Moonshine

by Robin Trent

  She had always wanted to be a mother. Now she was blessed with not one child, but two at once. While the girls were twins, they were not identical. Ophelia had a mass of black hair swirling around her tiny head and the longest eyelashes Elizabeth had ever seen on a baby. Euphemia was the opposite, with strawberry blond hair that would later darken to red, and pale eyebrows and eyelashes that were barely noticeable. Whatever their differences, they both possessed the beauty of their mother. Elizabeth silently wondered if their personalities would be as different as their looks.

  Morning broke with the singing of sparrows. Sunshine filtered in through dusty window panes making patterns on the carpet. Elizabeth sat at the dining room table, enjoying her morning tea. Nikolai came in and kissed her on the cheek before seating himself. "Sleep well, my love?"

  "Yes, of course," said Elizabeth. The servant Rebecca came from the kitchen carrying a tray brimming with the morning's breakfast. She placed two-minute eggs, biscuits, butter and jam, and two bowls of porridge dotted with blueberries on the table. Elizabeth gave Rebecca a slightly stern look as she had already spoken with her about wanting to lose weight.

  "There you go. Keep up your strength, mistress,” Rebecca said as she curtsied and backed into the kitchen, smiling. Rebecca knew Elizabeth was young and wanted to keep her husband's interest, but these should not be concerns right after giving birth. More important to keep the milk flowing.

  "Are you going into town today?" Elizabeth asked. She buttered her biscuit in spite of herself.

  "Yes, I need some supplies, paper, ink, that sort of thing. I believe I can get them at the local merchants. Did you need something?" Nikolai looked at his wife expectantly.

  Elizabeth shook her head. "I was hoping that maybe I could go into town with you, keep you company?"

  Nikolai sighed. "Elizabeth, we've been over this. You know you're not ready. The doctor has not released you from house confinement."

  Elizabeth felt like her husband was being condescending but did not say so. Instead, she said, "Yes, Nikolai. Of course."

  "Tell you what. I will find you some of the prettiest ribbons for your hair. You can even tie some around the babies' heads if you like, so you all match. How's that?"

  "Thank you." Elizabeth looked down at her plate and twirled her spoon in her porridge.

  "I can also stop by the doctors to find out when he will come out to see you next. Then we can get an update and see if you are well enough for travel. Will that make you happy?" Nikolai asked.

  Elizabeth's face immediately brightened. "Yes, that would definitely make my day.”

  A doorbell rang and Rebecca went to answer. She returned bearing an envelope. "It's for you, mistress.” She curtsied again and walked off to the kitchen at a slower pace.

  Elizabeth flipped the envelope over in her hand and read the front. "It's from Mother."

  Nikolai frowned then quickly tried to cover it up before Elizabeth could notice. "Well, open it."

  She sliced the letter open with her knife and began reading. "My darling Elizabeth, I hope this letter finds you well. Your father is going off on one of his hunting trips, and I thought I would take this time to come and visit you and the twins. Expect me to arrive on the 20th of June. I will be arriving at Windermere Station around 2 pm. If you could be so kind as to have a carriage meet me at the station, I will go on straight from there. No other fuss is required. I will stay for approximately one month. I look forward to seeing you. Mother."

  "Did she forget that I live here too?" Nikolai asked.

  Elizabeth blushed. "I'm so sorry, Nikki. Mother is, well..."

  "It's all right, love. I expect nothing less from the old girl. Actually, it is quite fortunate that she is arriving. Now I won't have to worry about leaving you alone." Nikolai had gone on expedition before, but this was the first time after Elizabeth’s pregnancy. He felt different now, more protective.

  Nikolai absently patted his wife's hand. He was due to leave in less than a week for Egypt. Just a few days after "the old girl" arrives. Nikolai felt very fortunate. It made leaving not such a difficult task.

