Trapped in Time

by Evangeline Anderson

  “What? No!” she gasped out. “No, never! I…I’ve never been with anyone…that way.”

  “Is that right? Well good—then you’re just what I was looking for—a virgin.” He nodded thoughtfully. “Though I had no idea how I was gonna find one in this accursed part of the city.”

  “What? Why?” Caroline asked. What could he possibly want with her? She was desperately afraid she was going to find out.

  “Why, because everyone knows the only way to get rid o’ the pox is to have a virgin,” the man said matter-of-factly. “Stick your staff in poxie and draw it out clean—that’s the plain truth of it. And that’s what I meant to do with you.”

  “No! No, you can’t!” Caroline exclaimed. “Look, whoever told you that lied! Venereal diseases are transmitted by germs—tiny microscopic organisms that pass from one person to the other through intimate contact. You can’t get rid of the pox by giving it to someone else—you’ll still have it unless you take medicine to get rid of it.”

  “What, the quick-silver cure? I ain’t got the time nor money for that, lassie.” The man spat on the dirty ground in contempt. “Besides, I’ve heard it runs some of them who takes it mad. Ain’t got time for that, neither.”

  Quick silver? Does he mean mercury? Caroline wondered. Is that what they’re using to try and cure syphilis and gonorrhea or whatever it is the pox translates to?

  If so, no wonder it didn’t work and drove some people crazy. Mercury poisoning was no joke!

  “Please,” she begged. “Please, just let me go! Look—I have money!” She pulled the last four pound notes out of her purse and held them out to him with a shaking hand. “I’ll give you all of it if you’ll just leave me be!”

  The man laughed and snatched the money from her hand, while keeping the other firmly gripped around her shoulder.

  “Well now—this’ll be the first time a girlie paid me for dipping my carrot ‘stead of the other way around!” he snorted. “Thanks for the money, lassie—now be a good girl and hike up your skirts. It shouldn’t take me too long—although if you’re good and tight I might want to take my time. Gotta be sure I leave a big load in your sweet little cunnie to clean me of the pox.”

  “No…no!” Caroline protested as he pushed her up against the crumbling brick wall and shoved a knee between her legs. “Help!” she screamed, when it was clear he wasn’t going to stop. “Help me—somebody help me, please!”

  “None of that, now,” grunted her assailant. He clapped one grubby paw over her mouth and rammed his elbow against her shoulder, shoving her hard against the cold bricks so that Caroline couldn’t breathe.

  “Mmm-mmph!” she begged, shaking her head frantically and trying to talk even with his hand over her mouth. His skin smelled of sour sweat, as though he hadn’t bathed in months and his breath, when it gusted in her face, was thick with the smell of rotten teeth and whiskey.

  “Hold still now, Lassie,” he muttered to her as he lifted her skirts and crushed the whale-bone hoops against her body painfully. “You’re going to cure me, so you are. No more pox for Big Bill…”

  Caroline felt something slick and wet sliding against her thigh and fought not to gag. If she threw up now, she’d likely choke on it and die since he was blocking her mouth. But she felt as though she would rather die than endure this. She tried to close her legs—tried to kick out—but he was too big, too strong. He was going to do it. He was—

  He was being dragged backwards suddenly with a muffled shout of surprise.

  “What the fucking Hell?” he growled and turned to see whoever it was had dragged him off of his intended target. Caroline looked too and what she saw made her knees weak with relief.

  Richard was standing there in his shirtsleeves, his face as cold as a marble statue’s. But his eyes blazed with a rage so intense they had turned from pale blue to glowing red.

  “By the Goddess,” he growled, his voice low and thick with emotion, “I’ll kill you. How dare you touch my wife?”

  “Your wife?” Big Bill stared at him stupidly. “What’re you on about? This little lassie told me she was a virgin—I was going to use her to cure my pox, so I was.”

  “And did you?” Richard demanded, looking down at the stubby member still sticking out of the other man’s stained trousers. “Did you hurt her? Did you violate her, you bastard?”

