Madame LeFleur nodded her head and curtsied low. “Oui, Monsieur.”
“I expect to see the emerald dress in her purchase, good day Madame,” Thomas pronounced, placing his hat back on his head just before he left.
Gwendolyn came out moments later, brushing down the elegant grey lustring dress. She was admiring herself in the mirrors when a blur of cream satin took her focus. She did it on purpose; Gwendolyn realized as she turned around and eyed Katrina wearing her wedding dress. Breath taking was all Gwendolyn thought. Absolutely, awe inspiring…and oh so devious.
On Romantic lines, the dress had a standing pleated ruff, with a train of lace extending several feet. With bands of ribbons decorating her waistline, shirt and sleeves, the front neckline was draped in muslin with hundreds of eye-catching pearls dotting the bodice.
Gwendolyn immediately glanced away and felt Katrina’s presence at her neck. “Thomas had the satin imported from India. The lace was imported from Holland, and my headpiece was made in Spain. Thomas made sure that I was the most beautiful bride,” she quietly voiced in her hair, “And ordered all new gowns for me on our honeymoon voyage to the West Indies.”
Spiteful, spiteful girl, Gwendolyn thought, swallowing the urge to rip off that dress. “Thomas has good taste in costumes.”
“He never loved you, he told me so.”
A direct bite; her toxin, sedating her throbbing heart. Gwendolyn bit down on her lower lip, “It does not matter—I never cared for him either.”
“He is mine and will always been mine, and no one, not even a former—” Katrina held in her maliciousness until Madame LeFleur was out of hearing distance, “Dalliance of his can take him away. Because that’s all you really were to him. Thomas requires more from a woman than just reciprocal friendship, he needs a warm body to embrace him in the dark…touch and hold him in return. He is very lustful, my Tommy, and appreciates a woman’s body and how it feels next to his.”
“Enough—”
“Last evening when he took me to bed, he overwhelmed me with his passion, by God, the man is gifted—I could hardly keep up. Thomas requires warmth, not words.”
Gwendolyn lifted up her jaw, and with every possible piece of dignity she had remaining, she voiced, “If you are fond of your tongue, Katrina, I would watch what I say.”
“Are you threatening me? Why you meager girl, you no longer hold importance to him.”
Gwendolyn withheld her misery. “To look at you on the outside Katrina, you are a vision of perfection, but to know you on the inside, you are nothing but a heartless parasite and one day you’ll get your comeuppance.” Gwendolyn ran around Katrina’s venomous form and bumped right smack into Madame LeFleur.
“Mademoiselle, why are you crying?” She asked, holding Gwendolyn by the shoulders and soaking in her sadness.
“You have such beautiful dresses here Madame LeFleur,” Gwendolyn lied, wiping her tears away, “I am crying with joy because I cannot wait to take them back home with me.”
“You are leaving soon?”
“Yes, the sooner, the better,” Gwendolyn uttered, bowing her head.
“Then I will have your purchases packed for you at once.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Gwendolyn head up to the far east tower of Gisleham Manor where she was always able to see Wilderbrand from its window sill. Sitting on the casement ledge, Gwendolyn rolled up in a ball and started to weep. He’s alive and he’s still drifting away…
Her restraint from seeing him daily took over in a stubborn way. She didn’t know how to deal with the fact that her authentic consortium was to be kept concealed, while his second marriage to Katrina was to be rejoiced. Having never been jealous of another woman before, she resented Katrina for being able to prepare for their upcoming wedding, which meant Katrina was able to see Thomas. Oh! Gwendolyn hated feeling like this…this persistent tug at her heart. What she wouldn’t give to have just a little piece of his attention! So many years of longing for their close friendship, she wanted to continue on with it, not move it aside. It was like he was purposely avoiding her and each and every time she heard he was away; her heart broke just a little bit more because of it. She hated leaving Thomas without an explanation yesterday, having taken a separate carriage in return to Wilderbrand. She did not see him at supper that night and he was off again this morning.
“Malady, I have never seen you cry so much,” Phyllis quietly voiced, arriving up next to Gwendolyn. She looked out of the window and saw the tower of Wilderbrand beyond in the distance. “A fortunate girl like you shouldn’t have to weep for substance when she has the universe a plenty.”
Gwendolyn began to laugh and wiped away her tears, “Are you speaking about Charles?”
“And a fine man he is Gwendolyn,” Phyllis agreed patting Gwendolyn’s hand. “Why, we’ve been here no more than five days, and His Grace has shown nothing but common courtesy to you.”
“He is avoiding me,” Gwendolyn sneezed into her skirts. “There is something different about Thomas now,” she reasoned, turning to look at the tower again. “It seems I cannot detain him longer than five minutes to detect it.”
