We're picking up right where we left off, so to recap:
As we entered, I saw HER immediately.
She was a tall woman, beautiful with long dark curls cascading down her back. Her dress was of gossamer white lace, the hem embroidered with roses. Her mouth was quirked up in a half smile, one brow arched as if she were asking a question, or possibly daring someone to tell her she didn't belong. No one could have said that to this woman; her natural aura of grace and confidence was unmistakable. I turned to look at Adam, and his face had gone deathly white, his hand clamping down hard on mine. He looked as if he'd seen a ghost, and as he spoke, I realized how appropriate that was. He stared at the beautiful woman and uttered a single word.
"Regina."
*****
"Regina, what the hell are you doing here?" Adam dropped my arm and strode across the room to the woman. "You promised never to come back! You swore to me!" He was fuming, his face red with rage.
The woman - Regina? - smiled.
"I've changed my mind, Adam darling." She spoke with a little tinkling laugh, as if the whole thing was just far too amusing.
My heart was hammering against my ribcage; my head felt light and dizzy. Regina was dead, she was dead, so who was this woman?
"Damn it, Regina, you SWORE!" Adam grabbed her shoulder roughly, but she shook his hand off.
"Hands off, you beast! Lest you've forgotten, I am still your wife by law, and a proper lady! I'll thank you to treat me with the respect such a position commands." Her head gave a haughty little toss, and she looked my way for the first time. "What's this then, a dalliance with a servant girl? How trite. Adam darling, you could do better." She laughed dismissively, and my heart sank in my chest. What was going on? How could this woman be Regina?
"Ignore her, Belle," said Adam to me. Of course it was impossible for that to happen. My brain buzzed with questions, but my confusion silenced me. "Why have you come back?" he asked Regina. "Surely your gardener can't have grown tired of you already." Gardener? What was going on? Regina turned to Mrs. Delvers and indicated her trunks.
"Del, darling, won't you bring these up to my room? His lordship and I will be finishing our conversation there, in privacy." She cast a glance in my direction as she spoke, and then swept from the room in a cloud of rose scent. "Come join me when you get rid of the little scullery maid," she said to Adam at the door, then continued upstairs.
"Belle," he turned to me. His expression was pleading.
"I don't understand," I said thickly. "Your wife is dead."
"Sit down," he said, gesturing toward the settee. "I'll explain as best I can." Obediently I sat, and Lord August sat beside me, taking my hand into his lap and holding it.
"Regina never loved me, as I've told you. I didn't think she was capable of love. We had an agreement though, that she would act the part so long as I gave her what she wanted, and I would be spared the humiliation of divorce. The people would never have the same respect for their lord if I were to go against the church and divorce her, do you understand?" I nodded, though I wasn't sure I did. He continued, "Our arrangement worked well for a few years, if she had affairs she was discreet about them, and no one ever suspected we were anything less than perfectly happy in our marriage. Then the unthinkable happened: Regina fell in love.
"Not with me, of course, but with a common gardener. She'd invite him to her bed, they coupled on the grounds, everywhere. I knew about it but dismissed it, thinking she would tire of him soon as she did everyone else. She became careless, putting herself in positions where she might get caught. Eventually I approached her about it. She laughed in my face, told me she loved him. She wanted to leave with him, to live far away from me and be truly happy in her love. I couldn't let her flaunt her affair so publicly, though my heart ached to be rid of her. We plotted a story, and she agreed to it: we would fake her death. In return for my helping her and giving her money to start her new life, she swore she would never return, and would live far away under an assumed name to relieve suspicion.
"She left in the middle of the night, and her lover and I sent her little boat out, setting up the scene of her 'death'. It worked perfectly, even Mrs. Delvers didn't suspect the ruse. She left and I haven't heard from her in years. I don't know why she's come back now, unless she's run out of money or simply grown tired of her gardener, finally. I'll find a way to get rid of her, and things can go on as planned. This changes nothing, Belle."
"Things cannot go on as planned," I objected. My mind was muddled from the events of the evening but on one thing I was perfectly clear. "You're still married to her! I cannot marry another woman's husband! You've deceived me so cruelly." My eyes were filling with tears despite my best efforts. How foolish I had been!
"No, Belle, She has never been a wife to me, and I am sure she does not mean to be one now. You are the one I want by my side, the one I need," his voice was urgent, his eyes boring into mine. "Only a small piece of paper declares she and I bound, but never our actions, and this," he raised my hand to his chest, placing it over his heart, "Belongs to you." I was moved by his words, but I could not give in.