  “No!” Caroline gasped shakily. “No, he didn’t. He…he was just about to but you stopped him in time.”

  “Truly?” Richard looked as though he wanted desperately to believe her but was afraid to.

  “Yeah, it’s true,” Big Bill snarled. “You stopped me before I could get what I was after. But don’t worry about that, squire—I allus get what I want.”

  He lowered his head and charged at Richard with a low roar, like an enraged bull.

  Caroline, watching with wide eyes and a pounding heart, expected the big Kindred to punch him right in the face. But Richard surprised her again. Instead of punching her huge assailant or grappling with him, he took a single step to the side and caught the man neatly around the throat. Before Big Bill could say anything, Richard made a swift, savage move and Caroline heard a muffled cracking sound.

  Big Bill’s eyes rolled up in his head and he slumped abruptly to the ground in a boneless heap. Finally, Caroline understood what had happened.

  “His neck,” she whispered, looking up at Richard. “You…you broke his neck!”

  “So I did,” he growled and dusted his hands against his trousers, as though he’d touched something filthy. “And I would have done worse if he’d managed to do what he was trying. Raping bastard.” He spat on the corpse, as though to clear a bad taste from his mouth and then turned to Caroline. “Come—we have to get out of here before more like him show up. This is a rough part of town and you don’t belong here.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Caroline was too shaken to protest or point out that she had only been following him and that was how she’d ended up in this awful part of town. Silently, she allowed Richard to lead her out of the alley. But when he led her back up the steps to Mother Griffith’s and reached for the brass knocker, she finally unfroze.

  “No!” she exclaimed, shaking his hand off her arm and facing him angrily. “No, I won’t go back inside there! Not knowing what it is and what you’ve been doing in there!”

  “Is that right?” His eyes flashed dangerously. “And what is it exactly that you think I’ve been doing?”

  “Getting spanked or hit with a riding crop, as far as I could gather,” Caroline snapped, too angry to be embarrassed. “And probably worse—doing what men usually do at whore houses.”

  “Is that what you think of me? That I would be unfaithful to you?”

  “What else am I supposed to think when I follow you and find you here and the girls inside say you come here all the time?” Caroline demanded. “What else could you possibly be doing?”

  “Not that. Never that.” The big Kindred took her by the shoulders and leaned down, getting eye-to-eye with her. “Listen to me, Caroline—I have never broken my vows to you—nor will I ever. Even as you seek to recommend yourself to that snake, Lord Harkens, I have remained faithful to you.”

  “Why?” The word slipped out before she could stop it, but it was a legitimate question. Why would he remain faithful when the other Caroline had been doing everything in her power to get away from him and find someone else?

  “Gods, I’ve asked myself that question so often! But the answer is always the same.” His face twisted. “It’s because I love you, damn it—even though I don’t want to. Even though you rip my heart out each time you throw yourself at Harkens’ head, I can’t seem to stop loving you.”

  Caroline shook her head, taken aback by his vehemence.

  “I…I don’t understand,” she whispered. “I don’t understand any of this.”

  “No, and you won’t unless you let me explain. Now listen…” Richard took a deep breath as though to calm himself.
“You’ve been attacked and I want to examine you. There’s a clean, quiet room in Mother Griffith’s where I can do that without fear that your mother or one of the maids will burst in and misconstrue everything. It will also give us time to talk.” He held her gaze, his blue eyes intense. “Will you come with me, Caroline? Will you do me the courtesy of trusting me enough to give you an explanation of my presence here tonight?”

  Caroline bit her lip. He looked so serious—so completely honest. And his words had the ring of truth. Maybe he did have a legitimate reason for being here, though what it was she couldn’t imagine.

  “All right,” she said at last. “I…I’ll come with you and listen. I guess that’s the least I can do, considering the whole Lord Harkens thing.”

  “Yes, as you say, the ‘Lord Harkens thing.’” Richard scowled and reached for the knocker again. He rapped smartly twice and when the door opened, it was Nick who stuck his head out.

