Riverbreeze: Part 1 (32 page)

Elizabeth tried to hide her smile. She didn’t
want to encourage him. “Oh stop it.” She slapped at his arm.

Robert continued to laugh. “I’d hate to have
to marry a girl with black teeth or one who needed to spend our
wedding night in the privy.”

Elizabeth finally joined him in the laughter.
“You know…” she said, lowering her voice and looking over her
shoulder to make sure there was no one behind them, ashamed of
herself for what she was about to say. “…I’m not sure if either one
of them is clever enough to think of such things!”

“Elizabeth! You surprise me!” He said,
putting on the act of a scolding elder.

“Oh come now. Do you really believe their
little pea-sized brains would think of something like that?”

“No.” Robert said, chuckling. “Still, if I
were you, I’d sleep with one eye open.”

They had arrived at the doorway of the master
bedchamber and Elizabeth shushed him with a finger to her lips. If
Robin was asleep, she didn’t want to take any chance of waking him.
And she was afraid that if he was on the verge of falling asleep,
hearing his father’s voice might disrupt his feeding and completely
wake him up. And then it might be almost impossible to get him to
lie down again and go to sleep.

Side by side, they both peered into the room.
By the light of one candle, they could see Lynette sitting on the
floor, her back against the wall for support, with Robin across her
lap, the back of his head blocking the sight of her bared breast.
Her head was drooping forward and her eyes were closed.

“Why is she sitting on the floor?” Robert
whispered.

“So she can easily lay him down on the
trundle bed when he’s finished.”

“Oh.”

“I wish I were nursing him.” She said
wistfully, continuing to gaze upon the tender scene before them. “I
cannot wait to be a mother.”

She sensed, rather than saw, Robert turn
sharply to look at her. Surely she hadn’t surprised him with her
statements. He had to have seen how quickly she had bonded with
Robin and how much she already loved him. And if he didn’t know how
much she wanted to be the mother of his children, she would show
him soon enough.

She turned to meet his gaze and was
completely confused by the expression on his face. He was looking
at her as if he were in great pain or as if he were burdened by
some deepest sorrow, and she almost wished she could take the words
back and have him joking and laughing again.

“What are you thinking?” She asked gently,
looking into his eyes, wishing she could read his mind. What had
she said that had caused him such distress?

“I once knew another young woman who had said
those exact same words to me.”

He answered quietly.

And then Elizabeth understood and her heart
went out to him. “Your wife.” She whispered.

He nodded and moved around her so he was back
in the hallway. He leaned against the wall as he said, “She was so
keen on having lots of babies. She was terribly impatient, she
prayed daily to be blessed and when she finally learnt she was with
child, she was overjoyed. Over the next months the baby was all she
talked about; what we were going to name him, who was he going to
look like, and every day, again, she prayed for the baby, that he
would be strong and healthy.”

“I’m so sorry.” Elizabeth whispered, also
turning away from the doorway so she could face him.

But Robert continued as if he were in a
trance. “When her time came closer I wanted to bring her here so
she would be close to Maureen and help could be fetched if it was
needed. But Kathleen said no; she insisted she wanted to have our
first child at home in her own bed and I loved her so much and
didn’t want to risk upsetting her that I let her have her way.”

“Oh Robert…” Elizabeth wanted to cry with
him. Now she did touch his face ever so gently, but there was
really nothing she could do to take away his pain.

He took a deep, shuddering breath. “That day
everything happened so fast…I had always heard that it wasn’t
supposed to be that quick…and we were alone and I couldn’t leave
her. She was ever so brave. She knew something was wrong; there was
so much blood, it seemed to be pouring out of her, but she wanted
to hold her son anyway and she put him to her breast and we laughed
when he latched on.” He took another deep breath. “I couldn’t do
anything to save her; I didn’t know what to do. I pleaded with God
to save her,
pleaded
with Him, but He
didn’t hear me. And she died. And now I look at you…” Robert said,
caressing her soft cheek with his fingertips and then one fair
eyebrow and then along the line of her jaw and over her slightly
parted lips. “…and I see another young, beautiful woman and I
wonder, will I lose her too? Will the great Almighty God…” he
sneered. “…take another wife from me and another mother from her
child?”

