Lords of Honor (80 page)

Owen smiled
.
He w
inked at Libby
.
He introduced Grace as simply Alice’s mother to avoid any embarrassment
for any of them
.

“Welcome to Wychcombe House, my Lady
.
There is a nursery on the third floor
.
It is only used
these days
when my great-grandchildren are here for Christmas
.
I’ll have it tidied so little Lady Alice can have a place to romp and play indoors
.
When the room is ready, I’ll have
Fiske
find you.”

“Thank you, my Lord
.”
Grace said with a
gracious
smile.

“I must excuse myself, my Lord
.
I am expected to join the others
.
I will leave my daughter and her mother in your care
, sir
.”
Owen
kissed Alice on the cheek, before handing her over
to Grace.

“Very
well
.
I
shall
take good care of them
, Fitzlewis
.”

Lord Chilcompton
focused his attention on
little Alice
.
“Now then
,
Lady Alice, w
ould you like to come
and
sit in the chair with me
?
I’ll have
Fiske
fetch some sweets for you, and we can have a little chat
,
you and I.”

Alice smiled and no
dded
.
Grace put her down
.
Alice followed the elderly gentleman
.
She waited patiently for him to sit in his chair
.
His hands shook as he held them out to her.

Libby moved to pick up Alice for him.

“Elizabeth, I can still lift a child
.
I’m not
quite
an invalid yet.”

“Yes,
of course,
grandfather
.”
Libby smiled
.
She watched Grandfather lift Lady Alice to his knee.

“Lady Alice, with your mother’s permission, you may call me Grandfather Micajah
.
You are the niece of my new gr
and
daughter and grandson
after all.”

“Of course, my Lord
.”
Grace smiled.

“Grandfather Mick-aj-aja?” Alice
attempted
to say his name.

“Very well, Alice,
” he said with a chuckle,
“
I think we must make it Grandfather Mike.”

“Grandfather Mike.” Alice repeated.

“Very good, Alice
.
My you’re a smart little thing, aren’t you…”

Moments later,
Lady Alice and Lord Chilcompton were having a delightful conversation
.
It was evident Lord Chilcompton was quite taken with the child
.
True to his word, his long-time butler returned with a plate of sweets for h
im
and the child
to share
.
Tea arrived for the
rest of them
.

Libby dared hope she and Micah would have a child soon
.
Not only would
they
be happy, but she could see how happy
Micah’s
Grandfather would be
.

The Avalon Society members were ensconced in the great library at Wychcombe House for the entire day
.
They dispersed only once to join the ladies and Lord Chilcompton for luncheon
.

Trevan’s relatives who were not society members stood guard around the perimeter of the house
.

Sir John
brought
the King’s advisors
to Wychcombe House
in the early afternoon so they might share their information.

Sir John remained in the meeting once the advisor’s left later in the afternoon.

Rowena’s aunt
, who was more like a mother to her
, Frances Phippen, Lady Sperring
,
joined
all of
the ladies and Lord Chilcompton in the drawing room
.
Of course she was
overjoyed
to hear Harry and Rowena’s news
regarding the impending birth of their child
.
She and Harry’s mother
, Jane,
talked endlessly about the coming of
Harry and Rowena’s first child
.

Late in the afternoon, the ladies and Lord Chilcompton retired to their rooms to rest and
afterward
dress for dinner, which was a
lways a
formal a
ffair at Wychcombe House.

As they arrived at Wychcombe House late the night before
and rose early
, Libby decided to take a nap before dinner.

She stripped down to her chemise and crawled benea
th the covers of the very large
and ornate bed
in the Viscount’s chamber
.
Soon
she drifted off into slumber
and i
nto the nightma
re that continued to frighten her
since Owen
returned
her
to Micah and Horethorne Hall
.

She was
in the tent on top of Cadbury Hill
.
The yellow-haired man spoke, “I want your husband and brother to remember me every
time they look
upon yo
u
r face
.”
 

She heard Micah’s voice
.
She f
elt hi
s
caress
on
her uninjured cheek.
She heard him say,
“Davitt is a dead man!”

