by Alexia Praks
They came toward the dark hallway. The coldness seeped into her thin clothing, and Ivy’s body shivered.
“Max...” she sobbed as darkness started to creep into her thought. “Papa...”
They thrust the rusty door opened.
“No,” she sobbed again, shaking her head. “Please, not there.”
“Yes, my dear, in there is where you will take your last breath,” Grace said, and they dragged her into the room.
“No!” Ivy gave one final cry, battling to stay awake and to stay alive.
They left her there and walked back to the door.
Ivy lifted herself up and crawled toward the door, only a few footsteps behind their feet. She neared the door when Grace kneeled down, caught the hair on her head, and tilted her face up. “Good bye, my sweet daughter.” She smiled, released Ivy’s hair, and stood up.
As she stared down at the girl crying and begging her with her eyes, Grace coldly shut the door.
Darkness gushed in. Ivy felt like she was in hell, cold and alone. There was no light, and her world was spinning about her.
“No, please, let me out. I hate this place. Please...” she sobbed, her fists weakly banging on the sealed door. She felt suffocated. There was no air to breathe. God help her, she was going to die.
“Max...” she sobbed. “Help me,” she whimpered. “Papa...” Her breathing became short and slow. “Max,” she sobbed one last time, and she knew no more.
***
Meg knew that she was in trouble as she raced up the stairs, through the long corridor, and toward the master bedroom. At the door she hesitated, took a deep breath, and finally found the courage to knock.
“Enter!”
She swallowed hard. Her body started to shake as she ever so slowly turned the door knob. She slipped in and closed the door quietly behind her. With her head bowed, she curtsied.
“What is it?”
“Your grace,” she began, her voice quivering, “’tis her grace.”
Max watched the maid, and when she didn’t answer, he commanded, “Well?”
“Err,” Meg began, “it’s her grace, your grace.”
“What is it, maid, hurry up with it,” Charles said from the other side of the room. “The duke is tired and he has no patience for this.”
“Your grace, it’s her grace. I haven’t seen her since...since early this morning,” Meg confessed, tears brewing in her eyes.
“What?”
“Your grace, it was about ten o’clock this morning, after I’ve informed her grace that Lady Westwood wanted to talk to her in her bedroom and no one had seen her since.”
“Are you saying that Lady Grace Westwood was here?” Max snapped, his eyes flared a fiery blue.
“Aye, your grace.” The maid nodded. “She was here for three days and—”
“Where is her grace?” he demanded.
Meg looked up, her face paled and there were tears in her eyes. “I, I don’t’ know, your grace. She...she disappeared.”
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” he scolded as he stalked pass her out the room.
“I’m sorry, your grace,” Meg said, running after him along the corridor.
“Stop crying, for God’s sake,” Charles snapped in irritation and rushed pass her.
“Donald, where the hell are you!” Max shouted, his loud voice echoing in the corridor. “Donald!” he shouted as he came into the drawing room. No one was there. He twisted, stalked across the hallway, and down to the below-stairs.
“Donald!” he shouted as he passed through dimmed corridors that he had never seen before. “Mrs. Price!”
“Your grace!” Donald rushed out from a room into the hallway. Mrs. Price and Lisa was behind him, they still had their bonnets and gloves on. “You’re back, I beg your--”
“Her grace is missing, gather everyone for the search,” he ordered.
Donald paled and nodded.
“Her grace is missing?” Lisa said her eyes wide. “I knew I shouldn’t go. It was her ladyship, your grace, who told us to go.”
Max turned and rushed up the stairs as the servants followed him.
“I want every room in the castle searched,” he commanded. “Donald, you inform the male servants. I want the grooms, stables men, gardeners, and gamekeeper to search outside, everywhere. Mrs. Price, you inform the female servants. I want every room in the castle searched.”
“Aye, sir” Mrs. Price said.
“There are too many places to search,” Lisa said. “It will take a long time and her grace might be...”
