Fairest of Them All (Marriage by Fairytale Book 4)

by Ruth Ann Nordin

  “You stay away from me,” he called out, not sure if the ghost heard him or not. “I don’t want you around here. Go back to where you came from!”

  Then he marched over to the mirror, picked it up, and, with all of his strength, threw it across the room. This time the mirror shattered and shards of glass littered the floor.

  He stood still for a long moment. He was waiting for something to happen, but he wasn’t sure what he expected. His pulse was racing fast. His body was tense. He was ready for a fight.

  But the fight never came because nothing happened. All he could hear was the sound of his hard breathing. He was alone. Nothing was with him. The ghost might have brought the mirror here, but it was long gone.

  For now.

  He shook his head and backed away from the broken mirror. No. He couldn’t go through this. Not anymore. He had to break free from whatever it was that kept bringing the ghost to him.

  He couldn’t stay here alone in this attic anymore.

  He rushed over to the cord on the wall by the door and yanked on it. He had to go somewhere else…somewhere safe. There had to be a safe place in this townhouse. There had to be a room he could go to where the ghost wouldn’t find him.

  If one could hide from a ghost.

  But he had to try. He had to do something. Because if he didn’t, he would be driven to insanity.

  After what seemed like forever, there was the familiar knocking on the door telling him that the butler was on the other side.

  “Are you alone?” Evander asked.

  “Yes, Your Grace,” the butler replied.

  Evander opened the door, and the butler blinked in surprise, probably because he’d never seen Evander’s face before.

  “Where is my wife?” Evander asked.

  “She’s visiting with her family and Tabitha in the drawing room. Do you want me to send her up here?”

  “No. She must stay down on that level of the townhouse. Arrange it with the staff that she stays there. Do whatever is necessary. Understand?”

  Though the butler looked baffled, he nodded. “Yes, Your Grace.”

  “I need your help moving the heavy drapes to my wife’s bedchamber. I’ll also need your help moving some of the furniture in that room. We must get it completely dark in there. Also, you must not tell the others about this. I don’t want anyone,” especially not the ghost, “to find out. Can you be quiet about this?”

  The butler nodded. “Of course.”

  Evander hurried to grab a cloak from his armoire and put it on. He pulled up the hood. In case the plan didn’t work and Viola happened to come near him, he needed something to hide his face.

  “All right,” Evander said. “Let’s get to work.”

  ***

  As it turned out, Viola wasn’t able to go to the attic at all. The butler had come up with things for her to tend to around the townhouse. Two of them popped up before dinner, and the final one came afterward. First, there was a dispute between the footman and coachman. Then he needed her to plan out the menu for the next week with the cook. After that, he had her tell the maids how to redecorate the den. Each time he led her to these tasks, he disappeared, only to end up reappearing to whisk her off to another one.

  Had the servants been willing to make eye contact with her, the tasks wouldn’t have been so awkward. But since they would only glance her way from time to time and then avert their gazes as if she might turn them to stone, pressing through each task was far more time consuming than it should have been. Thankfully, her aunt, sisters, and Tabitha had patiently waited for her between each interruption.

  Viola had just finished telling the maids to keep the books where they were when the butler came into the room. “Is there something else I need to do?” she asked him, doing her best not to show her frustration.

  She wasn’t upset with him. Really, she wasn’t. It wasn’t his fault all of these things demanded her attention in the span of a few hours, but she’d been wanting to visit Evander ever since the doctor had left earlier that day. It’d been bright and sunny then, and now it was dark out.

  “No, everything is done,” the butler told her. “I only came to see if you need anything from me.”

  She shook her head. “I’m fine.”

  “Then I’ll wish you a good night.” He bowed his head and left the room.

  “What else would you like me to change in this room?” a maid asked her, staring at the bookshelves as she did so.

  Viola sighed. “Nothing. That is all.” She was exhausted, and she figured the servants felt the same way after spending a considerable portion of the day with her. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Without waiting for a response, Viola headed out of the den and walked down the hall. After a moment’s debate, she went to the drawing room where Tabitha was curled up in a chair, reading a book much more suited to her station in London.

  Tabitha looked up at her. “Why does Allen keep calling you out of the room? Your aunt and sisters gave up waiting and left.”

  Viola shrugged. “Apparently, everything around here must be done today. I don’t know how things run so smoothly on all the other days.”

  “The servants know what to do around here. They follow the same routine they had at the estate.”

  “Yes, but today the footman and coachman got into an argument over what to do about a broken wheel in the carriage, the cook wanted me to plan the menu for the next week, and I was asked to plan the redecoration of the den. I can’t think of a single task that absolutely had to be done today, especially while we had guests here. If those guests hadn’t been my aunt and sisters, it would have been terribly embarrassing.”

  Tabitha’s eyebrows furrowed. “None of that makes sense. The footman has no say in what happens to a carriage, the cook has been using the same menu for years, and this is a rented townhouse.”

