Elizabeth walked through town, passing the shops and buzzing crowds. She could smell the sweet scent of pastries baking in Ms. Maudie's luncheonette and the sharp smell of leather coming from Mr. Andrews' saddle store. Here and there someone would call out to her from the swarm and she would smile and wave.
Soon she traded the sights of bright colored skirts for soft green trees as she left the crowded streets behind. The gravel crunched beneath her slippers as she made her way towards home. A wagon passed by and she nodded when the driver tipped his hat. She crossed the bridge over the river and walked between the twin hills that, when she was younger, imagined were giant ogres protecting the house.
Once passing through the tunnel of trees, the dark wooden house came into view through the thick willow vines on either side of the road. She could hear the horses calling from the stable and smell fresh bread baking through the open doors and windows. She crossed the rocky drive and ran up the steps on the porch, in the open doors, and straight into the kitchen. Her mother, Alannah, stood there kneading dough with flour on both her cheeks and an old cloth tying up her golden curls.
She looked up when Elizabeth came in, her long and untidy hair bouncing every which way.
"Hello love, I was just about to make some stew for supper. Would you like to help?" She asked with a smile.
"If it means I don't have to play an instrument or practice any lessons with David then I'd love to." Elizabeth replied with a playful grin.
Her mother sighed, but couldn't fight back a laugh.
"I've told him how you despise all those practices after school, but he is determined to make you into a proper lady fit for a gentleman."
Elizabeth began slicing carrots and said, "I am not just another girl from school that does as she's bid and needs a man to help her do it. And by now he should know it."
"He is just looking out for your future- and trying to get you prepared for life with a suitable man." She added with an upward glance.
Elizabeth stopped cutting and said, "I don't think any good suitor should need me to be made into something he ordered. For goodness sake, I'm not a sword from the blacksmith."
Her mother made to say something but David walked in and she greeted him instead.
"Darling, how are you? We were just making a stew for supper." She finished with a sideways stare at Elizabeth.
"I'm fine, but you know you do not have to slave away in the kitchen-we hire people for that. It's not proper for the two ladies of the house to work as so." He stated firmly.
Elizabeth put down the knife and walked over to David.
"You know, there can be much gained by doing hard work yourself rather than having everything done for you." She spoke with a bite.
With that she curtsied stiffly and left the room, leaving David fuming in her wake. He watched her walk smoothly down the hallway before the door swung shut.
David turned and said, "She's out of control and I will not stand for it any longer. Alannah, I have tried it your way, but to no avail. Now we shall try mine."
Alannah listened to his footsteps fade and the slam of his study door with an uneasy stomach. She loved David, but knew of his harsh ways. Though it was ridiculous, a small part of her worried for her daughter.
Elizabeth broke into a run the second she was off the porch. Not bothering to lift up her skirts as she ran across the field towards the forest. Grass stains gathered on the edges of her apricot-colored dress. Her wavy brown curls flew backwards and bounced around her hips. She rushed through the trees where the sunlight turned green and sparkled with a mystery that fascinated her.
Soon she drew up on the meadow; tall grass grew and a lone willow tree stood. Adrenaline raced through her from the run. She walked through the open light to the shade of the willow tree. There she pulled herself up into the tree and settled onto the large, lower branch. Working on steadying her pounding heart, she turned to face the river below. The deep blue waters seemed calm, but she was not fooled by appearances. It was in those very waters that she had lost her father.
One year and three weeks ago, her father had gone for a walk in the forest. He'd told her she could not come because she had to stay with her mother and that was that. He would not hear it and then he had left. She had been so angry with him and had sat up all night looking out the dark window. Somewhere in between the moon and the sun, she had fallen asleep. Early in the morning, when there was still pink in the sky, she had awoken to the sight of strange horses and pounding on the door. Quickly, she'd thrown on a faded cotton dress and ran down the stairs with a sleepy curiosity. When she'd reached the bottom there'd been a man standing in the open doorway holding his hat at his heart. He'd spoken whispered words she couldn't hear, but the way her mother had tensed, she'd known the words hadn't been welcome. She'd walked closer and the man had looked up at her. It was the first of many times she would see those dark eyes. He had bowed and held out his hand to hers.