“Lisa, don’t you suggest such a thing. Her grace will be all right,” Mrs. Price snapped.
Max stopped at the top of the stairs. He turned to look at Lisa as though it was the very first he had seen her.
“You’re right, there are too many places to search and Ivy might...” He gritted his teeth and said curtly, “Do you think her ladyship might have anything to do with this?
The three servants looked at one another and nodded in unison.
Max narrowed his eyes.
“Oh, no!” Lisa’s gasped, her eyes wide in horror. “The punishment room. Lady Westwood used to whip her grace and then locked her up in the punishment room.”
“The punishment room?” Max frowned.
“Aye, sir, the punishment room,” Donald nodded.
“Where is it?” Max asked, looking at Lisa.
The maid shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“I know where it is, your grace,” Donald said.
“Lead us, we search there first,” Max ordered.
The butler nodded and led them to the third floor and made their way through a series of dark corridor toward the fourth floor of the castle. There was a narrow passageway. It was dark and cold. They ran toward a thick door at the end of the long hallway and stopped.
“It’s this room here,” Donald said.
“Move!” Max commanded and tried the door handle. It was locked. He banged on the door with his shoulder but it wouldn’t budge.
“There must be a key somewhere,” Lisa sobbed.
“We have to break it open,” Max said and started kicking it with his foot. He kicked the door a few more times until it started to shake.
“It’s working!” Mrs. Price said.
Max did more kicking and banging until he broke the hinge. He was sweating, and when he gave one last kick, the door crashed opened.
He rushed in. The small chamber was in total darkness.
“Ivy, are you in here?” he shouted, his eyes searching.
Lisa rushed in and stripped the thick curtains from the small, high window. Light poured into the room. Max darted his eyes around the room, and instantly, he saw Ivy’s small form lying near various decaying furniture.
“Ivy!” He rushed to her. He lifted her limp body. “Ivy!” he whispered, his voice thick with emotion. “Ivy,” he whispered again. Gently, with fear nearly suffocating him, he touched his fingers to the base of her neck. He closed his eyes.
God, please let there be a pulse.
Her skin was cold, and as his fingers touched her skin, he felt the pumping of life in her vein. He sighed with relief and touched her pale, lifeless face.
He lifted her up and carried her out the room.
“Oh, your grace...” Lisa cried.
“Get a doctor!” he ordered as he rushed pass them. He ran down the narrowed stairs and did not notice if the servants were following him or not. All he knew was that he must get her to safety.
He stalked across the corridor and into Ivy’s bedroom. He laid her gently on the bed and touched her cheek.
“Please be all right,” he said.
Mr. Tim Oliver came not long after Ivy had been carefully and gently washed and dressed by Lisa and Mrs. Price. The young surgeon examined her and treated her wounds, which was many indeed on her back. It was an hour later that he came down the stairs and met the distraught duke in the study.
“How is she?” Max aske
d, his blue eyes wild and his blonde hair in a dishevel mess.
“She’s badly hurt,” the young surgeon began, taking a pity at the distressed looking duke. He thought the man looked very tired and the line on his face was dark and prominent. “She was very lucky. You are very lucky.”
“Will she be all right?” Max asked.
“She will be all right,” Tim confirmed and squared his jaw.
Max nodded and closed his eyes as he rested his head back.
“She is very lucky,” Tim said again, his voice firm this time, “She could have lost the baby.”
Max opened his eyes, lifting his head up. “You mean...”
“What kind of a husband are you? To leave a woman in such a delicate condition to her own device?”
“I didn’t know!” Max said, weak at the thought of his wife carrying his child. “Ivy is pregnant,” he said in awe.
“You didn’t know?”
Max shook his head.
“She will be all right,” Tim confirmed. “She will need special care, however. Her condition is very delicate.”
“Yes, I know.”
They talked for a couple more minutes and then Tim left.