"No," I whispered. "Your heart may be yours to give at will, but your hand in marriage is not." I withdrew my hand from his, though it broke my heart to do so. "I'm sorry."
Lord August stared into the fire.
"I am a fool," he said.
"Please, I have to go," I pleaded. "I cannot stay here." He said nothing, but continued staring into the fire. The urge to escape was overwhelming, and I made to turn to my room, but reconsidered. Why should I stay here? How could I stay here? In a few hours, the situation had changed so drastically. I could not remain in this castle with his wife. I had brought nothing with me when I'd come to the castle, save my clothes, and those were long gone. There was nothing to stop me from leaving right now. The dress I had on was ill-suited for traveling, but I didn't care at that moment. Instead of walking to the stairs, I walked to the great doors, turning to look at Adam - Lord August - one last time.
"Goodbye." I whispered, then opened the door and walked outside. I closed the doors firmly, leaving him still sitting and staring. Some small part of me hoped he'd come running after me as he usually did when I left him, but I walked ahead firmly, my head held high and not looking back. He didn't follow.
*
My family welcomed me home with surprise and cheer, happy to see their daughter and sister home again. I am sure my somber mood seemed strange to them, given that I was finally home. They asked question after question about my time with Lord August, though they eventually stopped when they grew tired of my short answers. My father pulled me aside one day to ask, very evasively, if I had been ill-used by his lordship, but I assured him I had not, and that seemed to satisfy his curiosity. I didn't elaborate on the exact circumstances of our time together. I threw myself into the farm work, toiling dawn till dusk to distract my thoughts from what had almost been. After a time, our routines became settled again and life went on as it had before the great rose debacle. My heart was heavy and aching every day, but I put on a smile for them, and for the villagers.
*
"We're getting new neighbors!" gasped Mary as she came dashing through the door one day. My sisters had loved gossip back in our old life, as once they settled into their new circumstances they were no different. Whether it was a ball or barn-raising, new ballgown or new broad mare, they enjoyed knowing what other people were up to. The house next to our little farm had been vacant since we'd moved in. "A family with a son - our age!" she elaborated. Margaret had been receiving special attention from the smith's apprentice and we were all assuming he'd ask for her hand as soon as he was able to open up his own forge. Mary had been rather keen of late to find her own suitor, flirting with and rejecting most of the lads in town save the merchant's son, who was already betrothed to a distant cousin. She spent much time mooning over their supposed love affair and how tragic it all was. Privately I suspected she didn't really care one way or another for the boy, but merely enjoyed painting herself the star-struck heroine of the story. It was harmless either way and we let her have her amusement.
"Good, about time that land was put to proper use." Father had taken to farming like a duck to water, and he often grumbled about the 'waste of fine, tillable soil' next door. "And perhaps one of my girls will catch this son's eye, hmm?" he smiled at Mary and I, though catching any lad's eye was the last thing on my mind. Mary giggled and flushed, apparently forgetting her one true love. Ever since Margaret had hinted she might be pursuing a more serious commitment with the smith's apprentice Father had taken it into his head that all three of his daughters should marry, and soon. It made sense; any girl who waited too long past her prime would swiftly be labeled an old maid, and any father would want to know his daughters would be taken care of should something happen to him.
Within the week our new neighbors appeared, and we sisters brought them a jar of our raspberry preserves to welcome them. They were a cheerful couple, obviously used to farm work, who had come from a smaller village and a smaller farm. They'd been successful there and hoped to be even more so here. Their son Gavin was a strapping young man, quick to smile and eager to escort us girls home when the time came. Margaret walked ahead contentedly, smiling the satisfied smile of one who's future was decided while Mary and I each took one of Gavin's arm at his insistence.
"I must be the luckiest man in town, a beautiful woman on each arm!" he declared jovially. Mary smiled and flushed and flirted, but to my dismay he seemed to focus more of his attention on me. I tried to discourage him with short answers.
"I hear you have been out traveling of late, Belle" he said.
"Mmm." I nodded my head, but made no further response. My father and sisters had decided, after my abrupt departure, to give out word that I had gone to visit relatives rather than expose the true reason.
"Anywhere interesting?" pursued Gavin.
"Not particularly."
