Mara: A Georgian Romance

by Barbara T. Cerny

  The boys were no longer boys, either. Jake, at nineteen, had filled out, his frame still lanky but muscular. His six-foot-two height put him well above most others in the neighborhood, and his dark-blond hair framed a ruggedly handsome face. When he went to the shops to purchase items for the Markhams’ horses, stables, or gardens, the saleswomen gazed longingly at him.

  Alvin, at seventeen, was four inches shorter than Jake, and still retained his white-blond hair. He had filled out a bit more than Jake, beginning to take on a solid and hefty appearance. Sweets were his downfall, and the kitchen staff had always allowed him more than his share.

  Luke was still as short as could be and, at seventeen, had more experience with women than the rest of them put together. His cute looks and boyish charm won over most women, and he was rarely without a girlfriend or two.

  Pete had changed the most since leaving the orphanage. He was now eighteen, and at six foot tall, he, too, had filled out, putting muscles on top of muscles while working at the smithy. He was now an imposing man. The childhood scar that ran across his face gave him a dreadful mean look that belied his usually sweet demeanor.

  Alvin, Luke, and Pete enjoyed bragging about their latest romantic conquests, but Jake never joined in the conversation. The others wondered why he seemed to have no luck with the ladies. They didn’t realize that Jake was completely smitten with their Angel Mara, and was hoping that someday he could claim her for his own.

  *****

  The winter after Mara’s sixteenth birthday, influenza hit the city once again. The Markhams decided to go to the Rochcliffe estate to escape the rising death toll.

  Mara left Cecilia to finish packing her things, and ran through the breezeway to find Jake and Alvin.

  “I’ve never been to Rochcliffe in the winter,” she began, “but I bet it is just as fun as the summer, and we’ll have a good time.”

  Jake looked at her cockeyed. “We aren’t going. Only the family is leaving London. I think only Beth and Calvin will be going along.”

  Mara was quite taken aback. “What do you mean? You can’t stay here. What about the influenza?”

  “As if your dad and mum care if we catch it and die,” Alvin scoffed.

  Mara ran back to Cecilia. “Tell me it isn’t true.”

  “What, my dear?” asked her ladies’ maid.

  “That only the family is going to Rochcliffe,” the young girl replied.

  Cecilia sighed. “Yes, love, only the five Markhams, Beth, and Calvin will leave. The rest of us will stay here to defend ourselves.”

  Mara was completely outraged.

  Cecilia tried to assuage her young charge’s emotions. “We will be fine. We won’t wander into the city much, and we have plenty of food in the larder.”

  Mara wouldn’t hear of it, however, and argued with her parents. She finally threatened not to go if the servants couldn’t go with them.

  They simply left without her. That alone let her know where she stood in their esteem—pretty much at the bottom of the heap.

  Mara was happy to see her parents go. She could now spend time at the estate without having to answer to them. She, Jake, and Alvin ventured out several times that week, enjoying the sights and sounds of the city. Mara relished these trips away from the house. Her parents rarely allowed her to leave the grounds, and she viewed her home as a gilded cage.

  One day, she and Jake had visited Luke in the cobbler shop and Pete in the smithy. They watched Luke make a pair of wonderful leather boots for Lady May, the daughter of the Duke of Cleveland. Mara was enthralled by them. She tried to pull the finished one on, but her calf was way too big. Luke said he’d be happy to make her a pair; all that was needed was for her mother to send round the order. But they all knew Lady Maureen would never outfit Mara in such beautiful shoes.

  At the smithy, Mara, Alvin, and Jake watched the rippling muscles on Pete’s bare back and arms as he pounded out a new pair of horseshoes for a handsome animal standing outside the shop. The air inside quickly became too warm for Mara, and she stepped outside the shop to breathe the cool, winter air and clear her lungs. She petted the horse waiting for his new shoes, and murmured sweet nothings in his ear. She decided she’d rather be a cobbler than a smithy!

  They took their time walking home, having spent most of the afternoon in town.

  By bedtime, Mara felt ill.

  The next morning, she was sweating profusely, complaining of a sore throat, and had a dry hacking cough with severe body aches. She wouldn’t eat soup, tea or water, and by nightfall had fallen into a feverish and deadly unconsciousness. She had somehow caught the influenza.

  Jake and Alvin felt terrible about it. They had let her talk them into taking her out, and had escorted her around. They realized they must have taken her to the place where she contracted the disease. They felt horrible that their Angel had the awful malady, yet they had escaped unscathed.

  Jake felt so bad that he decided to stay up with her all night, every night, until the fever left her. He was terrified that she might die. Memories came flooding back of the awful days and nights of eleven years ago when he had watched his parents and sister succumb one by one to the influenza. Blimey! He wasn’t going to let that happen to the only girl he’d ever loved! He couldn’t face losing someone else in his young life. So he kept his vigil at Mara’s bedside all night, calming her during her ranting and raving, wiping her brow with a cool cloth, coaxing water down to keep her hydrated, and cleaning her up when her stomach rejected it.

