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| Mary arrives to see Eliza on Goode Island |
Separated by a small channel of water from the main island of Welshport, in Frenchman Bay was a second smaller satellite island that technically had no name but nicknamed Goode Island by the citizens of Welshport after it’s only two inhabitants: Mary Goode and her hermit mother Eliza.
Eliza Goode lived on her own in her older age in the same small four room cabin that she raised Mary. For her part, Mary had grown up rather normal even if she had lived in relative isolation from the rest of the world in her childhood. Her mother, however, knew that the life of solitude on "Goode Island" was never going to be the best thing for Mary in the long run and sent her to live and go to school on the main island with the rest of the people of Welshport.
That is where Mary's life took a turn.
As she grew up she would soon find herself tangled up in the clutches of Jacob Lord who saw her as naïve young woman he could mold and control for his own ghoulish mind games.
Her loneliness left her vulnerable to his wishes. She had a need for someone to love. She needed someone to make her feel wanted, and by her mid 20’s she became pregnant with Charlotte.
The Lord family, quick to quench the scandal of Jacob having a child out of wed-lock, created a lie that the little girl was adopted by the kind, benevolent Jacob, thus cutting out the poor townie Mary from the baby’s life and banishing her to the shadows of the village secretly holding the truth to Charlotte’s maternal side.
Mary never forgot this cruelty and never cashed the yearly checks the family paid her for her silence. She vowed to some day get her daughter back.
Evie's arrival in Welshport seemingly gave her the opportunity to now reach for her daughter in hope's whatever child Evie and Sebastian would have would allow Charlotte to be released from her place as an heiress to the Lord family fortune. Mary’s sudden hope for a new baby from Sebastian and Evie’s marriage felt like a ray of hope in her decade long quest to reunite with her daughter.
Stepping off the small boat she rowed herself to Goode Island, Mary looked toward a thicket of trees in the distance towards her mother's cabin where a plume of chimney smoke filled the air like a giant feather reaching for the sky. In her long peach toned dress and large floppy straw hat tied with a thick blue satin ribbon, Mary made her way to the one person she could trust the most, her mother Eliza.
Mary carried a small basket of goods and food that she would often bring from the main island so that her mother wouldn't starve, although her mother Eliza was often very self-reliant, Mary's bi-weekly visits with goods were usually more social. This time Mary felt a need to finally ask for help.
Mary slowly opened the cabin's door. The familiar smells of sage and strong coffee quickly kissed her face. She peeked through the door and waited to see her mother come out of the small bedroom that they once shared. But no one came out. It was not like her mother not to greet her at the door. Mary took a breath and walked slowly through the cluttered cabin of books and papers. Various pots and pans that hung from the ceiling caught the light of the day and reflected little spots over the entire room. There was burning candles on every surface and the fireplace smoldered in the corner filling the main room with an extra stench of scorch that was also not an unfamiliar smell.
Mary made the small walk from the front door to the bedroom leaving the basket of goods on a small table in the front area and came to the bedroom door and lifted her fist to knock but before she could tap on the door, her mother spoke.
"Come in girl." A withered voice said from the other side. Mary smirked, realizing her mother was fine and opened her door.
"Hello mother." Mary said seeing her mother sitting at in a dark room with candles all around her.
Her mother turned her head, her long white hair was braided and went down her back like a long vine. Eliza got up and went over to Mary and hugged her tightly but could feel a fervor of rage boiling within.
"What is it? What has happened?" her mother Eliza said.
"They're getting married." Mary said of Evie and Sabastian.
“They?”
“Sebastian is getting married.” Mary half clarified.
"Hmm." Eliza huffed. "And why does this union affect you Mary? You know I've warned you that nothing good can come to you by continuing to try and pull at Charlotte the way you have. They'll never let her go now. She’s wrapped in their greedy tentacles. You've allowed too much time to pass." Eliza said rather coldly.
"But the new one, the woman who's come for Sebastian's hand, they'll have a child soon enough and that child will be their heir. Charlotte will be free of that burden., I can have her back. Jacob will have no use for her." Mary explained.