  Titwell stood before Queen Oonagh in the Great Seelie Hall. Carved out of grey limestone, the walls of the hall curved and dipped. They followed the natural formation of the rock, allowing for alcoves where huge crystals gave off their energy to the rest of the room. Bracken grew in some of the nooks and off rock ledges, and a waterfall cascaded down one side in a sheer sheet of water that reflected sunlight into the pool below. The waterfall created an echo in the chamber and amplified the queen's voice.

  The summons had been brief and to the point. "Her Majesty, Queen Oonagh, requests the presence of her servant Titwell." The queen only requested Titwell's presence when there was a testing to do. He had made an agreement with her a long time ago, and he had kept his end of the bargain for over half a millennium. It didn't matter what he was doing, he had to drop everything and appear before the court.

  Titwell hid his irritation and schooled his features. The queen was petting her favorite hawk, the glint in her eyes unsettling. It was June, and Oonagh was at the height of her power. She had a long brown mane of hair with just a hint of blond running through it. Her dark green dress hugged her body as it flowed around her to pool at her feet. She was flush with the beginning of her most potent season, Summer. Her voice rang clear and echoed in the hall.

  "Titwell. It is good to see you still receive our summons."

  Not one to overlook sarcasm, Titwell's flesh prickled. It wasn't the first time he had the uncomfortable feeling she could read his thoughts. "Of course, my queen." Titwell bowed low and made it count.

  "Do you know why I have summoned you here?"

  "I do not presume to know her Majesty's wishes; I am only here to fulfill them." Titwell hoped he was humble enough to appease the queen. He hated the formalities, but they were necessary.

  "Rise, Titwell. I need your services once again." She sounded grave, even though it was mostly for the benefit of the court. When Titwell and the queen were alone, they usually talked as friends, within boundaries of course.

  The queen had a quartz crystal in the palm of her hand. She extended it to Titwell. "Come forth, servant, and receive thy orders."

  Titwell resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he took several steps forward to retrieve the stone. This public display had a reason behind it, and Titwell wasn't going to question. The glittering jewels on the queen's fingers grazed his palm, sensitizing it. Oonagh delicately placed the crystal in his hand, and his fingers closed over it. Immediately Titwell received the message embedded in the shard.

  It invaded his thoughts in an instant. The entire summation of his errand pierced his mind at the speed of thought. With difficulty, he bowed and took several steps backward. Communication through the leaves was public. A message embedded in a crystal was private, meant only for Titwell, and his mind reeled as he resisted its power. He stood still, trying to relax and give in as he processed the information. He knew instantly where he needed to go and why.

  He placed his hand over his heart and bowed again while saying, "My queen."

  Oonagh waved her hand imperiously. "You are dismissed."

  Titwell took several more steps backward and then turned to leave as he heard the queen summon her next petitioner.

  Knowing that Helen was arriving in a few days, Elizabeth had Rebecca in a frenzy. The housekeeper was in constant motion, dusting, polishing, cleaning the windows, sweeping, mopping. Elizabeth had never been a demanding taskmaster. The house was ordinarily clean and neat, but there was always a certain amount of lived-in feeling.

  That is, except for now. Elizabeth had changed to become frantic, sometimes bordering on manic. Rebecca wondered at the difference in her mistress.

  Her relationship with her mother was always a strained one, and Elizabeth tried to keep confrontations to a minimum. Highly critical of everything Elizabeth did, Helen was, well, challenging. She always seemed to complain, and Elizab
eth was always trying to appease.

  The Barkers were a well-off family, with Arthur Barker being a shipping merchant and Helen coming from old-money, and all that goes with it. Helen made sure that Arthur was respectable and tamed him with her brand of frosty determinism that broke no refusal. He ended up being a shipping merchant, whether he liked it or not, and Helen had the lifestyle to which she was accustomed.

  Maybe that was why Elizabeth married Nikolai. He was an archaeologist and always had his head wrapped around some problem. Nikki was not overly controlling and let Elizabeth do pretty much what she pleased, except he always made sure she followed doctor's orders, whether she liked it or not.

