Author's note: The chapter will guide you out of the darkness into the shadows. There is light, trust me, eventually you will see it – please bear with me through these next few chapters.
My Darling Love
Chapter 47 – Hell on Earth
"I was a queen, and you took away my crown; a wife and you killed my husband; a mother and you deprived me of my children.
My blood alone remains; take it, but do not make me suffer long."
-Marie Antoinette
There are many universal rules where heaven and hell are concerned, and the most important is free will. Free will is an odd thing to explain, everyone who lives on earth has the freedom to make their own personal choices bearing on the good and bad in their heart. In order to win the game, the prize being either heaven or hell, whichever is preferred, a soul's destination is dependant on the choices it makes.
George Darling had evil in his heart which he received from his parents, but not even close to the amount required to truly think about willfully giving his one and only true love away in such a foul and reproachable manner. Let alone do it.
Up until this very moment, the devil had pushed and pulled and danced him about with all the wickedness George was capable of. Therefore, the devil didn't break any rules. But, in a gluttonous quest to see Mary completely destroyed, the devil pushed George completely out of bounds in an act of unfair play. Not covering all his bases, the devil placed a greater evil in George's heart. simply more than it could actually hold. And being lazy, the devil never did any research, for if he had, he would have known all of George's brothers before him preferred the evil, so they left little of it for George to keep for himself. Truth be told, after Peter was born, there wasn't that much evil left for any of the other Darling sons.
Thus stomping out the good, which there had always been far more of in George, was a "no-no." So God did what he needed to do to correct the situation, He put George to sleep. And since God never sleeps, and the devil does, Satan inadvertently missed what was to happen next. And God was thankful, for he was just about to divulge a great secret that no other except Himself was aware of. Something on the warmer, out of sight, and obviously out of mind as far as Lucifer was concerned, was slowly simmering. Hiding safely in plain sight, it would eventually boil over at a much later date, hopefully uninterrupted.
Mary slowly crept up the stairs to Harry's room and tapped on the landing to make him aware of her presence. He was already deep in his slumber and took no notice when Mary disrobed and climbed into bed beside him. She moved over him enough to place her mouth on his and engaged him in a comforting kiss. Harry kissed back passionately, knowing in his heart it was Mary naked above him.
George and Harry were almost twins, fraternally, and they had similar appearances, but not identical. He was only just ten months older then George; therefore in age they were one in the same. Harry did not wear glasses, although he was just as tall as George but weighed less and it was noticeable. Not as handsome in the face, his eyes were hazel, but his lips and hands the same. They kissed deeper and soon Mary found herself below him, she unconsciously unbuttoned his pajama top while he moved the pajama bottoms down and off.
It was not as unpleasant or distressing as Mary had imagined when George first gave his instruction. She knew Harry, although engaged to another lady, had delighted in many women countless in number. But tonight, for the first time, the thought of others before her was not troublesome. As a matter of fact, Mary thought it rather lovely. Harry would never treat her like a hole in the mattress; he treated her like a lover.
She held him tightly, and showered his neck with kisses, touching his body all over with her hands. Harry was just as kind and gentle to her as George had once been. He reciprocated the affections, nibbling on her ear and running his fingertips over her exposed breasts and sensitive skin. He shifted into the position to unlock her, and Mary caught sight of his erect key, giving the first outward sign that this was something she was doing of her own free will and sound mind. She moaned in anticipation.
Harry eased the tip of his member against her womanhood, and Mary bit the lip Harry wished to kiss when he entered her. He lifted his head and gazed into her beautiful eyes, "George is making you do this, Mary?" Mary nodded her head and closed her eyes. "Do you want to do this with me?"
Mary opened her eyes and offered a small smile to release something she held inside of her, she afraid herself to admit. "Yes ... but ..." Mary confessed leaning her head into his shoulder.
"But not because George told you to. You are just as beautiful today as the first moment we met when you were seventeen. Do you remember?" Harry admitted nudging Mary with his head. Mary remembered and her expression turned outward into a smile.
