Secrets of the Prairie (6 page)

Chapter Eleven

Poor Tom thought I was ill. Never before had I stayed in bed well until the sun had risen into the sky. It wasn’t my nature. Nor was it in my nature to have an affair with a man who was not my husband, which is why I kept it a secret.

Jack, on the other hand, did not seem comfortable with secrecy though kept his mouth shut under the threat that I would evict him from my home. I didn’t understand why he stayed because he certainly had skills to get himself a better job. Yet, he did. I imagined it was because of me. He did indeed confess that since he’d been with me, he’d slept like a child unlike his usual sleepless nights.

I was so flattered by him, little did I notice that Jack had a habit of leaving my bed while I was asleep and then sneaking back to me before I could awaken as though he’d never left. It’d been over a fortnight since the start of our secret affair and I trusted him wholeheartedly. Paranoia only dug its claws one morning when I was obliged wake up earlier.

Dumbdilock’s was coming to deliver bread that morning and I had wanted to see her so that I could personally place a special order on pastries for an upcoming party. She was a pain when it came to negotiating pricing and I couldn’t let such responsibility into the hands of sweet Tom.

I gently stirred awake, only to realize that I was clinging only to my pillow.

“Jack?” I whispered into the empty darkness. He wasn’t there.

I was taken aback. Jack was always there when I awoke. Where could he possibly have gone at 4 o’clock in the morning? I ignored his absence, in fact, I appreciated it. That meant I had enough space to dress up before meeting the dreadful Dumbdilock’s and perhaps even time to take a quick bath. And so I did.

Thirty minutes later, I was fully dressed in a pink chiffon dress and out of my room. My mind wondered as to where Jack could be. It made me nervous that I’d awakened without him by my side. I’d been sleeping so deeply since I’d been with him, I was sure I wouldn’t notice if he slipped out on me every night and returned in the morning. In an effort to be calm, I shut down the nagging in my head. I trusted Jack. Yes, I did.

That trust exploded into shards which pierced my heart when I unwittingly walked by Tom’s room and heard voices. I paused. Tom was not an early riser but how was it that I was hearing her voice and who was she talking to? My blood curdled when Jacks voice followed. He was whispering so I couldn’t hear what he said. I didn’t care. Without thinking, I pushed the door to Tom’s room open and I could have collapsed at what I saw.

Tom was seated on her bed in her night clothes with Jack’s shirt in her hands, and over her, a shirtless Jack stood. I was livid. Tom yelped when she saw me. She hid behind Jack, who appeared upset at being interrupted.

“You scumbags, pestilence, maggots! I opened my house to you, fed you and clothed you. Is this how you repay me for my kindness?”

I was shaking with anger. How could I’ve been so foolish? I’d suspected it but surely Tom and Jack were having an affair right under my nose.

“It is not what you think.” Tom was clearly scared. She was crying.

“I trusted you, Tom. I did! Get out, get out of my house. Both of you!” I yelled.

Jack stood his ground. He said, “If you want to alienate yourself from everyone, go ahead, do it! I will leave but don’t you dare bother Tom because she’s been more loyal to you than anyone else has.”

“Do not speak to me about loyalty, you traitor!”

Jack took bold steps toward me. I didn’t flinch. If my defensive walls were previously built on sand, they were now fortified with melted iron. I wasn’t going to cry. Jack stood tall in front of me and looked me right in the eye.

“It is only my loyalty and hers that is keeping you from rotting in jail, woman!”

I was too flustered to understand him at first. “Whatever do you speak of? Tom. Pack your bags,” I said. I made to walk to her with the intent to drag her out but Jack held my hand.

“Do not touch her.”

“No? I shouldn’t touch her. Not like you touched her? Not like you touched me? How dare you, Jack. She is just a child.”

“At 24, she is hardly sucking at her mother’s breast and speaking of which, you are not her mother.”

I swallowed my spite. “I too would have been a mother if fate had not frowned upon my marriage!” He scoffed and still did not let me go. My blood boiled with hate for him. “Yes, stranger, come into my home and judge me.”

His eyes blazed with fury, so much that I was intimidated. It seemed that he’d been holding back a weight but now was about to explode.

“It is very hard not to judge someone who has kept her husband locked up in the cellar for two long years, Lauren!”

A heavy silence descended. I was dazed. A siren rung in my ears and I felt as though I would faint. “Oh God,” I whispered to myself.

Without hesitation, I ran out of the room. Like the wind, my feet carried me to the living room. I gasped in horror when I saw the table I’d placed over the trapdoor was out of place. Even worse, the rug was gone and the entrance to the cellar was open.

Ignoring the harm that could come to my dress, I descended into the cellar. It was a dingy little wooden place that was filled with barrels of wine. I ran past the barrels until I got to the end of the cellar where a barred dungeon stood. In it was a piano, a chair and a bed. Duke was gone. My heart raced. Madness seized me. I screamed.

In all the chaos, it made sense. Tom. She was the only soul who’d known the truth until Jack came along. He had been curious about the music. She must have told him. The sweet girl could confess anything when pressured. And Jack, he hadn’t been in Tom’s room for a sexual affair, he gone in there to confide in her and get his shirt cleaned after soiling it when he’d finally come down to the cellar. He did not have many clothes and I would have noticed soot from the dungeon. Oh, what a fool I’d been.

