A Strange Affair

by Rosemary Smith

  ‘And where is your husband?’ she asked almost civilly, but I detected the hint of sarcasm in her petulant voice.

  ‘I have no idea,’ I answered, wishing that I had so that I could surprise her with my answer.

  ‘He could be anywhere on the estate,’ offered Derrick smiling at me. It’s a sad business about Annabel,’ he observed, not looking at me as he spoke, but down at his plate.

  ‘Yes it is,’ I said quietly, ‘but it was to be expected.’

  ‘What would you know about what is to be expected in this household?’

  Kerensa turned on me. ‘You are an intruder just as Annabel was.’ At her words I noticed that today, Derrick did not jump to my defence.

  ‘I am not an intruder and nor was poor Annabel,’ I retorted, ‘I am Kieran’s wife whether you like it or not.’

  ‘But Kieran loves me,’ she simpered.

  ‘To be honest Kerensa, I don’t think that Kieran has ever loved anyone,’ and as I made my way back to my room after this unfortunate encounter I realised that I was probably right. My husband had never loved and found it difficult to do so. Yes, I thought, I am right and I fervently hoped that my husband was starting to fall in love with me.

  Mrs Burnet was waiting for me as promised and she led me through a couple of unfamiliar corridors until we stopped outside an oak door in what was obviously a neglected part of the castle.

  As we entered the room both the housekeeper and I stood on the threshold and looked at each other with amazement.

  The pretty room was for all intents and purposes still occupied, a fire even burned in a small white marble fireplace. We both stepped farther into the room.

  ‘Well!’ exclaimed Mrs Burnet. ‘This I cannot explain, for believe me when I say that I knew nothing about it, and I’m certain that the servant girls don’t either. It’s a real mystery to be sure.’

  The room was cosy and warm with peach-coloured finishings. There was no four-poster bed here, but a charming brass bed head and bed end with a colourful hand-stitched quilt which covered what appeared to be a feather mattress, a snowy white bolster peeping out from beneath.

  A beautiful porcelain clock decorated with peach roses stood on the mantel and showed the time as 10.30 which was correct I thought as I looked at the fob watch pinned to my dress. A scent of roses hung in the air and going over to the dressing table I picked up a crystal glass perfume bottle which did indeed contain the perfume, someone had obviously sprayed it recently. Under the window was a towel rail on which were folded towels of peach and white.

  ‘They are from the laundry room and still smell fresh,’ Mrs Burnet exclaimed picking one up and placing it under her nose. ‘I cannot explain this, it is almost as if someone was living here. Wait ‘til I tell my David.’

  ‘No, Mrs Burnet,’ I cautioned her. ‘Please tell no-one, not even your husband.’

  ‘Very well, mistress,’ she agreed, ‘but how are we to solve the mystery? And you heard sobbing you say?’

  ‘Yes I did and it will be interesting to see if it happens again tonight,’ I said going over to the window. Although we had come down different corridors to this room, the view was the same as mine, only nearer to the rose garden. If this were the first Annabel’s room then I had the distinct feeling she loved roses.

  I was loathe to leave this room for the atmosphere was calm and serene but I knew that I must in case the occupant returned unexpectedly, if indeed there was an occupant or was someone keeping Annabel’s memory alive.

  That night as I lay in bed mulling over this mystery the sobbing started once more, I looked at the small clock on the table by my bed and I could see it was the hour of midnight.

  Putting on my robe I quietly opened my bedroom door and looked down the corridor, I could see there was no one about, and no sign of life at all so I made my way to Annabel’s room, praying I was going in the right direction as one corridor looked very much like another with the carpeting underfoot the same.

  Just as I was nearing the neglected corridor Derrick stepped out of a room and it was impossible for me to hide, in any case he had already seen me, he looked somewhat shocked to see me but smiled nonetheless coming towards me.

  ‘Well, well Barbara,’ he exclaimed, ‘I had not expected you to be wandering around the castle at this time of night in your night attire and with bare feet,’ he said looking down at my feet which were indeed bare, causing me to blush and not knowing what reason I was going to give for me wandering the castle after midnight.

