Authors: Saralynn Hoyt
"Yes, yes, whatever you want. Please, just don’t hurt
my little girl." Sabrina was trembling. "I don’t have much money
here, but I can get more."
He laughed, and then opened the door, letting another man
in. This one wasn’t even pretending to be an employee. He was shorter than the
first man, but still quite large. Greasy hair poked from beneath a grimy cap
and his unshaved face was scarred from some long ago knife fight.
"Come on in, Scar and help me with the ladies."
The first man motioned to Sabrina with his gun. "Tie her hands and let’s
get out of here. The gentleman will be waiting out back."
The taller man was nondescript with his brown hair and eyes
and plain face. It was probably why he’d been chosen to pose as an employee. No
one would notice him and even fewer would be able to describe him if they had.
"Right you are, Cal," Scar said with a laugh that
did not bode well for Sabrina and Alice. "And don’t you be calling out for
help, or the little girl will get it. The gent said she’s just extra baggage
anyhow."
"Do whatever they say, Alice, darling." Sabrina
was trying to be brave and not cry in front of her precious daughter.
"Yes, Mummy," Alice said quietly. She was a smart child
and knew when to obey.
Sabrina didn’t even struggle as Scar tied her wrists in
front of her. She wouldn’t do anything to risk her daughter’s life. Besides,
she was too numb with shock to do much more than wonder if this was the ‘big
trouble’ that Alice and Madame Lou had predicted. It suddenly seemed idiotic
that she hadn’t believed either one of them when everything else they’d told
her had come true. If she got out of this alive, Sabrina swore, she would never
question Alice and her conversations with her dead father again.
Cal looked out the door into the hotel corridor to make sure
there weren’t any other guests walking about before leaving with Alice. Scar
followed, dragging Sabrina behind him. They went down the servant’s stairwell.
Unfortunately no one saw them. The staff must have been busy delivering
breakfast and helping the guests dress and prepare for the day. When they
reached the street behind the hotel, a large dark carriage waited. Sabrina
feared the worst. Scar pushed her inside grabbing a handful of her bottom as
she went. Thankfully, the disgusting little man did not follow her inside. But
Cal was right behind her, still holding Alice securely. He shut the door behind
them before pulling out his pistol again and resting it ominously on his thigh.
"Are you all right, Alice?" Sabrina asked
hesitantly. She didn’t want to anger her captors.
"Yes, Mummy."
"Yes, Mummy," a familiar voice mocked from the
shadowed corner. "Isn’t that precious."
"Gerald," Sabrina said the name as if it was dirt
in her mouth. "I should have known."
"Quiet, you bitch. You’ve caused me enough trouble to
last the rest of my life. But soon, you’ll be begging me to be nice to you."
Gerald laughed in a way that made Sabrina want to be sick.
"I won’t marry you," Sabrina said defiantly. "I
know what you did and I can prove everything."
"Excellent," Gerald said. "Then there will be
no more pretenses between us. Although, you will marry me unless you want to
see our little Alice here hurt."
"Don’t you dare touch my daughter." Sabrina lunged
to put herself between Gerald and Alice.
A meaty fist connected with Sabrina’s midriff, knocking the
breath from her. She fell to the carriage floor, coughing and gasping for
breath.
"I’ll do as I please, as you will soon learn,"
Gerald stated, menace in his voice.
He then proceeded to kick her, carefully avoiding her face,
until she pulled herself back onto her seat. Sabrina wondered briefly if one of
her ribs might be broken, since she was struggling to breathe.
"Now hand over those papers you stole, or the next blow
is for Alice," Gerald said, his face turning red from anger. He obviously
preferred the meek and submissive Sabrina, a woman who no longer existed.
Alice looked as if she wanted to hit her uncle. Sabrina
frowned at her, hoping she would get the message to behave until they could
figure a way out of this predicament. Reaching into her shirtwaist where she
had put the papers for safekeeping, she pulled out the documents and handed
them over to Gerald. He looked pleased with himself and became preoccupied with
going over them.