"I'm sorry my Aunt Millicent would not allow you to court me, Harold, most unfortunate for the both of us." He nodded his head in agreement and moved completely off of his sister-in-law, dressing again in his pajamas.
He handed Mary her nightgown and looked away as she slipped it back on her body. With both completely dressed, Harry and Mary stood facing one another. "Don't you want to make love to me, Harry?" Harry inhaled deeply and exhaled the same without answering although he eyes did tell her all she would ever need to know on that matter.
"What should I tell George?" Mary asked.
"Nothing, he told you not to speak unless spoken to, so say nothing unless he asks. He won't, I'm sure when he wakes up in the morning, the very thought of you lying down for me at his request will shake the devil out of him finally."
That night the evil George got bored with his game, and allowed the good one back in -- at least that's the devil's excuse. Actually, it would be more correct to say the good miraculously awoke the next morning, as did George. Uncle Harry was right, the thought that he told Mary to service his brother shook the devil out of him. Well, not really, God kicked the devil out the moment George grabbed his wife by the arm and gave her away to another.
In a few short minutes of being back in his body, George got the shock of his life to find his own wife of many years asleep dressed like a prostitute outside their bedroom door which God had bolted to assure George would be the one to find her.
He did, and carried her back to bed. Harry came down the attic stairs fixing his tie and shook his head to George who was gazing out his bedroom door confused over the previous night's events cloudy in his mind. Harry gave him the clarification necessary, "Sorry I couldn't screw your wife, George, but I had at my barmaid a few times earlier in the evening. Tell me next time you plan to do me the honor, that way I can at very least bathe the last whore off of me before I screw another. Thank you for offering though, it makes me feel very special that you think me your favorite," he finished drolly.
With that sentiment, George regained his old self and immeasurable remorse and unforgivable disdain filled him. That sadness, uncertainty, shame, desire to love and be loved like he once had been by his Mary, and an odd fear mixed with a hatred of himself left not even the tiniest space in heart for evil to dwell. Locked out of its hiding place, with nowhere else to go, the devil fled, with God looking down, laughing heartily.
So as the devil slept, Mary left Harry's room and returned to her bed beside George. She was very careful not to wake him, and took her spot, as assigned by the evil George, and closed her eyes expecting nothing more than to listen the ticking clock until dawn. Surprisingly, she had no trouble drifting off into her night's deserved rest. The powers that be knew there were to be a multitude of olive branches Mary would receive in the morning from her George, who was already back in his body asleep. But frankly, God didn't want to wait until morning. Thus, Mary heard a voice in her dreams, not George, but the man who spoke through the back wall the days she hid inside the closet for safety. She did not see him that day although she wished she could.
And so, in her dreams, only a month and no more after the attack, in her bed, next to her husband while praying to God, even in her sleep for a savior to free her, her wish was granted. She again heard his voice calling to her but she was too far away to see him. She asked for direction and he gave it, "Go to the hall closet, Madam. It will be so lovely to see you again." It was to be the only one of the Evil George's rules she broke, but Mary slid out of bed knowing the consequences when assured, "The king will not awake until dawn, Madam, you have my word..."
"Is he trying to kill you, Madam?" A pirate Captain in full regalia complete with a hook for a right hand asked her, looking with pity over her bruised face, covered in the pancake makeup.
"Here you are in the sanctity of the closet, if it is escape you desire, Madam, I must inform you are going about it the wrong way."
Captain Hook smiled and leaned toward her, offering her his assistance to stand, but Mary preferred to sit. "All I want is to know Captain is, where Wendy is. I know she returned to you once, but is no longer with you now. I must tell you, not only was I not expecting to receive an answer, I would never think would feel me worthy enough to deliver it in person," Mary replied shaking off his arm.
"Is that really all you want? I think I heard you pleading for a savior." Captain Hook sent his head back and raised his brow. Mary gave no response, so he continued, "Seems the cowardly king had won an adverse victory, for the Queen hides in a closet away from the kingdom! And here I thought you would be locked away in a tower." He laughed at his own joke and then took a seat opposite of her. They rested side by side across from the other with only enough room to kept their legs folded up at the knees. There was no light inside where they were, but Captain Hook's presence seemed to dispatch a peculiar aura that filled the tiny space, enough to enable each to see the other's face clearly.
