I turned my head to look at my husband, but he was not there. Where on earth could he be? I wondered, climbing out of bed. I grabbed the candle off the nightstand.
Wearing my robe over my sleeping garments, I walked down the hall to find Jessie. Something was going on, I was sure of it. Something deep inside told me to go to the library…I do not know what but it was something.
The next place I found myself was standing in front of the open wall that led to the secret room. There was noise coming from it too; male voices. They were yelling, but I could not hear what they were saying. All I knew was that they were coming down towards me.
Not knowing what else to do, I blew out the candle, and laid down one of the couches where I found one of Jessie’s coats. I dug into the pockets looking for anything that would keep me safe from danger. That is when I found it. The dagger that my husband had threatened to kill me with if my parents had not allow him to become my fiancé. I clutched it in my hand, and waited for whoever was on the stairs.
Rolf and Benjamin came out of the wall, carrying the little black book that I had dropped in the library’s entrance. They closed the wall as Rolf was saying, “We will kill Jessie, and get the fortune.”
“But what about the girl?” Benjamin asked, holding a lantern.
“Take her with us…bound to be something we can get out of her.”
“I do not know if this is such a good idea, Rolf. This plan might not even work.”
“We will make it work.”
They started to cross the room toward the hallway.
“Could not we just get the fortune while they are sleeping so that Jessie will accuse her of stealing his money,” Benjamin suggested.
The man holding the book suddenly pulled out a pistol saying, “No, we have to do it my way. Now, let us go up there and make this work.”
Suddenly, I heard Jessie’s voice asking, “Susannah, are you in here?”
He was coming into the room. They were going to kill him.
“Rolf, Benjamin?” he asked. “What in Gods name are you two doing?”
Rolf aimed the pistol at my husband’s heart saying, “Killing you and stealing your fortune along with your wife.”
“What? This is a banter right?”
“No,” the man with the lantern answered. “We are very serious.”
I climbed to my feet, and tip toed towards the two men that we threatening to kill Jessie. My husband saw me with his dagger and keeping his eyes on me questioned, “Is Peter in on this?”
“No.”
“Where is he?”
“Dead,” Rolf stated. “He was not going to help us so we got rid of him.”
Keep distracting them, I mouthed to my husband as I raised the dagger above my head.
“But I do not understand, what fortune are you speaking of?”
I then, brought the dagger down into the man with the pistol’s back.
Rolf yelled in pain, and turned around to see who it was that stabbed him. But as he did, Jessie sprung into action. He dove, and tackled him to the ground. The two men fell to the ground, and the gun went off as it struck the ground. Then, there was a puddle of blood.
Scared to death, I asked, “Jessie?” Paused. “Are you all right?”
My husband slowly rose to his feet. His clothes were stained with blood, and his face was pale. I ran into his arms saying, “Jessie, thank God you are all right. I was so scared.”
“You-You saved my life,” he exclaimed slowly. “I cannot believe it.”
“I was so afraid that I might lose you that I….”
He tilted his head slightly, and kissed me. I returned the kiss. It was not because it made him happy or the fact that I could have lost him. It was because I had just realized that I had fallen for Jessie Lafayette.
