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Summer of 1762

Weeks had passed since the Raynes’ first night at the Summers’ country mansion. Everything around the house had fallen into a structured routine since then.

In the mornings they would all wake up early and eat breakfast, discussing their future plans for the day. Immediately afterwards, Joyce would head back up to her room with the assistance of the servants in the house. Rupert and Ethan would instantaneously head into Mr. Summers’ office to discuss business. This left Jenny alone with the children, and she usually spent her mornings sewing in the corner while the children played with one another in Elizabeth’s room.

Elizabeth and William seemed to be getting along better than they had when the Rayne family first arrived. They weren’t always peaceful with one another though. Once Jenny had left to tend to Joyce, the two children would somehow end up in a argument that had them both rolling around on the floor with one another. The screams coming from them both caused Mrs. Rayne to run worryingly back to the room and tear them away from each other.

Later in the afternoon, Mr. Summers would show up to take the children out riding with him. As soon as William would see Rupert enter the room, he would immediately drop whatever he was doing and run over to the man’s side, eager to leave. Elizabeth rarely went with them and usually went with Jenny to help her mother.

William had found a sudden passion for riding. Even though he was only six years of age, the act of riding gave him freedom. It helped him let go of all the anger and sadness he felt. It made him forget Ethan, and, both the mental and physical abuse the small boy received from his father.

When they were tired of riding, the pair rode back to the house where Mr. Summers would return back to the mansion to attend to some more business. He usually left William with a smirk on his lips and a promise to ride again tomorrow.

The rest of the afternoon, the Rayne boy would sit on the edge of the hillside that the mansion sat on and he would watch nature, listening to its sounds and viewing its actions. Eventually, Elizabeth would venture outside and sit down next to him and they would end up talking about the silly things that small children usually discussed. There was the occasional small tiff between the pair. They would sit there for hours, as they were doing now.

"Do you think the sky was always so blue?" Elizabeth asked as she lay down on the grass, observing the sky. Her small nose was scrunched up in several defined wrinkles, as was her forehead.

William from his place on the grass next to her, turned to look at her. "That is a stupid question to ask. The sky has always been blue. S’way it has always been."

"I don’t think that is the truth."

William immediately sat up from where he lay next to her and looked down at her with confusion. "What do you mean?"

Elizabeth sighed heavily as she sat up and looked up at the sky once more. "I do not think the sky has always been blue. I think it was another color like…purple."

"Why purple?"

Elizabeth shrugged her small shoulders before looking up at the clear sky above them. "I just think purple is a pretty color."

William shook his head as he began to pick at the grass under his body. "That is strangest thing I have ever heard before."

"Well, what do you think the color of the sky use to be?" Elizabeth huffed, crossing her arms over her chest with her bottom lip jutting out in a small pout. "Since you are the smart one!"

"I don’t think the sky was ever a different color. I think it has always been blue." William told her, throwing some blades of grass down the hill before looking over at her once again.

Elizabeth glared at the boy next to her. He thinks he knows everything! She thought before starting to pick at the lush blades of grass like he was, tossing them wherever she pleased.

"Does your father still hurt you?" Elizabeth asked with her shy little voice, ducking her head so that her long golden hair was shielding her face and her large eyes were avoiding his. She heard William let out a heavy sigh as they both sat there.

"Yes…" he whispered, his voice soft and vulnerable. When Elizabeth finally looked over at her companion, she could see unshed tears in his eyes and the heavy slump in his small shoulders. Without another word the young boy let out a small sniffle before rolling one of his sleeves back to reveal a large bruise on his arm in the shape of Ethan’s hand.

Elizabeth eyes widened as she stared at the large bruise on William’s arm. The small girl could not contemplate how someone could do that their own child. She thought it was wrong and that something should be done about it.

"I should tell my father!" Elizabeth told William as she jumped up from her place on the grass and began to make her way back inside when William’s hand grasped onto her shoulder and spun her around to face him.

"No!" William shouted, dragging her away from the Summers’ mansion and back to the place they had been sitting before.

"Why not?" Elizabeth pouted, crossing her arms over her chest while staring at him in disbelief. "He is hurting you!"

William shook his head once again as a small tear fell down his cheek and then down his neck where it disappeared into the collar of his shirt. "You cannot do that!" He whimpered, eagerly wiping away another tear that was threatening to spill from his eyes. "If you tell your father then Ethan will find out I told! Then if Ethan finds out…he will hurt me…worse than ever before…he might even kill me."

"Do not say that!" Elizabeth yelled as tears began to fall from her eyes. "That won’t happen! It won’t!" She whimpered as more tears fell from her eyes.

"But it will! It will if you tell him!" William’s knees buckled as he collapsed to the ground.

He felt weak.

He felt tired.

Surprisingly, William shed no tears. He just sat there, waiting for them to come. He knew for a fact that a boy his age shouldn’t been dealing with what he had to deal with from day to day. He envied Elizabeth for the love she had from her father. She couldn’t see how special she was to have him. William would give anything to have Rupert for his father.

"Do not cry William." He heard her whisper as she sat down next to him, placing her arm over his shoulders. Her voice was sweet. It was one of the rare things that William liked about her. He wondered if she knew that her voice sounded like a small silver bell.