In all seriousness he began, "Why did your husband raise his hands to you, Madam?"
Mary shrugged her shoulders, knowing full well why he did. Captain Hook could spot a liar, being one himself at times, from twenty paces, so he raised his brow and narrowed his eyes. "I lied to him," she answered flatly.
"Only once? Seems a rather harsh punishment for a first time offense, Madam." Mary leaned toward him, smiling. He was a very handsome man she would not deny he was attractive to her, especially after her brother-in-law put her mind in a rather unladylike place. "I should consider this payment in full for all of my mistruths then."
Captain Hook nodded, extending his lower lip and chin as he did. "Where is the fair maiden Gwendolyn?" Mary asked, knowing her identity was truly her daughter Wendy.
"She left me." He was slightly annoyed at this reminder of her.
"Why?"
"Because I lied to her, Madam," he replied, smug and arrogant and lying.
"Oh really? Seems a harsh punishment for a first time offensive, unless you are a liar." Mary gave it back the same way it was given.
"I see where your daughter gets her feistiness from, Madam. But actually, she had interests that lay elsewhere. Away from me," he replied conceding the half-truth with a bow.
"So she cheated on you then? Fool you are to still want her."
Her insult did just that, insulted him so his response was not kind, "I never said I still wanted her, quite the contrary, she is not what I want, Madam. Anyway, I think more a fool if one remains with an adulterer and forgives. You see how well that turned out. But since you assume that's what I meant when I said she had interests elsewhere, then I must inform you that you are mistaken. She did not cheat on me, at least not in the way you are thinking."
"How so then?"
"Hard to put into words, let's just say, Madam, your precious little baby felt bored with proper life and lady-hood, and so she would venture to Neverland and play with the me, a pirate captain that intrigued her newly found cravings of womanhood. I was, after all, very happy to oblige. It all started so innocently, she went to Neverland in search of Peter Pan, but what she found was not what she expected. You see, Madam, I was back and I was ready, and I was willing and I was waiting. When she got bored with me, or rather, found something or someone better to do, she left."
He moved down into a leaning position on his side. Suddenly, there seemed to be more room in the closet, as if it had miraculously transformed to offer more room to its inhabitants. Captain Hook stretched out his legs and motioned for Mary to do the same. She did, but kept her upright position, draping her blanket over her exposed legs; so proper that it made the fearless Captain of the Jolly Roger chuckle.
"So Madam, Wendy returned, and Neverland was never the same. She came back looking for trouble and she found it, with me." As he finished his sentiment he spread his arms out to show just how much trouble she found with an over exaggerated smile.
"How romantic, I always wanted a pirate captain for a son-in-law."
"Feisty thou art, I must say, Madam, but naysay son-in-law, Mrs. Darling, for I never married your daughter. I did have my way with her, many, many times in fact." He shifted his hand behind his head, resting it there, and slid down onto the floor of the closet as if to take a snooze, peering his lowered eyelids to catch her response. Mary only shook her lowered head in an attempt to hide the smile that escaped it. Seeing this he ventured forward, "Marriage is something only done in the place where you dwell. Where I am from there are no such things as vows that bind souls until death parts them. More so, you can remain there an eternity, unless you are saved. There is a saying about Neverland I am quite fond of. Would you like to hear it?"
Mary nodded with an expression of interest, and Captain Hook valiantly proclaimed, "If the heart offends thee, dearest, cut it out. I advise you cut it out, Madam."
"Is that what you did, cut it out?"
Captain Hook stood suddenly and once again offered Mrs. Darling his arm, this time she took it and stood also. He bowed gallantly to her and answered, "No madam, that is what your daughter did."
"I thought the saying was if the eye offend thee, cut it out," Mary added as he placed his elegant embroidered hat upon his head.
"If you cut out your eyes, Madam, how ever will you see?"
"If you cut out your heart, Captain, how ever will you love?"
"Exactly, Madam, exactly." He bowed as he replied, and kissed her hand.
