Chapter Two.
Rina
“We’ll take the vacation,” Adam said later that evening.
I looked at him and nodded before walking away. I didn’t know what else to say or how to act. Adam had flung me this morning. Divorce. It was something I’d never considered. Adam had certainly thrown a curveball. What was worse, I couldn’t tell if he was genuinely sorry or just mouthing the words.
He could then tell everyone, ‘Hey, I tried, but it didn’t work out.’ The sick feeling that had taken root in my belly intensified, and I rushed to the toilet and threw up. James had told me that Gunner had read Adam the riot act. But would it help or hinder us?
Mariah
I smiled as food and drink menus sailed past me.
The cleaning team had just left, and Lady Catherine was making her presence known.
She adored The Black Cat, named for her, as much as Benedict and I did.
Lady Catherine Norton was a law unto herself.
The Black came from the colour of her hair, and Cat was a nickname shortened from Catherine.
Lady Catherine, or Cat as Benedict called her affectionately, took an active role in the inn.
She loved scaring the pants off customers as well as making them laugh.
Locals knew the inn was haunted, and they knew why.
They’d played a huge part in helping me save Benedict and also vanquish an uber and a wannabe vampire.
Vemis, the uber vampire, had tried to turn Benedict into a vampire and had failed, leading to Benedict haunting the inn for hundreds of years.
Klaus Anderson had succeeded in freeing Vemis from his prison, but Vemis had turned on him and, quite basically, eaten him. A battle had occurred, and we’d won, and through God’s grace, Benedict had been given life again.
Life had changed for us then; there’d been a big battle, and we’d discovered an ancestor of Benedict’s, Ajax, hiding in Wollscombe Manor.
Ajax had left us with a secret mission of his own after the battle.
But he and his brother Silas were who the Nortons descended from.
Benedict could trace his lineage right back to Silas.
It seemed something out of a novel, but it had been real life, and I’d lived it!
Since then, we’d moved back into Wollscombe Manor and had been living there, apart from when we left Friday morning and returned on Monday morning. The weekend we spent at The Black Cat. It kept the bond between Lady Catherine and Benedict tight.
“Are you okay, my love?” Benedict asked as he entered the office where I was sitting.
“Yes. Did Lucian understand?” I asked.
Benedict walked around the desk and wrapped me in his warm embrace. “Of course, he did. Lucian also feels a little guilty, but he understands.”
I feel momentarily bad. For ages now, Benedict and I had been trying for a child.
All the other Nortons had either had a child or were pregnant.
But not us. Surrounded by all that bliss had taken a toll on Benedict and me, and we’d had to move out for now.
Benedict seemed happier back here, and I knew I was; there wasn’t any pressure on us.
“I’m glad to hear that. Maybe we can take a break together,” I said and felt guilty. Did Benedict want to spend some time alone? The Nortons were infamously close; was I causing a breach between them?
“Stop thinking like that, I can read your mind, my love. It’s fine wanting to be by ourselves,” Benedict replied, and I smiled.
“Well, we’ve had some bad news, that family that had reserved the inn cancelled.
Instead, we have a family called Maddon coming to stay with us.
Adam, Rina, and four children. From what Rina said, Adam was involved in a bad accident and nearly lost his leg.
She says he can manage stairs, but I assured her we do have a lift,” I said.
“Sorry about you losing that booking, but not having a full inn could be nice at Christmas,” Benedict murmured thoughtfully.
“Are we staying here for Christmas Day?” I asked.
“Yes, we’ll see the others Christmas Eve and Boxing Day evening when Lucian will open the doors to Wollscombe for an evening get together,” Benedict said.
“I’d like that, us being here together. Especially if it snows like it’s meant to,” I mused.
“Darling, this is England, knowing our weather, we’ll have a heat wave instead!” Benedict teased.
I smiled at his words. I knew he meant to cheer me up.
The weather was different back in his day.
It constantly snowed during the winter, and they had a thick London fog that coined the phrase ‘pea souper.’ Snow had once been a heavy constant across England, not just the parts that got it now.
Although Benedict did say the air was cleaner, but not by much.
Whereas the coal and constant fires had created fog back then, now car fumes spoiled the air.
“Come and sit by the fire and eat. Julie has prepared a ploughman’s lunch for us. How strange that a farmer’s rough fare is now a specialised dish,” Benedict teased me.
