“Lunch will be ready soon, Mrs. Stirling,” called Mary, from the bottom of the staircase. “I know that you must be famished.”
“Not at this time,” She looked defeated. “How long must I live in this dark ugly place?”
“I thought that you would have longed to live in a mansion with a handsome husband. It is what every young girl dreams of, isn’t it?”
“I did,” Sophia said with a look of disappointment. “It is not quite what I expected.”
“Nothing ever is,” Eugenia said over her shoulder, as she descended the stairs.
Chapter Eight
He was the perfect partner. A good provider and an upstanding member of society. This should be so good for her.
She forced her throat to swallow, and returned an easy smile to her reflection in the mirror, holding out her hand pretending that her husband was before her, and would take her extended hand. She did not care if he wanted to introduce her to his father, he would have no choice but to do right by her.
Sophia looked at her open hand, and racing emotions swept across her face. Indecision was one of them. She felt a pang of guilt about pushing him to share that part of his life. Her reflection seemed a young schoolgirl with an air of vulnerability and anguish, not a grown woman. Sophia blinked back hot tears.
Later, Sophia lay in her bed, nestled under the warm blankets. She loved their time alone in her room. It was their sanctuary, and a place where she could be adored by her new husband. He had been visiting her almost every night for the past month, but he had not yet taken her to his own bedchamber.
Tonight, I will ask him.
Sophia could feel her cheeks growing warm as she heard the sound of his boots on the hardwood floor outside her door. He was coming to their love making haven.
“My lovely Sophia?”
Her skin tingled as he whispered her name, easing open the door.
“Yes, my love,” she said, with a slight smile. “I do have a question for you.”
He rushed to her side.
“Your question can wait, I must have your delicate body now, lovely Sophia.”
Chapter Nine
Vincent left the home of his patient and went out into the crisp evening air. Sophia’s words had left him with an excruciating headache. He could not imagine a way around having to explain his father’s predicament to her.
The English countryside was cool, and the sky was the purple blue that one only saw just on sunset. Vincent could not help but marvel at the arrangement of colors in the vastness above him. He stood for a few moments, gazing up, secretly wishing that he might fly away. He imagined being suspended on the cool breeze, flying through the gray clouds. He brought his gaze back down to the earth of the road, and stared down the road as far as his eyes could see. It tempted him – to simply go, to avoid all of this difficulty and travel this road to the unknown. Instead, the carriage was taking him home – to the heart of his difficulties.
A cool breeze blew, rustling the trees, bringing a chill to his neck and down to his fingertips. He pulled his coat collar closer. The only light came from the lantern of the coachman, but Vincent knew the way well.
The life of the town was far away and Vincent was going home as a devoted husband should. He moved the curtain back to take in the denseness of nature that he was surrounded by. He saw a light glinting through the tall trees. He knew that it came from his home. Vincent was becoming accustomed to the feeling of anticipation and curiosity – for, no matter how difficult the situation was, he found himself wanting to be in Sophia’s presence again.
~~~~~
“Taking your time to appear huh, Vincent? Think you’re going to be rid of me soon because of your pretty young bride, eh?” said the old man.
Eugenia was watching Vincent while the old man gave him a fierce glare, as he made his way to the large bed. He had to feign indifference, to look as if nothing had changed, for he could not let them discover his private torment.
“My days are long at times,” Vincent said.
“So you say,” the man laughed, loud and harsh. “I thought that you had given up spending so much time with your weak patients, to spend time with your new bride, like the good husband you pretend to be.”
Vincent gave the man a hard stare. He recalled, for a split second who he used to be, before Sophia had come into his life, before, just by being herself, she had drawn him to change. His father represented his earlier evil self. His stomach turned over on itself and made him want to vomit. It was beyond the hour when he wanted to be with them. Time was whispering its existence away as the full moon hung in the night air. He could almost forget that Sophia was waiting for him, the horror of this room was so great. He looked in the direction of the door and envisioned her smile as he walked into her room. She always appeared angelic.
His wanted to move, he yearned towards the door, but he held himself back, fearful that his motive would be apparent to them. He had to take his time with them and listen to his father’s tirade of insanity.
~~~~~
He forced his throat to swallow, gave an easy smile to Sophia, and held his hand out to her, asking her, silently, to reciprocate. He didn’t care, either way, if she wanted to or not, but he would leave the final choice in her hands. Sophia looked at his open hand, racing emotions sweeping across her face.
Vincent felt a pang of guilt for leaving her without an answer to her question. He hoped that she would take his hand, hoped that she would forgive him for departing early, after their night of pleasure, without waking her. He had done so, he knew, to avoid making the excuses he would have had to make, without having to explain, that which he did not yet know how to explain. He did not know if she would understand.
“I need light and air. I cannot live in this place.” She stood up, she did not take his hand, but moved to leave the room. “I cannot live with the dark secrets this place holds.”
Vincent considered going to her but stayed and only moved to step in front of her, when she tried to walk out the door. He stood as still as a statue. She froze, her brown eyes met his steel blue ones, without invitation now.
