Fairest of Them All (Marriage by Fairytale Book 4)

by Ruth Ann Nordin

  She went to the bedchamber door closest to her and knocked on it. This one was supposed to be Evander’s. It was connected to hers. It was the most logical one for him to be in.

  No answer came from the other side, so she knocked again. She waited for a few seconds, but again, there was no answer. She opened the door and stepped into the room. She hadn’t looked in here before, so she was surprised there was nothing to denote that anyone had ever stayed here. There was a bed, but there was no bedding. There was a dresser and armoire, but both were empty. The room had been dusted, but that was all.

  Well, he definitely wasn’t in here.

  She turned toward the door when she heard a knock and then her name. With a frown, she looked at the door connecting her bedchamber with his.

  “Evander?” she hesitantly called out.

  “Yes, it’s me,” he said from the other side of the door. “I couldn’t stay in the attic. I came here instead. Do you mind?”

  “No, of course not.”

  She approached the door and put her hand on the doorknob. Then she recalled the candlelight and blew the flame out. She put the candle on the dresser then opened the door. She had expected her bedchamber to be dark, but at once, she was plunged into the same thick darkness that she’d been used to in the attic.

  “Will you close the door?” Evander asked.

  She turned her head to the right, but she couldn’t see anything. The only thing she could see was the faint path of moonlight filtering from the other bedchamber into this room, and that only went a few feet in front of her. She closed the door, and the little bit of light there had been disappeared.

  In some strange way, she found it comforting. Once more, she and Evander were alone in their own world. She hadn’t realized just how safe she felt when she was with him until this moment.

  “I’m not familiar with the layout of this room,” Evander said as he approached her. “The butler and I worked quickly. There wasn’t time to count steps from one piece of furniture to another.”

  “I’ve never moved around in here when it was dark like this.” But even so, they had more important things to contend with right now.

  She reached out and touched his chest.

  He brought her into his arms and rested his chin on top of her head. “I had to come to you. You don’t mind that I’m here, do you?”

  “No, of course, I don’t mind. I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  Though her skin warmed in pleasure at his words, she had to know why he had come here. “I went to the attic first, but you weren’t there. I had no idea where you were.”

  “I assumed you would come here before going to the attic.”

  “Usually, I do, but today has been different. Why did you leave the attic?”

  He didn’t answer right away, but when he did, he said, “I don’t want it to come for me.”

  Her eyebrows furrowed. “It?”

  “You’ll think I’m losing my mind if I tell you.”

  “You don’t believe in this nonsense about a ghost, too, do you?” She blurted the words out before she had time to think them over. She already knew the answer. Just as he had believed in this curse, he also believed in the ghost.

  “The ghost is real. It’s my mother’s spirit. I’ve seen it for myself.”

  She pulled away from him and rubbed her forehead as a headache began to take hold of her. She didn’t know what to think. It seemed that she was the only one whose view of reality hadn’t been warped. She should have expected that Evander would accept the notion of the ghost since he believed in the curse. Was she the only one in this house who saw how illogical all of this was? Wasn’t there anyone else who could see that something about all of this didn’t add up?

  The butler. He might be the only person who was still grounded in reality. But the hour was late, and she didn’t feel up to talking to him right now.

  Evander brought her back into his arms. “I don’t want to think about it. I want to concentrate on you. We have something good between us. I don’t want anything to ruin that.”

  Noting the worry in his tone, she put her arms around his waist and leaned into him. “Nothing’s going to ruin what we have as long as we don’t let it.”

  “Do you think something will ruin it?”

  She hesitated to answer, but she saw no point in not addressing everything right now. If they put off this conversation tonight, it was only going to get harder to deal with later. “I think someone might want to ruin it.” Before he could protest, she added, “Don’t you think it’s odd that something bad happened to all of your other wives? Let’s put the curse aside for a moment. Let’s pretend it doesn’t exist. What are the chances that someone hasn’t been behind all of this?”

  “There’s no one who would want to hurt any of my other wives.”

  “Are you sure about that? Are you telling me all of the servants were pleased with them? There’s not a single one who might not have wanted to serve the mistress of your estate?”

  “You’re suggesting someone killed my wives?” he asked in a bewildered tone.

  “Yes, I think that’s exactly what happened. I’m sorry, Evander, but I don’t accept this notion of a curse. For one, why wouldn’t the curse be brought to light before you married someone? Why did a ghost have to tell you about it after your first wife died?”

  “To warn me so that I didn’t show my next wife my face.”

  “That’s too simple of an explanation, and the timing is too much of a coincidence. The person who brought up the curse did it when you were at your most vulnerable point. Tabitha was at her most vulnerable point, too. This person took advantage of the fact that you two were hurting.”

  “Are you suggesting that someone has been pretending to be my mother’s ghost all this time? What servant would want to do that? What could they have to benefit from pulling off that kind of deception?”

  That was a good question, and this was where her theory fell apart. She couldn’t see why a maid would go through so much trouble. Why put on a gown and veil and walk through the halls of the estate? Why make up a curse? Why kill off anyone who married the gentleman in charge of the estate?

