Second Chance with the Shifter (Stonybrooke Shifters)

by Leela Ash

  Christabel stood, open mouthed as the words sank in. “What do you mean Mrs. Hudson? What about Hannah? Edward what is she saying?”

  His hand was on her arm again, but this time it was gripping her tightly. “I’m afraid Pearl is speaking the truth, my dear. We had no choice with Hannah. She knew too much you see and I’m sorry my dear, but you do, too. You already know far too much for your own good, so what are we supposed to do now? We can’t just let you wander about freely now can we, not with all of that knowledge in your head? I was hoping that we could keep you sedated; maybe transfer you to a mental institution for the rest of your life. I have the ear of a few physicians who would be open to suggestion and a few pounds. It would be only natural; a young girl losing first her dear husband and then her maid. Why it’s enough to make anyone go mad. But now I don’t think we can take the risk. I think we have to think of a more ‘permanent’ solution.”

  His words chilled her to the bone and any strength she had soon fled. As her knees buckled beneath her, Edward sat her roughly in a chair.

  “Now Pearl, what shall we do with her?”

  There was a noise from the pantry. Someone was in the small back room attached to the kitchen and all eyes watched as the pantry door slowly opened.

  Christabel almost cried with relief. Mr. Crawley stood in the open doorway; he must have received her letter after all! Somehow he had known and had been hiding all this time. He had answered her letter and come to save her.

  “Andrew!” With some difficulty she rose to her feet and ran towards him. He looked gaunt and pale and she wondered if he were quite well. It did not matter; she felt safe with him and ran to his arms.

  “Did you hear them Andrew? Did you hear what Mrs. Hudson was saying about Hannah? They killed her and would have done the same to me if you had not arrived in time? What are we going to do?”

  Running into his arms. she felt his hands roughly upon her. He too smelt of stale alcohol and his clothes looked rougher than she had remembered. Looking into his eyes she sensed that something was wrong, his gaze was cold and impenetrable and her heart beat faster, but only in fear.

  Edward smiled. “I’m afraid even Mr. Crawley can’t save you now, can you son?”

  The young man laughed as his arm twisted toward her throat. Something wasn’t right. “What’s happening Andrew, I don’t understand?”

  The strong arms pushed her back towards the chair and as she turned towards him, she could see that he was grinning, too. The face that she had thought so beautiful looked evil and menacing. He remained silent; his steely gaze upon her.

  “You see my dear –your knight in shining armor here is not all that he seems to be. You appear to have put all of your eggs into the wrong basket; so to speak.”

  She could hardly breathe. It was like a nightmare that she couldn’t wake up from and her heart pounded as she tried to think. “I…I don’t understand...” she faltered.

  “Well, I suppose we could give you an explanation. There would be no harm in it now I think.” Edward smiled as if enjoying the moment.

  “You see my dear, Mrs. Hudson and I have known each other for a long time; before you were born in fact. You could say we knew each other quite well.”

  Pearl Hudson let out a raucous peal of drunken laughter. “You could say that Edward.”

  “Pearl was a good looking woman in those days when I first laid eyes on her in a pub down in Soho. We had a bit of fun, nothing serious – it was never love with me and Pearl, but one thing led to another and she found herself pregnant. I wanted to do right by the woman, so I found her a position in my father’s house. Both Charles and I were still at home at that point. It was back then that we hatched our plan. Charles was a serious sort, a bit of a bookworm, not like me for parties and such like. We thought it might be interesting if Pearl here seduced my dear brother and convinced him that the pregnancy was all his doing. Pearl didn’t show and no one knew about our fling – that is except Arthur Critchley. We were drinking buddies in those days and one drunken night I stupidly told him all about it. At least money has silenced the idiot. I should have done away with him like that fool Charles long ago.

  “Either way, Pearl had the child and he was looked after by her sister. Charles continued to believe that the child was his and paid for the upkeep. He was due to inherit on Charles’s death, but when he reached eighteen he got involved with a rough lot and ended up in prison for theft and involvement in murder. It was only with my intervention that he did not hang and I managed to get him released after five years of imprisonment. When Charles found out, he disinherited the boy and any hope of inheritance was dashed. It was then that we got the idea to blackmail poor Charles. Having a convicted murderer and thief for a son wouldn’t have looked good for him, so we started to exhort money from the man. It worked for a while but on his release from prison, Charles refused to hand over any more money. It was then that we knew he had to die.”

  Edward stopped to draw breath, pleased with his scheme and the telling of it.

  Christabel struggled to take in all that she was hearing. Poor Charles. To have been fooled and lied to by his brother for the past twenty-five years and then killed for gain; it did not bear thinking of.

  “But Mr. Crawley was not disinherited from the will; I heard it from Mr. Lewis’s lips for myself. The whole estate has been left to him.” The words had barely left her lips when the door to the stairway burst open. Christabel looked on in alarm and almost fainted as she looked eye to eye with Mr. Andrew Crawley! He was holding a gun and pointing it at Edward.

