The Letter

by Rebecca Bernadette Mance

  “You must get rid of her, you simply must!” Eunice said in a shrill voice. “She is carrying a baby out of wedlock ... she will cause a scandal if she stays here!”

  “She is carrying my children, Mother. I don’t give a damn about a scandal!”

  “Children? You mean there is more than one?”

  “Twins, Mother.” Pride dominated his voice.

  “And you’re happy about it,” his mother frowned in distaste. “She is nothing but a low born . . .”

  “Mother, you will never say another unkind word about Victoria or my children. She will be my wife, if she is foolish enough to have me.” He looked tenderly at Victoria.

  “Have you gone completely mad?” Eunice turned away and paced the room, her taffeta dress crinkling in agitation as she walked.

  “Have you forgotten your duty? You don’t have to marry her because of the babies. Plenty of men of our class have a child or two that they support outside the marriage.”

  William looked up, his gray eyes fixing his mother in place.

  “No child of mine will be born without a name,” he stated flatly. “But that isn’t the most important reason I am going to marry her. I love her, I always have. I would marry her no matter whom or what she was.” His gaze shifted lovingly over Victoria.

  “So if you are finished, I would appreciate it if you would leave. She needs rest, and I hardly think all of your shrieking is good for her.” There was finality in his tone that Eunice knew she could not overcome.

  “Please reconsider, what about Faith? I had so hoped . . .”

  “Leave,” William said then, his voice firm.

  Stomping her foot, Eunice gave the girl on the bed one last glare and turned and huffed her way out of the room.

  She would get over it. She always did, William thought. And if she didn’t, too bad.

  The doctor, who had discreetly disappeared when his mother had arrived, quietly re-entered the room again.

  And the vigil continued.

  Early into the next morning, Victoria went into labor.

  Where she had lain so quietly and peacefully, suddenly she was crying out and thrashing in pain. William thought he would go mad with worry.

  None of his soothing words and gentle hands seemed to help.

  In his life he had never considered what giving birth must be like. His life never had room for such thoughts until now.

  Suddenly the idea of two beings making their way into the world through such a narrow passage seemed a too perfectly impossible and a horribly painful prospect to consider. He would most certainly have more patience with his own mother after living this experience.

  Every scream, every whimper, every contraction ripped through him.

  There was so much blood. She was going to die, he just knew it.

  Oh God, he had done this to her. In his selfish desire to keep her. If she lived he would never touch her again. Never.

  With a cool, wet cloth, he gently washed her face. She was oblivious to what was going on. His soothing words were lost on her as she tossed her head back in forth in throes of pain.

  The day wore on, and William left only long enough to have his lawyer draw up a special marriage license. When the man returned with the paperwork, he had coaxed Victoria into signing a rather shaky signature on the appropriate line. He should have felt a little guilty about taking advantage of her weakened state, but his desire to have her as his wife far outweighed any remorse he felt. She was far better off as his wife, as were the children better off with a father and a name.

  Finally, after eleven hours of long labor, two perfect, little, red infants were born. Despite the long labor, a boy and a girl with fussy light-brown hair on soft little heads came out kicking and screaming into the world, leaving no doubt that at least their lungs were in perfect shape.

  “God, they are so perfect, so little, so beautiful,” William whispered as two maids carried the babies to him. William’s hands shook as he first took the little girl, then a few minutes later, the little boy.

  Utter joy bloomed in his heart. He was the luckiest man alive.

  The doctor had long since turned back to take care of Victoria, and William handed the boy back to the maid and returned to Victoria’s side.

  “Is she going to be alright?” William looked her pale, silent face, fear clawing his gut.

  “A little rest, a little food, and I think she will make it. She is a strong one. You’re lucky,” the doctor replied as he pulled the blanket over Victoria and stood up.

  “There is so much blood . . .” William said, his eyes scanning the doctor and the sheets. How could she live after losing so much blood? The maids were already busy preparing hot water to clean Victoria and change the bed.

  “Well, it is the way things are, and we must be very careful for the next twenty-four hours to be sure she doesn’t come down with an infection.”

  “And the babies?” William asked.

  “The babies are as healthy as you could ask for, but you will have to find someone who can feed them until your wife is recovered.”

  “Why don’t you leave, sir, and let us get her cleaned up,” one of the maids suggested to William, her eyes twinkling with joy.

  He didn’t want to leave Victoria and the babies. He could not shake the fear that if he left her she would need him. “Go on, we’ll call you if she wakes,” the maid assured.

  Schooling his emotions, William determined that his presence would only make the work more difficult. Victoria needed to be cleaned up, and he wasn’t much use anyway, so he followed the doctor to the door.

  When the doctor was gone, William took a bath himself and dressed in fresh clothes. Filled with elation, he hurried back to see Victoria and the twins.

  Victoria was barely awake when he returned.

  “Victoria?” Silently, he moved to the bed, his voice low and gentle.

  “Hello, William.” Her glassy eyes were half closed in her pale face. She was fragile lying between the clean white sheets that had been put on the bed by the half dozen maids it had taken to move Victoria gently around.