  “Have any of the maids wished to be your wife?” Viola asked. It was the only sensible answer she could come up with.

  “No. There’s never been anything of a personal nature that ever transpired between me and any of the maids. Besides, I know for a fact that none are dressing up as a ghost.”

  “How? When Tabitha told me about the ghost earlier today, she said the person had a veil over her face. People can get away with pretending to be your mother.”

  “No one is pretending to be my mother’s spirit. Her spirit is restless. She came back from the grave after my first wife died because she found out about the curse and wanted to warn me so I wouldn’t marry again. She was trying to protect me from getting hurt in the future.”

  “How do you know it was your mother’s ghost?”

  “Because I’ve spent many evenings with her. She would come to visit me at night and talk to me. Most of the time, I listened to her relive old memories. There are some things a servant can know, but they can’t know the details my mother did.”

  That would lead Viola to believe the person feigning this apparition was his mother. But dead people didn’t come back from the grave. It wasn’t possible.

  It’s possible if the person isn’t really dead.

  Viola gasped. What was the likelihood that a mother would fake her own death and then haunt her son and kill his wives?

  She thought over everything she’d learned about his mother. Tabitha had told her that Evander and his mother had argued over how much attention he gave his first wife. This was the evening when Tabitha didn’t want to dance with Lady Randalson’s son because his mother was holding on to his arm a little too tightly. What was it Tabitha had said? Lady Randalson was too protective of her son. She said that if she married him, she’d have to compete w
ith her mother-in-law for her husband’s attention.

  Viola thought further into what she’d learned about Evander’s mother. Hadn’t he told her that his mother hadn’t wanted him to marry his first wife, but he was in love with Tabitha’s mother, so he had married her anyway? So, his mother hadn’t wanted to share him with a wife. She’d wanted to keep him all to herself. That way, he would give her all of his attention.

  As much as she didn’t like where her thoughts were going, the line of reasoning was the most logical solution. It would be the missing piece of the puzzle. It would explain the curse and the ghost.

  What if his mother had faked her death? What if, after faking her death, she pushed his first wife down the stairs? That would clear her from any suspicion of murder. No one would point the finger at a dead person. Then, in an attempt to make sure Evander didn’t marry again, she made up a curse. What better time to do this than when he was grieving the loss of his first wife? He would be at his most vulnerable then. And why not appear to him as an apparition that worried over her grieving son? It would further his dependence on her, wouldn’t it? She, after all, would be a source of comfort in the middle of his suffering.

  Except things didn’t play out exactly as she’d hoped. He married again. And then she had to kill off the second wife in order to prove the curse existed. It hadn’t mattered that he hadn’t loved the lady. He had let the lady see his face, so the lady had to die. Since he didn’t sleep in the same bedchamber with her, it was easy enough to have this wife roll onto her knitting needles, though it still baffled Viola why anyone would believe she died that way.

  But perhaps she’d been able to use Evander’s guilt and Tabitha’s fears to her advantage. If she was visiting Evander and telling him he shouldn’t have married the second time, that it was because of him that the poor lady was dead, he would be in a weakened emotional state. It had led him to stay in an attic all alone. And that isolation probably gave his mother more control over him than she’d ever had. It also allowed her to get all of his attention for herself. She no longer had to share him with anyone. And when he married a third time, she’d gotten rid of that lady as quickly as she could. Viola had no way of knowing the details on that murder, but somehow his mother made sure the third wife fell off a horse. Or, at least it appeared as if she’d fallen off a horse.

  Viola shivered. And now Evander was married to her. Even if she hadn’t looked at his face, his mother wouldn’t care. At this point, his mother was so wrapped up in keeping him all to herself that she probably wouldn’t even bother using the curse as an excuse.

  Viola took his hand and led him over to where she knew her bed to be. The space from the door to the bed wasn’t a long one, but it did seem to take an absurdly long amount of time in order to finally reach the bed. She sat down and encouraged him to sit next to her.

  Maintaining contact with him by leaning into him, she asked the one question that was probably going to be difficult for him to answer. “Are you sure your mother’s dead?”

  “Yes.” The tone in his voice indicated that he was surprised she even asked the question.

  “How do you know she’s dead?”

  “Because her bedchamber caught on fire. Once the fire was out, I buried her.”

  “How do you know it was her?”

  “Who else could it have been? No one else ever slept in her bedchamber, and this happened in the middle of the night.”

  “But are you sure it was her? Did you actually see her body?”

  “Of course, I did. It was in the bed.” He paused then asked, “Is there a point to this?”

  “Yes.” And, if she was right in what she thought happened that night, he wasn’t going to like it because it would change the way he thought of his mother. Up to now, he had a positive view of her. Even if they had argued, he had loved her. Keeping her tone soft, Viola said, “I need you to remember as much of that incident as you can. What did her body look like?”

  “The fire started in the bed. She left a candle on the table right by her bed. It landed right in the bed. She was probably asleep and didn’t notice it in time.”

  “I didn’t ask that,” she told him. “I asked you what her body looked like.”

