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Chapter 40 – Scarlet Letter:

"So... are you going to invite me into the parlour Jane or will you allow me to continue standing here in the hallway like a complete gooseberry?" Cecilia eventually asked after the two women stood for a while with an awkward silence building between them.

"Oh, yes, of course!" Jane blustered, feeling completely foolish! "Mrs Fairfax will you please take Miss Lennox's coat and we will have some tea in the drawing room if you would be so kind."

"Foxton," Cecilia corrected her as Mrs Fairfax helped her out of her luxurious black fur coat and muff, "I'm Viscountess Lennox-Foxton now."

"Viscountess," Jane's voice trailed off at this amazing piece of news, "I see that you did married Charles after all." Cecilia had started courting Charles Edward James Foxton three months before Jane had left for Africa and so she didn't know if Cecilia ended up marrying him or not. She recalled the couple of encounters that she personally had with him and remembered him as being very charming as well as being rather good-looking. She remembered him telling her about how he had recently taken over the family business after his father retired, Foxtons, a fine, bespoke jewellers that made jewellery for not just the British royal family and aristocracy but also for the European kings and queens and their courtiers.

Cecilia's father, Sir Walter Lennox, a prominent textile merchant who supplied the major department stores and fashion houses with the finest fabrics attended the same gentleman's club as Charles' father. Both men, two titans of business agreed that their two children would make a fine match and thus create a glorious business empire.

"When did you become a viscountess?" Jane asked politely as she led Cecilia into the drawing room. She felt so awkward in her informal tea gown compared to Cecilia's effortlessly elegant outfit. But then again, ever since they were little Cecilia had always been impeccably dressed. Her father would constantly have dresses made for her in his newest fabrics as a way to impress potential clients.

"Six years ago," Cecilia replied rather nonchalantly, "Charlie was a made a baron not long after we were married and he is currently the MP for the Cities of London and Westminster. He is expected to be invited to join the House of Lords at any time now."

"Gosh!" Jane was more than surprised. She knew that Charles Foxton was a hard working, ambitious man but she had no idea that his aspirations were that high! "You look very well Cecilia."

Cecilia was looking more than well. She was still as beautiful as when she last saw her, so beautiful in fact that nearly everyone would have to stop and stare. Her hair was the colour of spun gold and her face heart-shaped with high cheekbones, a slim, delicate nose and immaculately shaped darker blonde eyebrows. Her bee stung like lips were soft and sensual but it was her eyes that were her best feature, the feature that always made people look twice. They were yellowy brown like honey or amber, almost feline in nature and were framed with thick, long black lashes.

There were often times that Jane felt herself to be in Cecilia's shadow in the looks department. She thought and felt that others, especially men, considered her to be pretty but not beautiful or striking like Cecilia. Fortunately for her, her best friend was not vain or self absorbed. In fact she was mostly unaware of her bewitching good looks and it was indeed her fun, lively, kind and loyal personality that helped them stay as lifelong friends.

"Cecilia," Jane started and then stuttered, as her friend silently pulled off her black kid leather gloves, finger by finger. "I can explain -" But before Jane could finish her sentence, Cecilia, without any giveaway suddenly gave Jane a viciously hard, stinging slap across her face, knocking her for six!

"Cecilia!" Jane gasped, clutching her throbbing cheek in shock as Cecilia looked on at her, her jaw delicately clenched in anger and exhaling heavily out of her nose.

"That's for leaving and for not even having the courtesy to send me a single goddamn letter to at least let me know that you weren't dead!" Cecilia snapped as she pointed her finger at Jane, her best friend that she had presumed to be dead for all this time until now.

"I know," Jane nodded as the sting of the slap started to die down a little, "and I deserved that. I did try to write to you, I must have started a thousand letters but I couldn't. I couldn't risk sending it in case other people found out and came to find us."

"I can't believe you couldn't trust me with a secret!" Cecilia retorted, thoroughly hurt by Jane's answer, "I have kept all of our secrets Jane, yours and mine."

"I know and I am so sorry Cecilia."

"I almost sent out a search party for you, you know. I begged Charlie to provide the funds and then we heard the rumours."

"Rumours?! What rumours?" Jane almost demanded but then remembered to keep her voice low so that the servants couldn't eavesdrop.

"Oh there was a rumour that you found God and got married to an American missionary, and then there was wild gossip saying that you had actually been kidnapped and forced to marry a chief or a prince of a savage tribe and -" Cecilia paused and shook her head at the absurdity of what she was about to say next. "There was even the suggestion that you had married a wild man, half human, half monkey! A Lord of the Apes! Can you imagine!" Cecilia giggled at the preposterous idea and Jane forced herself to laugh.

"Yes, a monkey man… how silly!" Jane forced an uncomfortable smile as Cecilia sat down in a chair and Mrs Fairfax came in with tea for both of them. Jane politely dismissed her housekeeper from the room and decided to be mother, pouring Cecilia a cup of tea first.