  She had always been a head-strong girl, just as stubborn as her mother, and she butted heads with Helen more than once. However, the one-time stint in the sanatorium broke Elizabeth to a certain degree. After she came back home, she never was the same, and she never saw her mother and father the same way either.

  True to his word, Nikolai had asked the doctor to come to the house and clear Elizabeth for travel. So, when the day came for Helen to arrive, Elizabeth decided she wanted to get out of the house and meet her mother at the train station. She bade Rebecca watch over the girls and then mounted the carriage and left. The ride to the station was utterly uneventful, and Elizabeth dozed off as she allowed the rocking of the carriage to lull her to sleep.

  Helen Barker stood five feet eight inches, tall for a woman of her time. Her slate-gray traveling clothes added to her formidable presence, which telegraphed even before she disembarked from the train. Although the morning had been sunny and warm, as afternoon approached, the sky darkened with an impending storm. The weather seemed to match Helen's disposition.

  Instead of smiling at her daughter, she frowned when she lay eyes upon Elizabeth. In contrast to her mother, Elizabeth's bright yellow dress matched her golden hair and more than made up for the darkening skies. She fairly glowed with good health and joy, as motherhood fitted her very well. Helen gave instructions to the porter to have her luggage loaded on the carriage.

  She approached her daughter cautiously. Helen did not appreciate public displays of affection. Elizabeth knew this, so she gave a brief peck on the cheek as Helen bent down to Elizabeth's much shorter frame.

  "You look well, Mother," Elizabeth said.

  Helen nodded. "The train ride was easy enough. Is Nikolai with you?"

  "No, he's at home preparing for his trip."

  Helen frowned and said no more on the subject. She made her way to the carriage and left Elizabeth to catch up to her mother's long gait. It seemed to Elizabeth that she had always been running after her mother. As a child, she would have to run as fast as her short little legs could muster to keep up.

  Rain poured as the carriage made its way down the rutted, muddy road. The muggy air clung to the interior, making the seats feel damp and uncomfortable. Inside, the passengers listened to the tat-tat-tat of rain on the roof as the carriage jostled on the road. They weren't speaking. It was not the welcome she had been hoping for, though why she thought her mother would ever change was beyond her. Elizabeth's eyes were focused on the floorboards as if she had found something interesting there, and Helen was staring at Elizabeth with pursed lips and a stony expression.

  Helen's voice sliced through the air as she broke the silence. "Honestly, Elizabeth. What were you thinking coming out in this weather in your condition? You should be in bed.”

  "I was excited to see you, and I wanted to be the one to greet you at the train station. I'm fine, Mother. It's been two months since the children were born, and I do not need to convalesce forever. Fit as a fiddle is what the doctor said." Elizabeth twisted her handkerchief in her hands, a nervous gesture she had since childhood.

  Helen was old-fashioned and firmly believed in propriety. If you had nothing else, you had that to guide you. "I told your father that you should have stayed in the city, not out here in the country running around like a heathen.”

  "It's all right, Mother, no one knows, nor do they care. Besides, I didn't want you riding to the house all alone. I thought we could have some time together before we got there." Elizabeth's soft voice seemed to do little to appease Helen. She decided to sit back and try to relax. There was no point in worrying about her mother's reaction anymore. "Just some mother-daughter time. Now that I am a parent myself, I know how important children are to a mother." Helen narrowed her eyes as she tried to interpret that last statement.

  "Well what do you want to talk about?" The older woman's brow furrowed in confusion as she did not understand her daughter at all.

  "How is Charlotte doing?" When they were children, Elizabeth and Charlotte were inseparable. Elizabeth was the older sibling, and once she married and moved away, she heard from Charlotte less and less.

  "Your sister is her usual self," Helen said.

  "I had hoped she might come with you," Elizabeth said and then immediately regretted it. She could see by her mother's expression that it was an absurd idea.

  "Your sister is busy with her studies, and she can not be wasting her time visiting." Helen realized that might have been too harsh and tried to soften it up a bit, "She may have time for a visit at the end of the summer."

