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

Has been viewed 2109 times

- Text Size +




Winter of 1765

Elizabeth giggled with excitement as she grabbed Willow’s hand and pulled her out of the carriage where the rest of the family was waiting. Looking up at the house in front of them, the young girl’s jaw dropped. The house was much larger than she had anticipated. She thought that since it was in the city that it would be tall but thin, and cramped. This was the complete opposite.

The Rayne house was at least 3 stories high and extremely wide, taking up most of the street. It was made out of dark, blood red bricks just like her house. The windows did not have shutters like hers, but they were covered with deep emerald thick drapery. In front of the house sat two large pillars of ivory that led to a large balcony on the second floor. Elizabeth assumed that belonged to William’s parents. Elizabeth flinched when she saw two large stone statues of lions sitting on the marble staircase on the front porch. Their eyes seemed to mock her as she tightened her grip on Willow’s hand.

"Joyce," Rupert’s voice called out through Elizabeth’s gazing that caused her to turn her attention towards her mother and father. "Do put Dawn down, I am sure that she can walk on her own. She is three years old, darling."

Joyce chuckled as she shook her head. "Nonsense, Rupert." She told him, shifting her youngest daughter in her arms. "I can hold my daughter if I want to." She said before sending him a playful smile.

Rupert held his wife’s gaze before looking over at his daughter and niece. "Come girls, our hosts are awaiting us."

Willow ducked her head shyly as she tugged on Elizabeth’s hand. "Coming Uncle Rupert." She whispered, a slight blush coloring her cheeks. Willow wanted to blame it on the icy chill that hung in the air. She hated being shy.

Elizabeth almost laughed at the deep red shade that covered her plump cheeks. She was incredibly shy around everyone, except Elizabeth and her mother. Elizabeth wouldn’t be surprised if Willow’s cheeks remained that color the whole time that they were here.

William better not tease her, the young girl thought as they approached the front door and her father began to knock, if he does…he is going to regret it. She is my best friend and my family. William is such a foolish name. A foolish name for a foolish boy.

Elizabeth was brought out of her thoughts when the front door was opened and they were greeted with a frail looking older man. The man’s whole body shook as he let out a wheezing cough. His face was extremely pale and his skin looked worn and wrinkled. He gave the Summers family a small smile as he ushered them in with a wave of his gloved hand.

"Joyce! Rupert!" Jenny yelled as she glided into the room, her cheeks puffy and her eyes slightly bloodshot. "So good of you to come for the holidays!" She chirped, kissing both Rupert and Joyce on the cheek. Her smile was bright and warming.

"Well, we thought it would be great to you all again after –what has it been— three years of separation. It has been too long." Joyce told her. "I’m so sorry we couldn’t come join you last year, my mother had already asked us to join her for the holidays."

"Oh, it is alright Joyce. We managed just fine." Jenny looked over and noticed young Elizabeth still clutching onto her cousin’s hand. "Why, hello Elizabeth, you look beautiful."

Elizabeth blushed as she curtseyed. "Thank you Mrs. Rayne. You look lovely as well." She replied politely and then nodded towards the redhead. "This is my cousin Willow, she has come with us to spend the holidays with you."

Jenny crouched down beside the girl and took one of her hands. "Hello Willow, I am Mrs. Rayne."

"He-he-hello." Willow stuttered, ducking her head so that her hair would shield her blushing face. "It w-was nice for you to let me st-stay with you."

"Think nothing of it child." Jenny told her softly, taking the girl’s small hands in hers. "Besides, William’s cousin Alexander has come to visit us also and I am sure neither he or William would mind another playmate."

"And where is Ethan?" Rupert asked, giving his cane and his hat to the butler that had opened the door for them and then handed him Joyce’s shall. "I thought he would be here already."

Jenny was about to respond to the question about her husband’s absence when Ethan’s booming voice interrupted. "Joyce! Rupert! So good of you to come!"

Rupert stretched his hand out and firmly shook Ethan’s. "It was our pleasure Ethan, after standing you up last year."

"No harm done." Ethan replied with a sly smile before he wrapped his arm around his wife’s waist and then kissed her on her temple. Rupert watched as Jenny flinched and her hands clenched and unclenched at her sides.

"Mr. Summers!" Rupert was brought out of his thoughts when he heard the Rayne boy call out to him. Rupert’s face brightened as the boy ran down the stairs and jumped into his arms. "It is good to see you." William chirped and wrapped his arms tighter around the older mans neck before Rupert sat him back down on the ground.

"Good to see too, William." Rupert smirked at the boy before ruffling his hair. "You have gotten taller I see."

William blushed slightly before nodding. A slight tug at the end of his sleeve brought his attention to his cousin who was standing beside him. "This is my cousin Alexander."