The time that took eternity to move forward for Mary the month the evil George was king, now moved the same for the good George. Everyday, as his darling love proceeded through the her life in silence with a solemn face, performing her duties of wife and mother with no emotion, let alone heart, George cried himself to sleep. His regal attitude of being the supreme ruler of the kingdom abated and left him a shell of a man.
"I don't know what you were expecting, George. The way you've been treating her, I'm surprised God hasn't struck you dead yet. All I can say is, if you want things the way they used to be, maybe you should just try to make it so. First, I would allow her to leave the house. She had not seen the outside in weeks..." Harry advised.
Shaking his head in denial, George attempted to explain away his actions, "I think I may have been possessed by the devil, dearest brother..."
Harry only shook his head and gave his normal unmoved retort of "The devil George? Really, what rubbish..."
Since the time she realized her true place in his house, Mary did not look at George unless he addressed her, and only gave simple answers overflowing full of the respect and obedience she thought he expected when he asked her a question. His own mother had kept her horrid disrespect toward his father, even though he beat her almost weekly. Additionally, from what George could remember, Mary's mother (who was also beaten by her husband) was a proper older woman, a statue of silence in appearance who sat in the parlor and read or did needlepoint, who spoke in a respectful tone to Grandpa Joe, but was still an active player in her own private life.
Mary was different, so great was her trepidation that she became a servant to George, and a loyal one at that. She worked on his command and followed his orders and declarations of her duties to perfection. The evil George had not allowed her to leave the house under any circumstances demanding that she ask first and gave him a good reason. Now Mary never asked him anything. He had told her not to question him, and therefore, she was trapped in the hell of his making with no way of escape. She had no time to herself unless she was in the washroom bathing. Out of fear that she was taking to long, and using too much water, she washed as fast as she could with the faucet still running, returning to their bed promptly at the time he told her she should get to sleep.
"Mary, dearest, where is my favorite sweater? I asked you to freshen it up, but it is still not hanging in my wardrobe?" The good George now returned would query matter-of-factly as she made the bed in their room. She would look at him when he spoke her name, and when he was evil expected her undivided attention when she responded, and so she did and replied, "I washed it and hung it over the chair at your desk in the parlor like you told me to." He hadn't told her to, he asked her nicely, but still that was the way she answered.
By the tone of her voice, George expected a "sir" or maybe even "your majesty" at the end of it, for Mary no longer called him 'George,' when addressing him, feeling it not her place to address him casually, even though he was her husband. Mary was now eternally submissive and compliant to him, with not a single note in her speech of sarcasm or annoyance for his forgetfulness at his own request. And this was the way everything transpired between them.
So, a week before Christmas, after a few months of being back in his body, the good George handed his wife another of his many meager olive branches already extended and a wad of cash to buy "whatever you like for the children, from Santa of course, my sweet." Mary slowly held out her hand and took the money from him, never letting her eyes meet his.
She was wary of his generosity and mindful of his direction. She stood at attention, but with her head lowered, waiting to be dismissed by her master, while George stared back in distraught awe of her expression and obedient stance before him. He leaned in to peck her cheek, as she had been unusually distant to both him and the children since their "quarrel," as he called it. Mary jerked up her hand to shield her face, wiser now to defend herself.
Uncle Harry sat in a chair at the kitchen table and watched the entire exchange with utter disbelief. Mary's eyes were wide and watching, like an animal eyeing its predator, as she lowered her hand and took a step forward as she had put distance between herself and George in another act of protection. Without a word of response, for there was nothing to question, Mary continued to stand there, awaiting permission to move from George. "Go get your coat, Sweetheart, and Harry will take you to the emporium. I made a list of what the children need and left it on the foyer table." She turned and exited with her husband and brother-in-law staring at her.
"Mary, my love," George began and she, addressed by her name, stopped immediately. "Dearest, you can buy whatever you like for them, just get them a few things off my list. But you know really what they want. Just refer to my list if you run out of ideas. I'm not as wise as you about toys and such, so get them what you think will bring them the most happiness on Christmas," George chuckled, as Mary stood glued to the hall floor, keeping her eyes forward. "Alright, Sweetheart, off you go." He awkwardly clapped and giggled at his own silliness, but his darling love offered nothing to him as she opened the hall closet and removed her coat, putting it on.
