by Laura Greene
“I could use a little cheering up anyway after the kind of trip I’ve had. Hot toddy?” Max offers, getting up from his seat.
“A what?” Melody asks, confused at what he means. She can tell that he is moving a little slower than usual.
Max clears his throat, “Oh, I forget you’re not Scottish. It’s our version of a night cap here. We mix tea, honey and whiskey together and there you have it. Hot toddy!”
Now that Max is standing, Melody can smell the stench of already settled alcohol on his breath. He’s already drunk and it’s the middle of the afternoon. She wonders how long he’s been at it for.
She waves her hand over her face to fan off the strong whiffs of whiskey. “No thanks, it’s still too early for me. But looks like you’ve already had a head start.”
“Aye, suit yourself.”He pours himself another drink. Then continues unprompted, “If you’d had the trip I had you would be drinking too. I swear, these vendors are something else.” Now, Melody hears the slurs in his speech. “Next time, I’ll send an affiliate to deal with them and save myself the headache.”
Melody clutches her bag. She doesn’t mean to, but there is something uncomfortable about Max’s demeanor today. She does not feel safe this time.
To help ease her fear, Melody decides to ask Max some pressing questions. “Max, so you travel a lot don’t you? Where are some places you’ve visited? The Middle East?” She’s not being discreet, but looking at the state of Max right now, it’s safe to say, they are past discretion.
“Yes,” Max says, leaning back in his chair and reminiscing. “I travel a lot – probably the most in the family too. But I haven’t been to the Middle East yet. My business mostly takes me all over Europe and once in a while to America. Why?”
“Oh, I have just always wanted to visit there. So, none of your family has gone there?”
“No, we generally avoid getting involved in the trade wars over there.” Max now looks at Melody suspiciously.
She quickly responds to his expression with, “How interesting. I happened to see some beautifully decorated plates in your kitchen. They looked like some of the basins I saw in magazines growing up. I’m pretty sure they’re from the Middle East, do you know where you got them from?”
“Oh, decorating? That’s not really a question for me. I’d save that for my brother, Will. He’s more into those things.” He answers, dismissing the question with his hand. “They were probably a gift from someone.”
Melody wonders who that someone could be. She has a hunch, that someone might be my father. What if they belonged to him? “Like someone visiting or someone who worked here?”
“Worked here?” Now Max is sitting up, interested in knowing what Melody is getting at. His eyes droop slightly and she can see that he is battling between sound judgment and a drunken stupor.
She wonders if she is asking too many questions.
Max gets up to pour yet another drink. As if he forgot what she just said moments ago, Max pours two more drinks and says, “We had an employee who talked about the Middle East a lot. Recently.”
My father. Melody just knows that it’s him. “And?”
Max turns around to hand Melody her drink. He comes close to her, ready to sit next to her while saying, “Well, I never did get to know the fella too… Whoa!” Suddenly he trips as he is about to take a seat, and instead of falling down, he drops the drinks. He pulls Melody’s arm up, she drops her bag and falls on top of him.
Immediately, Melody yanks her arm away from Max, letting out a loud scream. He holds her close to him with his arms, and she tries to pull away, but he is too strong for her.
“Come on, Melody. You know I’ve had a thing for you don’t you?” Max says, smiling and staring at her. His eyes are bloodshot and watery. For a moment, Melody is startled. She feels like she is looking stark into the eyes of someone who hasn’t slept in days, someone she doesn’t even know.
Still, he grins at her and the hairs on her arms stiffen at the eeriness of his grin.
Melody continues to struggle to pull her body away. Then Max turns his body around and ends up on top of Melody. If she thought the pungent smell of whiskey was potent before, it is all she can smell now.
Max reaches in to try and kiss her. She turns her face away. Gasps for a breath that will not intoxicate her nostrils. He misses her mouth by inches and slobbers her cheek instead. “Get off me.” She says as she sucks in air.
His body is heavy on top of hers. He seems to be overtly overcome with alcohol that he does not realize Melody is trapped under him. “I’ve always liked you M...Melody. I just haven’t had the chance to tell you. But now you know.” He is struggling to form his words correctly. His eyelids are also drooping. He won’t last long.
The last thing Melody needs is for him to fall asleep on top of her. Trying to pry him off her body will be like moving a ton of bricks from on top of her. “Urgh!” She tries to push him off, but he does not budge. His body barely rocks like it’s harnessed with solid muscle.
“You like me too don’t you? We could be good together. Huh?”
“Max! Get…off!” Melody loosens her hand from under him. She slips it around his broad shoulders and hits his back as hard as she can. In the least she hopes to snap him out of it. It doesn’t work. She only agitates him.
