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

Has been viewed 2166 times

- Text Size +




Winter of 1765

"He’s not very nice." Elizabeth told the girl that was sitting next to her as she played with Dawn’s hair. "He thinks he knows everything too."

"Why are you telling me this?" Willow asked as she fidgeted with Dawn’s bare feet while Elizabeth continued to play with her younger sister’s hair.

Elizabeth huffed as she locked eyes with the redhead, "I am just warning you before we leave for the city to his home." The eight year old sighed as drew her eyes away from her cousin and back to Dawn’s hair. "William is such a foolish name also…that is why he thinks he knows everything."

Willow shook her head as she watched her cousin. She had been talking about this William ever since she got here. Obviously, Elizabeth didn’t like him all too much. Her own mother had told the young redhead briefly about the Rayne family. Her mother didn’t really favor Jenny all that much but she seemed to be taken with Ethan. She had told her daughter that he was "very charming." Willow’s father had adapted the same attitude as her mother also. Although, he thought that Mrs. Rayne was "an elegant beauty despite her being a filthy farmer’s daughter."

Mr. Rayne and Mr. Rosenberg had met once at a party of a mutual friend and they quickly had become friends also. The couple had even been over to the Rosenberg house a couple of times, but they never brought their son, who was always left with his nanny. So, Willow was very eager to meet this boy, despite what Elizabeth was telling her.

"Doesn’t your father work with Mr. Rayne?"

"Yes," Elizabeth huffed as she finally decided to leave her sister’s hair alone and then looked up at her cousin. "We were supposed to spend Christmas with them two years ago, but mother did not want to take Dawn out of the house yet." Elizabeth smiled as her little sister began to giggle. She then darted her eyes over towards the front door of their home where her parents and her aunt and uncle were still talking.

Mrs. Rosenberg smiled as she squeezed her sister’s hands, which she held onto tightly. "It was so nice of you to take care of Willow for us." She then looked over at her husband and kissed his cheek lightly. "We would take her with us to New York, but we feel it might be too much for her with the city being so big and all."

"Do not worry sister," Joyce reassured her with a beaming smile, "we are heading to the city for the holidays. We are staying with the Rayne family."

"They are delightful people." Mr. Rosenberg commented, placing his arm around his wife’s shoulders. "Especially Ethan, he knows how to show someone a glorious time. He is also marvelous in the matters of law and business and might I say a wonderful family man."

"Really?" Rupert asked with a tilt of the head and quirk of his eyebrow. "I never got that impression when he stayed here."

Mr. Rosenberg chuckled as he clasped Rupert on the back with an amused grin on his face. "Oh, Rupert you old fool." He said with that amused grin still on his face. "Actually, he talks quite candidly about his son William whenever he is over with Jennifer. Although, I have never met the boy, he sounds delightful. Ethan says he’s got quite the spirit and the intellect."

"Is that so?" Rupert inquired once again with such a suspicious tone in his voice that his wife turned to look at him with a confused look on her face. "It seemed to me that Ethan ignores his son."

Both Mr. and Mrs. Rosenberg couldn’t help but laugh at Mr. Summers’ claim. "Oh, Rupert, the stories you tell!" Mr. Rosenberg chuckled before motioning over their driver towards the door. "Well, we must be off now. We have to reach New York by tomorrow night. Good day, Rupert." Mr. Rosenberg snatched his hat off of the coat rack before grasping Rupert’s hand in his and shook it and then turned to Joyce, taking her hand and kissing the back of it. "Joyce."

"Goodbye, sister." Mrs. Rosenberg leaned forward and gently kissed her older sister on the cheek before following her husband out of the door, neither of them bothering to say goodbye to their only daughter.

Joyce waved as she watched the carriage pull away from the house and once they were out site she slammed the door as hard as she could. Rupert flinched at the sound of it. "I cannot believe her." Joyce growled as she marched away from the door and into the den.

"What is it, dear?" Rupert asked her softly as he took her hands in his and kissed her knuckles gently. "What troubles you?"