Max did not sleep that night. He stayed up nursing Ivy until the early dawn. After having something to eat, he was by her side again. The next night she was burning hot with fever, and Tim had to be called in. Her cries of hallucination nearly killed Max with despair. Tim told him that she needed to be bathed with cold water to bring down the fever. And so Max found himself stripping her of her nightshirt and he cooled her hot skin with a cold, damped cloth. At first he thought that she was not going to make it. When she finally did, however, he later hid in his room and wept with relief.
He was beside her bed again the next day, and now and again, he would bath her hot face with a cold, damped cloth, and now and again, she would whimper unintelligible words. She would calm down after he had soothed her with his gentle touches and words. It was not until Lisa had begged him to take some rest that he reluctantly agreed and took a good, long sleep.
CHAPTER 26
“No!” Ivy sobbed, shaking her head.
A thin, skeletal shadow loomed over her, and its claws reaching out for her.
“Go away!” she whimpered.
‘You won’t get away, Ivy!’ a voice shrieked behind her.
The strap flew high in the air and it slashed down on her--wish--whish--whish!
She screamed; her voice hollow in the dark, empty room.
“Papa!” she cried, shaking her head.
The strap rose again, and slowly, it flew down toward her--
Ivy woke up with a start. Golden light blinded her eyes. She squint her eyes in confusion as she looked about her surrounding. Her heart was pounding in her chest and her forehead was wet with perspiration. A moment later, her furious beating heart slowed down when she realized that the shadowy forms of her mother and Gale was not there. It was only a dream, she thought. They were not here in this very room to beat her.
She got out of bed. As she moved, her whole body ached. She bit her lip to suppress the pain and walked in a daze to the door, leaving Lisa forgotten and fast asleep on the sofa.
It was dark in the corridor, and she found herself loosing her bearing. Which way to go, she wondered. She spread her hands out as she stumbled along, trying to find her way.
“Papa,” she whispered, blindly walking to her left.
Papa would keep her safe, and Mama would not be able to hurt her because Papa was here.
She knew where the master bedroom was, where her papa was even in the darkness. And so she kept walking to the left. Then she felt her palms touched a door. She moved her hands down and they touched the doorknob. She felt the warmth of her papa soothing her and her panic dissipated.
She turned the door knob and opened the door. She slipped in, and immediately, she saw the golden color of the room. There was fire burning in the hearth, and there, on the large bed was her papa. He was deep in his sleep. She smiled. How she loved him. She wanted to go and lay beside him, but she didn’t want to disturb him. And so she staggered toward the glowing hearth instead.
There she sat by the fire and brought her knees up to her chin, hugging herself into a ball. She rocked herself back and forward as she hummed herself a lullaby, a lullaby that her papa had always hummed to her when she came to him after she had woken up from her nightmare, her nightmare of her mother beating her.
Hmm...hmm...hmm....
As she hummed, she closed her eyes and felt that her papa was right there beside her. She was about to nod of to sleep when she felt warm hands touching her shoulders.
Yes, Papa was here and he would protect her.
She snuggled her face against his warm chest and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Max lifted her up and carried her to his bed. He placed her in between the sheets and brought her into his arms. She snuggled against him.
“Papa,” she whispered, “keep me warm please. Don’t leave me again.” Tears started to flow down her cheeks.
Max kissed her on her forehead and wiped her tears clean with his thumb.
“I feel so alone without you. Please don’t leave. I love you. You said you love me too. Pease don’t leave me. She would hurt me. She whips me, Papa, please don’t let her. I love you forever and ever...”
“Shh...” He stroked his fingers through her long hair.
“Max, help...” she whimpered, shaking her head. “Please don’t leave me. I love you.”
“I won’t leave you.” He soothed her pale cheek. “I love you too.” He moved his hand down to her stomach. It was flat and soft. His child was in her womb--his child.
To think that he could actually loose her and his child? A bolt of anger rushed in his being.