“Give me my space, Doctor.”
He had hurt her and she would not accept it. He did not know how to solve this.
“Give me time, Sophia.”
She looked up at him. “You did not ask for time this morning. You took it. You avoid my questions. I thought you had no answers for me.”
He rubbed his temples with his fingers.
“We had a lovely night and we need not ruin it with argument, and with a precipitous departure.”
Sophia looked to the side, avoiding his eyes, unwilling to even try to discuss things. She had asked about his father, and he had refused to answer, sweeping her up into passion to distract her. She did not know how to ask again, and actually get an answer. He was guilt stricken. He looked down, suddenly unable to watch her hurt.
Her lips quivered. “Do you say things like that to all of your female liaisons?”
Yes, it was who he was, or had been. He knew how to charm. However, Sophia’s beautiful personality had made him fall – actually fall in love, for the first time. Everything else seemed shallow and shameful now.
He should not make her suffer for it.
Vincent softened his voice, “Alright. You are right. You deserve an answer – but it is not pleasant. I do not know how to say this, for, no matter the words, it is terrible. You may not believe this, but my father is insane. He killed my mother to be with his lover and ended up losing her too. He wants me, and everyone else, to suffer. Including Stirling Mansion and his daughter. He likes the darkness because he cannot bring himself to face her, or his demons. He is an angry, bitter old man.”
Sophia glanced at him through the hot tears than streamed down her cheeks, blinding her sight.
Vincent let out a sigh. He could not treat this sickness, as simply as those of the flesh – for this was a sickness of the heart and soul, and he was its cause. He dr
ew in a deep gulp of air.
“I apologise for my secrets. I was taking you somewhere you were not prepared to go. Trying to make you the wife that I thought I needed, rather than appreciating you for yourself.”
“I will accept your apology. I cannot leave you because you need me and I, whether I wish to or not, need you. There is work for us to do.”
“I do not think that we can work through this.”
“You are mistaken. Have faith in love and have faith in us. I have in mind a project for you and a better way for your father and your patients.”
“You have not been living in this darkness for long enough, my dear to understand the impossibility of what you suggest. Why would I start a project to anger my father or disappoint my patients and their families? I can support them without you. I have been doing that, long before you came into my life, and Eugenia and Mary can attest to that fact.”
Sophia’s brown eyes moistened.
“You would rather please others at the destruction of your very soul? To live a life without happiness, ever?”
“If you were to peer into my dark soul, you would see a disgraceful picture. I do not deserve you, or happiness.”
“I know the soul that you have shown me. I want it to shine, and I want to shine with it, but it cannot do so in this sanctuary of gloom. I require our love to grow or I can live here no longer, Vincent.”
Vincent saw the determination in her stance, she would not back down. Sophia stood in stony silence, wringing her hands back and forth.
“What do you have in mind for this project?”
“We can create a bright sanctuary in a wing of your mansion for your patients to get healthy, and a place for your father to find peace,” beamed Sophia.
“Your idea sounds most positive for my patients, but my father is a beast. He will not stand for it. He wants no peace, only dismay.”
“You tell me of these things that he wants, so he has a mission, but what of yours?”
“They are mere dreams, like the memories of my dearly departed mother. My father is as difficult to change, and as overwhelming as the renovation of this struggling estate.”
“We have to turn it around and give your father a different direction, somehow, we need to find him a reason to do something other than hate. He will have a purpose and still remain important.”
“You are not acquainted with my father. He is strong-willed.”
“Yes, but he knows how to love, he has done it before. Where there was once love, it can grow again, for a different purpose.”
“I believe that you will give up on love or on me. We will see how this goes with my father. I am willing to change this mansion for the better. I am weary of living in despair as well.”
“May I meet him tomorrow?”
Vincent relaxed his stance. “We will meet him tomorrow.”
Sophia walked out of the room.
“Where are you going, my love?” asked Vincent, puzzled
“To bed with my husband in his bedchamber,” she said, over her shoulder, her hips swinging as her determined stride carried her along the hallway.
“No, it is too close to my father’s quarters. I do not feel comfortable taking you there,” said Vincent, walking after her.
Sophia continued walking.
“I do not know where I am going, if I have to open every room to find your bed, I will do it. The project begins tonight.”
“I will lead the way then, Sophia. I must say, you have proven that you are the perfect match for me, determined to do good for others in the midst of chaos. So let us begin,” he took her hand and led her down the hallway to his rooms.
He recalled their many nights before, in her small bed. His eyes closed, in pleasure at the thought that they would have a large bed to play in. He could not wait to take part in her project, to transform his home, and himself.
Chapter Ten
Sophia sat at the dining table drinking a cup of tea. She had tossed and turned all night, not really sleeping at all, nervous about the impending meeting with Sir Stirling. She looked up as Vincent entered the room. Wonderful, now he was going to eat breakfast with her. Vincent had become an important part of her life. He was changing and he was changing her life. The last thing that she wanted was to complain to him about her restless night, when it was in his bed for the first time.