  Surely she was dreaming, or perhaps she really was ill? Her gaze drifted from the young man that had so roughly held her, to the young man that had so recently stepped through the door. They were identical, their features exact, although there was a difference. She could see that now. Where one was cold and mean, the other was warm and kind.

  “I think we had better make the introductions. Albert Adams please let me introduce your brother, Mr. Andrew Crawley.”

  The two men looked at each other in awe as if glancing at their own reflection; both not quite believing what each other where seeing. The gun dropped from Andrew’s hand, the unexpected turn of events knocking all the former conviction from him.

  Christabel gasped. She had known immediately which one was ’her’ Mr. Crawley, she had felt it in her heart almost straight away.

  “You see. I forgot to mention that when Pearl gave birth it was to twins. Whilst her sister could cope with one boy, she didn’t want the two and so they were split at birth and have never known of each other’s existence until this moment. Andrew seemed to have all of the goodness that was in me, and Albert all of the badness. Where Albert got in with the wrong crowd, Andrew was sent away to school and did well. It’s unfortunate that no one else knows about the two. You see our little plan means that we can substitute Albert for Andrew and no one will ever know but for Pearl and myself.”

  “And what about Andrew, he is your own son?” Christabel spoke where the poor young man could not.

  “I’m afraid that he will meet the same sticky end as you, my dear. They say that blood is thicker than water, but not money I’m afraid, in my case. Besides, what would dear Anne say? She knows nothing of this. Why did you think I had to put on such an act at the solicitor’s office? I thought I was most convincing, don’t you?”

  “But I thought that you were contesting the will?”

  “Only as a red herring. I was only reacting as other people thought I might in such circumstances! Who would ever suspect me?”

  Andrew came to his senses, realizing that he had dropped his gun and that it was now lying at his feet, yet before he could react, Albert pounced forward and wrestled his brother to the ground. The two men fought for the weapon and as Edward tried to grab hold of Christabel there was a loud bang as the gun was fired and a smell of sulphur filled the air.

  The two men stopped fighting and all seemed still for a moment. Mrs. Hudson who h
ad been on the edge of a drunken sleep came suddenly to life and clutched at her bosom with the shock.

  At first Christabel feared that Andrew had been shot. Edward had just reached her and his arm was wrapped around her shoulder. Suddenly, she felt his hold slacken; a surprised glaze blinding his vision as he fell back against the table and onto the floor. Edward was dead.

  Pearl Hudson let out a scream as both men looked on in horror.

  “Why didn’t you tell me I had a brother?” The young man walked accusingly over to the housekeeper, his eyes full of hate. “Why didn’t you tell me mother?”

  Their eyes locked for a second as Pearl stepped forward towards her son. “Kill them both Albert, and then we can have the money for ourselves.”

  Albert shook his head, his face white. “Why didn’t you tell me mother?”

  His finger pulled the trigger and Mrs. Hudson staggered towards them, her red eyes bulging as a dribble of blood appeared in the corner of her mouth and she fell forward onto the floor to join Edward.

  Another noise penetrated the air. This time it was the shrill and piercing tone of a police whistle. Standing in fear, Albert stood paralyzed for a second; the gun wavering in his hands.

  Christabel edged towards Andrew as all three stood in silence.

  Footsteps clattered on the stairs as three policemen burst into the room. Stepping forward towards his brother, Andrew Crawley held out his hand for the gun. Albert reached across with his empty hand to touch his brother for a brief second before turning the gun and shooting himself dead.

  Epilogue

  The inquest was a harrowing affair for all concerned. The grim facts concerning the murder of the late Lord Charles Montgomery were soon known and subsequently plastered all over the daily headlines, but would soon be forgotten by all, except for those involved.

  It had been a ghastly affair and the subsequent murder of Hannah and the violent killings of Edward, Mrs. Hudson, and Albert were simply down to greed and one man’s hatred and jealousy for his own brother.

  Christabel looked out of the window, hardly believing the events of the last few weeks. Her sorrow for the demise of poor Charles and Hannah lay heavy on her heart. Even Albert Adams had been a pawn in the dangerous game that Edward and Pearl had been playing. She shivered to think of the cold eyes of Edward looking into hers, the same cold heart that had no room for even his own offspring; only money and riches.

  She had known that Pearl Hudson was a hard woman, but it was difficult to believe that any woman could abandon her own children for the sake of money, using them in a vicious game even against each other. In the end, it had been her undoing.

  Christabel could see now why the woman had fainted in Mr. Lewis’s office; seeing her boy for the first time in years had made even the hard-nosed Pearl weaken. Yet any feeling that remained for her sons was outshone by the promise of wealth from Edward Montgomery. Once Andrew had inherited Charles’ estate it would have been easy to kill Andrew and replace him with Albert. What Pearl and Edward hadn’t expected was the effect that the two boys meeting each other face to face would have.

  Maybe, blood was thicker than water in the end?

  There was a knock at the door and Stephens entered; his face solemn and perhaps a little wearier than before. The news of Mrs. Hudson had shaken him deeply and Christabel wondered if he had secretly carried a flame for the hard woman all these years.

  “You have a visitor madam.”