"My sister, Sheila." Joyce hissed between her teeth as she yanked her hands out of her husbands. "She does this all the time. She leaves her daughter here because she cannot take care of her on her own." Joyce sighed heavily as she began to rub her temples. "She does not pay attention to Willow and neither does her husband. Whenever they get tired of her they leave her with us." Mrs. Summers sighed once again as she turned around and watched as her daughter and cousin laughed and played with one another. She then shook her head and looked back over at her husband.

"I know it’s wrong." Rupert soothed her kindly, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist. "I’m sure that Willow and William will get along, they have a lot of common."

Joyce furrowed her eyebrows as she turned her head towards her husband. "What does that mean?"

"It means," Rupert sighed, pulling away from his wife as he shut the door to the den and then looked back at his wife, "that we both know how Ethan treats his son. It is the same way that your sister and her husband treat Willow."

"I don’t understand."

"My wife…Joyce…it is obviously clear that Ethan Rayne does care even the slightest for his only son. He ignores him and I am quite sure that he abuses him!" Rupert huffed as stalked over to the couch and sat down. Suddenly, he could feel a sharp headache begin to pound in his head. With a groan, the older man began to rub his temples so as to stop the pounding.

"Rupert Summers!" Joyce growled as she marched around the sofa and stood in front of him with her hands on her hips. "You cannot make such accusations!"

"Yes, I can!" Mr. Summers immediately jumped from his seat as he stared at his wife. He loved Joyce with all of his being, but sometimes she could be stubborn and Rupert knew that his eldest daughter would end up the same way. "Because it is true. That man does not care about that boy. He ignored him the whole entire time that he stayed here! And you can see the fear that William has in his eyes for him. No child should ever have to fear their parents."

"Then, if you despise him so much, why do you did you invite him to your firm?"

"Because as your lovely brother in law said, the man knows and understands the ways of business and law, and I need someone like that in my firm if I want it to succeed." He told her simply with his head hanging in guilt. "It doesn’t matter how much I dislike him. I need him and he needs me."

Joyce nodded, not wishing to push her husband further because she could already see the sadness and anger in his eyes. Showing him a sympathetic smile, she leaned over and kissed him gently on the cheek. "Come now, we must leave now so we can get there before dusk."

~*~

Ethan growled as he slammed the drawer in his desk shut, causing Jenny to flinch. "Ethan, darling, I can do nothing about this. I promised her."

"But you promised this without discussing it with me first, Jennifer!" He hissed as he began to organize the files on his desk, shoving them and throwing them into random drawers. Ethan then sent his wife a sharp glare before he began looking through another drawer. "Where the BLOODY HELL did I put my cufflinks!"

"I do not know Ethan!" Jenny yelled as she marched over to him and slammed the draw that he was searching through shut. "But, when the Summers are here, you are to give my nephew and your son some respect because I will not stand for you to ridicule another person that I hold dear."

Ethan chuckled as sauntered over to his wife and backed her up against a nearby wall. "And what will you do if I don’t, my dear wife. You are just a woman," A smug smirk crossed his lips as his eyes raked up and down her form before meeting her eyes, this caused Jenny to shiver in fear, "and a weak woman at that. But, I suppose we could make some sort of…" Ethan smirk again as his eyes roamed over her body once again, "…arrangement. After all, you and I haven’t slept together ever since William was conceived."

"You are disgusting." She spat, pushing her husband away from her before stalking over towards the door that led out of Ethan’s study. She was stopped however when an iron grip seized her arm and turned her around to face Mr. Rayne. "Let. Go. Of. Me!"

Ethan chuckled as he pushed Jenny up against the nearby door. "Now, now my dear wife. We still haven’t talked about our arrangement. After all…what about your wonderful nephew Alexander and our dear…little…precious…William?" Ethan advanced towards her with small steps so that as his son’s name left his lips, he was right up against his wife. His body pressed snuggly against hers, which made Jenny whimper in fear.

"Why must you do this?" She sniffled, trying to struggle out of her husband’s hold on her. "Why must you hurt our son? He loves you! Why must you do this to him? To our family!"

