Chapter Fourteen:
I was just about to blow out the candle on my nightstand when there was a knock on the door. Strange, I thought. No one ever comes to check on me during the night. No one ever has. Not even when I was a small child did anyone do something such as this.
I sat up waiting to see if there was going to be another knock on my door. There it was again; a single tap.
“Mary Jane, are you awake?” a masculine voice asked from on the other side of the door.
“Come in,” I called, resting my hands in my lap, on top on the silk blankets.
The door slowly opened and in stepped Nicholas in a pair of trousers. He quietly closed the door behind him with a smile on his face. “Hello,” he said, walking towards the bed.
What in the world did he want at this hour? It was clearly past midnight.
“What is it?”
“I just came to talk.”
“Oh? About what?” I asked with a tilt of my head.
“The horse riding.”
“I see.”
Somehow I knew that was what he had come to talk to me about. I just feared that there was something more he wanted than just a tête-à-tête. Thinking this, I pointed to my couch. “Take a seat.”
“Do you regret what we did today?” He sat down on the couch.
“I do not think so.”
“We did almost get caught be some of your mother’s maids.”
“True. I told you we were bound to get caught.”
“What do you think we were doing out there?”
“Same as us.”
“Actually, you just said that the servants could possibly catch us.”
“Oh. I must have been thinking it then.” I paused. “Then we were lucky to find that our parents were passed out from the drinking.”
He laughed a little before agreeing, “When we came in soaking wet I feared that we would have to explain.”
“Me too.”
“But I think it was worth it.”
I smiled at him with a wink. He slowly walked to my side and kissed me. His arms went around me as we kissed, sitting down on the edge of the four-poster bed. The kiss slowly ended.
“It feels like an eternity till the wedding,” he insisted. “I do not think I will be able to keep myself from climbing into bed with you for much longer.”
“Well, then maybe you should go back to your room,” I suggested thoughtfully.
“I am never letting you go.”
My fiancé placed another kiss on my lips. He kissed me eagerly, fiercely even. When I finally managed to end it, we were both breathless.
“Nicholas, I do not want to risk getting caught. We almost did outside,” I exclaimed, looking into his serious blue eyes.
“Our parents are unconscious in the sitting room from alcohol and shan’t be awoken for many hours,” he stated irritated. “Does anyone check on you during the night?”
“No.”
“Never?”
“Never.”
“Then what is stopping us?”
“Nicholas, please do not do this.”
Then against my protests, Nicholas climbed into the bed next to me. There was nothing I could do to make him leave without causing any trouble so I did not reject him that night like I probably should have.
* * *
The bolt of lightning lit up the darkness enough for me to see the men’s expressions. Matthew was infuriated while James was frightened so badly that his face was white.
It began pouring down rain as cold as ice, which stung as if I had just been cut with the dagger the man was holding. Suddenly, the knife began to slide out of James’s hands, causing a smile of pleasure to form at the corners of his mouth.
“Matthew, I promise I will not tell!” my fiancé screamed.
“It is too late for that.”
A scream rang from my mouth as the knife came down. It went through his heart causing me to feel nauseous and faint. I know the sight drained the color from my face.
The look of surprise that filled his face can only be explained as shock before he began to fall. He landed in a heap at the other man’s feet. As his blood mixed in with the falling rain, a smile of satisfaction spread across his face. It was as though his mission had been completed.
I began to back away so that he would not see that I had been watching this hideous scene, but I did not move fast enough. The look of pleasure left his face and in its place came a look of enrage and shock. My breath got caught in my throat and my heart skipped a beat.
The next thing I knew, he was charging towards me with the dagger in his hand once again. It gleamed from the bolts of lightning that were scattering across the night sky, and the blood had been washed away from the ice-cold rain. I did the only thing I could think of to do I darted out of sight.
“Come back here, Miss Pendleton,” he sneered, chasing after me.
“Leave me alone!” I screamed over my shoulder as I continued to run through the garden towards the entrance to the manor.
I sat up with a small cry of fright. My heart was racing and I was gasping for breath. I looked around the room with fear of him being in the room somewhere. My eyes stopped at the balcony window as a flash of lightning lit up the room.
“Mary Jane? What is it?” Nicholas asked from beside me, sitting up.
“The murder….”
“Whose murder?”
“ James…the storm….”
He took me in his arms as though I were a small child, stroking my hair gently. “It is alright,” he assured me. “They cannot harm you now.”
“Nicholas, it will never be okay as long as I keep this secret inside.”
“What secret? Mary Jane, tell me.”
I hesitated, debating whether it should be him I tell or not. I knew inside that things would not be okay as long as I kept James’s murderer a secret. I knew that now. My parents were right. I could not keep his murder on my conscious and protect Matthew like this.