“Why don’t you talk a walk in the sunshine maybe that will make you feel better? Being in this house only makes you grieve.”
Gwendolyn touched her friend’s face with admiration, “You are absolutely right Phyllis and I will go take a walk in the sun.”
Odd how just a few days ago she was at the same lake, melancholy for the attachment she had with a boy, when at present, she had been awarded a glorious gift to continue the connection with the man.
Stopping at the water’s edge, Gwendolyn suddenly was taken over with memories of her and Thomas as children. Diving into the water from the oak tree’s ridge, daring each other to see who could swim the lake the fastest, burying treasure by the shore’s grassy rim. Buried treasure? She recalled excitedly.
Gwendolyn instantly looked down and tried to remember the last time she was there. Her and Thomas were playing shipwrecked buccaneers and decided to bury her mother’s jewelry chest. Oh yes, the jewelry chest! Feeling energized all of a sudden, Gwendolyn roamed the surface, trying to recall where the box had lied. Kicking off her slippers, she ran aimlessly all over the grass speculating its location. After several mind-boggling minutes of trying to find the container’s mystery position, Gwendolyn finally gave up and threw her hands up in the air, surrendering to the abolished mission.
“I believe it is over there.”
Gwendolyn turned around and felt her heart drop, the vista of the man subtracting a mouthful of air. A frilly white loose shirt, buckskin pantaloons tucked into leather riding boots never looked so well on a male before. Feeling the saliva deserting her mouth, Gwendolyn blushed and turned away. “Oh?” She barely got out, licking her bottom lip. “For some reason, I thought we buried the chest closer to the water.”
Thomas shuffled through the wheat grass and headed straight for her. Passing her to some extent, he surveyed the ground and the stability of the dirt. “As I recall, the lake was extensive then. The water level has gone down tremendously. The oak tree used to be by the water’s rim, remember?” He said, pointing to the massive milestone. “We used to dive from that branch there into the deep end. We could not do that now, we’d hit solid ground.”
With his dynamic shape unquestionably enticing, Gwendolyn sighed heavily and marched away from him. Thomas immediately followed her, and Gwendolyn smiled inwardly. He was a magnet, she thought happily, nervously wringing her palms onto her skirt. “Then, if I recall correctly, then it should be right here,” she playfully voiced, pointing her toe to the ground.
Thomas idly looked down at her bare foot. “I beg to differ,” he protested in jest, walking passed her. “I believe it should be…right here,” he claimed, digging his heel into the ground.
Gwendolyn smiled then looked down at his boot. “Well…we’ll just have to see about that,” she voiced, buckling to her knees, plowing the earth.
“Gwendolyn, you’ll get dirty.”
“So?”
“Aren’t you coming to the party?”
Gwendolyn looked up at him and brushed away some hair that fell in her face, “You wish me at your engagement party?” She sniggled, “So I am finally allowed liberty?”
“I’ve been thinking.”
“Does it hurt?”
Thomas smiled inwardly and looked away from her, “I will introduce you as my cousin. Henry nearly thought so, why not everyone else? In any event I would like to see you enjoy the rest of your stay, I cannot appear to be inhospitable.”
“Phewy to your honor,” she retorted, “Tis your ego that I have always tried to challenge.”
Thomas leaned down to help Gwendolyn with her search. She had dug a deep hole and he was beginning to wonder if he was incorrect. “That’s an understatement if I ever heard one,” he agreed.
Gwendolyn snickered and remembered his recollection. “I was always trying to dare you at something or another was I not?”
“Testing me is a better word for it,” he added, cropping up dirt with both hands.
“I was able to dive farther than you,” she said with a sense of triumph.
“Little did you know back then…I let you.”
Gwendolyn’s mouth flew open wide. “Why you big lout.”
Thomas cupped his fingers into the dirt one last time and scooped up the soil around the small chest. “Ah-ha!” He exclaimed, puffed up pleased with himself. “I knew it was here!”
Gwendolyn sat down now and tucked her legs to the side. “Bigheaded oaf,” she kept teasing, picking up the chest and unlocking the latch. Gasping in awe that everything was still there, Gwendolyn’s jaw fell to the ground.
“Close your mouth Gwendolyn, you remind me of some of the goldfish in my ponds.”
Gwendolyn smiled inwardly again and admired all her mother’s old jewelry: Rings, pendants, necklaces, combs, ear bobs and a tiara… priceless. “I bet,” she uttered, admiring a necklace, bringing it up into the sun, “I could throw a rock farther than you across the lake.”
Thomas looked down at her lips, “And what do I get if I win?”
Gwendolyn lowered the necklace and watched his eyes meet hers. “You may have your choice of jewels in the chest I just unburied.”