Ethan chuckled as he leaned forward and cupped his wife’s cheek before kissing her hard on the lips. "Life isn’t fair darling. Both you and William need to realize that." He hissed in her ear and then grabbed her by the shoulders and threw her out of his office.

Tears stained Jenny’s cheeks as the door to her husband’s office slammed shut. Why does he do this? She thought as she sobbed. She was so caught up in her sadness that she did not hear her son’s nanny, Abigail, approached her.

"Madam?" Abigail asked, noticing her employer’s crying state. "Are you alright Mrs. Rayne?"

Jenny gasped as she finally noticed the woman beside her and then quickly wiped away the tears that streaked her cheeks. "I am fine." She sniffled. "Why don’t you check on the children before our guests arrive." She suggested, motioning to the staircase.

Abigail curtsied with a considerate smile on her face. "Will do Mrs. Rayne."

The nanny slightly closed her eyes as she heard Mrs. Rayne continue to sob. Everyone around the Rayne mansion knew of Mr. Rayne’s temper towards his wife and son. Abigail hated to see such a sad look on Mrs. Rayne’s face. She did not deserve that kind of treatment and neither did her son. She had never seen so many bruises on a child before. Usually they came from playing around too much and, in the beginning, that’s what Abigail thought they were until they started coming in the forms of large handprints. What surprised the nanny was that the boy still remained happy. He laughed and giggled all the time with his mother and some of the other servants. That child was very strong.

"You don’t do it like that, Xander!" Abigail heard young master William huff at his cousin as she approached the room.

"Yes you do William." Alexander Harris said as he placed a scarf over William’s eyes. "My friend Oz and I have played this several times before."

William furrowed his eyebrows as his cousin continued to tie the scarf over his eyes. "Oz? That’s a weird name."

Xander giggled as he finally finished tying the scarf. "S’not his real name. His real name is Daniel but we like to call him ‘Oz’."

"Oh." William sighed and twitched nervously, he didn’t like the fact that his whole world was covered in darkness and the fact that his cousin was the only person making sure that he didn’t bump into things as they played his stupid game. "What is this game called again?"

"Oz says its called…Blindman’s Bluff or something like that. Can’t really remember." Xander told him as he held onto William’s shoulders. "Now, I am going to spin you around a couple of times then I am going to go hide somewhere in the room and you have to find me."

"Alright."

Xander sighed as he began to spin the other boy around and around. "It was nice for Aunt Jenny to let me spend Christmas with you."

William smirked, "Well, she did promise your mum." William then stumbled when Xander stopped spinning him. "And it will be nice to spend time with someone else besides that strange girl, Elizabeth."

"She can not be that bad." Xander said as he began to look around for a place to hide. He then chuckled as he eagerly ran over to William’s bed and hid underneath it.

"She is." William huffed as he began to rock back and forth on the heels of his feet. "You ready?"

"Yes. Now remember, don’t take off the blindfold and follow the sound of my voice."

William nodded as he reached out in front of him and slowly began to make his way around the room, casually bumping into things but with no harm coming to him. He then stopped by the window and lifted his chin into the air.

"Am I close yet?"

"A bit." Xander chuckled underneath the bed but then got worried as his cousin spun around on his heels and made his way confidently over to the bed. He walked too quickly though and immediately knocked into the bed and fell down to the ground on his behind. William suddenly snatched the scarf from his eyes and glared at his cousin who rolling on the floor laughing.

"S’not funny." William snapped at his cousin, jumping to his feet and throwing the scarf back in one of his drawers. And as the drawers slammed shut, his nanny, Abigail came in with a delighted smile on her face. William’s own face brightened when he saw his nanny. "Hello Abby!"

Abigail sent him a loving smile as she ruffled his dark, and recently short, curls. "Your mum sent me up here to make sure you and Alexander are ready for when our guests arrive." Abigail then opened up William’s closet and retrieved a deep blue overcoat and placed his small arms through it. She then motioned Xander over and took out an evergreen colored one for him. The nanny took a step back as she observed both of the boys. "Lovely, the both of you will be extremely handsome when you get older."

The boys blushed as they followed Abigail out of William’s room and down the stairs where the Summers family was waiting.

To be continued…





You must login (register) to review.