  He helped Cecilia, Beth, and Portia in every way. They changed her nightclothes, but he changed her bed sheets, carried her to the toilet closet as she needed it, and cleaned up the room. He took his nursing responsibility very seriously, and sat up nights with Mara to let the ladies rest. He slept in little snatches throughout the night and day, the circles under his eyes growing darker with each passing day. This is what Mara had done for him after her father whipped him, and this is what he would do for her.

  Pete and Luke both stopped by. The staff had met them when Calvin and Rory had found them jobs, but no one else in the house knew about them. They and Alvin remained outside Mara’s bedroom door, afraid to enter the sanctum of a girl’s room. But they came every evening after work, and gave their respects to the servants and Mara. Not being religious men, they still prayed in their own way. And the household staff took silent vows to never speak of the boys to the other Markham family members.

  Even Lilac, as old as she was, jumped on Mara’s bed and lay next to her to give comfort.

  In her delirium, Mara relived her life. She saw flashes of her two brothers taunting her. Her three male cousins—Oscar, Oakley, and Orville—joined forces so five boys ganged up on her. She relived their taunts, her pain, her humiliation, her turning to food for comfort. She remembered the way they hurt her and laughed at her, and the way she cried.

  Then she was in the country. She saw the interior of Rochcliffe House, which she loved almost as much as her father did. She listened to the stories her Uncle Cecil told of days of yore, of the family history, her grandparents and great-grandparents, of the importance of the viscount and its heritage. In her mind she roamed the rooms, playing make-believe, imagining herself to be a thin and beautiful princess transported back to medieval times when great warriors roamed the earth. How she loved to ride around the estate! She knew exactly why her father wanted it so much. It was the one thing she and her father had in common, the one and only bond they shared.

  She relived her schooling, sitting with Miss Perkins and learning ancient Greek mythology. She roamed the house, pretending to be a Greek goddess lording lovingly over her subjects. She remembered her math and science and geography. Doing homework and discussing politics with Miss Perkins flashed through her mind.

  Thoughts of watching the grand balls through the railings of the guest hallways came to her, and she longed to be beautiful and alive and loved like those gorgeous women in their fashionable and colorful gowns on the d
ance floor.

  Mara dreamed dreams of the orphans, how they met, how she took them in, how they found jobs, how their friendship grew. She relived Jake’s beating, crying as she tended his wounds and shouting her hatred at her father.

  But mostly she dreamed of Jake. She dreamed of his face, his hand holding hers, his smile, and her heart stopping when he looked at her in just that special way. She dreamed of him returning her love, of taking her in his arms and kissing her. She dreamed of calling out to him and saying, “I love you, Jake.” She dreamed of him taking her away and marrying her. She dreamed of a life with Jake instead of with her family.

  The fevers took her hard, and as he stood watch over her each night, Jake heard every word she said in her delirium, and felt right with the world. She said she was his. And he had known for years he was hers.

  Chapter 16

  Jake sat in the chair next to Mara’s bed, his torso and head leaning over and on the bed, resting just inches from her. He was fast asleep and had been for several hours, finding it hard to stay awake if she wasn’t talking through her feverish state. Actually, for the past couple of days and nights, her talking had abated almost completely, giving him a chance to sleep instead of wiping her hot face and neck with a cool cloth, dripping water into her mouth, and murmuring to her, just like she had done for him five years ago.

  She felt his presence first. She heard his breathing, and wondered through a thick and aching mind where they could possibly be that he was sleeping next to her. Her first thought was that she was eleven again, taking care of him after his whipping. She thought she was asleep on the edge of his cot.

  She stirred and opened her eyes, searching in the dark for the boy/man she knew was nearby. She reached up and touched her fingers to the blond head that was resting so close to her own. She then realized she was in her own room, and that Jake was partially in a chair and partially in her bed. Their roles were completely reversed.

  Jake felt her touch and raised his head. She was awake! He sat up and took her hand, running his other hand through his mop of hair and then wiping sleep from his eyes.

  “Hey, beautiful. Nice to see you join the world of the living again.”

  Mara opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Her tongue felt like it was glued to the roof of her mouth, and was three times its normal size.

  Jake turned around in his chair and pulled a glass off the table behind him. It had about two spoonfuls of water in it that he helped her drink. Holding her head up slightly, he put the glass to her lips. She sipped the cool liquid, which gave her tongue new life.

  “What are you doing here?” Her voice sounded like a croaking frog. “Why are you in my room?”

  “I’ve been here every night for eight nights taking care of you. Cecilia takes the day shift, and I take the night shift. You don’t remember any of it?”

  She shook her head. Eight days! She’s been here eight days without remembering a thing? “What…?”

  “What’s wrong?” Jake supplied the words. She nodded. “You have had the influenza, the same illness that killed my family. I was not about to lose you, too. Just like you cared for me after the whipping, I have cared for you. Turnabout is fair play, they say.” He smiled at her in the darkness.

  “More…”

  “More water?”

  She nodded.

  He turned around again and picked up the water pitcher on the bedside table, pouring a few more spoonfuls into the glass.