Elizabeth reached up and pressed his hand
against her cheek. She made the decision then and there to reveal
her secret. It was a risk, she knew most people thought of her
‘gift’ as a sign of the devil, but she desperately wanted to
reassure him that he would not have to go through that kind of pain
again. And she suspected, by the way he had acted during prayers at
the funeral and by the tone of his voice just moments ago, that he
had already strayed from the church and its teachings. She felt
safer telling him her secret than she would have felt telling
anyone else whose lives were guided by the word of God and the fear
of the Devil. “No.” She said firmly. “No, He will not take me from
you.”

“How can you know that?” He asked. “How can
anyone know what God will do?

“I do not know all of God’s plans for us, but
I do know that He will not take me from you and our children for a
long time.”

Robert shook his head, trying to understand.
“You cannot know that! You…”

“Shh.” She hushed him, impatient to tell him
the truth. She held his hand between her two. Her voice lowered. “I
have dreams, Robert; I have dreams that come true…No, do not
speak.” She had to quickly release his hand to place her fingertips
to his lips when he reacted to her words by opening his mouth,
ready to voice she didn’t know what. Most people would be afraid or
worse, accuse her of witchcraft. “Listen to me first. Listen to
everything I have to say before speaking your mind. Please…”

He nodded, not saying a word.

Satisfied that he would listen, she took her
fingers away and continued. “The first dream I remember coming true
was when I was four years old. Evelyn had the same dream the same
night and it frightened us terribly. We had dreamt that there was
going to be a storm the next day, a bad, bad storm with winds that
would knock trees down and lightning that would strike the Tower.
We told our governess and she calmed us and held us and whispered
to us that we must never speak of our dreams to anyone but her, not
even to our father. And we haven’t until this moment. I have never
told anyone, Robert.”

“Then why are you telling me now?”

“Because I want to ease your mind. Because
you are going to be my husband and I want you to know. I was going
to wait until after we were married, but you were so upset. I
wanted you to know so that you no longer have any reason to
worry.”

“And you really think I will believe
you?”

“I hope so. I would never lie to you, Robert.
Listen to the rest of my story and then decide if you can believe
me.”

She waited anxiously while he took a deep
breath and let it out through his nose. At last he said, “All
right.”

She also let out a relieved sigh. “Thank
you.” She said. “Since then Evelyn and I have had dreams every few
months or so that have come true. The dreams have shaped the way we
live our lives, helping us to avoid accidents or situations that
would cause us harm. There were even a few times when we were able
to convince our father to stay home by feigning illness. That was
the only way we could help him because our governess wouldn’t allow
us to tell him the truth. She was so afraid of what he might do or
what other people would do if they found out. Of course we had
other dreams that were just dreams with no significance and somehow
we always knew the difference. There’s a different quality to the
dreams, a different feeling…” She shook her head, stopping when she
couldn’t put the idea into words. “anyway, the one dream that meant
the most to me happened when I was fourteen—“(and had started to
bleed, she didn’t mention that but was thinking it--) “I had the
dream that foretold my future. It gave me great peace rather than
frighten me because it showed me that I would have a loving family
and peace and happiness into old age. The dream wasn’t complete and
it was as if I were looking through a fog so that I couldn’t see
certain details or faces, but I saw myself in a modest room,
sitting in a chair with grown children around me and my husband
walking towards me. He was carrying a tray filled with a fine,
glass decanter and matching wine glasses. And there was also a
small, gilt box on the tray and everyone was smiling and
happy…”

Elizabeth paused when she saw how still
Robert had become. He seemed to be studying her as if he still
couldn’t decide whether to believe her or not. He just seemed to be
waiting, waiting for what she didn’t know. If it had been anyone
else she would have said he was waiting for lightning to strike her
or waiting for the hand of God to smite her down, but Robert
appeared to be interested rather than damnatory.