Harry patted George on the back and escorted Mary to the emporium as he himself suggested. "Let me take her to the store, George, that way she will at least have some freedom away from you for the day. Maybe she will even magically transform back to your old Mary."
Mary purchased every single item on George's list for the children, and when Harry reminded poor Mary to "buy whatever you like, Mary, for the children, they should at least receive one toy from their mother, it's alright, George won't be angry," Mary bought each of the children a mechanical tin toy bank, with funny little moving parts. Joseph's was a giant frog that with the flick of a lever on its back would open his mouth and put forth its tongue swallowing whole the coin that was placed there, replacing the real frog George found in the bathtub that had been released back into the wild. Edmund's was a dog that, with a penny fitted in its mouth, would jump up through a hoop and into a barrel to deposit the wealth it was entrusted with, to replace Patches who, once in the care of John, ran away. A more delicate and cute bank was chosen for Jane, more for amusement than savings, hers was a clown that sat upon a throne. Place a coin in his silly hat and, with a flick of the lever, he too would stand on his head to hide away the treasure.
"George will like these, it will teach the children to save their allowance as opposed to spending it," Harry congratulated his sister-in-law on her wise purchase.
Mary had hoped there would be enough money left over to purchase herself a new dress for the holiday, but with the banks for the children, she actually came up short of funds. "George would be angry if I bought myself a new dress without asking first, so it's best I don't have enough money."
Harry covered the extra expense, and Mary fretted over the few cents George would have to reimburse his brother out of pocket. "I'm afraid that George will be angry with me for spending too much. Maybe I should return the banks and buy something else for the children," Mary suggested softly, as Harry paid the difference.
"I wouldn't be concerned, Mary, it's only a few pennies, anyway if it bothers you that much, maybe you should return something off of George's list."
Mary shook her head vehemently; she wouldn't dare disobey George and not bring home something he specifically told her to. "Really, Mary, it is only a few pennies, I won't even ask George for it."
But Mary couldn't have that either, "I'm afraid George will be angry when he balances the receipts and finds money missing. I don't want him to think I've been stealing money from him."
Harry stared at his sister-in-law, watching her neatly fold all of the proofs of payments after placing them in meticulous order as they moved from store to store, "George wouldn't think you a thief, Mary." Mary lowered her head and fell silent and still as the inanimate object she now was.
They returned home much later in the evening after Harry insisted on bringing Mary to a restaurant to eat dinner. "I'm afraid George will be angry that I was not home to make supper."
Harry eased her mind telling her, "George doesn't want us home until after the children are in bed, that way they will not see what Santa brought for them."
Mary gazed at the menu and the prices and worried over the expense, "I'm afraid George will be angry that I ate out. I don't have any money of my own, George took away my allowance." Harry hung his head. He wished it were his mother he was dining with, for she would have ordered the most expensive meal to avenge her husband's mistreatment. "My treat, Mary, and I won't even tell George how much it cost."
Still she ordered only a small bowl of soup, and declined the wine Harry had with his entrée. "I'm afraid George will be angry if I drink wine." Had she not been scared out of her being by her husband, their dinner conversation would have had them both laughing in delight.
But alas, Mary sipped her soup, only enough to wet the palate, not even coming close to filling her stomach, which could be heard growling for more nourishment across the table. An ill-timed joke Harry used to make her laugh, "You'd better finish your soup, Mary, or George will be angry," made Mary lick the bowl clean. In silence, she politely waited with her hands folded in her lap when she was finished, still and silent again.
Harry appraised the situation with his mouth full, and chewed his steak, watching Mary sit unmoving, only disproving she was not actually a petrified fossil by blinking. Yes, her eyes were strange to gaze upon; they constantly gave the impression that at any moment a single tear would be put forth to help alleviate all the pain she held within her.
There ride home was no better, "I'm afraid George will be angry that I was not home in time to put the children to bed."