"David Bregard, miss." He had said then kissed her hand.
She had not forgotten the feel of his lips, reminding her of a snake. Though she figured it was the perfect fit to who he had become.
After that introduction he'd sat down with them in the parlor and told them of her fathers drowning.
"Riding through the forest, we saw a man along the side of the river. He had rid of his shirt when he jumped in. The men and I laughed at the courage of a man willing to brave the icy waters. But when he did not come up, we stopped our party and ran to the once occupied beach of the river. The sound was so loud, my ladies, and as we neared the edge there was no sound so deafening. The rapids were strong and fast here and though we searched there was no sign, either there or down the river. So we rode into town, describing the man, and some folk kindly pointed us in your direction." He had told us simply.
Elizabeth remembered the way tears had rolled down her mothers' cheeks and several down her own.
"I am so sorry for the two of you, but I must confirm, your husband did not come home last night?" He asked softly.
Her mother had shaken her head no and looked away.
"Well I'll assume you'll be wanting this then," he'd said, handing over her fathers' shirt, the white color matted with mud.
When her mother hadn't reached out, she'd reached forward grabbing the shirt. She'd muttered a thank you and then fallen silent.
He had stood then, towering over the two of them, nodded a last time and commented, "We'll be staying in town for a time, if you'll be needing anything else it will be easy enough to find me." With that he turned, but was stopped by her mother.
"You may stay here."
"Ma'am, we could not-"
"We have a loft above the barn, you will stay here." She'd finished firmly and stood. "Elizabeth and I will prepare it now."
"Well then, my men and I thank you Mrs.…?"
"McOwen."
She'd then dried her tears officially and walked out, calling Elizabeth as she went.
"That's a tough one, there. You got yourself a good mother." He'd winked and then went outside.
After that, no more had been spoken about her fathers' death. It was as if everything had disappeared with him.
That was all it took. We had had a funeral, the strangers had moved in. Still the reason her mother had asked them to stay remained a mystery to her. The next thing Elizabeth knew his men had moved on and my mother was in a white dress, kissing the man who had brought death to their doorstep. Money he had, but a heart to fulfill his commitments to her mother she wasn't so sure.
Elizabeth was brought back from her memories as her stomach grumbled. She figured supper was ready and didn't care to hear yet another lecture from David about etiquette of appearances. She slid from the branch and walked to the rim of the meadow, looking back another time at the river. The sinking sunlight glimmered off the rippling surface and she understood how her father could have submitted to the waters call. She understood and it scared her. But unlike her father she would not give in and would not leave her family, or who was left of it. So she turned her back and walked into the forest, leaving the rays of light to play across the meadows.
Elizabeth finally found herself alone in her room, after only about one hundred different tirades on how to behave or eat or lord knows what else.
Ridiculous, she thought. How he could find every little thing to criticize. She despised him, she had tried for her mother, but no longer would she deny it.
Anger pulsed through her, and her mind screamed for someone to talk to. Once again she realized with a heavy heart that now that her father was gone, so was her best friend.
Elizabeth woke to the sounds of hushed arguments instead of the sweet birds she enjoyed. Slowly, she rose from her bed and crept to the door. Outside her mother and David fought back and forth.
"She is too young, and she has never been outside the forest." Her mother muttered earnestly.
"She is seventeen, plenty old enough. Most proper ladies are already getting married." He said, stressing the word proper.
"David, you can not make her something she does not wish to be. Don't you see? The more you push her the harder she fights. She is who she is and no one, neither you nor I, can change that." She whispered fiercely.