Xander waved slightly before Rupert introduced the rest of his family to him. The redhead that was named Willow grinned at him with a goofy smile that made Xander chuckle. Looking over at William, he saw that his cousin and that other girl Elizabeth were making angry faces at one another.

She cannot be that bad, Xander thought as he continued to watch the two stick their tongues out at one another while Elizabeth’s sister Dawn just giggled at them.

Jenny wanted to chuckle at the children. She thought it was silly the way Elizabeth and William acted towards one another. They were always like this with one another, she wondered would if they be this way when they got older. Shaking her head, she turned to Abigail who watched the scene of the two families in the corner and the motioned her over. "Abigail, take the children upstairs until dinner while the rest of us are in the den?"

Abigail smiled shyly as she curtseyed. "Yes, Madam." She whispered. "Come now William, children."

William and the other three children –Joyce had wanted to keep Dawn with her— made their way up to the second floor, following Abigail. Willow and Elizabeth walked closely together behind Xander and William.

"William doesn’t seem that terrible." Willow whispered quietly into her cousin’s ear as they followed the boys.

"You do not know him as well as I do." Elizabeth murmured, walking ahead of her cousin.

The children remained silent as they all filed into William’s room. Abigail watched them as they all stood far away from one another, not speaking a word to each other. Willow’s face was still a bright red, almost the same color as her hair. Young Alexander looked nervous and was fidgeting with the tie around his neck, glancing over at his cousin William, who was glaring over at Elizabeth.

"Children," all of the children immediately brought their attention back over to the nanny. "I am leaving to help tend to dinner. I will be back in a while. Play nice." With a brush of her apron she was off down the hall, leaving the children all to themselves.

Xander shifted nervously on his feet before looking over at the blushing redhead who was eyeing both he and his cousin. Then his attention moved over towards the blonde girl who was scowling at William with her arms crossed over her chest. With a shrug of his shoulders, Xander cautiously made his way towards the redhead and tapped her softly on the shoulder. The redhead immediately jumped with a small yelp and whirled around to face him.

"You sc-sc-scared me!" She stuttered with a heavy breath in her voice. Her eyes were a bright green color and they were opened wide in fright and shock. Xander thought she was just plain silly.

"I’m sorry," Xander apologized and then thrust his hand out towards her. "I am Alexander Harris, but William and my friend Oz call me Xander."

Willow nibbled on her bottom lip as she carefully took his hand and held it firmly in hers. "Hello, my name is Willow. I am Elizabeth’s cousin."

Xander ducked his head. "I know." He whispered before glancing over at his shoulder at his cousin and Willow’s who were now arguing about something that Xander couldn’t really hear. "Do you think they will fight the whole time?"

Willow giggled, "Elizabeth told me that he was mean and that he had a foolish name." The blush on the redhead’s cheeks began to ease away as she looked over at Xander. "I do think that she overreacts most of the time."

Xander laughed as he looked back over at his cousin who had just stuck his tongue out at Elizabeth, which made Xander laugh even harder. Looking back over at Willow, an idea struck him. "I know this game we could play. My friend Oz taught me. William and I tried to play earlier but he did not do it well. You want to?"

Willow shuffled her feet as her gaze darted between the other two children in the room or this new boy, Xander who seemed very warm and friendly. "All right. I will play this game with you. What is it called?"

Xander’s face beamed and began to bounce on the balls of his feet. The young brunette was excited at the thought of having someone else besides William to play with. Xander knew that most of his cousin’s time would be spent bothering Elizabeth and bickering with her. "Oz told me it was called Blindman’s Bluff."

Willow giggled as she followed Xander out of William’s bedroom towards his own bedroom that was right next door. "Why is he called Oz…"

Elizabeth growled at the boy who was smirking at her. He was so persistent and was so annoying. "Why are you looking at me like that!"

William huffed as he leaned against the edge of his bed. "I can look at you if I want to!" He hissed at her. "You are not my parents! You do not tell me what to do! And another thing, I am older than you! I just turned nine years last week!"

Elizabeth growled once more as she stalked over towards the brunette and folded her arms over her chest, sticking her chin up at him. "Even though you are older does not make you smarter!"

"I did not say anything ‘bout me being smarter than you!" He defended with widened eyes and then folded his arms across his chest just like Elizabeth’s who immediately placed her hands on her hips.

"Stop doing what I am doing!" She yelled at him, her hazel eyes sending a murderous glare to the boy across from her. He can be so annoying! She steamed as she marched over towards him. I just want to wipe that stupid smirk on his face.

Elizabeth growled as she shoved William on the ground hard. William cringed as his back hit the floor hard, knocking the air out of his lungs. The boy groaned as Elizabeth sat on top of him and began to punch his arm.