  The rest of the trip continued in silence. Elizabeth would never understand her mother's coldness. In fact, she wasn't sure why her mother had bothered to visit at all. She could remember a time when Helen was softer and more caring, but that all seemed like something imagined with her mother always being so standoffish.

  Maybe she would warm up when she saw the girls. No one could look upon her darling daughters and remain aloof. Elizabeth knew her mother thought she had married beneath her. She also knew her mother was disappointed Elizabeth had gotten pregnant so soon after being married. Helen, more than likely, had hoped the marriage would end before such a blessed event. They could have had it annulled if there were no children.

  But that is not how it came to be, and Elizabeth and Nikolai had two beautiful girls. When she told her mother about the twins, all Helen could mention was that now two girls would need a dowry, and how were Nikolai and Elizabeth supposed to afford that? Such were the immediate concerns of her mother when a dowry would not be required for at least sixteen years.

  Elizabeth was happy. She had a husband whom she adored and children whom she loved with all her heart. Her mother put a bit of a damper on things, but she was determined to enjoy this visit even if it killed her.

  Rebecca Barlow was five foot four unless you counted the hair piled up on top of her head. She had a plump figure, warm brown eyes, and rosy cheeks that turned beet red when she was angry. Currently, she was worried and had been pacing in front of the window for the past half an hour.

  Since coming to work for the Merkova's over a year ago, she had developed a real fondness for Elizabeth. Rebecca didn't have any children of her own, and while she had not forgotten that she was a servant, she had certainly developed a motherly affection for her employer. Rebecca had never met Elizabeth's mother, but she knew Nikolai did not care for her. That could be easily dismissed for what son-in-law truly liked their bride's mother? She was ready to reserve judgment until she met the woman, and since she was Elizabeth's mother, Rebecca would be as agreeable as possible for her mistress's sake.

  She moved the curtain to the side to peer out the front window. It was late afternoon, and the fog was encroaching on the house as it crept over the grounds. The rain had made the roads wet, and with the addition of fog making it hard to see, her concern at the moment was primarily on Elizabeth getting home. A heavy sigh could be heard behind her, but she kept her attention focused on the road.

  "She'll be here soon enough. Your worryin' isn't going to make her arrive any safer." John Barlow stood behind his wife, leaning on a broom. His tall, lanky frame gave the impression of a scarecrow as he had straw sticking out from his shirt here and there. He had just come in from the barn, one of his favorite places, after attacking some p
esky cobwebs with his weapon of choice.

  Rebecca waved her hand behind her, shooing John away. He smiled. He knew there was no turning his wife from her worrying when she was bent on it. But still, he had to try.

  Rebecca squinted, peering harder into the fog as a faint light began to materialize like a specter in the gloom. She moved swiftly to the door and opened it to the faint sound of hoofbeats echoing down the lane. "She's home," Rebecca announced as she visibly relaxed. John moved to the kitchen to put the broom up and came back to stand beside his wife, waiting patiently to help with the luggage.

  The carriage came around the circular stone drive and pulled to a halt in front of the house. The footman jumped down to open the door as Elizabeth stepped down first. Rebecca hugged her mistress and fussed over her a bit, then both Elizabeth and Rebecca turned to view Helen as she descended from the carriage. She wore a scowl on her face as she looked down her nose at the servant and brought with her a sense of oppressiveness that chilled Rebecca's warmth.

  "You there." Helen nodded toward John. "Bring my luggage up to my room." Summarily dismissing John after giving her order, she turned her scowling visage on Rebecca. "I require some tea after my long journey. Elizabeth and I will take it in the sitting room. Make sure it's hot." And with that, Helen moved past the others, letting herself into the house without any more formality. She turned in the foyer to look at her daughter, still outside the door. "Elizabeth, are you coming?"

  Elizabeth touched Rebecca's arm gently and reassured her, speaking softly. "It will be fine. A spot of tea would be nice. I know it's late, do you mind?" And audible tut escaped Helen's lips as her mouth drew into a tight line.