She knew that his support was real and she would do all that she could to support him. She had never played with love. She had devoted herself to Vincent, hoping that there might be love, trusting her father’s choice in giving her to this man as a token of repayment for saving her mother’s life. She loved her father, and knew that he had her best interests in mind. She would make this work.
Vincent knew how to love too. He missed the love of his mother, but respected the tough love of his father in his earlier years, before the madness had taken him. It was the most recent love that he had known and it came with a price. One he was willing to pay today.
As Vincent made his way to the table, his broad smile made her heart glow. He was as handsome as the first time that she had seen him at her mother’s bedside. She closed her eyes to capture him in her mind, as she sipped the warm tea. She hoped to feel the warmth of love from Vincent forever and to let it spread throughout the estate.
She looked at him again and noticed some irritation in his eyes. There was still hard work to be done. Sophia and Vincent had to break through the barrier of years of painful habit, and end the constant wave of grief within their home. It would always be there if they did not battle it together.
“We will take faith with us to talk with your father, Vincent.”
“We will need it,” he replied clearing his throat.
An hour passed, as Vincent and Sophia ate their breakfast in silence. Mary came to retrieve their plates and gave a pleasant smile to Sophia as she stood to leave the table. Sophia returned a small smile and nodded her head to Mary.
She left the couple without a reply.
Sophia stood beside Vincent and reached for his hand. They walked together to the stairway leading to the second story wing where his father was living. The hallway was dim with only Vincent holding a candle for light.
Sophia’s chest tightened. This was the macabre meeting she had asked for but was now dreading. She had spent many long hours of the day hearing sounds in the mansion and wondering if it was Sir George Stirling. She struggled daily to live in the cold, crumbling mansion. Only Vincent’s warm love at night and Mary’s good food and conversation kept her from running away.
Vincent gripped her hand tighter as they neared his father’s bedchambers. They entered the room to see Eugenia standing to the left of the door, holding a large lantern. The drapes were heavy and black. They were pulled close to prevent even a sliver of daylight from entering.
Sophia’s eyes dropped to Sir George Stirling’s hands and she gasped. He was shackled from wrist to bed frame, with another chain holding his ankles to the bedposts of the footboard. She wanted to plead for him to be released, but she covered her mouth to remain silent.
Vincent looked at Sophia’s reaction and watched her skin go pale. A streak of pain shot through him. Why did he have to have his wife see this?
Sophia could not take her eyes off of the skinny old man.
He was tiny, with a mass of tangled white hair on his head.
“Stop right where you are,” the old man commanded loudly.
“Let’s stop here,” whispered Vincent.
“Why?” asked Eugenia with a smile on her face.
“I have something in this bed with me and I am sure she doesn't want to inhale it,” he said squirming in the bed. He nodded in Eugenia’s direction as she returned the nod and winked approval. “Vincent, my son.”
“Yes, father,” said Vincent releasing Sophia’s hand to hold her closer around the waist. “This is Sophia, my wife. This is my father, Sir George Stirling.”
The chains clanked against the bedposts.
/> “I’m no Sir, right Missy? Tell, your wife to leave. Dear, this is no place for a beauty like you. I will treasure the sight of you though as I have when following you around.”
Sophia stepped back, remembering all of the eerie sounds she had heard during her days in Stirling Mansion. Vincent pulled her closer to his side.
“We have come to see you father. We have wonderful plans for Stirling Mansion.”
“That’s enough! I don’t want to hear of any plans. I plan for it to crumble to dust along with all of my other plans. Those women keep haunting me and leave me no peace. Now move along, Vincent, and release me from these chains Eugenia,” Sir George waved his hand in the direction of Vincent and Sophia.
Vincent hugged Sophia tightly.
“No, father. You will not talk to us in this manner. I will not have you disrespect my wife.”
“Vincent, no,” said Sophia softly. “We will follow the path of faith, not strife.”
Vincent coughed and released his arm from Sophia’s waist. He looked down at her and then turned toward his father. He walked over to his bedside. A lone tear fell from her eye as she felt the soft touch of a hand on her arm. She turned to see Mary. Her smiling blue eyes looked happy and yet in pain. Sophia breathed in, calming her heart. Vincent was here and Mary was here because she was here. Their reasoning was grounded in love.
They stood at the foot of his bed looking down at the frail old man. There was an eerie silence in the room. Her stomach tightened into a knot. The sound of the shackle made her jump.
“Why are you here?” asked Sir George looking at Mary.
“I am here to support my... sister-in-law,” said Mary throwing her shoulders back and looking Sir George in the eyes.
“Your sister-in-law? Not at all. You’ll get not one dime from me. Your mother took all of my dreams away with her. There is nothing left for you here, girl,” said Sir George turning his head away from her. Mary continued to look at him shaking her head.
Love in the Moonlight: A Regency Romance All Hallows' Eve Collection: 7 Delightful Regency Romance All Hallows' Eve Stories (Regency Collections Book 6) Page 51