Ashen faced, I sensed someone approach me. Slowly, I turned. My fears realized. It was Duke. He was tall with dark hair, a lanky frame and usually bore a haughty demeanor. Not so now, he looked sick with large dark circles under his eyes, a demented look in his blue gaze and I noticed, calloused fingers. All those years without sunlight and only playing the piano for solace must have taken their toll.

“Duke.” I shivered. He didn’t speak to me.

Guilt poured over me like a heavy blanket so that even when he closed the gap between us and crushed my neck in his grip, I accepted it. This was not the life that I chose, what would it matter if it ended?

Epilogue

A cool wet cloth against my forehead stirred me. In panic, I opened my eyes and screamed. Gentle hands held me down. Gentle hands assured me that I was safe.

“It is okay, Madam. He is gone now,” Tom said to me.

Someone put my hand into their warm palms. Jack. He was by my side. I didn’t know how to react. He smiled at me.

“Duke is back with his family. He is in their custody now.”

I shivered. I was still terribly frightened. In the moment that Duke was taking the last breath from me, Jack had come to save me. A short conflict had left Duke unconscious on the floor. I had fainted shortly after.

“You must think me cruel,” I said.

He shook his head. “I think you are brave.”

Tom smiled. She must have told him everything. The harsh reality I had endured was that Duke was a callous man. He hurt me. On drunken nights, which were quite usual, he would let out a tirade of insults on me before battering me. In those days, Tom had helped me while the other maids had simply gossiped.

I was ashamed when Duke left me though admittedly relieved. Three years after his elopement, he’d secretly returned to me seeking shelter from a terrible debt he’d accumulated while gambling in France. His time in France had only made him a worse man.

On a day he feared that his debtors would come to our home, he’d hidden in the cellar. That is the day I poisoned his food and locked him up in the dungeon. I had buried him alive in that cellar and for that, every night he’d tormented me with his beautiful music. It was a price I could bear until the day Jack came along. Jack, where did he come from? I turned to him.

“Why are you still with me, Jack?”

“Fate is a curious thing, Lauren.”

“How so?”

Tom explained. “Madam Lauren, Jack was sent by Duke’s family to find him. His search had proved futile until the day he met you.”

“When did you know he was here?” I asked Jack.

“Only two weeks ago, actually. In fact, I didn’t know who you were the day I met you, until you brought me to your home.” I wanted to say something but he stopped me. “And by the time I realized the truth, I was already madly in love with you. I am madly in love with you, Lauren.”

“I love you too, Jack.”

He leaned in to kiss me. With one hand, I pulled his neck to me and with the other, I turned Tom’s face away. I was slightly embarrassed that Jack would show affection to me, though in a good way.

And so, which is better: to kill a man or to bury him alive with a chance of survival? In the end, I was quite glad that I’d given Duke a chance for survival. If it hadn’t been so, I would have been tied to him forever. If it hadn’t been so, I would have never been able to love Jack.

Finally, my sanity restored.

THE END

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- Chapter 1 -

"Damn it!" I breathed through my teeth as I lost my balance for the tenth time. I was practicing my coordination exercises, staring intently at the wall of mirrors in front of me. I furrowed my eyebrows, trying to figure out what was making me unsteady. I looked at my shoes’ reflection and wondered briefly if I should order new heels.

As I inspected my shoes, I heard the door open behind me and I turned to see Nancy, the hard-ass owner of the dance studio to which I was employed; she squinted slightly as she walked into the room. I always turned off half the lights while practicing as I hated harsh, artificial lights.

"Jenny, how can you see anything in here?" She flipped them back on as I walked to the stereo and dialed down the music as she tried to speak over the volume.

“...as you know, this showcase is going to be one of the largest since I opened the studio. So, I've decided to hire one of the best ballroom dance coaches in the city to come and assist in preparing the students. I’m going to leave time for him to help coach all of the teachers as well. Can you come in early tomorrow so that you can get introduced and discuss time-slots for your training?” This was not a question. That was the thing about Nancy. Even if it sounded like a question, she expected you to say yes.

“Alright, that’s no problem, Nancy.” I smiled as she nodded and walked back towards the door, pausing for a moment.

“I also need you to pause what you’re doing and help John with his couple’s lesson in ten minutes.”

She left the door open as she exited. I sighed.
Early. No problem, Nance, it’s not like it’s my anniversary or anything.
I knew her too well by now to bring up my special day. Nancy wasn’t a very sentimental person, and in the two years I’d known her, I knew nothing about her. But she knew a fairly good deal about me. On the few occasions that I had let a fight between Elliot and I affect my attitude, she had immediately pulled me into her office.

At first, I thought she was just berating me for my unprofessionalism. But I came to learn that it was also her strange way of showing concern for my life outside of work. She had never approved of Elliot, and she was very up front in her belief that he was holding me back from a lot of things. I thanked her for her advice every time, but mentally brushed them off as soon as I left the office. I wasn’t about to let an emotional robot give me love advice.

I shook my head as I shut off the stereo and turned off the lights.