Chapter Seventeen #4
Lionel nodded. “You do,” he said softly, his gaze finally trailing to Mara. “You are sitting at the table with her.”
Lily’s eyes widened as she looked at Mara, but Mara had no immediately reaction.
She had just completed a brush stroke on her half-finished painting so her focus was on her art and not Lionel’s words.
But the words eventually sank in and her head came up, looking at Lily and seeing the woman’s shock.
When Mara saw the look on Lily’s face, it began to occur to her that she was the only other woman at the table and surely Lionel would not be speaking of his own daughter.
Impoverished. Her suitor, a knight. All of these clues began to go off in her mind like lightning hits and the paint brush clattered to the table.
“What… what’s this you say?” she looked at the man with horror. “Surely… surely you do not mean me?”
Lionel nodded patiently. “I do,” he said, almost apologetically. “Edmund de Cleveley, your guardian and the man entrusted to look out for your welfare, as offered you in marriage to me and I have accepted.”
Mara just stared at him. “That is not possible,” she said flatly. “It is not true.”
“It is. I have the missive from Edmund to prove it. I will be happy to show you.”
Mara was coming to realize that this wasn’t some kind of horrid joke. The room began to sway. “But Edmund is my sister’s husband and…”
“And your legal guardian,” Lionel cut her off, though not unkindly.
He could see that she was building up to an explosion and he hastened to calm her.
“Lady Mara, do you not understand what an honor you have been given? You shall be Baroness Wyresdale. You will be respected and loved by all. You will wield power and money such as you have never dreamed. All I ask of you is a son to carry on the le Vay name. It is a great honor, my lady, to be the mother of a legacy.”
Mara’s mouth popped open and she stood up, knocking over her chair. When Lionel reached out to keep her from falling, she flailed away from him and ended up on one knee. The look in her eyes was wild.
“Never,” she hissed. “I will never marry you. I am to marry Kirk!”
Lily stood up, putting herself between her father and Mara. “Mara, please,” she begged for calm as she turned to her father. “Father, you will leave now. Please get out of here.”
Lionel stood his ground. “I will not,” he said.
“I am not trying to be unkind, but you must understand that there is no choice in all of this. The sooner Lady Mara understands her destiny, the better for us all. I am truly sorry if I have upset her, but the facts cannot be changed. She will be my wife.”
“No!” Mara screamed. “I will not marry you! ’Tis Kirk I love and Kirk I shall marry!”
“Mara, love,” Lily rushed at her, trying to calm her down. “Please do not….”
Mara ripped free of sweet Lily’s grasp, hurling herself towards the lancet window. Before anyone could stop her, she leapt up into the window sill.
“I shall throw myself to the ground if you intend to go through with this… this outrage,” she cried. The tears were beginning to come now, fast and furious. “Edmund had no right to make such a contract. Kirk will be my husband, do you hear? I will not marry you.”
Lionel could see that she was beyond rational. “Lady Mara, please calm yourself,” he pleaded. “I understand your feelings for Kirk. I like Kirk a great deal. But in marriage, feelings do not come in to play. You must understand that this is for the best.”
“The best?” Mara shrieked. “The best for you but not for me. You cannot force me to do this!”
“I am afraid you have no choice.”
“I will marry Kirk!”
“You will not. I am sorry, but you will not.”
“Then I will have no husband at all!”
Lily threw herself at Mara, grabbing her around the body and trying to pull her out of the windowsill.
Lionel rushed to the pair, pulling them both out of the window, but Mara was like a wild animal.
She screamed and fought and scratched as Lily tried to calm her and Lionel tried to talk reason to her.
But she ended up sobbing, and Lily was sobbing, and Lionel had a mess on his hands.
He tried to calm them both but neither one of them wanted anything to do with him.
They huddled together on the floor and wept.
Defeated, disappointed, Lionel moved away from them and settled in a corner, watching them from the shadows.
Mara’s reaction wasn’t surprising; he’d seen the way Mara and Kirk had looked at each other.
But he was still convinced it was infatuation and still convinced that Mara would eventually see the advantages of a marriage to him. At least, that was the hope.
Spencer was upset with him. Lily was upset with him. Mara was shattered. Lionel could only imagine how Kirk was going to react but by the time he was informed, they would be married and there would be nothing he could do about it.
Yet, somehow he didn’t see Kirk Connaught simply fading away. It was just a feeling he had. He began to wonder what would kill him first; Kirk or the disease.