He lifts his upper body and holds her face in place. Melody’s eyes widen, He’s about to kiss me. The thought of a drunk man kissing her repulses her and she grabs his arm and scratches at it, but he does not move. “You know you want this just as much as I do.” Max grins again and leans in to kiss her. Melody’s face is halted. She cannot move, she cannot pry him off, she can only pray someone heard her scream. His nose is touching hers now.
Suddenly, a strong arm hurls Max off of Melody and thrusts him across the room. It’s Will Deacon. Melody is relieved to see him. He grunts as he pulls at his brother, then with a warm expression on his face, he extends his arm to Melody and picks her up.
Max yells out some inaudible slurred words and Will turns around like a charged bull and snatches his brother by his dress shirt collar. With a rage Melody has not seen in him before, Will doesn’t say a word to Max, but groans as he punches him in the face. The blow from the punch is so thunderous, Melody is sure Max will feel it when he wakes up in the morning.
Blood drips from Max’s lip onto his lavender shirt but he remains in a drunken stupor.
Will aggressively digs his hands into Max’s arms, locks his elbows and throws him out of the room. As he flies out of the room, Melody sees a glimmer of fear on Max’s face just before he disappears out of the room. When he falls, Melody now hears a loud thud followed by grunts from Max.
Will is not finished. It is as though he is only seeing red. It’s all happening so fast she has no time to react. He follows Max out of the room and when he is out of sight, Melody hears more punches.
“Please...please...” Melody hears Max begging his brother for mercy. She runs around the corner to see if Max is still alive and she sees Tam standing nearby.
“Stop! Mr. Will!” Tam interjects with a steadied voice and possibly saves Max’s life. Then he crouches down to assess the damage on Max’s face.
Will stands up, panting. He brushes himself off, composes himself then instructs Max to get out of his sight. Max scrams up the stairs to his room. Will instructs Tam to follow him and make sure he doesn’t do anything else he might regret.
With her mouth agape, Melody stands and watches the scene unfold, then she retreats back to her seat when she sees Will turn and come into the room. He follows her and sits next to her. Silent.
For a moment, they sit side by side without uttering a word. They recap the events in their minds. In the distance, they hear Max shout some empty threats of his own and Tam’s voice echoes on the walls as he calms him down.
Finally, Will breaks the silence, “I’m so sorry for my brother’s behaviour, Melody. He should never have assaulted you.” He is shaking hi
s head in embarrassment.
Quietly, she answers, “No, he shouldn’t.” Melody is not sure what to say. She did not expect Max to act the way he did. She is still processing what just happened in her mind.
“He is not usually like this. I’ve told him to lay off the booze because when he drinks he is a different person. He doesn’t act like himself at all. I’m so very sorry, Melody. If I had known he was drinking, I would have made sure you were not alone with him.” Will says as he holds her hand to reassure her of his concern.
She feels safe with Will. He is genuinely concerned for her and he once again came to her rescue. “Thank you, Will.” She caresses her other hand on top of his. “I’m so glad you were there when you showed up.”
They stare into each other’s eyes for a time and the longing for Will to kiss her returns again.
“I hope you understand, Melody, that my family means so much to me, but it also tests me the most.” He lowers his head, “Since...my brother passed and my father...is now also gone, I have...”
“You’ve had to carry the burden of taking care of everyone.” Melody offers a gentle smile and rests her hand on his shoulder. “I see it Will: in your love for Rebecca, in how you try to keep Max in line and still carry the family business forward. But what about you?”
Will turns to look at her as though he has never considered himself before. “I… I guess I hadn’t given it much thought.” He chuckles shyly. Even his chuckle is charming.
“It’s okay to take care of yourself also. When Max moves away and Rebecca is all grown up, what will happen to you?”
“I guess I have based my life around everyone else. I...didn’t realize I was doing that.” Will is in deep thought and pondering Melody’s words. Then he asks, “What about you, Melody? What will you do next?”
Melody looks up in wonder. And Will gazes all the more at her beauty. “I...I plan to discover every corner, every deep hole and every treasure I can travel to.” She doesn’t necessarily tell him she wants to be an archeologist, but she basically describes it.
When Melody looks down again, she catches Will still staring at her. He quickly looks away, blushing and says, “That is lovely. Where would you begin?”
“How about Scotland?” Melody watches as Will’s expression changes from being shy to more hopeful.
“There’s... I need to explain something to you.” His tone is more serious now. “I feel I have become more fond of you, Melody. I meant to keep our relationship strictly professional, but it is becoming harder and harder for me to do that now.”
“I’ve tried to ignore it as well. But it is becoming increasingly more difficult for me also.”
“The other day, when we were in the basement, I really wanted to kiss you.” He quickly buffers his statement with, “I hope I was not being too forward.”
Melody can’t help but think of how in stark difference Will is to his brother Max. Will is a gentleman. He is someone that Melody also respects and finds charming. She purses her lips, wondering if it’s appropriate to tell her employer that she wouldn’t mind if he kissed her.
