The Rake and The Rose (A Rake's Mistake) (29 page)

1811 August 21 . . .

"’Mother?’ I called going into the kitchens. I was fifteen, and it was my birthday on August 21st. I am excited, as mother has been preparing me to go out into society when I turned eighteen. My uncle has been adamant about it not happening. 

Mother calls him a drunk. Papa does not speak to him anymore. Lottie is very sweet though, her mama died a few years ago and she comes over to play with me often. She has curly black hair and we play dolls and run around the house playing pirates or adventures. I stop short at the door to Papa's office ready to sneak in and surprise him with my 'birthday hug'. But I hear heavy footsteps and deep voices, ‘What the hell are you thinking James!’ Uncle is mad.

‘I want Charlotte safe.’ Papa said.

‘Well what about me and Lottie?’ he sounds upset.

Papa sounds very angry and I shake ‘You should have thought of that before you wasted the money on gambling and horses!’ he spat. Uncle Richard starts pacing

‘Nothing, nothing is what you leave me?’

‘I shall leave a stipend.’

"Hardly enough to keep one person!" Uncle shouts. Papa slams a hand on his desk and I hold back a squeak. 

‘Hold your tone in my house!’ Papa snarls, ‘It is my Charlotte's birthday. You shall not ruin it with your talk.’

‘You already house her like a prisoner.’ Uncle snarls.

‘She will be meeting Cromwell's son soon.’

‘What?’ Richard sounds as if he cannot believe his ears. ‘You had that setup for Sara.’

‘Sara had told me when I asked if she liked him, that Cromwell's son liked Charlotte better...’ Papa sounded sad, reserved but he chuckles ‘Sara said that Alexander liked Charlotte's pretty hair.’

‘Well it's red like a flame.’ Richard said sarcastically ‘In my mind it's not of this world.’

‘Well that isn't for you to judge why God gave it to her, our mother had it. My wife has it!’

‘And I thought it queer then too!’ 

Papa growled low in his chest and stood, I could hear his feet plant on the floor with a thump. ‘You will get nothing from my estate when I am dead and gone, Charlotte shall have what she deserves, and it shall go to Alexander when they are to be married.’

‘And when will this happy meeting take place?’ Richard sounds sarcastic.

‘When she is eighteen.’ Papa states coolly.

I tiptoe away feeling everything in my being vibrate. The green-eyed boy, is that who Papa is talking about? He said his name was Alexander... I am excited, but will he remember me?"

Did he remember me?
Charlotte wondered. Finally...the final pieces of the puzzle struck her. The final two pages of her memories stuck out to her like blood on a page.

1813 . . .

"My parents are ill. And I am not. Papa has already passed away and the Doctors are looking over Mama with a shaking head and a sad expression. My heart is breaking all over again. I sit by my Mama and I pat her head with a cool cloth, she opens her blue eyes and sighs happily. "Where is Sara? I want both of my girls."

"Sara is waiting Mama, she's here." I bite my lip not wanting to break the smile from her face.
 

"My good girls." she whispers and I take her hand. 

"Mama we love you."

"I love you too my sweet girls." Her teal eyes close and she exhales still smiling.

She is gone.

Richard is standing in the other room. He does not look sad. No, he looks fortuitous. It makes me enraged. But he will get nothing, of this I know."

So that was what Richard wants!
And finally...the day she discovered her fortune, and the night she lost everything came into perfect clarity, as if she relived it.

1814... August 21st.

"I have turned 18. My executor is sitting at the opposite side of my Papa's desk. We live in Caversham; it was where my parents fled after Sara died. I have stayed. He is going over my parent's will. I am a wealthy woman. I have over two hundred thousand pounds in my own finances, not including my work places such as the toyshop Papa had bought after he had gotten our toys. I sigh rubbing my temples, this makes my head hurt very much. But I manage very well as my executor and lawyer smile at me.

"You are doing so well Charlotte. We will be getting ready for you to go out into society!" they both seemed to have taken on a fatherly role. Jeeves my lawyer glanced at me proudly.

"Thank you, Jeeves. Armin." Ermine grinned as he closed the books. I heard a tap at the door. "Come in."

Uncle Richard was there. I sighed "What do you want Uncle?"

He came in, looking humble. "I was wondering if I could ask for a loan." he licked his lips and his eyes were bloodshot. I saw him twitching.

"What you need is time in a hospital you look awful." he was family, and Lottie's father...so I had to show some concern, yes?