  “I have been so worried about you, darling.” He sat down on the chair pulled close to the bed and took her hand.

  “The maid says the babies are fine. I can see them, but I wish I could hold them,” she whispered. “I didn’t know there were two.” A small, weak smile touched her lips.

  William hated himself then…hated himself for all that he had done to her. He had caused her to run from town to town those long months in this condition. How she had survived? How had the babies survived? He knew it was a miracle and he would spend the rest of his life trying to make it up to her.

  “Yes, there were two, and they are both beautiful and healthy. And that is what I want you to be. The doctor says you need rest,” William told her, smiling. “I will be here to take care of all of you.”

  “Please William, I want to hold them,” she insisted.

  “Okay, darling, of course. Let me get them for you and I will help you hold them.” The maids were on the other side of the room where two little basinets had been placed. Carter had somehow procured the little beds during Victoria’s time in labor.

  Having overheard the conversation, each maid picked up a child and brought them over to the bed.

  “I’ll help her,” William said, smiling as each child was placed in Victoria’s arms.

  Their eyes slitted open then closed again in contentment.

  “They are so beautiful,” she whispered, looking down at them. Then she fell silent watching them for several moments.

  William was so filled with joy in that moment that tears formed in his eyes. Emotions unlike any he had ever felt surged through him. He had to be the luckiest man alive.

  Soon Victoria’s eyes began to close again. Gently, he took each child and handed it back to a waiting maid.

  “Go rest, sir, we will watch her,” one of the maids whispered to him.

  William didn’t want to
leave, but he wanted to be rested when she woke next.

  “Call me immediately if anything happens.” William stood, leaned over and gently kissed her cheek before leaving the room.

  He would take a short rest and come right back to sit with her. He would not rest until she was well again.

  Then, they would talk. He would find a way to make up for his mistakes of the past and make her love him and never leave him again.

  The question was, would she ever forgive him.

  CHAPTER 28

  “Where is my granddaughter?” Walter Harrington’s voice boomed through the house.

  He should have known that the rumors of polite society about his new wife would quickly leave San Francisco and whisk through the countryside to New York like a brush fire on the prairie on a hot summer day. Within weeks of his marriage to Victoria, her family arrived.

  The first thing William had done when he got home that evening was gone up to see Victoria and the twins. She had actually smiled at him this evening. It was enough to make the world seem a wonderful place.

  He had begun to believe he would never get through to her. Once he told her about the special license and their marriage, she had immediately withdrawn from him. Still, he went to see her every day, and he made some progress with her every day. They had their love of the twins in common and it was a place to start.

  Less than an hour later, as he enjoyed his favorite scotch in his library; celebrating his small victory with Victoria and devising ways to break through the wall that she so skillfully kept around herself, when the entourage that was Victoria’s family burst in on him.

  He knew through his futile search for Victoria that upon hearing of his daughter’s and son-in-law’s death, Patricia’s parents, the Harringtons, had gone to Fort Worth to find their granddaughters and had removed Mandy and Johnny to New York. Upon getting an angry telex from Mr. Harrington, William had gone to New York and explained the situation. He was supposed to contact Harrington when he found Victoria.

  But he hadn’t done that. And he had been waiting for the right moment to tell Victoria about Mandy and her grandparents from New York, but the right moment just never seemed to arrive.

  Victoria with reinforcements and sympathetic relatives ready to seize her away was the last thing he needed right now. William stood up and left the library rehearsing his negotiations and arguments.

  Meeting the family group as they came into the main hall, William sought to minimize the impending shock to Victoria.

  Seeing William, the group at large, which consisted of Walter and Helen Harrington, Mandy and Johnny Gray, moved toward him. Their faces were a mixture of expressions ranging from an angry Walter Harrington, to a worried Mandy.

  “Worthington, where is my granddaughter? This dolt at the door wouldn’t answer me,” Walter Harrington said, indicating Carter.

  Carter’s eyebrow shot up at the comment, but he said nothing. Then everyone started talking at once in a vocal melee.

  “Calm down…all of you. I would like for us to speak privately before unleashing all this turmoil on Victoria,” William said smoothly.

  “Is she in that poor of health?” Mandy worried as William led them all to the parlor. Carter efficiently alerted a maid to bring coffee, tea and refreshments.

  As they filed into the parlor, William turned to Mandy and smiled.

  “No, don’t worry, her health is much better now, but it has taken her some time to recover. Still, I try to keep her from getting too excited. She gave us a scare.”

  “What the hell is wrong with her?” Walter spoke up, abandoning small talk. “Now, I want a straight answer, Worthington. I want to know what has happened. My granddaughter was running from you…you told us if she returned here you would contact us…yet she returned and now she is married. I have a feeling that she was coerced! If this has something to do with those damn shares again, I will have your head!” Harrington warned ominously.

  “I understand your concerns and worries, but please calm yourselves and be civilized. Let me explain everything to all of you — Harrington, you will just have to hear the story again…only this time…all of it.” His voice smooth and even, William swept his arm in a motion indicating everyone to sit.