He leans in.
So does she.
And they kiss passionately. For Melody, it feels right. It’s what she has been longing for since their missed opportunity in the basement. She may not have been happy with the way things went with Max, but she is certainly pleased with how her evening is turning out.
The doorbell rings.
They unlock their lips. “That must be Morrison,” Will says, slowly releasing himself from their embrace.
He pulls out a pocket watch to check the time.
Melody is puzzled. The watch looks just like the one her father and Morrison have.
“He will be in a hurry to get back to the bar. Let me speak with him and give you a moment to gather your things.”
Will stands up and with the same motion he turns his pocket watch over and closes it.
Suddenly, Melody sees it. In fact, it stares her right in the face. It’s the green dragon carving, identical to the one that was on her father’s watch. It dawns on Melody that Will has her father’s watch.
“I will be just a moment,” Will says. He kisses Melody on the cheek quickly, then walks over to the door.
But Melody’s face is flushed with horror. Her heart sinks. She doesn’t want to admit it, but she also can’t deny it, Will is involved somehow.
Chapter 3
Melody is struggling to keep her cool after learning of Will’s involvement. As she replayed the scene in her mind, she realized no amount of toothpaste could cleanse her of the thought of kissing her enemy.
Her disappointment was more with herself for not noticing sooner and now complicating matters by developing feelings for Will. Her gut was telling her not to trust anyone there, but she made the mistake of not listening to that voice of warning.
Now, she is barely communicating with anyone on the island except Morrison on their trips to the mansions, but even he is suspicious something is not right. Usually they speak the entire journey, but recently, Melody has remained noticeably silent.
“Is everything o’rite lassie?” Morrison asks in his tender, fatherly voice. He tried to give her a few days to figure things out, but now seeing she has closed off, he just has to ask.
“Fine, Morrison.” Melody answers blankly as she stares out of the window.
“I hope you don’t mind me asking, hen. Are you comfortable with your living conditions?” Melody hears a tinge of sorrow in his voice. She knows how much it means to Morrison to know that his guests are comfortable in his inn.
Immediately, she turns to look at him and says, “I love it at the inn. You have taken great care of me.” Melody begins to form a smile and continues, “How can I complain after the way you chased Rob away?” She chuckles, remembering Rob’s expression when he ran away.
“That was a classic wasn’t it?” Morrison laughs and Melody, for the first time in the past few days, laughs a hearty belly laugh with him.
“I needed that laugh, Morrison. Thanks.” After a good laugh, Melody wipes a tear from her eye.
“Nae bother, hen. So, if it’s not the inn, is it the mansion?” Morrison’s tone is more stern, “Do I need to come after them boys? I am no’ afraid of ’em ye know.”
She sighs, wondering how she can explain what’s going on to Morrison without giving away too much. She can’t risk her investigation coming to nothing by misplacing her trust again. Each time it’s come back to bite her. What happened with Will was too close a call. “I just feel like I’m in a game of Cat and Mouse sometimes.”
“With that family, I’m sure the whole town feels that way. But I know you Melody. Yer one tough lassie. Ye don’t take sass from anyone.” Then he pauses, “Are ye the cat or the mouse?”
Melody giggles, thinking of what she might look like chasing the feared Deacon men. “I thought I was the cat, but I’m not sure which one I am anymore.”
“If I may drop my two cents in, donnae give up easily. If yer the cat, gain back control and catch the wee fella. If yer the mouse, find a good hiding spot and fast.”
“Morrison, you give great wisdom.”
“Just experience, lass. My boy isn’t with me to take in all the nonsense I have tae say, so I may as well share it with someone else I care aboot.”
The rest of the way, Melody contemplates Morrison’s words. It’s true, she needs to gain back control, but how? Maybe if Will is bold enough to still carry her father’s pocket watch, he is careless enough to divulge other clues that can help her locate her father. Then she says softly, “The best way to catch a mouse is in the act.”
“Now you’re getting it.” Morrison flashes a proud smile to have gotten through to Melody.
She decides she needs to come up with a plan. She just does not know what yet.
They arrive at the mansion shortly after. Morrison drops her off at the same doorway and leaves to go back to the inn.
For the past few days, Melody
has quickly escaped to the study, not exchanging much conversation with the Deacons, but it’s not easy to avoid the very people she works for. The mansion is not big enough for that.
She has especially tried to avoid Will. When she thinks of talking with him, a pit forms in her stomach – it’s a mixture of betrayal and disdain.
As she races to the stairwell, she narrowly misses him as he exits the basement with his head down and purposefully darts for the back entrance. Following him out of the room is Tam, and he walks in her direction.
Melody has seen Will coming and going from the basement several times now and she stops to ask Tam, “What’s going on over there?”
Tam seems to be in a hurry also, but he stops long enough to answer, “Mr Will is building a cellar.”