Chapter Four
"Michelle de Lacaise? The French woman from Granite City? Are you serious?" Jarrod, who sat behind his desk in the study, leaned back and stared at his dark haired brother who stood in front of the desk. Jarrod was having a hard time wrapping his mind around that one. He'd been so sure that the Marque's daughter had her head just as far up in the clouds as her father did. Now Nick was telling him different.
"I'm very serious." Nick balled his hands up into fists and placed them on his brother's desk as he leaned forward. "On our way back, she told me not to expect her to talk much, as she could not risk someone passing through, hearing her voice and recognizing her. Jarrod," Nick said as a great earnestness came into his voice and appeared in his eyes, "her father beat her and has threatened to kill her. Isn't there anything the law can do to him?"
More than anything Jarrod wanted to jump up and ride Jingo as fast as he could into town. Only he couldn't. "Not without her pressing charges there isn't, is she willing to do that?"
Nick, who had known that was most likely what he would hear, stepped back and hit the desk with his one fist and he did so. It caused Jarrod to jerk backwards ever so slightly. "Sorry," Nick said as he turned and walked over to the bookshelves that lined the south wall of his brother's study. "I tried to talk her into doing that, but she says that even if she can no longer live around her father, she can't go so far as doing such a thing to him. I was hoping you knew of some loophole we could do to use it anyway." He then added, "She thinks she will have to, eventually, find another place to live. I tried to tell her that wasn't the case."
Jarrod shook his head. "I'm afraid there's no such loophole. She would have to press charges when it comes to the law and, no, there's no reason for her to leave here. Mother has already said the young lady could stay if she needed too. If I know mother, when she learns everything you've told me, that offer will turn into more of an order."
Nick couldn't help but chuckle at that one, though he'd have to make sure his mother didn't make it sound like an order. After all, Michelle had fled one tyrant; she'd surely run again if she thought, even for a small moment, that she'd run into another one. It was a fact he repeated to Jarrod.
"Don't worry, when I see mother, I'll make sure she knows exactly what is going on." Jarrod assure Nick, and then asked where Michelle was.
"Upstairs helping Audra clean out, and reorganize, the attic." Nick answered making no attempt to stop laughing as Jarrod's eyes opened wide and his jaw hit the floor. "I told you, she said she preferred to live the life of a 'commoner' over that of continuing to live with her father."
Jarrod thought on the woman he'd only seen from a distance and shook his head. He'd met many women in his life and few would be willing to give up the wealth that this Michelle De Lecaise had when she fled her father's home. "She might be living the life of what she was raised to call a commoner, only she's no common woman." It was an observation that Nick did not argue with. Why should he? He happened to agree.
~oOo~
"I cannot thank you enough, Mrs. Barkley. I just hope I have not brought trouble to your home." Michelle sat at the dining room table eating lunch with Victoria. It was the last thing she wanted to do.
Victoria could hear the sincerity of the young woman's words in her voice and see it in her eyes. How people like the Marque could live with themselves was beyond Victoria. They would never get the respect and admiration from those around them for they had not, and were not, earning it. However, those like Michelle, people willing to make sacrifices rather than to walk around looking down on others, would always be looked up to…even if they didn't know it. "I can assure you that if trouble comes it will not be your doing." She went on to ask Michelle to tell her more about herself.
Michelle fidgeted slightly. She was not used to talking about herself as her father had made it quite clear that she was to be seen and heard very little. "I was born in France as your sons have told you. When I was three, my mother gave birth to my brother who sadly died a week late. My parents were never able to have any more children and mother died when four years ago when I was twenty. Father has never even look at another woman, preferring to spend his time accumulating more land and wealth than he already had." She shook her head and said sadly, "When I was growing up, he used to tell me he was accumulating it all for me and my mother, but I do not believe that anymore. I think he was running from his grief for my brother at first and then, later, he grew to like how important he thought he'd become. When father lost his lands, we were force to flee France." Michelle sighed as she shook her head. "He looks down at the people in, and around, Granite City due to that fact…that he thinks he's more important they are." She put the fork that she'd been using down and laid her hands upon her lap. "I bought into that lie until the night Nick came to see me and, realizing what my father had made me do, gave my father both barrels as it were."
"I'm afraid there are many people out there who think they are better than those around them." Victoria gave their guest a sympathetic smile and then went on to say how both Jarrod and Nick had talked to her about the fact that Michelle thought that Victoria would expect her to find another place to live. "We want you to know you can stay here as long as you need to. I will make sure my sons behave themselves." Not that Victoria was worried about any of her sons doing anything out of line, she wasn't. However, she could see at least Nick trying to court the young woman.
Michelle couldn't help but smile at her hostess. She was as noble as her sons were. For the first since fleeing her father's home, Michelle no longer held any doubts when it came to her choice of where to flee to.