He simply scoffed "And what the hell do you know of sickness." 

"I know you do not look well, Uncle."

"Well...about the loan." 

"No." I said calmly. 

"What?" he snapped.

"The answer is no." I said firmly and my executor and lawyer watched me amazed.

My Uncle sputtered rather unattractively "But- Lottie-"

"Will be taken care of here.  She shall move in with me and she shall be presented upon her eighteenth birthday." I loved my cousin Lottie, I would never let her starve, she is a few years younger than I. But...but my Uncle had not even shed a tear at his brother's death.

 How could I deal with that?

Uncle looked deadly. "You'll regret this you little bitch." My lawyer was up in a flash and he and my butler had him by the collar and threw him out."

Charlotte's fragile mind took in the last scene with disturbing realization. He could not have the fortune unless she was dead, that meant he had to kill her. He probably did not tell Giselle this...Her final memory engulfed her.

Early spring 1814, Evening . . .

“I was fast asleep, I dreamed of Sara. We ran, and ran, and ran. We danced and laughed and played with our rabbits. She was so beautiful, all grown up.
Her wild blue eyes and pale hair contrasting beautifully. 

‘Sara. I miss you.’ I whispered as in my dream we lay on the grass facing each other as we always had in our beds or on the floor.

Hand in hand. "I'll always be with you. Together forever." We linked fingers like so many nights in our shared bed.

‘I love you,’ we both whispered.

Something awakened me from my sound sleep as I heard my father’s old dog bark. Papa's hunting dog never barked unless on the scent or if something was wrong! I heard footsteps and my heart raced...everyone should have been asleep. Sure enough the door opened, and I saw a black figure in it.

‘Who are you!’ I demanded and the shadow lunged, I caught the glint of a knife and fell off my bed, the canopy crashing down against the weight of my assailant as they charged, tripping thankfully on the rug and slamming into the bedpost. The canopy managed to stop him for a moment, catching him in a trap. 

I could go out the door; people were trying to break it in as it is locked. He would have caught me if I had tried to open it. My candle that I had lit in haste knocks to the floor and flames light the carpet barely missing the curtains. I panic, where do I go? What do I do!

The window!

Quick as I could I climbed out, my night rail is thin and the rain plasters to me. I am so cold. But as I take one more step down I slip and my head hits the tree. Stars go off behind my eyes. Ouch!

I land on my back and the air rushes from me. My assailant is looking out the window with a sharp blade in his hand.

Uncle.

I run as fast as I can. Remembering my father's warning before he died "Be careful with whom you trust, Charlotte, until you are married you are not safe." I reach the woods behind the house, the woods I know so well having snuck out to them plenty in the night, down the small embankment and-

But when I tried to jump...my foot slipped on the flat rock that normally launched me to the other side of the little ditch...I fall. I am falling. And then, there is darkness and peace.

But in the darkness and peace my current situation comes back...
I want Alexander . . . I want to go home . . . “Alex where are you?”

Charlotte felt her mind come back...slowly, ever so slowly and she heard the world around her begin to drag her back to the reality from which she was desperate to escape.

C
hapter
22

The lamplight startled her awake, as did the door swinging open. She heard footsteps and panicked unable to see in the darkness quickly as she came to.

What is going to happen to me? She desperately thought.

But she saw skirts in her view "mmmhfrmmm" through the gag of linen she whimpered and cried.

"Are you really pregnant?" it was Giselle!

"Mmhmm!  Mmhmm!  Ahmmmf Mmrpreff!"  She mumbled affirmation nearly violently and soon her linen gag was off and Giselle knelt in front of her.

"If it was just you...It'd be one thing, I thought maybe we'd just ship you off to the Americas. But he wants to kill you." She hesitated and Charlotte looked at her beseechingly.

"Help me,” she whispered and the older woman's grey eyes widened "Please." she begged.

"I told Richard I was going to ask you questions...Here, he is asleep..." she had a bowlful of thick broth and beef, potatoes and carrots; she began spoon-feeding her. Charlotte gulped it down greedily. "I found Lottie...She is to tell Alexander where we are..."

"What?" Her surprise was evident. "Why?"

"It was not my intention for you to be hurt." Giselle said grimly.

"Did you-did you really kill your sister?" Charlotte gasped between bites.

