If you expect nothing from anybody, you’re never disappointed
Sylvia Plath
4 CHAPTER FOUR
Kayla knew she had to escape.
How could she have thought she could ever love such a man?
Whatever haunted him had eaten away at him a long time ago, and he was indeed a monster of his own making. His was a hopeless case, there was no way he could be saved. His soul was rotting from the inside with fear and self hatred.
Kayla felt stupid for even thinking she could try to heal him.
She climbed into bed, exhausted. Instead of the feeling of slipping into a clean envelope, she could not shake the feeling of having climbed into a blue satin-lined coffin.
* * *
The days passed. Still Sir Chadwick Wadleigh refused her presence to dine with him. But each night he stole into her bedroom by way of which she did not know, taking her body as his own and ravishing every bit of her physical being and soul.
One day as Tilda was serving Kayla a steaming hot cup of fragrant and luxurious Darjeeling tea, Kayla could not help but strike up a conversation with the young girl. “Do you know anything about the man you serve?” she asked.
The young girl's pure, unlined face went pale. “Um, not much, miss. Yes, not much at all. I have served him for many years, but he has never bothered to talk to me much. He is a most introverted soul who keeps to himself.”
Kayla could feel the falseness in Tilda's speech; her nervous evasiveness was palpable.
“You know something. Tilda, please, tell me what you know. I am afraid for my life.”
The young girl stared at her with mournful eyes. “You may think me mad, Miss Kayla, but I care deeply for my master. He is not only scarred physically, but his soul bears the most terrible wounds as well. They run deep, you see, they are indelible.”
Kayla paused. The gravity of what she would hear she knew of beforehand. She took a deep breath. “Tell me about him, Tilda. Please. From one young woman to another.”
The young girl sighed. “My family was very poor. But the master saved me from poverty and took me to live with him and his family. He had a beautiful family, a wife named Sheila and a precious daughter named Memory. I was happy in his home, I felt part of a loving family for the first time in my life, as if I were truly wanted and not an accident and another mouth to feed.
“But Sir Wadleigh's wife became very ill. She had esophageal cancer. It seemed she was always choking to death, especially on her food. The coughing persisted like a death rattle throughout the days and nights. My master's face was drawn all the time, ashen and dead, and it only grew worse as the time passed. And I believe his lack of faith and belief in himself, as he questioned himself eternally as to why he could not save her, eventually caused my beautiful sister Memory's death.”
Kayla was shocked. “You mean, the child died as well?”
“Yes. The roads they were driving on were icy. But I believe he was not truly there that day, if you know what I mean. It was the day of Sheila's funeral, on the drive back home. I had remained behind because I was very ill myself with pneumonia. I suppose I was lucky I did not attend. For the car accident instantly killed the young girl.”
Kayla felt tears brim behind her eyes. How could she have been so unforgiving? A man who had suffered such unfortunate circumstances in his life... She could see easily how some people gave up when pummeled with too many ill fated occurrences.
But she knew she could not give way to her sympathy for her master. Though she loved him, and realized she loved him deeply and passionately, she knew her determination to live and be free had to take precedence.
“Is there a way to escape?” she demanded softly of Tilda, who was then weeping quietly.
The young woman's face grew firm, even though sadness still danced its melancholy waltz across it. “That is one bit of information I am not at liberty to share with you, Miss. Sometimes you must tell yourself a simple sentence, and that is, 'It is what it is.' We have no control over our fate, and choice is illusory. This is your home now. You must learn to find happiness within its walls.”
And the young girl rose from her seat, and without a backwards glance, left the room, shutting the door behind her.
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Did you love Finding You Beneath?
Then you should read:
Chamberlain Affair
by J.H. York and Jessica Hart
Chamberlain Affair
Complete Love Story
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Book Series
by J.H. York and Jessica Hart
Is now a compilation volume of Part One – Part Four
Part One sample to follow
0 ABOUT chamberlain affair, part one – new bride
Dirty hidden secrets of love...
Evan is a bad boy. In fact, he’s always been. But he’s the kind of bad that you always root for because he’s learned a thing or two in all the right ways. He sets his sights on the one woman he shouldn’t have, who stirs a desirous, possessiveness in him that makes his insides churn and twist.
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The bad boy may not trust her but he doesn’t want to bury her like his stepbrother and stepsister does…six feet deep and under, in fact…
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The content is recommended for 18+ due to mature themes and sexual content.
Chamberlain Affair
Part One - New Bride
J.H. YORK
JESSICA HART