“I know who killed James Leroux the night I got kidnapped,” I told him quietly.
“And?”
“It was his cousin…Matthew Bromley.”
“You mean Matthew Bromley is the one who kidnapped and raped you?” he cried with anger though his eyes had a look of jealousy in them.
“Yes.”
“Well, what happened?”
I looked up into his face. His eyes were full of concern yet the rest of his face showed his anger.
“Well, Matthew said he was leaving that night and asked me if I wanted to take a walk with him. I rejected his offer, and he left the room. A few minutes later, I decided that a walk sounded pleasurable. So I went out to the Leroux garden to admire the flowers when I heard a lot of noise.
“It began to storm as the sight was laid out before me. Matthew was trying to kill James with a dagger. James was not strong enough and got killed only minutes later. I saw everything. Then before I could get out of sight, the killer saw and attacked me. He was going to kill me…but instead he said that I could be of some good use, and perhaps he would allow me to live if I cooperated. Then he kidnapped me.
“He had four men who he ordered to call me Nicole Bromley that way no one would suspect that I am the governor’s daughter. To make it look as though I was such, my captor made me wear this ring that was his grandmother’s engagement ring,” I explained quietly.
I did not want him to know about the things that happened after I was kidnapped of course. I did not want to tell him that I fell in love with Matthew.
“Why did he call you Nicole?”
“It is my middle name. Not many people know my middle name.”
“Is there anything else I should know about it?”
“Matthew said he would find me again.”
“I am so sorry you had to go through all that,” he assured me. “And I swear on the pain of death, Mary Jane, that I will never let him harm you again.”
Chapter Fifteen:
We never got caught for the incident in my bedroom because it was before dawn that I woke from the nightmare of the murder. He had then gone back to his room with the secret of James’s murder. He swore never to tell a soul. I believed him, of course. But then soon after I told him, he began to act slightly different. Something was bothering him, but I did not question him about it. It just did not seem that important at the time.
Nicholas and I were married a month and a half later at the Pendleton Mansion. The wedding was late for the Stepney family had to take care of something first, which caused them to be gone for a while. There was a big, expensive, fancy wedding in the ballroom with plenty of dancing. It was around five in the afternoon that the wedding began.
I was wearing the most beautiful silk gown on the island. My golden hair was piled high on my head with a white band that sparkled with diamonds, which matched my necklace.
Many people came to the wedding from all over the island, which of course, was no surprise. I mean, think about it. I am the governor’s only daughter. The only thing that did surprise me about the wedding was the fact that Hawk and Frank were standing in the back. It was while my husband and I were dancing that I caught sight of them.
Hawk had the same bitter look on his face. His clothes were dirty with wrinkles, his hair in knots, and had dirt on his face while Frank was smiling at me with his eyes full of excitement. He was always clean and looked nice. He had always been the nicest one to me. It was the type of person he was.
I could not help but smile at him. Some how I knew that it was mainly his idea to report seeing me. Nicholas thought I was smiling at him.
“Why are you smiling at me like that?” he asked with a wink.
“Can you keep a secret?” I whispered.
“Yes.”
“So can I.”
He laughed. Then said, “Mary Jane, you are unbelievable.”
“I will take that as a compliment.”
“You know, you look absolutely stunning.”
“Thank you.” I paused to ask, “Where on earth did you find this ring? It is absolutely gorgeous!”
I looked at the gigantic diamond on the gold ring. It sparkled in the light of the thousands of candles in the room.
The song ended as he shook his head.
“Nicholas, tell me,” I pleaded as the next song began.
“It is a secret,” he insisted, giving me a mischievous smile.
“Please.”
“Uh…no.”
I frowned with disappointment. This caused him to chuckle. So I looked away impatiently, but out of the corner of my eye I saw excitement leap into his eyes. The plan was working.
“Is it really that important to you?”
“Yes,” I said, eagerly, looking back at him.
“It came from across the ocean.”
I gasped with surprise. He had left the island to find me this stunning ring that was practically just a diamond.
“Are you serious?” I cried.
“Yes.”
“I love you!”
I kissed him quickly. Nicholas though was not expecting to end when it did so. It was no longer than a second before my lips left his that he kissed me. The sound of cheering was what caused the kiss to end.
We laughed at what we had just been caught doing.
“What happened to the music? Is this not a celebration?” he asked the crowd with a smile. “How am I supposed to dance with my lovely bride if there is no music?”
Many people laughed, and the music began again. It was only seconds later that anyone began dancing again.
It was in the middle of the next song when Frank unexpectedly approached me. I had been seated with my parents discussing how splendid the wedding had been. They did not even notice he had come up to us until he spoke a single word.