By now, Harry was rather angry himself, not with Mary, but with his younger brother. "Mary, George told me not to have you home before the children went to bed and were asleep." Mary checked her watch and replied, "The children will not be asleep yet. Maybe we should pull off and wait. I'm afraid George will be angry if we arrive home and the children hear us."
George only had to beat Mary once to teach her a lesson of fear that she would be bound by for the rest of her life. Harry thought it odd that his mother had to be beaten over and over again, and still she was a rowdy and demanding as she ever was. It was pity that made Harry pull over and wait like Mary suggested. Away from George, Mary should have been able to relax, but instead she only worried more.
"I'm afraid George will be angry..." she repeated constantly over the shopping trip. Harry was thankful that Mary at least had a good part of her life over, that she had lived happily married, an independent woman, undisturbed by abuse before this, leaving only a year or so, if she were lucky, of this unrelenting stress, before God called her to her final repose. And so he interrupted her and held her hand in his. Their eyes met and Harry slowly, cautiously, gently brushed his lips against those of his sister-in-law. "Mary, George will not be angry tonight, I will see to it myself."
Mrs. Darling and Uncle Harry carried their purchases into the house and rested them down in the foyer hours later. They were greeted by the king of castle who held a broad grin of excitement from ear to ear, hands on hips, "Well, how did it go? Get everything for the children, Dearest?" Mary nodded and Harry pushed her forward into the embrace George had extended to her with a kiss for her cheek and an "I missed you today, Mary, my love."
Still holding her about the waist, he rambled on, "I'm so sorry, Sweetheart. I feel so foolish. I never gave you your allowance. I'm sure there are things you wanted to buy for yourself. You are months behind in receiving it. I was just balancing my ledger. You should remind me of such things, dearest love. I still hope you had a jolly time. Did you my darling?" Mary nodded into his shoulder and George, who could not help being just a little surprised by her not returning his hug, pulled her back to see her blank face. "Mary, my dearest darling love, hug me, tell me how you missed me today." Tears welled in her eyes as she did as she was told and embraced him as best as her arms could manage under duress, striving to obey. She repeated his command word for word adding. "I'm sorry I did not have my allowance to buy you a present for Christmas. I should have thought about how disappointed on Christmas Eve you will be with no gift to open. I hope I have not angered you and if I have, I'm sorry."
There was fear in her apology, but George didn't hear it. "Oh Mary, that is so sweet of you to think of me that way, but I don't want you to spend your allowance on me. That money is for you. All I want for Christmas this year is your love..." George said kindly, utterly flattered that his wife worried over him in such a way, finishing his words with a kiss to her cheek.
Harry tried to help his brother increase Mary's strained interactions with George by saying, "Now, Mary, you will have the funds to buy that pretty dress you were looking at in the shop on First Street ... the lavender one with the matching slippers that will flatter your figure."
George's face lit up with Harry's comment and he turned back to his wife, "Well then, dearest love, my sweet, I will just have to give you your allowance and take you shopping tomorrow."
"No, that is alright," Mary began, terrified at the thought, "the funds would be best left in your savings." His wife's thinking impressed George, especially when it came to the house books. But, the lack of sincerity in her words was not so obvious, at least not to this George, and, feeling his wife was finally back to her old self -- as Harry had theorized -- as a result of her day out shopping, squeezed her hard around the waist as her reward for being frugal. She cried out in pain, for her internal injuries were not yet healed. George did not let her go, with a quizzical and concerned look to Harry, he asked after her.
"I'm fine." Mary hid her face, holding her gaze to the wall behind him as she answered.
"Are you sure, Sweetheart?" was received with nod, and the "Harry and I will hide the presents from the children, now do you want me to help you to bed, dearest love?" was answered with a headshake and her quick ascension up the stairs to the washroom.
George stood at the bottom of the steps and watched her leave. He waited until she finished in the washroom and walked to their bedroom. She caught his look and turned away, walking faster. "I don't understand what's wrong with her," George said rhetorically.
Harry responded, "She's not our mother, George." Harry patted his shoulder and handed him her shopping receipts.
"You owe me two shillings, Mary asked me to kindly ask you for it, she didn't want you to think her a thief," Harry muttered, annoyed.