Taking advantage of the unexpected quiet moment, Sabrina
contemplated her options. The first thing she thought of was how sorry she was
to have left the protection of Ford’s house yesterday. Even though she was
still very angry with him, his crime seemed minor in comparison to her current
situation. Now she was on her own and had no one to blame but herself. She
should have listened to Madame Lou. Never in a hundred years, would Sabrina
have imagined that thought would ever cross her mind. She almost giggled
thinking about how long she had put off going to see the woman and even when
she’d been warned, had scoffed at the predictions and fortune telling. Now she
felt like a fool for not paying better attention. At least she hadn’t emptied
her pockets of the knife and matches. But how on earth she was to use them to
escape was still a complete mystery. Maybe Alice would know what to do. After
all, she was in contact with her dead father.
Sabrina nearly laughed aloud at the direction her thoughts
were turning. She, who had worried that her daughter was going completely mad a
few weeks ago was now willing to make a request of her dear departed husband.
Something like this, maybe? Edward, if you’re listening, could you help us to
get away from your evil brother? Much appreciated, your still living wife,
Sabrina. What she wouldn’t give to be anywhere else. Even tucked snuggly in
Ford’s bed knowing that he had lied to her from the beginning, knowing she was
the other woman, and maybe even the mistress. But now the man wanted to marry
her and was willing to forego the promise he’d made to his mother as she lay
dying. And what had Sabrina done? She’d thrown Ford’s proposal back in his
face. Now she was in the worst trouble of her life and suddenly, her anger
seemed so petty and childish. It occurred to her in this most dire of
situations, that Ford had said he loved her. Wasn’t that more important than
the deception? In the perspective of the moment, it might be all she could ever
have of love. And now her foolish pride would get her killed or married to an
evil man, or possibly both.
"You’ll look lovely in the gown I’ve chosen for you,"
Gerald said, interrupting her morbid and self-defeating thoughts.
"You can’t make me marry you," she said defiantly.
"You won’t fight me if you want to keep Alice safe."
Gerald was very sure of himself. Of course he was right.
"I’ll kill you if you touch a hair on her head."
Sabrina couldn’t help herself. She hated this man with every fiber of her being
and she wanted him to fear her as much as she feared him.
"You should have done that when you had the chance. Now
I know what you are capable of and I will deal with you accordingly." He
smirked at her. "You will be kept locked up and guarded at all times. Everyone
will believe you are sickly and therefore confined. Alice is my insurance that
you will become a well-behaved wife. And if at any time you disobey or become
unruly, my brother’s child will pay the price. At some point, if I decide that
you are more trouble than you’re worth I will simply have you committed to an
institution. Then you can spend the rest of your days ranting to the walls
about the injustice of your life."
"You bastard," Sabrina sputtered.
"No, not officially."
"Mummy, Papa says not to worry. Uncle Gerry doesn’t
know about Madame Lou." Alice seemed very pleased with her prediction.
"The fortune teller?" Gerald asked, then burst
into raucous laughter. "I may have to commit you both." He gripped
his huge belly as he enjoyed his own joke.
But Sabrina felt a surge of hope at her daughter’s confident
words. This world of mysticism may be new and frightening to Sabrina, but Alice
knew what she was talking about and that would have to be good enough. Now to
figure out how to make the most of their inside information.
"What else is your father saying to you, right now?"
Sabrina knew Gerald wouldn’t take any of this seriously. Just as she had
thought her own child might be making up stories, he would think so too.
"Papa says Uncle Gerry should lock us up in the nursery
until the wedding," Alice said, making a show of her psychic abilities by
closing her eyes and putting her fingers to her forehead. "Scar can guard
us since there is only one door. Also, Uncle Gerry should starve us so we’re too
weak to fight back in the morning."
"The little brat has a good point," Gerald mused.
Alice winked at her mother while Gerald was distracted by
his plans. Sabrina tried not to smile back at her daughter. Now she knew why
she should have added bread, cheese, and a bottle of water to her pockets.
Unfortunately, she only had the knife and matches. Of course, knowing what she
did now, Sabrina had no doubts that they would come in very handy in the next
few hours.