“I’m a stupid man. I almost lost you, but I won’t let that happen again,” he said and kissed her forehead. He moved back and made himself comfortable. Then he tightened his arms around her and closed his eyes.
***
Ivy opened her eyes to see a wall of muscular, tanned chest and her face was snuggled intimately against it. She widened her eyes in horror and wondered how on earth this came to be. She looked up and saw Max watching her. She was sleeping with her husband, and she was drooling all over him. Good God, when did that happened?
Her heart skipped a beat. Was she dreaming? She stared up at him a bit longer to make sure that she wasn’t dreaming.
He looked different, too, she realized. His blue eyes, she saw, were not sharp nor were they cold as he looked down at her. The blueness was so bright that she thought she was looking up at the English sky in summer. Warmth was gleaming from within them. Suddenly, she felt as though she was finally home. She felt warm and safe. Her heart quivered with this overwhelmingly nice feeling, and she shivered in reactions.
“Are you cold?”
She shook her head and spread her small palm out on his bare chest. She could feel the heat glowing out from him to her hands and body.
He pulled her to him by nudging her lower back forward. Her body was squeezed tight between his body and his large hand. She realized that she only had her nightshirt on. She blushed and tried to pull away.
“You don’t like my warmth?” he asked.
“Nay, your grace,” she said, “it’s jut that, err...”
“I’m a stupid man, Ivy, I almost lost you.” He nudged her chin up with his thumb and finger. “You were talking last night by the way.” He smiled, his eyes twinkling.
She caught her breath. By God, but he was very handsome when he smiled. She lowered her eyes to stop herself from looking at his strikingly gorgeous face.
“I didn’t know that I was talking.”
“You were hallucinating, I believe, going on about such nonsense as—” He looked deep into her eyes, and she found it quite hard to break free. She held her breath, dreading what he was going to say next.
“I love you,” he said, his fingers stroking he
r cheek. “Now, wife, does what you said last night in your delirious state holds true?”
“You grace, please, I do not want to talk about it.”
“You said that you love me.” He watched her clamped her lips together with concern and she seemed so damn vulnerable, he thought.
“Is that what I said last night?”
“Just tell me.”
“Your grace, you are teasing me, please stop. It does pain me so because I am embarrass.” And her cheek turned crimson in unison with her words.
Max didn’t mind that he made her blush, for she looked bright and enchanting in the process. “Forgive me, my sweet, I do not mean to hurt you in anyway. I merely wanted to verify that what you said last night is true.”
She looked at him and said, “I can’t help myself, your grace, it hurt me because I couldn’t stop myself from falling in love with you. I hate you, you see, at the way you treated me. I hate you so but somehow I did not know that I was falling in love with you. I should really despise you with all my being but that is not my nature.” She moved her hand to touch his prominent jaw and stroked his cheekbone. “I love you,” she said, her voice quivering with emotion.
“That is all I need to hear,” he said and kissed her forehead, and without lifting his head, he moved down and kissed her nose. He lifted his head back and looked at her. Her eyes were bright with marvel. Then he kissed her lips.
His kiss was warm and gentle, and as he moved his lips down her throat to her breasts, she felt as though she was in heaven. The beautiful warm sensation was so homey that she thought she would surrender anything for this feeling.
Max kissed her everywhere, from her forehead to her tiny toe. Her skin was petal white and silky smooth. When he turned her around so that he could kiss her back, he winced inside at the red lines crisscrossing her small, slender back. He moved her long, raven tresses and rested them over her shoulder. Then he kissed every single one of her wound on her back, very gently.
He made love to her slowly and tenderly. When he finally came to her, it was one long, explosive sensation that he had never experienced before. He felt as though he had finally found the reason to live, the reason for him to breathe, and the very reason for him to exist. He admitted that until that very moment, he had never actually lived his life. She was his other half now, and for that reason alone, he would not allow anything to happen to her ever again.