  Viola shrugged. “I’m not pretending to understand the reasoning behind all of this. I’m too tired to even care. All I want to do is go to sleep.” But she couldn’t even do that until she told Evander about the baby. She released her breath. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

  “All right.” Tabitha turned her attention back to the book.

  Figuring that was the end of their conversation, Viola started to head for the doorway.

  “I like your family,” Tabitha called out.

  Surprised, Viola turned to look at Tabitha.

  Tabitha grinned. “I especially like your sisters.”

  “My sisters have yet to learn the value of restraint. I’m glad they didn’t upset you.”

  “No, they didn’t upset me. I found their honesty refreshing. If I were them, I’d be wondering if something was wrong with the way my step-father looks, too.”

  “I suppose it’s natural to be curious.”

  Tabitha lowered her gaze to the book for a moment then asked, “Aren’t you curious to know what he looks like?”

  “What he looks like doesn’t matter to me. All that matters is the kind of person he is.”

  Tabitha’s gaze returned to hers. “It’s no wonder he can’t resist being with you. You’re probably the first lady who hasn’t needed to look at him in order to fall in love with him.” She paused. “He’s not ugly. He’s far from it. The truth is, he’s exceptionally handsome. None of the other gentlemen match him in appearance. That’s why it’s such a tragedy his face ends up killing his wives.” Then her gaze went back to the book.

  Viola hadn’t expected her to ever tell her anything about his appearance. Regardless of whether he was handsome or not, Viola loved him. No one was going to convince her he wasn’t worth being with. But it did surprise her that everyone considered someone who was exceptional in appearance to be cursed. If anything, they should consider the person blessed.

  “I’m not going to end up like the others,” Viola softly told Tabitha.

  She thought she saw a tear fall down Tabitha’s cheek, but Tabitha wiped her face before she could tell for sure.
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  Not sure what else she might say to soothe her fears, Viola added, “I hope you have pleasant dreams tonight,” then left the room.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Viola usually went to her bedchamber before going to the attic, but she was too excited to do that tonight. She lit a candle and went up the stairs.

  She was familiar with the stairwell and hallway by now, so when she reached the hallway that would take her to the attic, she paused. On the surface, everything seemed normal, but she couldn’t help but think something wasn’t right.

  She lifted the candle higher and inspected the hallway. She recalled the first time she’d come here at night. She’d thought someone was watching her, but it’d turned out to be a table by the window that was hidden in the shadows. She approached it. The table always had a vase with fresh flowers on it. She never thought to ask the maids why they put flowers in this vase since so few people ever went through here. But she would see them every time she walked past the table.

  But this evening, something was different. She struggled to put her finger on it. What was out of place?

  She took a long moment to study everything. If she’d paid better attention to this section of the hallway every time she made her way through here, the answer might jump out at her.

  Finally, she had to give up in frustration. She didn’t know what was different, but there was definitely something out of place. Maybe in addition to redecorating the den, the servants were changing other things around the place.

  But while that was the most logical conclusion, it didn’t feel like the right one. Her brother had been the one given to fanciful thinking. What would he say if he was standing beside her right now?

  The easiest solution is the one that makes the most sense, he would tell her. Sometimes you have to go with how you feel. If something doesn’t feel right, then it isn’t right. Feelings are there for a reason. They explain things the mind can’t.

  She shook her head. She’d never had to resort to that line of thinking before. Why should she start now?

  Because up until now, you haven’t lived in a house filled with people who believe in curses and ghosts. There’s a reason for their belief.

  Yes, but logic had to play a role in sorting through everything somehow. Behind everything that seemed illogical was a logical explanation. She just couldn’t blindly accept this notion of curses and ghosts like the others did. Someone in this place had to be the voice of reason.

  She took a step away from the table. Well, she wouldn’t figure this mystery out right now. The answer was bound to come to her at some point. There was no sense in obsessing over it.

  She turned from the table and proceeded to the door where the staircase was. As was her custom, she blew the flame out and set the candle on the floor. She opened the door and shut it behind her. Then she proceeded up the steps.

  The routine was so familiar that it helped to bring her back to the safe world of normalcy. She would soon be with Evander, and then everything would be all right. When she reached the top step, she knocked four times.

  Usually, Evander came to her right away. She didn’t have to spend more than a couple of seconds in the dark stairwell. But this evening, he didn’t open the door.

  “Evander?” she called out.

  There was no sound from the other side of the door. No footsteps. No one speaking. Everything was silent.

  Something must have happened to him!

  She threw open the door and hurried into the room. She was ready to call out to him again when it occurred to her that she could see the images around her. It was no longer completely dark in here. There was moonlight coming in through a window, and it gave her enough light so she could make out a desk, two chairs, a bed, and an armoire. There was an assortment of items neatly placed along the walls, and most were stacked on top of one another. The space was larger than she’d expected. She could fit an entire bedchamber in here.

  “Evander?” she asked as she took a step over to the desk where she saw a candle to light.