  ‘I appear to have lost my way,’ I said quickly.

  ‘Then it is fortunate I was stepping out of my room,’ Derrick said. ‘I will escort you back.’ At these words I said a silent oath for now I would not be able to ascertain if the sobbing were indeed coming from Annabel’s lovely room. As Derrick escorted me back the way I had come, his hand on my elbow, I prayed we would not meet a soul for it would appear to anyone that I was in a compromising position with my husband’s brother. Thankfully we met no-one and as I stood with Derrick outside my bedroom door bidding him goodnight he took me in his arms.

  ‘What are you doing?’ I exclaimed.

  ‘I have really taken to you Barbara, and just wish to hold you. If your marriage to Kieran proves to be unlawful then please marry me. I promise I will treat you with the respect you deserve, unlike the way my brother treats you.’

  I was shocked at his words for I had not seen it coming, except that the day I had visited the falls with Kieran I had thought Derrick to be jealous and it would now appear my instinct was right. Just as Derrick bent towards me to kiss me I managed to wriggle free.

  ‘How dare you, Sir! We will speak no more of this,’ I told him angrily, ‘I bid you goodnight.’

  ‘You will see that I am better for you than my brother ever will be,’ were his words as I closed the door on him wishing I could lock it. I leant against the door for some time hoping that he wouldn’t trouble me again and after a short while I heard his footsteps walking down the corridor.

  I breathed a sigh of relief and got back into bed, but my sleep that night was a restless one and I wondered if Derrick’s proposal had been genuine, but I assured myself that I would not put myself in that situation again with my husband’s brother no matter what a charming person he was.

  A week passed after the incident, I saw Derrick several times when he was his usual self and I began to imagine that the unfortunate incident had been a figment of my imagination. Kieran was charming and kept his distance from Kerensa much to her chagrin, but I saw little of my husband and we were no nearer to finding out if our marriage were indeed legal but that was all to change very soon, the sobbing had ceased also for a week.

  It was today that Justine and I were to travel back to Mrs Harding. the dressmaker, We decided to take the carriage as although nearing the end of February the cloudy skies were laden with rain, but thankfully the snow had not returned to keep us indoors.

  I was very excited about our outing and anxious to see what Mrs Harding had done with the materials I’d chosen.

  ‘Come in,’ she said as she met us at the door. She took us to a large room at the back of the house where there were three tailors’ dummies. On one hung my beautiful ball gown.

  ‘How enchanting!’ I enthused, going over to it and running the pale turquoise silk through my fingers. I’d never seen a dress as exquisite as this let alone having one belong to me. ‘Can I try it on first?’ I asked like an anxious child wishing to play with a new toy.

  ‘Let us see the other gowns first,’ suggested Justine. ‘It is far better to save the best until last.’

  ‘I’ve made you four day dresses and two evening gowns,’ Mrs Harding told me. ‘I’ll just get my seamstress, Polly, to help me bring them in.’

  While Mrs Harding was gone I went back over once more to the gown, marvelling at how the three roses at the neckline looked so real.

  ‘You are really taken with that gown, aren’t you,’ said Justine indulgently just a
s Mrs Harding returned with Polly and a couple of my dresses. Trying them on I marvelled that the dressmaker had got everything right from the size to the length. I looked at my reflection in the mirror at the lilac dress I was wearing, the neckline and wrists edged with cream lace and just as I had felt wearing the wine-coloured velvet I could hardly believe it was me.

  It was the same with the other gowns in pinks and blues, I was overwhelmed by it all and by the time I tried my ballgown on I was almost in tears, realising my good fortune and I knew that I had Kieran to thank for marrying me a few weeks ago. How I prayed that things would work out between us for we had certainly reached a tacit understanding during the past week.

  Polly and Mrs Harding slipped the ball gown over my head and it fell into place with little arranging, the turquoise silk shimmered in the daylight and I bent down to pick up the hem allowing me to admire the small turquoise flowers which had been stitched perfectly to it.

