Love is Only the Beginning: Chapter Ten (13+)

My eyes slowly opened. I blinked twice, and brushed away the hair that lay across my face. The sun shined in through the open window, but the room was very chilly.

It was when I started to sit up, that I realized why that was so. I lay without clothing, under one of the red velvet curtains. Lying next to me with his arm across my stomach was Jessie.

He slept, clutching a handful of my dark hair, and laying under the curtain as well. There was a smile on his face.

Cautiously, I took hold of the towel at my side, and wrapped it around me. It was still wet from the bath I had taken late the night before, but I did not care at the moment. The only thing on my mind was to leave the room before he woke up.

Taking a gown from the closet, I heard a slight rustle from behind me. Startled, I whirled around just in time to see my husband getting up from the bed. Oh no, I thought not moving a muscle; Jessie is going to come after me.

But he did not. Instead, he wrapped the red curtain around his waist, and stumbled into the bathroom, which still had no door, since the door was lying against the dresser. The sound of running bath water came from the room Jessie had entered. Here was my chance to escape the room.

I quickly dressed, put up my hair, and ran out of the room. Went down the hall, to the glass door leading outside. I opened the door and stepped out into the rays of sunshine. I crossed the grass to the sparkling blue creek. The sun reflecting off of it made me think of the day at the lake.

That is when the thought struck me. Why was Jessie there that day? There were a lot of questions on my mind. Like, why were all those sketches of me in the manor, could the certificates be true, what did he want from me, and how did he even know who I was?

Should I ask him about it? Would he be angry to find that I had been prying in his things? What should I do? Would it be an upright thing to try and find out more?

Then, one question that I did not even want to think about came to me. Was I going to get pregnant?

“Hello, Miss?” A voice suddenly asked from nearby.

I whirled around not expecting to come face to face with a man I had never seen before. He was a very good-looking, with blond hair and deep blue eye.

“Yes?” I asked, wondering whom this man was.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes, I am fine…who are you?”

This question seemed to startle him a bit. “I was wondering the same thing about you,” he answered. “I am Daniel, the handyman for the manor.”

“Nice to meet you, Daniel. I am Susannah Le-Lafayette, Jessie’s wife,” I answered.

“You are married to Mister Lafayette?”

“Yes.”

He seemed very stunned by who I was. Before I could say another word, he said, “Well, I am sorry to have bothered you. I must be getting back to my duties.”

Just like that, he was gone.

“Susannah? Darling, where are you?” Jessie’s voice asked.

“Over here.”