David's voice grew bitter, "You are my wife, you should not speak this way. Elizabeth is too wild for her own good. If it makes you feel better, I will take her myself." His voice turned softer, "You don't want to see her end up like her father, do you?"
Elizabeth heard her mother gasp in shock and when she spoke her voice shook, "She will not end up like Brody. That was an accident and Elizabeth is smart. I can not send her away, she is my only child." Those last words sounded more of a plea than a persuasion.
"Come here, my love." David whispered lightly. "You can't hold her forever. She must leave; it is what's best for her."
Her mother's voice was muffled and Elizabeth assumed she had buried her head in his shoulder, "I just don't want to lose her too. But if you think it is what is best, maybe..maybe.."
Elizabeth pulled away, stunned. How could her mother send her away? David. It was not a question, only he could get her mother to even consider that.
Soon she heard their footsteps fade down the hallway and she moved to get dressed for school. She put on her under garments and called in Louisa to tie her corset.
"Hold your breath now, dear." Her maid servant's kindly voice said. "One-two-three."
Any warm feeling she felt towards Louisa rushed out from her along with the air in her lungs. She held the post on her bed and tried desperately to gasp for air.
"Stand still, dear." Louisa said through clenched teeth. "Now suck you stomach to your spine."
Elizabeth figured her stomach must be inside her spine as she swore she heard a rib crack. Bitterly as ever she remembered the day when her cotton dresses had been enough.
Later, she walked down the stairs in a midnight blue dress and headed towards the dining room. She was greeted at the table by David who stood and helped her into her own chair. This always annoyed her for she had gotten into her own chair since she was three (and needed no help in doing so now/ but apparently once you turned seventeen you were no longer capable of such a feat.) But like so much else she let it go, knowing it would upset her mother with yet another frivolous argument.
David watched Elizabeth with careful eyes as he walked back to his seat at the head of the table. As he settled back into his chair, his wife greeted her daughter.
"Good morning, Elizabeth. How are you feeling this morning?"
David looked suspiciously at Elizabeth when she said nothing. While the food was served, Alannah glanced with worried eyes at him. David couldn't help but wonder if she had indeed overheard their conversation earlier.
"Elizabeth, dear? Is something the matter?" Alannah asked timidly.
For the first time that morning Elizabeth looked up at their faces. She smiled suddenly and said, "No, why would anything be wrong?" Then, to David's disgust, went back to shoveling in her eggs like a peasant who doesn't often see food.
He could not sit there any longer and watch such a discredit. "Elizabeth!" he commanded sharply.
She looked up with a start then clenched her jaw tightly. David regained his calm with a smooth face, though his lips twitched slightly at the reaction he'd received.
"Elizabeth, do we feed you enough?" he asked. He made no move to say anything else until she answered his question.
Grudgingly, she said, "Yes." Already knowing she had walked into a trap.
"Then why must you continue to eat as if it was the first time in days and the only time in days and the only time for a while?" he questioned exasperatedly.
With that, Elizabeth shoved away her plate. "So sorry." She apologized with as much loathing as she could muster.
He shook his head and looked away, sipping on his tea. "You are a disgrace to my family."
He did not even glance at Elizabeth as she rose from her chair. In a cold voice she said, "Then it is good you are not my family." After that she stormed from the house.
With a sigh he turned towards Alannah, knowing full well that the fight would have upset her. He reached for her hand and wrapped it in his.
"I am sorry, my dear. But her behavior is unacceptable." He caught her eyes and said, "I will tell her tonight."
Tears gathered in her eyes, but she only nodded and excused herself to the stables. He watched her go with wary eyes. He was tired of dealing with her and working in the shadows.
No matter, he remembered. Soon Elizabeth would be out of the picture and soon after that, Alannah would only be a bad memory in a lifetime of fulfilling revenge. At that thought, he smiled and finished his breakfast in peace.
Caelum Temptatio (Kale-um Temp-taa-shio) means "heavens gates" in Latin. We'll see where it takes us. ;)
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