William let out a short huff as he moved out of her embrace and stood up. "I will show ‘im, one of these days. I will get back at ‘im. When I am old enough."

"Miss Elizabeth!" Fiona hollered as she ran out from the back of the mansion, a white towel that she held in her hands as she waved it back and forth. "Come now! Come, it’s your mother!"

"What?" Elizabeth immediately wiped the tears away from her eyes as she turned to her nanny.

The woman’s cheeks were a deep shade of red and it made her bright blue eyes stand out even more than they did before. Her chest was heaving as her breath came out in short, shallow gasps.

"You mother! She is having her baby! Come on!" Fiona waved as she ran back inside the house.

William saw the bright and beaming smile that painted itself on Elizabeth’s mouth. It was easy to see how excited she was. She started to bounce excitedly on her toes as her hair began to bounce with her. Eventually her small little bounces turned into high jumps, giggling with each one of them.

"My sister is here! My sister is here! My sister!" She continued to giggle before taking William’s hand and tugged at it. "Come now William! She’s coming!"

"Wait! I am confused!"

Elizabeth ignored the boy as she ran up the hill and up the marble steps that led inside the house. William tried to keep up with the girl as she ran through the kitchen, knocking over several of the cooks on her way, then as she stormed through the library and finally up the stairs.

William grasped the girl’s hand tighter as she practically dragged him up the stairs. He couldn’t help but stumble as she yanked him over the final one, which caused William to loose the hold on her hand but Elizabeth continued on without him. William huffed as he picked himself up and ran over to the door that his blonde companion had her ear up against.

"What are you listening for?" He asked with a furrow of his eyebrows.

"For my sister!" She shushed him with a wave of her hand. She only rolled her eyes before she placed her ear against the door once again.

"She won’t be here for awhile." He notified her as he slumped against a nearby wall and sat down. "My mum says that births take a long time. So, you might want to sit down for a bit."

"You don’t know everything!" She hissed at him, turning her head to shoot him a look of annoyance and frustration before placing her ear against the door again.

"I don’t know everything." He said with smugness in his voice and a light smirk on his lips as he watched her. "I do know about this though. My grandmum use to be a mid-wife before she got weak, and she taught my mum everything she knows. She was going to be a mid-wife too, my mum. And—"

"Shh!" Elizabeth shushed him for the second time, not even bothering to remove her ear from the door.

Suddenly the door opened and out a sweating Fiona emerged with a damp towel in her hand. She looked down at the young Summers girl and grinned.

"What are you doing now, Elizabeth?" She chuckled, shutting the door behind her so as to drown out Joyce’s screams.

"I was listening for my new sister!" The small girl said with pride.

Fiona shook her head at the small girl and leaned down to place a kiss on her cheek. "Babies take a long time to come, Elizabeth." The nanny told her with another shake of her head. "Why don’t you sit down like young William over there and wait."

Fiona winked at William before shuffling down the hall as quick as she could. William then turned over to look at Elizabeth as she stomped over towards the wall that was opposite of William and slumped against before sitting down.

A smug look passed over William’s face as he gazed at Elizabeth. Her arms were crossed over her chest and when she finally looked up at him she shot him another annoyed look.

"You still don’t know everything!" She whined, holding herself tighter as she continued to glare at him. He still wouldn’t get that smug look off of his face and it was driving her nuts.

"I already told you that I don’t know everything." He said with calm looking over at the closed door beside him and then back over at the blonde girl. "I was right about this though."

Elizabeth sighed deeply as she leaned her head against the wall and began to let time tick away. She and William did not speak to one another the whole entire time that they sat there. Eventually, Fiona came back and quickly rushed into the room with more white towels in hand and a small bucket filled with warm water. Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows at this and then went back to leaning her head against the wall. She closed her eyes as she tried to drown out the loud cries of her mother’s pain. She was shouting for her father, calling him things that Elizabeth didn’t even know existed until then.

Several hours later, the sounds of her mother’s cries died away and the cries of something else took over. It was then that the door to Joyce’s bedroom flew open and Fiona appeared with a beaming grin on her face.

"It’s a girl!" Fiona laughed as she looked down at Elizabeth and lifted her up into her arms. "It’s a girl!" She cheered, twirling the girl around in circles. "Come and see her!"

Elizabeth giggled with delight as Fiona brought her inside the bedroom where her mother laid with a bundle in her arms. Standing beside her was Jenny who looked as tired as Joyce was. William couldn’t help but want to laugh at his mother’s jaded appearance.

Joyce saw her eldest daughter and beamed as she ushered her over. "Come here Elizabeth." Her mother whispered with a slight pant in her voice. "Meet your new sister, Dawn."

Elizabeth’s eyes widened with joy as she wormed her way out of Fiona’s arms and ran over to the bed and crawled up next to her mother. The small girl almost wept as she looked down at the baby in Joyce’s arms. The baby immediately looked up at Elizabeth and the eldest Summers almost gasped at the baby’s bright blue eyes.

"She’s pretty." Elizabeth whispered, leaning down and kissing the baby’s forehead. "Can I take care of her too?"

Joyce laughed quietly as she reached over and stroked her oldest child’s golden hair. "Yes, Elizabeth, you may."

To be continued…





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