“Alright,” the Earl said at last. “I will consider what we have discussed, and I will think about making a serious offer of courtship to the Dowager.”
Rose clasped her hands together in front of her chest and beamed at her father.
“Oh, father, that is wonderful,” she said, her heart overfull with joy.
“On one condition, that is,” he said.
“What condition?” Rose asked, her eyes wide. She thought that she would agree to any condition if it led to her father’s happiness.
“You must agree to attend this Season and find yourself a husband,” he said.
Rose stared at her father in disbelief for several moments.
“Well, you are nothing if not relentless,” she said, sighing. She still very much dreaded the notion of seeking marriage, but she knew that further resistance was counterproductive to her mission to help her father find joy in his life again.
The Earl was watching her with expectation, and what she felt sure was hope. She loved her father dearly, and if this was what it would take for him to seize his own happiness, she could not deny him it.
“Yes, Father” she said, trying to give a smile that was more comfortable than she felt.
“I will attend the Season.” Though I hold very little hope for a happy ending, she added silently.
Chapter 2
The sun was shining brightly in the blue, cloudless sky.
The carriage was moving at a pace so leisurely that young Daniel Eaton could hear the songs of individual birds as they flew past the coach. Inside, Daniel sat across from his elder brother and his lovely wife. Despite the group’s merry laughter and the beauty of the day, something was tickling the back of Daniel’s mind. However, Daniel could not quite decipher just what it was. Perhaps it was just the anticipation of that evening’s theater performance.
“Oh, I am so nervous that I could burst,” Lisabeth said.
“You will be wonderful, darling,” George said.
Daniel nodded fervently in agreement, the strange sensation in his stomach distracting him too much to speak. Even at 15, his love for the theater ran deep, and he hoped to perform on stage himself someday. That night would only be his third time assisting backstage, and he still felt a little nervous. But he could not be sure if that was what was causing his unidentifiable anxiousness.
“Daniel,” his brother said, giving him a boisterous smile. “You are silent as the grave. Are you alright?”
Daniel nodded again, trying to find his voice.
“Yes,” he said at last. “I am just very excited.”
Lisbeth reached across the carriage and took Daniel’s hand. It was then that Daniel thought Lisbeth appeared to be holding something in the hand that remained curled up in her lap.
“Everything will be perfect,” she assured him. Daniel caught of something strange in her eyes, like she was not completely there, but she looked away before Daniel could look closely.
The carriage began to pick up speed, which Daniel found strange. The theater was not much further, which meant that it would soon need to be slowing. One of the wheels hit some sort of bump, and the hand in Lisbeth’s lap moved slightly. Daniel could see that there was definitely something there, but she closed her hand back around it quickly. Daniel looked at his sister-in-law with an inquisitive expression, but her gaze was fixed on his brother.
Suddenly, Daniel heard the horses whinny and stomp their hooves. All at once, the coach jerked from side to side, and Daniel heard the sound of splintering wood. He looked at George and Lisbeth in alarm, but their faces were suddenly cloaked in shadow. He glanced outside the carriage and saw that it was now as dark as night. However, the darkness was not that of the nighttime sky. It looked more like a thick black fog had settled around the carriage. His heart began to race, and he opened his mouth to cry out to George, but the fog seemed to leap at the chance to fill his mouth, and he choked on his brother’s name as the carriage flipped onto its side and began to roll. Young Daniel tried to grab onto something, anything, but his arms felt pinned to his sides…
Daniel awoke in a panic, trying to flail his arms about and regain his bearings. The sensation of his arms being pinned remained, and his heart raced until he felt it might leap out of his chest. He looked down in the dim, Early dawn light, and saw the reason that he could not move his arms. In his nightmare fit, he had gotten himself tangled in his sheets, which were now wrapped around him like a white cocoon. He lay back onto the bed slowly, fighting to control his breathing and calm himself. As his racing heartbeat began to settle, he began to wriggle himself out of the sheets until his arms were free, and he could unravel the rest of the cotton cocoon from his body.
Once he had escaped his sheets, Daniel swung his feet over the edge of his bed. With no conscious thought, he began caressing the scar on his left palm. 11 years had done nothing to quell or even slow the nightmares of his brother and sister’s sudden demise. In fact, the vivid episodes of reliving that day seemed to worsen with every passing year. As of late, they worsened by the night, so much so that Daniel had begun to dread, and even fear, falling asleep.
With each terrible nightmare, some of the details were often a little different. Daniel attributed that to the shock he experienced after the tragic carriage accident, and his unreliable memory of the precise events that occurred. However, in 11 years of dreaming and reliving, Daniel had noticed one consistency. He always found himself waking as soon as the coach crashed. He never stayed asleep long enough to see anything that took place afterward. With a sigh, Daniel could not help wondering whether that was a curse or, in fact, a blessing.
The lingering nervousness from the dream caused him to jump at the sudden, yet gentle, rap on the open door to his quarters. Samuel, his valet, entered slowly, carrying a glass of water.
“Lord Elbrook,” Samuel said, his voice calm and reassuring. “I heard you cry out and thought that you might require some assistance.”
Daniel took the glass from his valet with a trembling hand.
“Thank you, Samuel,” he said, giving the man a weak but appreciative nod. Samuel had attended him after many such dreams, so there would be no need for an uncomfortable explanation as to why he shouted or a terrible reliving of the all too frequent nightmare.
“Should I bring you something a bit stronger, milord?” Samuel asked.
Daniel considered the offer for a moment. Then, he shook his head.
“It is a bit Early yet to imbibe, I should imagine,” he said, joking weakly.
Samuel laughed, his eyes kind and understanding.
“Perhaps,” Samuel said. “However, I would certainly never tell anyone if such a thing should occur.”
Daniel laughed, feeling the terror at last begin to slip away.