Annie knew Barrett should be at his appointment to receive the special licence and she moved back to her room, shutting the door firmly behind her, anxious for the moment that she would marry Barrett. From her sitting room, she walked to the bedchamber. Myrtle was to be along any minute to help Annie with the corset.
She pulled the dress she was to wear from the wardrobe.
Her outer door clicked and she didn’t turn around. A chill settled over her, warning her.
She heard footsteps but didn’t turn, pretending that fear wasn’t invading her body. ‘The pearls with it?’ she asked, trying to think of what weapon she might have at her disposal.
‘I don’t think you’ll need them, you little society twit.’ A bony hand clamped on her upper arm. An old man’s voice rasped in her ear, chilling her as the scent of his breath choked her. ‘You’re not taking my son from me.’ He jerked her backwards, causing her to stumble and her dressing gown to tangle in her legs. ‘He’s all I have.’
Barrett’s father breathed in lunging gasps.
Her throat tightened and she scrambled, her legs working to put her feet on the floor. Her thoughts raced ahead into nothingness, but she forced them back, urging herself to think. His arms held her vice-like and he used all his strength, hauling her back.
She remembered what Barrett had taught her and, the moment she regained her balance, she struggled to collect her wits and her strength. She made a fist with her right hand, clamped her left over it, twisted by bending a knee to drop her weight and shoved her elbow straight back with all her might. ‘No,’ she shouted. ‘No.’
A crack sounded.
An oofft.
And a dead weight hit her shoulders and she stumbled forward, out from under the falling form of the old man. He crumpled and she ran to the door. When she opened it, she realised he wasn’t behind her and he thrashed on the floor. He grasped where her elbow had connected.
‘You broke my ribs.’ He lay on his back, clasping his side. ‘Help. Help.’ He croaked out the words while he writhed. His cries for help lessened to a whimper.
‘Don’t you ever touch me again.’ She stood at the doorway, ready to run.
‘You heathen witch,’ he spat out. ‘You vile...’ His eyes narrowed. ‘You’re just like my mother was.’ He stopped, falling back to the floor, writhing. ‘Someone. Get the physician. I’m dying,’ he called out again and then gasped at the pain.
He shut his eyes, whispering through the pain. ‘You will be a perfect wife for my son. Your children will be little monsters.’ He smiled, eyes watering. ‘They’ll carry the family line. My legacy will continue.’
Barrett crashed into the doorway, jerking Annie aside, moving her further from his father. He turned her to face him. ‘What happened?’
Annie couldn’t speak.
‘The woman. She hit me.’
Anger formed in Barrett’s eyes. He moved towards his father.
Annie jumped between them. ‘No, Barrett.’
‘You keep her away from me,’ his father shouted. ‘She attacked me for no reason. She broke my ribs.’
Barrett took her arm. ‘What happened?’
‘He came up behind me and I hit him. I did hear a crack. I may have hurt him.’
‘You did,’ the Viscount said, grasping his side. ‘It hurts when I breathe.’
Barrett pulled her close, holding her against him.
‘Who let you in?’ His question thundered in the air to his father.
‘No one. The window was open below stairs. I was just going to wish her happiness with you.’
‘No, he wasn’t.’
Barrett put an arm around her. ‘I know how he twists things, Annie. It’s always the way of someone like him. The bigger the lie of blame they can place on the innocent person, the more they like it. It’s not just with his fists he attacks, but with his lies and anything his mind can grasp.’
Gavin dashed into the room. ‘I heard a thump. It jarred the house.’
‘Help me up.’ The Viscount reached out a hand. ‘This is turning into a family gathering.’
Gavin leaned in to reach around his father to lift him into a sitting position. The Viscount screamed in pain when Gavin lifted.
‘My hip,’ the old man cried out, face pale. ‘Something’s wrong with my hip.’
Together Barrett and Gavin lifted his father and took the man upwards and on to the bed. Gavin examined his father while Barrett turned to Annie.
‘I just hit him in the stomach,’ Annie said, stepping away from Barrett to rub her elbow. ‘It may have—I may have hit him harder than I meant, but he startled me. My arm aches.’
‘His hip is likely broken,’ Gavin said over the old man’s whimpers. Gavin shook his head and respect glimmered when he looked at Annie, then the old man’s cries caught his attention and he turned back to his father.
‘He must have done it when he fell,’ Barrett said. He glanced at Annie. ‘How hard did you hit him?’