  ‘You look beautiful, Barbara, my brother will not be able to resist you when he sees you, and I suggest a long pair of white gloves will finish the effect admirably. Don’t you agree, Mrs Harding?’ She looked to the dressmaker for advice.

  ‘I agree totally,’ she said.

  ‘Would you like to wear one of your new gowns for our return to the castle?’ Justine asked.

  ‘Could I?’ I asked, not having thought it.

  ‘Of course you can,’ laughed Justine.

  Reluctantly I let them remove the ball gown, the soft silk feeling luxurious on my skin. I selected a cornflower blue gown to wear back to the castle, it had a high necked pointed bodice with full skirts and lace of perfect blue stitched at the neckline.

  As we left Mrs Harding’s I felt a different woman, my experiences since I had arrived at Rowan Castle had transformed me from a quiet, shy, retiring young woman into a self-assured one.

  ‘Mistress!’ exclaimed Megan as I stepped into my room. ‘You look right beautiful and the colour suits you perfectly.’

  ‘Thank you,’ I replied enjoying the compliment. Megan was replenishing the fire and as she got to her feet she asked where the other gowns were. ‘They are following later,’ I told her.

  ‘I can’t wait to see them, truly I can’t,’ she said excitedly. ‘The master was looking for you earlier,’ she then told me. ‘I told him you’d be back mid-afternoon. I hope I did the right thing.’

  ‘Absolutely the right thing,’ I assured her. When she left I sat on the armchair by the fire arranging my lovely skirts around me and musing over what Kieran wanted to seek me out for and I was soon to find out for no sooner had I thought it than he knocked on the door and entered quietly. For some time he stood there looking at me before he spoke.

  ‘You look charming, Barbara,’ he said at last. ‘I hope that you will wear it often.’

  ‘If it pleases you, Sir I shall,’ I told him, hot colour suddenly suffusing my cheeks.

  ‘I would be most pleased if you would after all these weeks call me by my Christian name again,’ he said thoughtfully.

  ‘Kieran,’ I said out loud, letting the name fall from my lips like a caress.

  ‘It is so easy, isn’t it?’ he said laughing and I realised that he was right, I had used his name before, but not since our arrival at the castle. This surely was a step forward.

  ‘Are you comfortable in here, Barbara?’ he enquired, his eyes dancing around the room, his gaze resting momentarily on the bed.

  ‘I am very comfortable,’ I assured him.

  ‘There was no need for you to vacate the marital bedroom,’ he said and without preamble pulled a high-backed chair opposite me by the fire.

  ‘I’m sorry to say that there was, and it was on that condition that I didn’t leave Rowan the day poor Annabel was found. Did you love her? Annabel I mean.’

  ‘I realise now that I never did,’ he told me honestly, so my assumption had been right.

  ‘And what of Kerensa?’ I had to ask and he paused for some seconds before answering.

  ‘I have no love for Kerensa either,’ his words astonished me after the moments I had seen them together in the past weeks.

  ‘What do you feel for her?’ I asked quietly.

  ‘Compassion,’ was his simple answer. ‘And why is that?’ I asked him gently. ‘Because she loves me and I cannot return it. She is but a child still and vents her feelings on both me and Derrick. I play games with her to keep her amused and sane,’ he told me.

  ‘Are you saying she loves Derrick also?’ I asked softly.

  ‘Yes indeed she does, but my brother will not indulge in her games, he is too serious about everything,’ he answered.

  ‘And here was me thinking that Derrick was the humorous one and you the serious one,’ I said laughing.

  ‘Beware Barbara, for first impressions can often be deceiving and lead you into danger. Beware of my brother for he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.’ Kieran was serious as he spoke and I thought back to the incident in the corridor a few days ago, but I would not tell my husband for fear of causing trouble.

  ‘I will heed your warning, husband,’ I said, praying all the while that he was indeed my legal spouse.

  ‘Do you like it here at Rowan Castle?’ he asked unexpectedly.

  ‘I love it and can’t wait for the spring to arrive so we can go walking in the gardens,’ I began, secretly wondering at the same time if this would ever be possible.