  Christabel winced at the possibility of Englebert. She had heard he had tried to see her many times while she had been kept ill by Edward. She was glad that his persistence in her had seemed to wan after he had found a new young thing to chase after. The marriage market was in full season and he was a wealthy man – though old – he would find a young miss for his bed. “Who is it Stevens?”

  “Mr. Andrew Crawley, madam.”

  Christabel smiled; at least one good thing had come of this whole affair. Smoothing down her dress, she stepped towards the door.

  Andrew Crawley rushed into the room; some of the darkness and cloud now lifted from his brow. The same feeling of longing fluttered in her chest.

  “Christabel, I have good news! Mr. Lewis has been in touch and I am due to sign the paperwork tomorrow, your home will be safe after all. You have no need to worry about the future.”

  Almost on impulse she fled towards him, expecting his arms to open wide in greeting, but she had almost forgotten that he was not like the other men she knew and he looked awkwardly at the ground and she almost thought that she saw him blush.

  She stopped in front of him, her arms quickly moving back to her side as she paused, embarrassed by her own presumptuous nature. It was not after all a ladylike way to act. “That is great news Mr. Crawley. I cannot thank you enough for your generosity.”

  Shaking his head, he smiled wryly. “Please call me Andrew. This is your house now, Lady Montgomery and I am sure you would have been the main beneficiary of your late husband’s will had he not met such an untimely end. I am merely trying to address the balance, keep an order to such things.”

  His eyes were clear and honest without a hint of malevolence or greed and her heart skipped a beat. Whereas she had been in lust with Charles, she had begun to fall in love with Mr. Crawley. Hopelessly and helplessly, and there seemed that there was nothing she could do about it. Other men seemed to throw themselves at her feet, or other parts of her anatomy, but the man she truly wanted was keeping himself at a distance. She wondered why.

  “Please call me Christabel. I feel too young to be called Lady Montgomery. Perhaps you will call again, along with Mrs. Crawley?” Christabel held her breath. She had to find out his position and asking outright seemed the only way.

  “There is no Mrs. Crawley. I am a bachelor I am afraid that up until now I haven’t had much to offer a prospective bride; perhaps that will change once I inherit Charles’ money?” His words caused a little stab of pain inside her chest. She had not thought of that. Mr. Crawley with his looks and money would be the toast of London society.

  Christabel sighed, “Yes, I’m afraid half of London’s eligible young ladies will be beating a way to your door Mr. Crawley. You will be a popular young man and will have that pleasurable dilemma of deciding which woman will grace your arm.”

  The man looked at his feet, a little uncomfortable. “I’m afraid that does not sound at all pleasurable to me. I have little experience with women in general and I am afraid that I have already lost my heart but it is a hopeless case.” His face reddened as he spoke the words and he stopped abruptly as if he had said too much.

  So he was in love with another woman; that would account for his aloofness. Christabel let her shoulders sag a little; at least she would have her own income and wouldn’t be subject to the mercy of Englebert Williams.

  “Nothing is hopeless Mr. Crawley. I think that your young lady can hardly resist an offer; especially now that you are due to inherit; go to her Andrew and be happy.”

  Stepping towards him she held out her hand in friendship. Her heart was aching, but there was little more she could do. If the man was in love, than best let him be. A true and honest man was hard to find and she envied the mysterious young lady.

  Taking her hand gently in his, he paused, looking down at the slim fingers in his own. “I don’t believe it is as easy as you say Christabel. For you see the woman I have set my heart on does not even know of my intent and it would not seem proper in the circumstances.”

  The young woman smiled at his earnest face. “Then tell her Andrew. Every woman wants to be loved and you must open up your heart, whatever the circumstances. If I were the young lady, then I would want to know.”

  “Truly?” His face almost brightened for a moment as his blue eyes looked deeply into hers.

  She smiled.

  “Then I will try to do as you suggest Lady Montgomery-Christabel. You see the lady in question is still mourning the untimely death of her husband. How do you suggest that I app
roach the subject?”

  The smile from Christabel’s lips slipped as he spoke, her eyes widening at his words. He was talking about her and she stood in shock for a few moments.

  “You see, I knew it was not appropriate. Please forgive me.” Dropping her hand, he turned quickly and headed for the door.

  “Andrew, please don’t go.” As he turned around she rushed into his arms, all protocol abandoned. He kissed her face with small, gentle kisses and she realized that she was crying. His arms wrapped strongly around her and a warmth spread across her heart.

  “Oh Christabel, I have felt this way ever since I first saw you at the church. I never dreamed that you would feel the same way.”

  He kissed her gently on the mouth and she almost swooned; her head lighter than air. So this was love; true love. Lust was one thing, but love was the thing she had been missing, and now she had finally found it.

  A knock at the door interrupted their canoodling and as Stephens entered the couple moved apart. “I just wondered if you and Mr. Crawley would like tea, My Lady.”

  Christabel could barely stifle a giggle as she nodded across to old Stephens.

  “Will that be all, madam?”

  The young girl grinned as she looked fondly on the old retainer. “I think that there will be two for dinner tonight Stephens.”

  And before he left the room, Christabel thought she saw the old man smile.

  THE END

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