  The boy had a pinched, uncertain look but when he saw Richard, he visibly relaxed.

  “Oh, Doctor Vii. I’m glad you’re back, so I am. It’s herself has been asking after you again.”

  “I’ll come and see her now. Is she resting comfortably?” Richard asked.

  “She’s a might fretful but I think seeing you again will make her easy,” Nick said. “Will you be staying the night? I’ve the spare room all made up for you with a fire and a kettle and fresh water for the bath and everything.”

  “Thank you, Nick—I may well stay. Let me see to Emmeline first,” Richard said gravely.

  The boy nodded and opened the door. He watched, wide-eyed, as Caroline trailed after Richard. There was a look on his thin face as though he wanted to ask why she was coming along but didn’t quite dare.

  Without comment to the other girls, lounging on the sofas and ottoman, Richard climbed the curving staircase near the back of the ornately decorated receiving area and Caroline followed him. They went up two flights of stairs, passing a landing with a long row of rooms with doors all painted a lurid red and a crimson carpet runner on the floor.

  The third floor also had a row of doors but these were plain, dark wood without the bright paint and the carpet was a threadbare but respectable navy blue.

  Richard went to the first door on the left

  “Come behind me but be quiet—I don’t want to disturb them,” he murmured to Caroline.

  She nodded and kept behind him as he opened the plain wooden door and looked in.

  “Well now, how are my patients doing?” Richard’s deep voice was gentle and affectionate as he spoke.

  Patients? Plural? Who is he talking about?

  All she could see was Richard’s broad back but he had one hand resting lightly on the doorframe as he leaned into the room. Ducking her head, Caroline looked under his arm to see who he was talking to.

  A young woman with long, golden brown hair was lying on a bed, holding a bundle close to her chest. Her face was white and exhausted and tendrils of her hair were plastered to her face and forehead with sweat. She looked as though she’d just gone through an intensely physical ordeal but a smile hovered around her lips anyway.

  “Oh, I’m perfectly well, thank you, Richard,” she said. “It’s this wee fellow I’m worried about. Does he look all right to you?”

  As she spoke, she held out the bundle and Caroline saw it was a newborn baby with a shock of white-blonde hair on its little head. It waved a tiny fist in the air and gave a thin wail, as though upset to be taken away from its mother’s warmth, even for a moment.

  “He’s perfectly sound, as far as I can tell.” Richard walked into the room and bent over the bed, examining the baby. Caroline stayed in the doorway, hidden behind the door and out of sight. This seemed like a private moment and she didn’t want to intrude.

  “I just want him to be well.” The girl who must be Emmeline sighed and stroked the downy head with one fingertip. “He must be, to survive life in Hastings Hall.”

  “Are you going to give him up then?” Richard asked.

  “Yes—I must. For his own good.” There were tears in the young mother’s eyes but she lifted her chin determinedly. “Mother has said she and Father will raise him as their ward and they have promised to educate him and give him everything he needs. I cannot offer him such promises—not as I live now.”

  “Emmeline…my dear cousin…” Richard’s voice was low and rough as he pressed her arm. “Pray, let me help you. You can get away from here—from this life…”

  Emmeline put a hand over his.

  “You’ve already killed the blackguard that ruined me in the first place—you got me justice when no one else would or could. I can ask you for no more than that, Richard,” she said firmly. “Besides, this life is not so bad. I have my liberty and I pocket most of what I take with only a bit for room and board given to Mother Griffith.”

  “But the way you’re making your living—” Richard began.

  “Again, it’s not so bad,” Emmeline cut him off. “I don’t actually have to…do anything with the clients here except birch them soundly. I may tell you truly, dear cousin, that though I am ruined, I am chaste. I am not required to do the things that others in my position must in order to keep body and soul together.”

  “Listen to me,” Richard said softly. “I’m glad you’ve found independence and some measure of happiness in this life, awful thought it seems to me, but I have something better to offer you. I have secured permission for you to go aboard the Mother Ship. You can start a new life there—one untainted by the past.”