  ‘Your dream sounds idyllic. I must apologise for the way I have treated you since our marriage, I am very unhappy about the way Annabel ended her life, but let us talk no more of it for now at least. I sought you out to tell you something.’ Here he paused and lent forward in the chair, his hands hanging loosely between his knees and his head bowed, then he lifted his head and looked me in the eye before continuing. ‘The hearing regarding our marriage is to be held tomorrow. We are both to attend.’

  ‘And what time is this?’ I asked him and I realised that the time of reckoning was nigh.

  ‘Not until two pm. I apologise that you are to be put through this ordeal, but due to my own stupidity I have brought this situation about for which I apologise profusely.’

  ‘I accept your apology, Kieran. We shall face it together,’ I assured him, for I could see he was repentant. As Kieran left me he looked back as he stood by the open door and said, ‘I shall pray tonight for our future, little one.’

  As I lay in bed that night the sobbing started again, but to solve that mystery I would have to wait until after tomorrow and I too silently prayed that all would be well for my husband and I; for I realised even more how much I loved and adored him, and I knew in my heart nothing would change it.

  7

  After breakfast the next morning there was great excitement when my gowns arrived from the dressmakers. Megan was waiting for me when I came out of the dining-room.

  ‘Your dresses have arrived, mistress,’ she told me and I walked up the staircase with her as anxious as she to see them. When we entered my room I could see they had been laid across my bed in a profusion of colour, walking across I looked at them hardly believing they now belonged to me.

  ‘We had best hang them in the wardrobe, Megan,’ I told her my voice aquiver.

  ‘Aren’t you going to try one on, mistress?’ Megan said with disappointment in her voice.

  ‘Of course I will,’ I agreed, picking up the beautiful turquoise silk ballgown.

  ‘Let us hang this first for it is special,’ I said, all the while wondering if I would ever have cause to wear it, which brought to mind the hearing this very day. Megan and I were laughing while I stood in a pale lemon gown with a high neck and long sleeves, the lace of which fell over the back of my hand.

  ‘You look lovely, mistress,’ said Megan walking around me admiring the fullness of the skirts.

  ‘I agree,’ said Kieran’s voice from the doorway. Megan and I had been so distracted by the beautiful gowns that we had not heard the door open.

  ‘I’ll leave you, mistre
ss,’ said Megan as she looked at the master, so saying she gave a brief curtsey to Kieran and scuttled from the room closing the door behind her.

  Kieran stepped farther towards me, surveying me as he did so, ‘I’ve come to ask if you’ll walk with me around the outside of the castle,’ he began, ‘for it is a pleasant enough day for late February.’

  ‘I would like that very much, but I shall need to change my gown,’ I told him.

  ‘No, please stay as you are for you look exquisite.’ And I realised that my hair was escaping its pins, so swiftly I went over to the dressing table and rearranged it as best I could with trembling hands. This was indeed a surprise and a very pleasant one that Kieran should seek me out.

  ‘I’ll need my shawl,’ I told him, searching through the chest of drawers. I found it easy enough as there was very little in there. ‘I am ready.’ I told him and so it was that Kieran and I walked down the main staircase of Rowan Castle together for the first time. I felt proud and elated as Mrs Burnet crossed the hall.

  ‘Good morning, master, good morning, mistress,’ she greeted us as she went about her business and then Kerensa crossed the hall in front of us dressed in a lovely beige-coloured riding outfit.

  ‘And where are you two going together?’ she asked rudely.

  ‘It is hardly your business, young woman,’ said Kieran light-heartedly, ‘but we are going for a walk.’

  ‘You’d be more suited to come riding with me. I intend to ride out to the beach at Abermenai Point with Derrick, I can’t imagine what has happened to you, unless you are in love?’ As she spoke she threw me an indignant glance.

  ‘Play your games somewhere else, Kerensa,’ Kieran said dismissing the fact she was there completely and taking hold of my arm in his.

  ‘How could you dismiss me so easily after all the years I have loved you?’ she wailed. ‘You have no idea how much I care for you, she’ll never love you like I do.’