“How do you know it was me in your dream?” He
finally asked in a surprisingly calm voice.

“I didn’t at that time. But last night I had
another dream and I saw your face and…” She stopped, blushing
furiously. She looked down at the floor, hoping to hide her
face.

”And what?” He urged, lifting up her face
with a gentle pressure under her chin.

“And when I saw you this afternoon, I knew.”
She said in a small voice, hoping he would believe her and let the
matter rest.

But he was smarter than that. He eyed her
intently. “You’re not telling me something. Something else happened
in that dream that you do not want me to know about. Come,
Elizabeth, you just told me you would never lie to me.”

Why was she being so silly about this?
Tomorrow night they were going to be husband and wife. She wasn’t
afraid of intimacy or embarrassed by it. Her governess had even
given her and Evelyn lessons in seduction
a la
francaise
. So boldly meeting his gaze, she said, “You were
making love to me.”

Robert let out a surprised laugh. “You
continue to amaze me, Elizabeth.” Then he lowered his voice
teasingly. “Did you enjoy it?”

“Oh
oui, beaucoup
.”
She breathed, turning slightly pink again.

He groaned a little. “Oh no, French again?
Promise me you won’t make me look too much like of a fool.”

“Je promets
.” She
said coquettishly.

“Elizabeth…” His voice was low and
warning.

She laughed a little. “All right. I promise I
won’t make you look like a fool.” But he never made her promise to
never speak in French. She would take advantage of that and planned
to speak in French whenever it pleased her.

“Thank you.” He said. There was a pause and
then he said, “You know, I do not understand it, but I suddenly
feel better. I shouldn’t after what you’ve just told me; ‘tis crazy
to believe you; everyone knows that no one can see into the future
except for witches and sorcerers.”

“I am not a witch, Robert.” She said firmly.
“I believe in your heart you know that.”

“I do, Elizabeth. And I also understand now
why you didn’t object to the terms of the will. You knew all
along.”

She just nodded.

“And you put up with all my nonsense.”

She nodded again, a little smile on her
face.

“May I kiss you?” He asked out of the
blue.

Finally
, Elizabeth
thought.
Maureen had been right. I just needed to
be patient
. He had finally come around. When she had had
that first dream she thought it would be so easy; she thought she
would meet the right man, it would be love at first sight and they
would live happily ever after. She hadn’t expected to have to
compete against a dead wife; and she had felt sympathy for Robert,
but his reluctance had started to annoy her. Now they could just
let life happen and enjoy it, knowing that they had years and years
ahead of them. It was such a relief. “You may kiss me all you
like…” She said, reaching up and tenderly stroking his hair back
from his face. She had wanted to do that ever since she had
recognized him as her husband but not in the capacity of nursemaid
as she had found herself when she had tended to the cut on his
cheek. “…and once we are married where ever you like.”

His eyes widened, but Elizabeth only smiled.
She waited, her heartbeat speeding up, while he placed his stick
against the wall. And then with both hands he cupped her face as if
it were made of the most delicate porcelain. “I predict I am going
to enjoy that garden of delight after all, night after night and
night.” He said, lowering his lips to hers, but before he actually
made contact, she said, “It will be my pleasure, sir.”

And he crushed her to him and kissed her as
if he were starving. And it was just as it had been in her dream.
He was so strong, so commanding; even when he had been cradling her
face in his big hands ever so gently, she could sense the strength
in them. And suddenly she wanted to feel those hands all over her
body, over every sensitive inch of flesh, until she was gasping for
breath and moaning his name. The image was so clear in her mind
that her legs began to tremble and she sagged a little in his arms.
But he was quick to catch her as she knew he would and she reveled
in his passionate embrace.