  This time, as he set the glass on her mattress, Jake pulled her toward him and gathered her up in his arms. Her head fell back against his shoulder as he wiped her wild hair away from her face. After eight days, it was matted against her head, but a few hearty strands bravely kept popping up and into her eyes. He then picked up the glass and held it to her like a mother would a child. She drank greedily, weakly trying to hold the bottom of it herself.

  “Eight days, really?”

  “Really.” He gently dropped the empty glass to the rug.

  “I feel so weak and tired.”

  “You will for a while.” He traced her face with his fingertips, and pushed that stray hair out of her eyes again. “But you are fine now, my love. You are fine now.” He nuzzled her forehead with his cheek.

  “My love?” Her eyes probed his as he looked down at her again.

  “Yes, my love.” And with that, he covered her mouth with his and gave her a love’s first kiss.

  Mara’s heart burst into flame. Her throat burned, her lips caught fire, her head exploded, and she saw stars. She lifted her arms to wrap them around him, but could only raise them as far as his arm, and had to be content with softly holding on there.

  Jake’s whole body reacted to this kiss in a way that he didn’t expect. His whole being shuddered and he felt tingling from his toes to his nose. It was as if every nerve in his body was being charged with invisible static. They lost themselves in the kiss, and in their own thoughts and bodies.

  Jake broke off the kiss, bringing his hand up to trace her lips. “I love you, Mara Markham. I’ve loved you from the first day I met you after crawling through that crumbling wall. You were so kind to share your food with a stranger. Then you took my friends under your wing and took care of them, too. You saved me from Snellings by convincing Calvin to hire me. I have loved you more and more every day since that first day. And I will love you until the end of time.”

  His voice was a mere whisper, but to Mara’s ears he was shouting from the rooftops. He loved her! Jake—handsome, intelligent, wonderful Jake—loved her! He loved fat, ugly Mara. She didn’t know why and she didn’t know how, but she wasn’t about to argue with him.

  “Kiss me again,” she murmured. “Kiss me forever.”

  Jake pulled her back into a kiss, more tenderly this time, kissing the corners of her mouth, kissing her chin, kissing her nose, before locking his lips with hers in another deep, wonderful kiss that only awakens with first love.

  Knowing that she should rest, Jake once again broke off their lovely kiss, straightened the bedclothes, covered her up to her chin, and leaned back in the chair. He crossed his arms. “You had best be resting more, Miss Mara. I need you strong and healthy if we are going to continue this in the future.” She smiled back at him in the darkness, feeling sleep overcoming her, drifting off with the touch of his lips seared into her memory.

  Chapter 17

  The next morning when Mara awoke, Jake was no longer at her bedside. Cecilia was pouring water into the basin on the table.

  “My, my, Miss Mara. You certainly did give us a scare! When Jake came running down the stairs this morning to tell us you woke up for a couple of minutes last night and asked for water, we were mighty happy, we were. Thank the Lord!” Cecilia was rambling on about how sick Mara had been, and how everyone had thought they were going to lose her. Mara felt like going back to sleep as Cecilia kept droning on and on.

  Mara finally interrupted. “Where is Jake?”

  Cecilia looked appraisingly at Mara, as the tone in her voice spoke more than Mara probably realized. “Why, he’s back in the stables where he belongs. He’s been working days and sitting in that chair at nights keeping you cool and giving me a chance to rest. It’s amazing him and me haven’t caught the influenza as well.”

  “I’ll have to thank him, then,” said Mara, not willing to look Cecilia in the eye, for fear she might suspect something. Mara still couldn’t believe what happened between her and Jake last night, and wasn’t willing to talk too much about him just in case. Perhaps the kiss had been part of her delirious dream. Did he really call her his love and kiss her so passionately? She was becoming excited again just thinking about it, and closed her eyes to keep Cecilia from seeing the eagerness in them.

  She couldn’t wait to see Jake again.

  Mara spent the next couple of hours receiving a good cleaning. She was too weak to walk to the bath, but Cecilia and Beth gave her a good scrubbing with washcloths and warm, soapy water. She felt better
just being clean, but couldn’t really bring herself to do more than let them move her to the chair while they changed the bed clothes and then moved her back to bed. Mostly, she slept. Gigi came up from the kitchen with a broth for her to eat. It felt good going down, but after eating about half the bowl, she couldn’t face it anymore. She slept again. As night closed in, she felt more rested, but knew she would sleep again most of the night. She was still very dehydrated, and they were pushing as much tea, water, and coffee down her as she could hold.

  Her first real disappointment came when Cecilia told her Jake wouldn’t be coming to watch over her since her condition had improved. Darn it all! The thought of him coming to her was what helped get her through the day! She couldn’t wait to taste his lips again.

  *****

  On the third day after she awoke, Mara felt strong enough for a bath, and asked Cecilia to set one up. She desperately wanted her hair washed, and was tired of cloth baths in bed. The biggest challenge would be walking to the tub. Portia and Beth brought the tub in and began the difficult task of filling it with water, which had to be brought up from the kitchen in pails. Cecilia pulled a chair close to the tub for Mara to sit while she undressed.

  The maids tried to lift Mara up off the bed, but to no avail. She had lost some weight during her illness, but her legs were still too weak to support her, and Beth and Portia weren’t strong enough to carry her meaty frame, either.