  Having heard all the commotion, Victoria came down the steps on bare feet and still in her nightgown to investigate. She hesitated and stood silently outside the door trying to decide if she would enter. She heard Mandy’s voice and Johnny’s voice, and voices of other strangers.

  What was going on? Heart hammering, she resisted the overwhelming urge to fling herself through the door to her beloved sister and Johnny because she wanted to hear what William would say about what he had done.

  “It is true,” she heard William began. “I did invite Victoria to San Francisco to attempt to get the shares back. Someone had written me a letter. I knew that letter didn’t come from Charles Riley. I figured it was from one of his daughters. I invited the impostor here figuring that whoever it was may or may not know of the shares. My goal was to get the shares back. My father, I felt, had no right to leave those shares to Patricia, or her family. The shares had a time limit, if no one claimed them, they returned back to the family. When the letter came in I knew the critical date of the family reacquiring the shares was close. I decided to invite the imposter here and get the bottom of the whole thing.”

  There was a long silence. Victoria heard William walk across the wooden floor to the window. When he spoke next, he was turned away from his audience and the door.

  “Then, I saw her.” His voice dropped to a barely audible whisper. “I saw her.”

  There was a long pause.

  “And you decided to take her.” Victoria heard a man’s disapproving voice cut into the silence. “We’ve been through that part.”

  “I wanted her more than I ever wanted any woman. She was beautiful, innocent . . . so different from anyone I had ever known. Like a bright, burning flame.”

  “You could have done the decent thing then,” Victoria heard the unknown man say.

  “I couldn’t, and you damned well know it.”

  “She was a Harrington.”

  “No she wasn’t and at the time it seemed so important to get the shares back.”

  “She is a Harrington, nothing wrong with those blood lines.”

  “Don’t put that to me old man you know better, we both know better. At the time I wouldn’t consider her to be my wife. I was a fool for my arrogance. My only excuse is that it was the way I was raised to think, it was part of me, and I had never considered any other possibilities.”

  “You should have given her the money or the shares and let her go.”

  “Yes. I should have, but nothing was going to make me put her back on that train. I would have paid her ten times what those shares were worth. I wanted the shares, and I wanted her. If I gave her what she wanted I knew she would leave. And I would never see her again. I could not let her go.”

  Mandy gasped in shock. Then there was a long silence of contemplation before William continued.

  “Some time during all of this, I realized I loved her. The night she left I came to tell her I couldn’t marry Faith. But it was too late. When she came back she was very pregnant and very ill.”

  Victoria peeked into the cracked doorway.

  “Pregnant! Oh my gracious, my poor, dear Victoria,” Mandy cried in anguish.

  “You bastard.” Johnny glared at him viciously his meaty fists balled up at his sides as he prepared to give William the beating he thought he deserved.

  The elder couple gasped and everyone suddenly began speaking at the same time.

  “Calm down all of you, and let me finish!” William commanded harshly.

  “Why did she come back?” Mandy asked among the chattering voices bringing immediate silence to the room.

  “I don’t know why she came back, except that she probably had no choice considering her condition and lack of funds. When she arrived she seemed a
s if she wanted to come back, that she wanted to see me. Once she had recovered somewhat from the birth of the twins, she quickly became bitter. I realized that she came back for the same reasons she came to begin with, I had given her no choice. She had no money and nowhere else to go. When I told her I had gotten a license and married her she almost completely withdrew from me.”

  “Victoria? Married to you?” Mandy was outraged. “After everything you did?”

  “Well, that is the first decent thing you have done in all of this,” the older man said gruffly.

  “Unfortunately, she doesn’t see it that way,” William replied in a harsh voice.

  Victoria couldn’t listen anymore. She quietly crept away from the door and back to her bedroom. She was feeling weak again from the emotions that cascaded through her.

  Did William really love her?

  He had said he did. He had told her that for days, but she had not believed him.

  Back in her room and lying in her bed again, Victoria waited. She knew it was only a matter of time before everyone descended on her.

  Who was that man talking to William? And why was he so interested in her?

  A few moments later, her door burst open and Mandy, followed by Johnny and an elderly couple burst into her room.

  “Oh Victoria!” Mandy flew to the bed and grasped her. Both of them sobbed with joy and relief.

  After an extended, emotional embrace peppered with murmured words of scolding and relief, Mandy let go of Victoria and turned to the elderly couple who were smiling fondly at the sisters. “These are our grandparents — Ma’s parents from New York.”

  The older handsome gentleman with a full head of snowy-white hair and an imposing presence smiled at her warmly. The graceful woman with silver, gold hair pulled back in a lose bun and eyes that bore a startling resemblance to Mandy’s eyes smiled with equal warmth as she moved forward.

  They both looked at her with such love, that Victoria immediately opened her arms to accept a simultaneous embrace. When they parted, everyone had tears shining in their eyes.

  Victoria immediately liked both of her new-found grandparents. It was obvious that they were terribly happy to see her. Whatever the reason for their absence in their mother, her and Mandy’s life, it was not for lack of love or concern.