‘I just barely—I don’t know.’ She touched her elbow. ‘It does feel a bit tender.’ She reached up to her shoulder. ‘And it’s aching. I’ve practised with the maid. Trying to show her what I’ve learned. I couldn’t think. I just reacted. I didn’t mean to hurt him.’
Barrett snaked an arm around her waist and held her close. ‘You fought back.’
‘And I’m safe. Alive,’ she said, hugging Barrett.
‘Sometimes that’s all that matters. Surviving. We do what we can to survive.’ Barrett rocked her in his arms.
‘You meant to kill me, you witch.’ The old man came to life and shook a fist in the air. ‘You’re taking my son. My fortune. The both of you. You pretend to care, but it’s all a lie.’
Annie stared at the older man. Once her eyes were on him, he wailed. He groaned with so much effort it shook his hip and made the pain worse, but he didn’t stop.
The strength that had naturally been in Barrett’s body his whole life left him. He could feel the power draining from his body.
He’d brought Annie into a world and taught her to fight. A woman raised to believe in goodness and beauty, and now he’d taken that from her. As clearly as a child could be taught the alphabet, he’d taught her that the world was a cruel and evil place. And he couldn’t take away what he’d done.
He’d thought it for the best, but before, Annie could believe in rainbows and halos and parents who always loved their children and now he’d introduced Annie into a world of madness around her. But she’d survived. She’d shown her true strength. The one he’d been too blinded to realise that she’d had all along.
His father writhed in pain. Gavin bent over him, completely dispassionate and humming. Annie stared at them, taking in the wailing and the humming. His family.
Carson stepped into the room. ‘Barrett, the magistrate is at the door looking for you. He’s distraught. He said he was ambushed from behind.’
The fates his father relished had conspired again.
‘Annie, I can’t risk him being near you.’ Barrett stepped away, moving into a cloak of his aloneness.
The wailing stopped.
‘I dare say it’s not as much risk as you think,’ Gavin said. ‘His hip will likely not mend properly.’ He shook his head. ‘He’s older than we realised. Frail.’
Annie studied her fist. ‘I can’t believe it.’ She looked at Barrett. ‘It worked just like you said it would.’ She looked at the Viscount. ‘I didn’t even know what was going on when he stepped behind me.’
‘I was just going to befriend her.’ His father stared at Barrett. ‘And she tried to kill me. The witch tried to kill me...’
Annie’s mouth opened, but it took a moment for her to speak. ‘I wasn’t. You came in to my room. You didn’t knock.’
‘You attacked me,’ he screamed out. ‘You attacked me.’
‘Nonsense,’ Barrett answered. ‘You always blame everyone else but yourself. Even when you know it isn’t true.’
‘We’ll get him back to his house,’ Gavin said as he and Carson stood on each side of the Viscount, ‘and as soon as we get him to bed, we’ll be back for the wedding.’
‘No,’ Barrett raised a hand. ‘We’re marrying first. If you wish to attend, then Father can wait. He’s now invited to the wedding.’
Annie stood by the fireplace of her father’s home. Barrett’s father quietened and he lay on the main sitting-room sofa, apparently interested in the marriage and curious about her family.
Her mother stood at the end of it and her father turned away, sniffling.
‘So the special licence is to be utilised now?’ the cleric asked, standing. ‘In that case, I suppose we should get on with the formalities. This couple seems to be well suited to each other.’
He smiled at Annie and Barrett. ‘Should we continue? With the actual marriage?’
‘I would love to,’ Barrett said.
Her father sniffled again. ‘It is a shame Barrett and Annie will not be having children, unless it is a miracle,’ her father said. ‘Much like the epidemeosis miracle cure I am just finding out about.’
Barrett smiled. ‘Miracles happen every day.’
Barrett took Annie’s left hand, pleased to feel not just love inside himself, but happiness and contentment. With Annie at his side, he had more strength than he’d ever expected and the wonderful feeling that he’d never need all of it.
The bitterness he’d felt at the past, some he didn’t even know he’d had, had faded, because it had worked to create this moment. Without the struggles, he might not have become a man Annie could love and he might not have her by his side.
‘Let’s get on with the formalities, Annie. I could never again find a woman with such a strong right arm and who knows how to bargain.’
‘That’s true,’ Annie agreed. ‘I even talked Father into giving us the perfect wedding present.’
Barrett examined her face, trying to imagine what she wanted for a gift.
She smiled. ‘Father is keeping the sofa.’