  “It was all burned up, just as you’d expect a body to be if it was consumed by a fire.”

  “So you didn’t see her face?”

  “There wasn’t enough of her face left.”

  “What about the hair? Was it the same color as hers?”

  “The hair had all been burned off. Very little of her was left. Most of it was a skeleton.” This time when he continued, she noted his frustration. “I don’t understand what this is about. All of that happened years ago. What does it have to do with today?”

  “I think it has everything to do with today. I think that wasn’t her body in the bed. I think it was someone else’s body.”

  A long moment of silence passed between them before he asked, “Are you suggesting that she faked her own death?”

  She put her arm around his waist, hoping to lessen the impact of what she was going to say next. “Yes, Evander. That’s exactly what I think happened. Think about it. This whole thing with her ghost telling you about a curse and then haunting your estate all happened after she made you think she died.”

  “But no one was missing at the estate. If she killed someone, I would have noticed that someone was missing.”

  “That’s only true if the person was alive. You have a family cemetery on the property. What if she dug up a dead body?”

  “No. I don’t like where this is going.” He shifted away from her. “My mother wouldn’t do anything like that.”

  “I know you don’t want to think she’d do that, but it’s the only explanation that makes sense.”

  In fact, the more she considered this angle, the more likely it seemed. The manor at the estate would be huge. There were plenty of rooms servants never went to. It’d be easy to hide a lot of one’s activities. And she bet none of the servants made it a habit of taking care of the cemetery. She probably had plenty of privacy while digging up a grave and then filling it back in once she got the body from the coffin.

  “Evander,” she said in a low voice as she renewed her hold on him, “at least consider the possibility that what I’m telling you is true. If there really was a curse, why didn’t your mother mention it before you married Tabitha’s mother?”

  “Because she didn’t know about it until after she died. There are things people learn after they cross this world into the next.”

  She was sure that was the reason his mother had given him once she pretended to come back from the grave. “But you weren’t convinced of it, were you? You married again, and you let your second wife see your face.”

  “Where are you going with this? Do you think she killed my second and third wife, too?”

  The pain in his voice stopped her from answering. She couldn’t even begin to understand what conflicting emotions must be going through him. If someone were to accuse Oliver of doing these things, she wouldn’t want to speak to the person again.

  “What you’re saying is impossible,” he said and shifted further away from her. “I can’t accept it. If I accept it, then I’d be saying that my mother is a monster because only a monster would do the things you’re suggesting.”

  She winced. If he accepted her premise, he would have to think of her that way. “I’m sorry, Evander, but I can’t believe in a curse or a ghost.”

  “That’s because you refuse to believe in them.”

  “You’re right. I do refuse to believe in them. They don’t make sense.”

  “They don’t have to make sense. Not everything in this world has to make sense. Sometimes you have to accept things on faith. I’ve lived under this curse, and I’ve seen and talked to my mother’s ghost.”

  “Have you touched her ghost?”

  “No. Why does that matter?”

  “A ghost is a spirit. You shouldn’t be able to tou
ch it. Your hand should pass right through it. If she comes to you again, touch her. Then you’ll know she’s still alive.”

  “I don’t want to touch her spirit. I don’t even want to be near it.”

  She couldn’t be all that surprised to hear that. She wouldn’t want to go near a ghost, either, if such a thing existed. But she had to turn the conversation back to this matter of his mother because if she didn’t, she could very well be putting her own life, and the life of their unborn child, at risk.

  “I know you don’t want to think your mother is pretending to be a ghost, but it’s important you at least give it some consideration,” she began. “Earlier, you told me the ghost is here. That’s why you left the attic and came here. Remember?”

  He hesitated but answered, “Yes, I remember.”

  “If your mother is still alive and if she did kill your other wives, then it stands to reason I’m next.”

  “Don’t say that!”

  Ignoring the fierce anger in his voice, she continued, “I have to protect myself and the child I’m carrying. I can’t stay in this townhouse. I’ll be putting us both in danger.”

  “Child?” His tone changed into one of surprise. “You’re expecting my child?”

  “I only found out today when the doctor was here. I would have told you sooner, but there was so much happening that I couldn’t. And now there’s this matter of your mother’s,” as much as she hated to add it, she said, “ghost. I might not have seen your face, but that doesn’t mean I’m safe.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I think I should stay with my aunt and sisters until the matter of this ghost is resolved.”

  “But I don’t want to live in this townhouse without you. I love you. I want to be with you and the child we created.”

  “I want that, too, but your mother isn’t going to allow it.”

  “She was a kind and gentle lady. She never did anything to harm anyone. She warned me of the curse to protect me and the lady I married. All she’s ever done has been to see to my happiness. She wouldn’t hurt you or our child.”

  This was one of those times she wished she could see his face. So much was conveyed in the way a person’s face looked as the person talked with her. Then she could judge how to best respond to what the person said. She had no such clues to go by in this situation. He had pulled away from her. He was no longer touching her. She had to rely solely on the tone in his voice, and it was becoming increasingly guarded. He was putting up defenses to protect himself.