"He told me it was the only way to help her..." Giselle looked stricken, "He said he loved me and loved Evelyn and did not want her to suffer. She was so sick..." Giselle's face turned inward it seemed in pain.

"Who told you?" Charlotte pressed.

"Cromwell."  Giselle sobbed suddenly.  "I loved Evelyn...She was so sick, Alexander doesn't remember...She was soooooo sick." Charlotte looked at her bewildered as the older woman wept.

"I met Richard...and he made me feel alright. Cromwell was heart broken that Evelyn had died. He hardly ever looked at me and he never touched me. He ignored me, and only very little did he fight for me in circles when I was shunned. He got sick too, but a different type of sick; he was heartsick...And he asked me to..."

"Do the same for him, as you did with Evelyn." Charlotte put the pieces together. "But me? Why me?"

"That was an accident, Richard said if you just vanished that he'd get the inheritance. I had never meant for it to be that strong, just enough to get you sick, to leave!  But cooking it, I don’t know how I knew I put in too much!"  She gripped Charlotte's hand. "So I dropped a hint to Sophie who looked at me strangely, but once you became sick she knew.”

Charlotte watched Giselle stop for but a moment, trying to collect herself, she then continued.  “Then Alexander sent me away. Richard told me that you were cruel, and mean and spoiled. But I did not see it." Giselle sobbed into her hands. "Forgive me! Please Charlotte, forgive me. I'd never have taken you if I thought he'd kill you. I had no idea you were with child! Alexander does not know it, but I do love him as if he were my own! But I have been in poverty...I couldn't go back. No! I won't go back! I'll go to the nut house first!" Charlotte glared at her.

"Shh, he'll hear you." She hissed.

Giselle waved her hand absently her eyes going sharp again, "He is drunk and asleep." She shook her head. "He is a lout. I should have known all along. Lottie is a good girl. Poor thing."

"Lottie is getting Alex?" her hope crested.

"Yes, I told her the chemist where Richard and Cromwell sent me to. I also told her where the wolfs bane is. It's under my floor board in a tincture." She wiped her face unceremoniously with her sleeve. "I am so-so sorry." she began to weep bitterly again.

"Shh, it's alright...Life has not been kind to you has it?" Charlotte felt herself, despite all the torment, pitying the poor woman who sat crumpled in the chair before her.

"Evelyn was the only one to be kind to me. She was a saint. A bloody saint!" She slammed her hand against the chair in emphasis.

They both started at a slight strain of a couch. And then it went back to normal "Where are we?" Charlotte asked looking about the bare room.

"Richard's home." Giselle said grimly.

"Can we not escape?" Charlotte whispered.

"He has the house locked from the inside, there is no way to unlock it without a key. He has it." Giselle shrugged. "He let Lottie out to go to the grocery store. Oh that poor girl, when she saw you she nearly fainted. She was in such a rage. Not that she has had an easy life…the house has always been like this.”

"I hope Alexander is kind to her."

"I do not even want to know what he shall have done with me."

"I shall speak for you." Charlotte whispered, "You are being kind now. That is what counts."

Giselle choked on a sob. "You are such a kind soul. Please forgive how wretched I've been." She patted Charlotte's face and took a napkin and gently dabbed her cheek where she had been cut from the slap to her face. "He should not have hit you. Alexander will kill him,” she said resignedly.

"You know this?" Charlotte's face paled.

"I do." Giselle nodded. Charlotte sighed, as Giselle undid her ties

"I have an idea," she whispered "A way Richard won't suspect you." Her smile confused Giselle and she leaned in an ear as they plotted.

It had been three days.
Three
. And nothing, he had the money, but no contact at all. Alexander paced the house and the entire estate was in a constant feeling of turmoil. No one spoke; no one did anything, what could they do? He kept reading the letter over, and over, and over again. It seemed he was locked in another battle with Death. And he would win, just as he had won with the poison.

He would not let her go. Alexander growled when the front door was flung open and Kade lurched in "Anything?"

"Nothing damn it all. I've scoured every place I can think of! No one knows where this bastard lives. Apparently he's been renting a place in Caversham, but they bloody well aren't there now!" Kade threw his hunting hat off in frustration his light eyes filled with lightning.

Alexander exhaled harshly and sat in a chair holding his head "God, Kade I need to do something! Anything!"

Kade blew out a breath that nearly and raised a brow when James walked through the door with a letter, faster than either of them had ever seen him walk in fact. James usually remained stoically standing, walking and they hardly ever saw him run. He certainly was running now. "Sir! My Lord! Here!" he shoved the letter into Alexander's hand and he ripped it open.