"So is your marriage to Charles faring well?" Jane asked as she handed the cup over to Cecilia, hoping that she could distract her friend from probing too much into her personal life.

"Yes, he is a very kind, respectable and attentive husband and father. I have certainly been very lucky in my choice of husband. I can assure you Jane that he treats me well in every aspect of our marriage."

"So you do have children then?"

"Yes, I have three sons," Cecilia smiled after she sipped some tea, "My eldest Percy will soon be fourteen and the twins Edward and Henry are eleven, which is amazing as neither of our families have any twins! Gave us quite a shock I can tell you! Charlie just adores them, he especially loves it now that the boys are old enough to ride, fish and hunt."

Three sons, Jane's mind for a split second wondered if Tarzan would have preferred to have a bushel of strapping boys as most men did, but she instantly pooh-poohed the notion. He adored his children and loved the fact that he had one of each gender.

"My daughter just turned twelve last month and she just loves fishing," Jane replied before she could stop herself. Cecilia's eyebrow arched in avid curiosity at this amazing piece of gossip!

"You have children?!"

"Yes… a daughter and a son. Annabelle is twelve and William is just over four months old now."

"Why Jane Porter! I cannot believe it! So you did get married after all!" Cecilia abandoned her cup of tea, absolutely determined to get every single piece of delicious gossip out her estranged friend. "Or did you?" she said as she noted Jane's awkwardness, "Get married?" Her amber eyes widened at the idea of her best friend scandalously having children out wedlock! After all, there was no wedding band on her finger.

"No, no they are legitimate," Jane hastily rebuffed, "I married their father a long time ago, not long after you got married actually."

"So they are clearly not Robert's-" Cecilia was suddenly interrupted by Tarzan striding into the drawing room. Jane's heart pounded violently at Tarzan bursting in and possibly discovering her dreaded, shameful secret. The expression on his face was anxious, desperate to know if his wife was safe and well.

"Oh my!" Cecilia breathed as her eyes took in Tarzan's height, strong legs, handsome face and his exposed chest muscles, as his shirt was slightly unbuttoned. If it had been summertime, she would have used her fan to calm herself down at the sight of this tanned paragon!

"Jane dear, are you alright?" Tarzan turned to his wife and then eyed the beautiful Cecilia somewhat warily whilst Jane racked her brains, trying to think of the best way to explain everything.

"Umm, err, umm, Tarzan this is my best friend, my childhood friend Cecilia Lennox, I mean Cecilia Lennox-Foxton," Jane gabbled, her cheeks flushing scarlet as Cecilia observed her husband's tanned skin and dreadlocks with great curiosity and puzzlement. "Cecilia, this is my husband... Tarzan Porter."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs Foxton," Tarzan nodded and smiled politely. He did in fact recall Jane telling him about Cecilia and all the mischief they got up to together as children.

"Likewise," Cecilia smiled politely as she held out her hand, which Tarzan courteously kissed.

"Umm Tarzan darling, would you mind if Cecilia and I continue to talk in private?" Jane said when all introductions were said and done.

"Of course," Tarzan nodded, "I will be upstairs if you need me."

"Well, well and to think that I have married well!" Cecilia commented after Tarzan was safely out of the room. "You have certainly surpassed me Janey-Jane! Where did you find him? I mean he looks nothing like any Englishman I have ever seen."

"I met him in Africa… in the jungle."

"So the rumours are true! You did marry a wild man!"

"His parents died when he was a baby. Kala, a female gorilla found him and adopted him as her son. Tarzan is the name that Kala gave him; we don't know his original human name. He had been living with his gorilla family for all of his life when Daddy and I found him. I taught him how to speak English and to read and write. We fell in love and I decided to stay with him in the jungle and my father followed suit."

"With the gorillas?!" Cecilia couldn't believe a word she was hearing!

"Yes, we live in the treehouse that Tarzan's human parents built before they died."

"So why all the secrecy? Why did you decide not to tell anyone that you were alive?"

"To protect the gorillas. William Cecil Clayton, the man I hired to guide us betrayed us. He planned to poach all of the gorillas for profit and we couldn't risk that happening again. Hence why we decided to disappear."

"I remember him," Cecilia's nose wrinkled in slight disgust, "such a haughty, pompous man! He was an utter rogue; his hands were far too friendly when I shared a dance with him at Hazel Cotherington's Christmas party. What happened to him? No one has seen him ever since he left for Africa with you and your father."

"He," Jane paused for a moment, wondering whether to lie or be honest. "He died in the jungle. Tarzan, my father and I were rescuing the gorillas when he turned on Tarzan and started to fight him. He wanted to kill my husband but he got entangled in some vines and when hacking at them… he accidentally hung himself. Tarzan tried to save him but it was too late. It was so... awful."

"No wonder that you had to go into hiding!" Cecilia's anger at her friend was completely gone and now her face was full of sympathy, "I just wish that you had wrote a letter to let me know that you were safe and well."

"I know, I truly regret that now," Jane replied truthfully as Cecilia took her hand in hers and squeezed it in kindness. "I hope you can forgive me for that, for all the pain and distress that I have caused you."

