides. “This is a lot to work with, but it is not anything that I cannot handle.”

Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows and looked over at her mother and father. “Mother? Father? What is she talking about? Who is she?”

Joyce smiled at her daughter and joined her at her side, linking their arms together. “This is Ms. Phillips…she owns a finishing school in London, and due to recent events…we have made her an offer.”

The girl’s eyes widened as she wretched herself away from her mother’s loving hold on her. “You mean…you wish to send me away…to England of all places!”

“It wasn’t our choice!” Rupert shouted, “Your mother and I—“

“If it was not your choice, then whose was it?” Tears began to fall from her eyes. She felt emptiness inside of her. Was this what betrayal felt like? “You are both my parents…you are supposed to take care of me and above all love me! Do you think that by sending me there that you are protecting me or loving me! You are just sending me there so I can become someone like Harmony! You don’t love me!”

“You will thank us later when you are older.” Joyce tried to soothe her and reached out to touch her but Elizabeth flinched away from her. “We only want what is best for you. We want you to have a good, settled place in society and with the way you are acting now, both your father and I feel that a bit of guidance is in order.”

Rupert sighed as he grasped his child’s shoulders and turned her around to face the stairs. “There is no argument. We have some of your things already packed but we left the rest up to you.”

“I hate the both of you!” She grumbled, wrenching herself away from her father before running up the stairs with tears falling from her eyes.

When she finally came down from her room about an hour later, Elizabeth had been scrubbed clean of all the dirt and grime on her until her skin had turned into a healthy shade of pink. She was wearing the heavy gown that had her mother had lain on the bed for her with new, satin, white gloves clutched in her hands. Her hair was pinned heavily on the top of her head.

It was pure torture.

Dawn had clutched on to Elizabeth tightly as they parted ways. Tears covered her round cheeks while her eyes had never been puffier. Elizabeth reassured her that she would write to her younger sister as much as she could and told Dawn that she loved her very much. She then begged her sister to somehow get in touch with William and Willow to tell them what had happened to her.

Elizabeth said nothing to her parents as she got into the coach with Ms. Phillips. Joyce tried to speak to her before she left but Elizabeth only glared at her. The girl knew that eventually she would have to talk to her parents but for the moment her anger consumed her and crippled her so much that the sight of both Rupert and Joyce was making her physically sick.

She knew that she would never forgive them.

To be continued…





You must login (register) to review.