  “Me? Aboard the Mother Ship?” Emmeline gave a weak laugh. “But I’m not Kindred—and I hear they have such strange practices up there. Besides, Richard, I cannot leave my baby. I must stay here and watch over him from afar. Mother has promised me I might see him sometimes, if we can find a way to meet that will not cause talk.”

  Richard squeezed her arm gently.

  “Please just think about it, cousin,” he said. “You would be welcomed aboard the Mother Ship. You would not be considered ruined there. The Kindred are not so harsh in their judgment of women as human males.”

  She shook her head.

  “Now that I truly don’t believe. How can a woman have a child out of wedlock and not be ruined? No, I don’t want to go up among strangers where I’ll just be gawked at and where I know no one at all. Thank you anyway, but I cannot take you up on your kind offer.”

  Richard sighed.

  “Do just as you please, Emmeline—you always have since the time we were children together.”

  “Indeed, I have,” she said wryly. “Sometimes greatly to my own detriment.” She sighed tiredly. “I am weary and would like to rest. But will you stay in the spare room just for tonight, in case Jamie or I need you?”

  “Is that what you’ve decided to name him? James?” Richard asked.

  She nodded. “After Grand-pa-pa. Mother will be so scandalized—to think of me giving an illegitimate child a family name!” She gave a sad little laugh. “Well, she will simply have to get over it.”

  “Indeed.” Tenderly, Richard brushed a stray strand of hair out of her eyes and then stroked the baby’s head once. “Sleep well, cousin. I shall be down the hall if you have need of me.”

  She nodded gratefully. “Thank you, Richard. For staying tonight. And for not casting me aside, even when all of society and the rest of our family did.”

  “I would never be so inconstant, I hope you know that of me,” Richard said firmly.

  “Indeed, I do.” She nodded. “No one could have been a better big brother to me than you have been, dear cousin.”

  “And no one could have been a better little sister than you.” Richard smiled. “Remember how you made me play dolls’ tea party with you when we were in our nursery years?”

  “Oh, of course I cannot forget!” Emmeline laughed softly. “How you despised it—but you played along to oblige me. But what I most remember was you teaching me to ride astride like a man so that I m
ight gallop and we could race our horses when no one was about.”

  “We did have many adventures.” Richard sighed. “I only wish I could have saved you from all this…” he waved a hand, indicating the room and everything it represented. “If only I had been there, at the picnic that day—”

  “Hush.” Emmeline shook her head. “You have nothing to reproach yourself for. Even if you had been there, he was so fast and it all…” She stopped for a moment and Caroline saw that her eyes were suddenly bright with tears. “It all happened so quickly,” she whispered in a broken voice. “Torrington was done almost before I realized what he meant to do to me.”

  “Dear cousin…” There was deep pain in Richard’s voice and he cupped her cheek tenderly. “I only wish I could kill him again,” he muttered hoarsely.

  Emmeline sniffed and swiped at her eyes with the hand not firmly holding the baby to her chest.

  “Now, now—that is enough of that,” she said briskly. “I have heard it said that women who have just had babies are prone to be weepy but I’ll not allow myself to become a watering pot.”

  “You have every right to weep,” Richard said softly. “Do not deny yourself the release of tears if you have need of them, Emmeline.”

  But she only sniffed again and offered him a smile which was a bit too bright.

  “Nonsense—what have I to weep over? This little one of mine is healthy and happy and he came into the world with remarkable speed! When I think of all the horror stories the girls told me about giving birth…” She shook her head. “No, I must not cry. I am healthy and so is my baby and my favorite cousin is here to see to us both. We are blessed.”

  “Oh, Emmeline…” Richard shook his head, apparently at a loss for words. At last he rallied. “Please, give more thought to my offer of a new life aboard the Mother Ship. Truly, you would be welcomed there. Females are cherished by the Kindred—not degraded for something which is not their fault.”

  She sighed. “I will think on it. But now I must rest. I am so tired.”