“True,” I said, rising to my feet.
Julie ran the kitchens. We had a manager, Trudy, who worked Monday to Thursday, took bookings, and managed the staff and cleaning team for The Black Cat. Trudy was well aware of Lady Catherine and, like the rest of us, didn’t mess with her. Lady Catherine ruled the roost here, and we all knew it.
The fire was blazing in the hearth as we entered the bar-slash-restaurant part of the inn.
The bar had been perfectly preserved when I’d bought it.
We’d made a couple of changes, torn down some walls in a couple of the private parlours and extended the dining area.
But the inn was pretty much the same as when Benedict had inherited it.
At a small round table near the fireplace was our meal, and I smiled when I saw the rose in the vase. It was a white one; Benedict had taken to giving me one randomly to surprise me.
“Thank you,” I said with a smile, picking it up and smelling it.
“You’re welcome, my love.” Benedict held my chair out, and I sat down. It was always the small things with him that meant the most. He was not only born a gentleman, but it showed in everything he did. It was just one of the reasons I loved him.
Later that night
The lights in my bedroom switched on. Lady Catherine was present. I’d come upstairs to get ready while Benedict locked everything down. Then I heard the bath running and smiled.
“Thank you,” I murmured. A soft hand passed over my cheek as a caress. I leaned into it, knowing Lady Catherine only meant love.
“We’re going to be here a month at least. Did Benedict tell you?” I asked.
“No,” the word floated through the air.
“I didn’t fall pregnant again. We’ve been trying for a year, I don’t know why it’s not happening, but it won’t. Everyone around us is having babies, bar us. I want to make Benedict happy.” A soft sob left me before I even realised it was there.
“Mariah, everything happens in due time,” Lady Catherine replied. A shimmer caught my attention, and Lady Catherine appeared.
Her long black hair was down, and she wore a dress from her era.
Plump, red lips contrasted with her high cheekbones.
Her eyes were the same hazel as Benedict’s, and I knew where he got them from.
She had the straight and noble Norton nose and was truly beautiful.
She was also extremely powerful; she was over nine hundred years old and didn’t look a day over twenty-five.
“Will I have children?” I asked and winced at the desperation in my voice.
“I am not a seer. Is your and Benedict’s happiness dependent on children?” Lady Catherine inquired.
“I don’t know. Benedict wants them, and I do too. But if I can’t give him them, I don’t know if he’ll leave me,” I said, and my voice caught on a sob.
“That will not happen,” Benedict stated firmly from behind me.
“Oh, I didn’t hear you come in,” I spluttered, trying to regain my composure at being caught so raw.
“Resolve this, my son,” Lady Catherine ordered and faded away.
“Do you really believe that I will leave you?”
“I think you want children, and so do I,” I replied, dropping my head.
“But we aren’t dependent on them, darling. If we have them, that would be wonderful. If not, we have each other, and that’s all that matters to me, unless you believe otherwise. Would you leave me if we can’t?”
“No!” The word burst from me like a bullet.
“Then you understand how I feel, because I can live a life without children but not without you. If it comes to it, we’ll be the best aunt and uncle around. But there are other ways to have children, aren’t there? Surely adoption and fostering still happen?”
“Yes, would you consider that?” I asked as hope rose in me.
“Giving a child a home that desperately needs one? Of course. Mariah, please understand, all I need is you, and if I have you, then happiness will follow. I’m certain of it,” Benedict said, drawing me close.
He lifted my hand and kissed my ring. He touched my wedding ring. “I meant it when I placed this on your finger.”
Damn, I was emotional tonight as a soft sob escaped me. Benedict pulled me in tight to him and wrapped me up. I leaned my head on his chest and let his strength and warmth flood through me. This man was the one I fought for and had nearly died for. Benedict would always be the love of my life.
Benedict
Mariah had been tearing herself apart for the last few months. Every month, she disappeared into the bathroom and came out heartbroken. The fact that she was failing to get with child was wearing her down, and Mariah was starting to worry me.
When she fell asleep in my arms, I slid out of bed and headed for my study. It remained my sanctuary whilst I was here. A yowl startled me, and I saw Fluffers, Mariah’s stubborn cat, shoot past me. The damn thing hated me.
Fluffers glared at me, and I glowered back. Then he let out another yowl and shot off.