"I would never think Mary a thief," George reiterated and Harry gave a well-timed retort of, "Well, at one time or another you must have called her one."
George glanced over the proofs of payments, and took them to his desk to balance the totals; "She bought everything on my list except one toy for each of the children?" Harry sat on Grandpa Joe's favorite chair puffing on a pipe and nodded. George turned on his chair and looked to his brother for explanation, "Why would she do that? Shopping for the children at Christmas has to be one of her favorite things in the world. She looks forward to going every year. And every year when I make my list she tells me I have no idea what the children desire, and buys what she wants for them instead."
"Because you told her to buy the things on your list, George, and she was afraid the entire time that you would be angry if she didn't get every single solitary item you specifically wrote down."
"I said get some of the items from my list, not all."
Harry rose from the chair and retired his pipe to the ash tray rolling his eyes, "Well, without you there, George, to tell her what to buy and what not to buy, I guess she felt it best to just buy what you said the children needed so that you would not be angry with her."
"Why is she still afraid of me? It doesn't make sense. I only hit her like I did because she lied to me. She should have known better, her tricking me into having John when we were not ready; it was a very bad thing. We almost had to leave Wendy in the orphanage and to purposely bring another baby into the world on her choice alone without say from her husband, she deserved to get..." The good George knew she deserved to be on the receiving end of a harsh scolding but not on the receiving end of a hostile attack of rage he had given her. When he couldn't finish the sentiment, he offered another, "A woman should not deceive her husband in that way. And I trusted her, and she broke my trust."
"First of all George, don't kid yourself. You did not smack your wife; you beat her within an inch of her life. Do you realize she could easily have died in that closet? Your children could have found her, George! You should think about that. And second, which is what really rustles my tail feathers, is you broke her trust in you before you even had an inkling of an idea about the way John was conceived, and Mary still protected and defended you to the death. Frankly I don't remember your body being battered in that way for your misdeeds against not only her but also your family and children. But I see your point; she broke your trust and her punishment is for you to abandon your duty to her. Yes, that sounds fair," Harry, retorted harshly, straightening the packages, preparing to hide them in the attic.
George spun about in his chair and stared at Harry hard at work. "I have never abandoned her, I'm here for her always."
Harry kept on with his task without looking to his brother, "You left her that night in the parlor to suffer alone. You knew what you did to her. You left her alone in the hall closet with no one to defend her or protect her or comfort her when that is what she needed most in the world. She called to you George that night, she begged for mercy that night and you ignored her. And then you gave her away."
Harry could feel George's glare and continued, "You had a good woman, George, a woman that would have flown against the gates of hell and defeated a legion of demons to save from you from Satan himself. And now, she thinks, after all these years, you're just the devil in disguise, a wolf in sheep's clothing, that's why she's fearful. I'll tell you this much, if mother and father were alive still, now you have their complete blessing in your marriage. Come to think of it, I think not only would you be your mother's favorite, but now your father's as well, for you are a far better man and a far more capable bully than he. You were patient, you took your time all these years, letting Mary live under the lie of a false security, all the time just training her, training her to trust you. Now you truly are in control, and you never have to be bothered with recovery woes of woman like father was with our mother spending more time in bed recuperating than being his housemaid and whore. You'll never ever have to hit Mary again and if you had to pay her for her services as servant, you'd already be broke!"
"I am not like my father..." George replied proudly pretending to review the receipts, his mind elsewhere moving a mile a minute.
"No George, you are worse, much worse. Our father would have taken to the streets to find our mother if she ever went missing, especially after a beating. He would have taken her to a hospital and cared for her, even if it were only until she got better. Instead, you were furious when Mary returned to you. And it did not matter that she was slowly dying? No, the moment she had enough strength to stand, you made her into your slave. As I stand here in your castle I can tell you just what your father-in-law would think of this situation."
That got George's attention, and he approached his brother and touched his shoulder, turning him to see his face, hoping it would be Grandpa Joe speaking through Harry's hazel eyes. "He would tell you that no man has ever won in the game of chess by willfully conceding his Queen to the enemy."