Libby watched in horror, as she did every time the
nightmare came
as Percy Davitt
and her husband fought
.
For some reason, they each
held
a sword
.
Her husband and Davitt
battled in a long
, dark
,
shadowy
room which
she did not recognize
.

Micah’s arm was bleeding
.
S
he could see droplets of blood on the floor
around him
.
Still he managed to slice Davitt’s arm with a powerful thrust.

“Tell me, Wincanton, do you still love your wife as much since I carved her face
.
I did it especially for you
.”
Davitt thrust at Micah, coming dangerously close to his ribs
.
“I knew you’d someday face me, for you are such an ‘honorable’ man
.
I knew you’d seek retribution for your wife
.”

“I love my wife more than ever, Davitt
.
You will still pay for what you did to her
,
I assure you
.
You have my word
.”

Libby watched her husband’s eyes harden with his anger
.

“I wish I’
d the chance to rape her
before
.
I might still, once you are dead
;
w
hich will be soon
.
I will make her scream
.
I will cut her more
.
I won’t kill her
.
I just want her to hate looking in the mirror
.
She will
remember
every day forward
the only man who would ever touch
such
a hideous faced thing
is cold
and dead
in the grave.”

“You will never touch my wife again
.
You’re a dead
man, Davitt.” Libby sensed Micah’s anger.
She s
aw his eyes flash
.
The two men circled one another
.
Each one meant to kill the other, Libby knew it
.
She could feel it
.
The dream usually ended here, but this time it continued
.

Libby watched in horror as Micah
’s arm
thrust forward
.
Davitt
anticipated his move and plunged his sword deep into Micah’s chest, near his heart
.
Micah’s eyes closed
.
She saw the life leave his body
.
She knew he was dead before he hit the floor
.
She screamed loudly
.
“Micah
!
Micah!”

“Shh, Libby, s
weetheart
!
You’re dreaming
.
Wake-up, sweetheart, it’s just a dream
.”
Micah gathered his thrashing, sobbing wife in
to
his arms
.

“Micah
!
Micah
!”
Her eyes remained closed
.
She half screamed, half-sobbed
,
“Micah!”

“Shh, sweetheart, it’s all right
.
It
’s
just a dream
.”
Micah smoothed her hair from her
tear-stained
face
.
He cradled her in his arms
.
He caressed her soothingly
.
“It’s just a dream, Libby
.
Wake-up,
come on, sweetheart
.”
He saw her eyelashes flutter
.
“That’s it, Libby
.
Wake up
.
It’s just a dream.”
He caressed her face lovingly.

“Micah
?
Oh, Micah you’re alive
.
I thought he killed you
.
Oh thank God,” Libby sobbed anew
.
She buried her face against his chest
and
held him tightly as the sobs wracked her
slender
frame
.

“Libby, please tell me what this dream is about
.
I want to know what frightens you so, my love,” Micah whispered in her ear
.
“Please, tell me Libby
.
I’m beginning to think Davitt did more to you than you told us
.
If I ever see him again, Libby, I’m going to kill him
.
I promise you that.”

“N-no, you mus
t not
.
N-no, in the dream, y
ou are fighting with him, Micah, w
ith swords
.
He kills you, I
see you die
.
You - you cannot.
Micah, please promise me you will not go after that man
.
I-I could not bear it if you died, Micah
.”
Libby sobbed again
.
“Please don’t
.”

“Shh, sweetheart
.
I’m not going to die, Libby.”

“It’s the first time I saw you die in the dream…I never saw that part before
.
But I knew he wanted to kill you
in all the dreams before
.
”

Micah rubbed her back, her shoulders and her arms
.
She trembled in his
embrace
.
“Libby, even if your dream is a premonition or a portent of some kind, fate can be altered because now I know about
what you saw in your
dream
.
So, don’t worry, Libby, in the paranormal realm, being forewarned is being forearmed
.
Just because you are dreaming it doesn’t mean it will happen
.
It can also be your fears coming out
on a subconscious level
, especially if you are not talking about them and are suppressing them
.”
He pulled back
and
searched
her luminous sapphire eyes
as he asked,
“Tell me Libby, is this dream why you d
on’t like looking in the mirror and
seeing your scar?”