“Excuse me,” he said before asking, “May I acquire a dance with the bride?”
My mother’s eyes went wide at the sight of this man and looked to my father whom was just as surprised.
Please, I prayed silently. Please let Nicholas make an objection.
“Who are you?” Father questioned with wonder.
“Frank Brantley. I was one of the men that reported seeing the bride while she was missing,” he replied, not mentioning the fact that he was one of the five men.
“Then I see no harm of it.”
He extended his hand in my direction with a smile of all knowing.
“I must protest,” my husband said firmly. “We do not know this man.”
“I mean no harm,” he insisted. “Really. All I want is a dance.”
“No. I do not think so.”
Frank looked to me for some support, but there was nothing I could do. As a matter of fact there was nothing I wanted to or dared to do. I just sat there looking at him.
“Nicole?” he asked. Then realizing his mistake, quickly corrected himself. “Mary Jane.”
My eyes grew wide with fear as Nicholas asked, “Nicole?” He looked at me in wonder. “ Now, why would you address my wife as Nicole?”
“I do not know.”
“Really?”
Not wanting Frank to be arrested or worse, killed for innocence, I mouthed, “If you want to live, I suggest you get out of here as fast as you possibly can.”
“I am sorry to have bothered you,” he said quickly. “Sorry.”
He backed up slowly before taking off in a mad dash toward the exit. But before he could make it very far, my father yelled, “Guards, seize him!”
With the wedding being free to the public, my father hired some guards to protect the family from the men who had kidnapped me. Since the entire island knew about the wedding, there was a chance that they may try to take me away again. This was decided after Nicholas suggested it. I was thinking this as three out of the twenty guards came from different directions and ambushed him. He was thrown to the floor.
My eyes darted from him to Hawk in time to see him make a dash out the exit. Then turned my attention back to Frank. My first impulse was to rush over and help the man that had just been captured. But all that would cause is suspicion, gossip, and of course, trouble.
“Daddy, this is not James’s murderer. Please do not hurt him. He was the only one of them who was nice to me,” I said, looking at the man.
“Is this true?” the governor asked of me. “You are not just trying to save him?”
“If it were not, I would have already told you of him.”
After a few minutes of discussing that Frank had not harmed me, he was released and allowed to live. I had saved his life just as he had saved mine. Only it was a completely different matter on how he saved me.
* * *
It was not until we were in the carriage that Nicholas said anything about my not turning Frank in. I had hoped that he would not, but I will be honest with you, I expected it.
“Mary Jane, why did you not just let him die like the criminal he is?” he demanded angrily.
“He did not harm me in any way,” I replied. “He is innocent of my kidnapping.”
“But he was one of the five you mentioned.”
“Sure he was one of them, but he was the only one who respected me as the governor’s daughter. Nicholas, thanks to him I was rescued from Matthew. If he had not…I would not be sitting her arguing with you,” I explained, defensively.
My husband took in this information. He was beginning to see what I was talking about and some what was agreeing that I had in fact done the right thing, for he said, “I do have you because of him.” He paused for a moment. “I am so sorry for causing an argument.”
“It is quite alright. At least now I know you truly do care for me.”
I placed a hand on his to be of some comfort. I did not wish for him to be angry with himself for something he did not completely understand. He looked up at me with a sorry expression. I reached up to brush a strand of dark hair from his forehead. As my hand came down, he caught it in mid air and held it.
“Mary Jane, I love you so very much. Did you know that?” He had a very serious look on his face.
“Yes I do. And I love you too,” I replied with a smile.
He kissed me softly and I returned it. I was so glad to be out of the mansion and alone with him.
It was only seconds before I felt him searching for and pulling the pins from my hair. I did not protest, but ended the kiss to help him. He was not doing very well…at this rate we would be sitting like this for hours. My hair soon fell from being piled high on my head to my breasts. It had grown slightly since I had been rescued.
He leaned me backwards slowly into a lying position on the seat.
“Nicholas, why exactly did we leave tonight when your manor is only half a day away?” I questioned with the showing of curiosity.
“Because we are not headed to the manor,” he answered. “But to my uncle’s.”
“What ever for?”
“Well…my uncle and his family were killed, leaving his home to his only other relative, my mother whom gave it to me.”
He kissed me again before continuing with, “We were lucky that it was only five horses that had been stolen and nothing more. Not even any jewelry was taken…strange.”
“Do you know who killed them?”
“No….”
Moving only my legs, I slid my expensive white shoes off my feet. I heard them drop to the floor of the carriage as my husband’s lips met mine. My arms went around his neck in response. All the while I felt that I was betraying Matthew.