"Get off of me!" He snarled, trying to struggle away from her attack on him. William’s hands reached out and began to pull on the girl’s hair but regretted it when she started to screech at the top of her lungs.

"Stop pulling my hair!" She shrieked, trying to bat away his hand and continue to attack him with her childish punches. She then smirked when she finally knocked his hands away from her long hair and then punched him hard in the right shoulder.

William whaled with pain as soon as her fist connected with his shoulder. Tears then began to roll down his cheeks and small whimpers forced themselves from his mouth. The pain was sharp and it was now throbbing. He already had a bruise there and she probably only made it worse by punching him there.

Elizabeth’s froze as she noticed the hiccups wracking William’s body and the tears that were pooling down his cheeks. "William? What is wrong?" She whispered gently.

"N-nothing." William whimpered as he tried to push her off of him but she had pinned him there. "L-leave me alone."

"No! Tell me what is wrong. Why are you crying?"

"It’s n-nothing." He told her but she didn’t listen because the next thing he knew she was removing his coat and pulling back the collar of his shirt to reveal a large bruise decorating his right shoulder. "It’s n-nothing. Think nothing of it."

"Did he do this?" Her voice was gentle as her small fingers traced the outline of the bruise with a light touch. It was rather large and it was a variety of colors. It was yellow, purple, black and blue. It made her gasp and small tears to well up in her eyes.

"N-no. I-I mean…I don’t know what you are talking about. I ran into something, that s’all." He mumbled, squirming under her body so as to try to coax her to get off of him. The boy whimpered once again when it just made his injury even worse.

"Don’t lie William!" She told him, pointing her finger at him like a mother would do to her child. "You can tell me if he did it."

William hiccuped as Elizabeth finally let him squirm out from beneath her. "I-I…I-I promised him that I wouldn’t say anything." He whispered, leaning against the foot of his bed. "I mean…no, he…uh…l-leave me alone." William pushed the girl out of his way as he tried to walk out of the room but she easily caught up with him and stood in his path, stopping William immediately.

"No!" Elizabeth snapped and then took him by the elbow, leading him back over towards the bed. "Tell me if he did this!"

William ducked his head at her shyly and slightly embarrassed. "I-It was my fault. I-I yell-yelled at ‘im. He made my mum cry…he was hurting her. So…he…you know…"

Elizabeth watched sadly as tears continued to flow down the boy’s face. She immediately felt guilty for hurting him earlier, if she would’ve known she wouldn’t have done it. Cautiously, her hand reached out and touched his left shoulder gently as she tried to sooth his small sobs. "Don’t cry, William. Please, don’t cry."

William huffed as wiped away the tears that stained his cheeks. "I can’t cry. Ethan says that I-I am not su-supposed to cry!"

Elizabeth’s chin trembled as she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. She buried her face in neck and just listened to the sobs that wracked his small body. Soon enough she could feel herself crying also. She never cried and she almost hated herself for crying in front of him. It was sad though. She didn’t understand it. How can someone’s own father hurt him or her?

"I’m sorry." Elizabeth mumbled against the cloth of his shirt. "I didn’t mean to hurt you further."

William sniffled slightly before he answered her. "S’all right. You didn’t know."

"William!" Abigail gasped as she saw the tear tracks on his face. She sighed as she extracted the boy from Elizabeth’s arms and pulled him into her lap as she sat down on the love seat in his room. Abigail closed her eyes as she gently ran her hand through her hand through his locks. "It is going to be okay."

"Abigail?" Elizabeth began tentatively, taking a step towards the nanny. "Why does Mr. Rayne hurt William?"

Abigail sighed as she moved the boy off of her lap and took Elizabeth’s hand in hers. "Now listen to me child," the nanny told her with a sharp tone in her voice. "You say nothin’ about what Mr. Rayne does in this house. Mr. Rayne will have both our hides if we say anything about ‘im. So you say nothin’ about what he does to William. As much as it hurts us both to keep our mouths shut."

"I don’t understand." Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows, shaking her head with confusion. Her bright eyes darted over towards the boy who was huddled in a small fetal position, his sobs died down but he still had small tears falling down his face.

"Just promise me you won’t say anything!" Abigail told her firmly, shaking her hand. "Promise me!"

Elizabeth widened her eyes, nodding her head furiously with a slight look of fear and worry evident in her face. "I promise Abigail. I promise!"

"Good. Now fetch Alexander and Willow for me, dinner is ready."

Elizabeth quickly turned on her heels and immediately ran out of the room to fetch the other two children. Abigail sighed as she picked up William once again. She never got over the fact how small and light he was. "Don’t worry William, we’ll get you fixed up." She whispered to him gently as she laid him down on his bed and began to tend to his bruise on his shoulder. "Don’t worry."

To be continued…





You must login (register) to review.