Exhausted from a
sleepless night, Ford allowed Freddy to shave him and help him to dress. As
soon as the hour was decent, he would head back to Miss Blakemore's place of
business, once again begging Sabrina’s forgiveness. He had spent the night
tossing and turning, thinking of the things he should have said and done. But
none of it mattered, the damage had been done.
Last night, upon
returning home, Ford had immediately tried to ring up the hotel where Luella
was residing in Paris. But as luck would have it, she was still out for the
evening. He would have to try again today. If Luella had been out late the
previous evening, it would hardly be polite to call too early. But he
absolutely had to speak with her before he saw Sabrina again. It simply
wouldn't do to offer for another woman when one was already currently engaged.
What an utter
catastrophe he'd made of his life, Ford thought as he pushed some eggs and
kippers around on his plate. How could he have been so blind? So self-
absorbed? He had allowed a misguided sense of duty to push him down a road that
led him nowhere near happiness. Although he still loved his mother deeply, Ford
could now see how he’d allowed her to lead him around by his nose. Only
concerned with his studies and experiments, he’d given Catherine Northcliffe
full permission to plan the more important aspects of his life, while he
pretended to be in charge of what was left.
Ford wondered if his
mother would be disappointed by his mutiny of her cause. She’d wanted him to
have a wife of high social standing who could pave the way for him and their
children to the upper echelons of the ton. But considering the current state of
the peers in this new age, he hoped she wouldn’t have been too upset. Those
days of titles being more important than riches were quickly fading. Luella’s
family was connected to a duke and she had a modest fortune, but the
Northcliffe’s wealth was enough to make even the upper two hundred blush. He
would never lack proper invitations, if that was what he truly desired. It
suddenly angered Ford that his own mother had been so shallow in her life plans
for her son. Why hadn’t mother known that he needed a woman to love and cherish
and not just someone who held the right pedigree? It had been a cruel thing to
do to her only son and Ford was beginning to wonder what his mother’s real
motivation had been. Maybe she’d actually believed he was incapable of finding
his own wife? Or possibly she assumed he would never get around to it.
It was ridiculous to
speculate, after all, the woman was dead and she wouldn’t be letting him know
the reasons for her actions any time soon. Unless, of course, he suddenly
decided to believe all of this Madame Lou business. Ford laughed at his own
nonsensical thoughts. He needed to quit chasing ghosts, including that of his
little sister. It was time to move forward with a new life that included
Sabrina and Alice. The past would have to be left behind where it belonged.
Ford waited impatiently in the front hall where his new
telephone had been installed. He paced the space for what seemed like hours waiting
for the operator to finally connect him with the hotel. It occurred to him as
he listened to the buzzing and clicks that this conversation would be heard by
too many people, but unfortunately, there was no help for it. He didn’t have
time to correspond by something as slow and antiquated as a letter. After being
transferred from operator to operator, he was finally being rung through to the
Chateau de Montvillargenne. Thank goodness his mother had insisted he learn
French, it made communicating with the concierge much easier. He quickly
learned that Luella was awake and had already finished her morning coffee and
croissant. The maid was on her way to find Miss Ellison and fetch her to the
telephone.
"Hello," Luella’s unmistakable high pitched voice
spoke into the mouthpiece after nearly twenty minutes.
"Luella, it’s me, Northcliffe, Ford Northcliffe."
"Ford? Whatever are you doing ringing me up so early?"
Luella sounded put out even though morning was nearly spent. "I didn’t get
in until nearly dawn this morning. Oh my, there are ever so many parties and
salons to attend. Have you ever met the Comte de Verrentino? He is quite the
gentleman and I—"
"Luella, dear, please I need to tell you something very
important. Can you just listen for a moment?"
"Of course, Ford. Please, tell me why you felt the need
to use the telephone instead of writing to me? It must be very important
indeed!"
"Yes, it is." Ford was quiet for a moment,
listening to the static and crackling of the lines. How did one go about
breaking off an engagement? He should have rung up O’Neill first and asked his
advice. "I have something to tell you, Luella, something that couldn’t
wait."