"You're forgiven," Cecilia smiled and then added playfully, "but I'm still mad that you were not my maid of honour! I was forced to have that snotty Hazel Cotherington, that unbearable Eleanor Featherstone and that God awful Greenly Fanshaw as my bridesmaids!"

"They cannot have been that bad Cecy!" Jane replied as Cecilia rolled her eyes to heaven, making her laugh.

"So why are you in London then?" Cecilia asked once they stopped giggling. "Why are you hiding over here and not in the jungles of Africa?"

"My son needs surgery. He was born with a cleft palate and hare lip so we are going to a doctor in London so that he can have an operation to make him better."

"Oh Jane!" Cecilia's grasp on Jane's hand tightened in empathy. The thought of anything bad happening to her own boys filled her heart with compassion and complete understanding of Jane's plight.

"Cecilia Lennox! What a sight for sore eyes!" Archimedes said as the two women entered the hallway as he came downstairs from his study, carrying a book in his hand.

"I'm a Lennox-Foxton now Professor Porter," Cecilia smiled demurely as Archimedes kissed her hand, "you are looking very well might I add sir."

"How on earth did you find out that we came back here?"

"I have my ways Professor!" Cecilia made a mischievous smile, "I'm a lady in waiting to the Queen you know, I need to know all the latest gossip and scandal before everyone else to entertain her and the court!"

"Cecilia Lennox-Foxton! You must have more spies in London than Francis Walsingham!"

Cecilia laughed a merry laugh as Mrs Fairfax helped back into her fur coat and Jane's heart was now in her mouth. If Cecilia blabbed even a single shred of what she had confided to her today then they would be forced out of hiding and probably hounded by the press!

"Cecilia," Jane clutched her friend's gloved hand just before she slipped it back into her muff, "please don't say anything. I implore you, you mustn't tell anyone that we are here! Please."

Cecilia put her hands into her fur muff and leaned in to kiss Jane's cheek, still a little sore from the slap. "Don't worry Janey-Jane, I won't tell a soul," she whispered into her ear and then kissed her other cheek. "Should you ever decide to come out of hiding then please do come over for afternoon tea. We reside at 12 Belgrave Square Garden," she then said aloud to Jane and her father before slipping out of the front door into the bitter early evening cold.

Later that night whilst everyone was asleep, Jane stared at the wooden tester of her bed, her mind plagued with fear and worry. It was not just Cecilia that she was worried about; even though she had promised to keep quiet she was still understandably anxious.

She didn't think that coming back to London would drag up so much of her past to the point that her skeletons were threatening to come out of the closet. She knew that Tarzan was a very understanding man and in lots of ways a modern thinking man, but if he knew, it would break his heart. She had started her marriage with a lie and now it was catching up with her. She was a fly getting caught up in her own tangled web of lies and deceit. She had to get rid of the evidence, right now, not a second longer!

Jane slipped out of bed and tiptoed over to her dressing table. She carefully opened her mahogany jewellery box and picked out amongst a locket and some earrings a small brass key. She slinked over to her writing desk and unlocked the middle drawer that Tarzan had tried to open earlier that afternoon. There they were, all untouched and pristine as the day she locked them in there before she sailed for Africa.

Jane quietly fished out the pile of letters, looking over her shoulder at Tarzan who continued to sleep soundly. Jane thanked for the soft mattress and she knelt down in front of the fireplace where the fire was now reduced down to red embers.

Before she could do anything to them, Jane couldn't help looking thorough them one last time. Her eyes took in the confident handwriting and the various endearments of the earliest letters, 'My dearest Jane', 'My sweetest Jane' and 'My one true love.' As she got to the later letters, they were full of things that she thought that she had forgotten but she never really did.

'I don't love her. I love you, only you', 'I promise I will tell my father about us' and 'I will marry you if it is the last thing that I do.' The last letter, which was blotched with her old tear stains and its closing sentence, 'Forgive me Jane, please forgive me', brought a tear to her eye, not out of pining but out of bitterness and regret at her past foolishness and gullibility.

Jane placed a letter into the fire and taking the poker, pushed it to the centre of the embers. The paper twisted in the heat, browned and then blacked. Jane could still read the words 'Meet me in Bath' before the letter suddenly burst into a bright yellow flame before burning down into soft white ash. She did this with all of the letters and when it was done, she took the poker and mashed it into dust. She watched the fire for a while as the white specks of ash floated up with the smoke up the chimney, all of her secrets and lies flying up into the night sky.

"Jane?" Jane turned her head to see her husband starting to sit up in bed, "Why are you up?"

"Oh I was just stirring the fire," Jane made a smile, now relieved that her secrets were gone for good, "I was feeling a little cold."

"Come here, let me warm you up," Tarzan smiled as his wife climbed back into bed and snuggled up against his warm body. Jane closed her eyes and felt her body relax as she now knew that the drawer of the writing desk was empty and she could carry on with a unburdened conscience.