  She stepped on something small and hard. Curious, she stopped and bent down to pick the item up. She had to light the candle in order to fully see it, but it was a small shard of glass. She lifted the candle and scanned the room. One of the shapes she’d seen in the moonlight had been a shattered mirror, and judging by the missing shards in the glass, the shard she was holding had come from it. She had no way of knowing if the mirror had always been here or not, but she knew for a fact that she hadn’t stepped on any glass before. And as she looked around, she didn’t see any other shards on the floor. This had to have happened recently.

  What was going on? Where was Evander? Why wasn’t he in the attic? Surely, he would tell her if he moved to another room, wouldn’t he?

  But he hadn’t done that. He hadn’t said anything about it. He did expect her to be here this evening. He’d told her he was looking forward to seeing her tonight. He wouldn’t say that if he didn’t expect to be here.

  So what had driven him out?

  A ghost?

  She shook the thought aside. No. There weren’t such things as ghosts. There had to be a logical explanation. Sure, things were spooky. One might even entertain superstitious nonsense based off of what she was seeing. But she refused to give into that temptation.

  She scanned the attic one more time. There was nothing that gave her any clues as to what had caused him to leave. The only thing that seemed out of place was the broken mirror.

  Well, she wasn’t going to get any answers up here. She set the shard on the desk and then headed down the stairs. Out of habit, she shut the attic door behind her, and when she had gone through the door at the bottom of the stairs, she shut that one, too. She bent down to retrieve the candle she had set on the floor, but it wasn’t there.

  She frowned. The candle should be there. Renewing her hold on the candle she had brought down with her from the attic, she gave a careful scan of the hallway.

  She didn’t see anyone. But that didn’t mean someone wasn’t there. It only meant she couldn’t see the person.

  It’s not a ghost. Whatever you conclude, you must remember there are no such things as ghosts.

  She released a slow breath to calm her nerves.

  Someone knew she’d come up here. Someone was probably watching her. But it wasn’t a ghost. It was a flesh-and-blood human being.

  Calling out to the person would be a waste of time. The person wouldn’t answer.

  Was it one of the servants? Did they wish to scare her away from here?

  No, that was silly. They were terrified of her.

  But that could be why they would want to scare her from this place. If she wasn’t around, they wouldn’t have to deal with her anymore. Maybe all of the time she had to spend with them today had convinced them to pull a couple of pranks on her.

  They could have convinced Evander to go to another room for the evening under the guise of cleaning the attic, or some other excuse.

  While the reason did provide some logic, it didn’t seem right. They didn’t strike her as the kind of people to do something like this.

  His other wives didn’t die because of a curse. Their deaths might have seemed accidental, but were they really?

  Servants had access to stairwells and rooms the owner of the townhouse rarely went to. They were also good about blending into the background. Sometimes, Viola didn’t even notice them. How much could also be said for the other ladies Evander had been married to?

  She hated to think any of the servants had murdered his wives. They had all seemed so nice, even if they were reluctant to look her in the eye.

  Perhaps their conscience was bothering them. Maybe that’s why they have trouble making eye contact with me.

  All of them, though? With the exception of the butler, all of them were skittish around her. She doubted all of them were either murderers or accomplices to murders.

  Unless there was a single servant who was exceptionally good at hiding hi
s, or her, activities.

  Tabitha had mentioned the ghost being feminine in appearance. So if there was a servant pretending to be a ghost, it was likely to be one of the maids.

  Viola sighed. She didn’t know what to think.

  That being the case, she was going to have to rely on what she knew. Evander was no longer in the attic. Someone had taken her candle. She would start with those facts and proceed forward with them.

  She gave another look around her. She didn’t see anyone. She took a deep breath and released it. Her steps were quiet on the floor as she walked down the hall. This time as she passed the small table with the vase full of flowers, she realized the vase was turned at a different angle. She’d glanced over at this vase many times from this position, and she’d never seen it turned at this angle before.

  She stopped and took another look around her. No one was there. That being the case, she went up to the vase and picked it up. She turned it around. Yes, this was the angle she was used to seeing.

  Maybe this meant nothing. The maid could have moved it when she put new flowers in it this afternoon. Or perhaps another maid had put flowers in it today instead. All she could really go by was the fact that out of the many times she’d seen this vase, it’d never been turned this way before. Was it significant? It was impossible to know. She set the vase back on the table and turned it to the way it usually was.

  She continued down the hallway and then went down the stairs. She reached the bottom and debated which way to go. She could go to her bedchamber or return to the drawing room. Maybe she should ask the butler if he knew where Evander was. She wasn’t sure if Tabitha knew. Tabitha had been downstairs all day with her and her family.

  After spending much longer in the hall than she wanted to, she decided to check the other bedchambers along this hallway. She’d been downstairs all day. Evander wasn’t in the attic and she hadn’t seen him come down the stairs. She doubted he would have risked it, given how frightened he was of showing her his face. She would start on this floor and search the others.