Lord Cromwell,

I take it that you shall pay the seventy thousand pounds for the return of Miss Charlotte. She is being taken care of and is fine. We shall meet in London Park tomorrow afternoon sharp, where we shall swap our...commodities. I do hope this finds you well Mr. Cromwell, as we wouldn't want anything to happen to you would we?

Sincerely, R.D

He crumpled the paper and growled low in his throat, got up and walked to his study and ripped open his gun safe and ripped out his pistol, saber and dagger. Kade watched him with a grim look "If I hadn't ever seen it in other men, Alexander. I'd say you were calm, but you're not are ye?"

No, Lord Cromwell was not calm at all, though his countenance remained stoic and straight. His eyes blazed like emerald steel and with murder. Kade sighed and looked at his own pistol "Well. We are going to kill the little roach aren’t we?"

"Yes, as soon as she's safe. Disarm him...but I get to kill him." Alexander snarled looking at the glint in his dagger. Kade nodded and soon, in a few hours even Leroy was there. All three men standing with decided grimness armed up to the teeth with daggers, swords and pistols.

The women in the house tiptoed around them for the rest of the day, as any quick movement set them off in a flurry of questions asking if there was news.

Charlotte scribbled a note and opened the window; grateful that Giselle had unlocked it, she waited and saw the boy that she heard the other day asking for
Sovereigns "Psst." she whispered to the little boy in the street.

"Oi. What you doin up there miss?"

"Hush! Do you want fifty pounds?" the boy's eyes went large "Then be quiet!" she hissed.  "Take this to Kade Morrison Lincoln, Leroy Jethro Gibson and most importantly Alexander Cromwell!" She let the note float down to the boy and threw out her writing pen.

"Miss, you ain't happen to be the one that gone missing? The whole towns talking!"

"Where are we?" she asked.

"Why. London Miss…" The boy's voice was soft. Suddenly a bang was heard outside the door. “Don’t ye know dat? And what you doin up there anyway?”

"Never mind that! Run!' she squeaked and closed the window.

Hours later in the middle of the night, Alexander heard a commotion as the magistrates came in. "Cromwell, we have a boy that claims there was a note from Miss Charlotte."

"Oi!
Lemme go!" the young man scrambled for purchase to get away. "This ain't for no eyes cept for Leroy, some man named Kade and apparently most importantly as she said Alexander Cromwell." He straightened himself. "Nice miss said she'd gimme fifty pounds for me troubles."

Alexander was on his knees before the boy, shaking him "What did she say!" he nearly yelled at the boy.

"Easy mister! I don't know nuthin. She asked where she was, and I told her London."

"Can you take me to where the house is?" He was desperate and the boy tugged his hands off.

"Oi, sure I can!" the boy smiled. "I can take ye there quick as lightning, but she said for you to read this."

Dear Alex,

I am locked away in Richard's home. Giselle is helping me escape. Please do not fear, I am safe and so is the baby. But, he does not intend to let me live. He wants my inheritance from the Devisher estate. Giselle thought they would ship me to America. Please she is suffering. Lottie will be looking for you, but must be careful. If Richard were to discover our plot, our lives will be forfeit. I do not know where I am. I love you.

Apparently I will not be at the meeting spot. He will keep me here and he plans to kill you from what Giselle has said. DO NOT GO!

Be safe. I love you.

Charlotte Devisher.

Alexander exhaled his grief as he read those three words "I love you." The simple scrawl shattered his heart, as if she had been in panic to write.

"She tossed her writing utensils out the bloody window too. Sneaky like a fox she is," the boy said. He kissed the letter and looked at the boy.

"Charlotte is...that she is."
  He whispered a quick prayer.  "Kade!  Leroy!" Alexander handed them Charlotte's note and both men quickly read it with grim faces.

Leroy chuckled "Crafty! I knew I liked something about her!"

"Indeed, smart little witch." Kade nodded approvingly.

"I say we catch him and hold him hostage." Leroy grinned in a manner that sent most running from his hulking height and rage.

All the men agreed.

They sat down and plotted their own plan. Alexander, keeping the boy with him and planned on having the maids tidy him up, get him a nice warm meal and a warm bed. "Boy, you shall work for me from now on as my apprentice. What is your name?"

"My name's Kip, Sir." the boy murmured.