Thomas chortled, “You unburied? Ha!” Thomas stood up with Gwendolyn and arched his brow. “I accept the wager,” he said, picking up a rock. Walking towards the water’s edge, he flicked it towards the lake, skipping it across the water nearly to the middle.
Gwendolyn watched the rock submerge and then picked up her own stone. Showing his shocked gaze that it was indeed larger than his he just threw, Gwendolyn flipped it perfectly and eyed it as it frolicked several times above the basin to a point farther than his.
“Very good,” he seemed satisfied by the performance. “I see you have been practicing.”
“My daughter loves the water as well,” she spurted unconsciously, “We challenge each other to a competition—which could throw the farthest.”
“Your daughter?” He asked thunderstruck.
Gwendolyn brought her hands up over her mouth. She did not mean to tell him so abruptly and nonchalant! Thomas suddenly stood grave, unsure and shocked. Oh so traumatized! “Oh God Thomas, I am so sorry, I tried to tell you, tried to get you alone, but you have been so busy, never at the manor, always away, always with Katrina.”
Thomas tried to mouth out the words, “Wh—what, are you saying Gwendolyn?”
Gwendolyn reached out for him, but held back her contact. “You have a daughter Thomas,” she cried, releasing tears of joy. “Her name is Mary; I named her after my mother.”
Thomas ran his fingers through his hair, pinning it back with clasped hands. “I…have a child?”
“Yes,” Gwendolyn cried, wiping away tears from her cheeks.
“How? I mean, oh God, I know how,” he shook his head, suddenly feeling foolish to a degree, “But when?”
“Ten years ago,” Gwendolyn voiced with despondency. “When we returned to Yorkshire, I was so sick; my Great-Aunt thought I might have gotten yellow fever. Vomiting and sleeping all day, I was bedridden for three months. When the doctor was finally able to examine me thoroughly, he gave me the news.” Gwendolyn suddenly stopped and recalled her vivid joyful tidings. “Three months enceinte…Pale and thin, I was never happier.”
“Never happier?” He repeated, gripped to her every word.
“Ecstatic Thomas!” Gwendolyn exclaimed, suddenly glaring into the sky. “Oh so jubilant…”
Thomas was enthralled by her admission. “Why?”
Gwendolyn brought her head down from the heavens to meet his eyes, “Because, Thomas…having her meant I would never be alone.”
Thomas felt the urge to wrap his arms around her body and pull her into him. Oh…dear…God, the circumstances intensified. He had a child…a daughter with Gwendolyn…a descendant to solidify their short union? He suddenly felt an unpleasant yearning, an unfulfilled ache to know his seedling. “What…what she like?”
“Oh God Thomas, you should see her, she looks so much like you,” she suddenly laughed with liberation.
“Like me?” He asked astonished.
“Pitch-black hair, green eyes, skin so tan, it turns chestnut in the summertime. She is precocious, fun-loving…curious. She hungers for affection and has a quick temper. Oh, let me tell you Thomas, I oftentimes have to scold her for being so direct.”
“How is that?” He invited, intrigued.
“One time she disobeyed me and ended up getting hurt. Oh she was all right in the end, but the disobedience served purposeful. She was so agreeable after the incident; she turned into a different child.
She is like that, Mary, her personality topsy-turvy…but with all her unpredictability, I consider her my sanctuary.”
“And why is that?” Thomas asked, further absorbed.
Gwendolyn stared at him and searched his face for the apparent clarification. “Isn’t it obvious?”
Thomas thought he knew the resolve but wanted to hear it confessed. “Enlighten me.”
Because she was my gift from you, Gwendolyn thought, but said instead, “She was a continuation of our wonderful friendship and cherished memories…a token to hold through life.”
Thomas could not withstand his mania any longer and grabbed Gwendolyn into him. “I do apologize that you’ve had to raise her alone,” he whispered openly, caressing the back of her head.
Gwendolyn felt instant comfort from within his enclosure. His body warm, like a tepid bath; soothing her frosty skin on this frenzied day. And, oh God, the smell of him, her nostrils rejoicing from fresh laundered linen, musk from some unknown scent of his and magnetic masculinity. “You do not know how many years I have wanted to hear you say that,” she voiced, closing her eyes. Slowly, she allowed her hands to roam up his muscular back…never in her life had she felt anything so exhilarating.
Thomas’ unpredicted contact with her body caused an unanticipated spur he had not counted on in midday. He wanted to do more than just hold her. He wanted to pull down her bodice and examine new heights, drag her to the dirt and buss his lips across unforgettable bare limbs. He commanded his stance and let go of her quickly, setting her back several feet away.
Gwendolyn opened her eyes and nearly lost equilibrium. Dizzy from dreaming of a life within his arms, she quickly blinked back to reality.
Dare To Love Page 11