Eliza squeezed Mary's wrists and saw the desperation and somewhat madness in her daughters eyes. A feeling of dread slowly seeped into every blood vessel in Eliza's body realizing that her grown daughter had a mind of young teenager. She could not help Mary. Even if she tired.
"My girl, you have so much to look forward to in your own future. You are young. You can do more for yourself. All I want for you is to move passed this and try and live a better life. The Lord family and my sweet lost grandchild is something we can never get back. Move on Mary. Move on." Eliza expressed as she sat on her bed still making eye contact with Mary.
"How can you say that? She's our blood too! Together we could fight Jacob finally once and for all and get Charlotte back. She's my daughter! Please, mother." Mary said as she turned to another full bookshelf in her mother's room and pulled out a special book that she then handed to her mother: A book of spells.
Eliza saw the pain and suffering in Mary's eyes but knew the Lords were too powerful and that nothing they could do would grant Mary any access to Charlotte. Ever again.
Eliza Goode had a spiritual connection to the land that had always been manifested itself in the way of magic and spells. But spells that she had always used forgot, and never ever for her own gains. Mary, did not have this same connection to the majesty of magic of the earth and had always known to never ask for special favors from her mother's gifts but today, finally, she did ask.
"I cannot." Eliza said. "You know that I cannot use what I know for our own selfish needs. Even if it does involve Charlotte. Mary, I cannot." Eliza said, with an almost pleading in her voice for Mary to not ask.
"But...she's your granddaughter." Mary replied.
"Only darkness will come of this, if I should ask the universe to reverse your misfortune and Charlotte's the pay back will not be pleasant Mary. You know this. I have always told you that it will never be good." Eliza explained.
Mary frowned. Her heart sank and she tore the book out of Eliza’s hand and looked at it herself.
"You never wanted me to have Charlotte. You hated that I gave birth to her. You can do whatever you want with your gift and instead of helping me, your only child, you choose to recuse yourself as if you have no claim to Charlotte. Well, if you have no claim to Charlotte then you have no claim to me." Mary answered angrily.
"No, that's not it. That's not it at all, you know this Mary." The elderly Eliza said.
Mary snarled her lip and threw the book into the corner of the room. "Your basket is in the front. Enjoy it, it may be the last thing you ever get from me." She said as she stormed out of the room.
Eliza sat on her bed, elderly and sad. Tears fell from her two gray eyes and she felt that her daughter's pain would most certainly lead to a treacherous end it she was not reigned in. The older woman got up from her bed, slowly walked over to where the book had been thrown and saw that as if fell from the air it had fallen and opened to a page that made her stomach drop.
In Latin, a spell read: VITA AETERNA MALEDICTIONEM: the curse of ever lasting life.
"No....NO!!!" Eliza screamed to herself, realizing the book, her book of spells and hexes, a book she never ever used to curse anyone alive was sending her a message. It was an omen of things to come.
As Mary made her angry and frustrated march back her small boat and oars to get back to the main island, she could only feel an overwhelming sense of hurt and betrayal from her mother whom she saw as being difficult and impossible. There was, in Mary's eyes, something Eliza could do, but Mary saw it as only her mother being reluctant to welcome her Lord granddaughter into her arms and refused to use any sort of spell. The betrayal set Mary's heart on fire, so much so that it somewhat took over her mind so much that she didn't even notice the tall dark figure standing by a tree near her boat smoking a cigarette.
It was Jacob Lord, her ex and Charlotte's father.
"You're in a mood." He said startling her so much she tripped on the hem of her peach colored dress knocking her to the floor.
"What, what are you doing here?" She asked stammering to her feet.
"Its been a long time Mary Goode. A very long time." Jacob replied in a cold voice as he came out of the shade of the tree he was standing under and pulled a yellowed leaf from the shoulder of her dress.
"I asked what you wanted. Why did you follow me?" Mary replied.
"A lot of things are happening over at Tirymôr House, as you know. A new bride. A new fresh outlook on all our lives. It's a very joyous occasion. And you know how much I detest interruptions in my plans." Jacob said still puffing on his cigarette dressed in a bowler hat and sharp grey suit.
"Don't worry, Celeste already warned me to stay away from the wedding tomorrow." Mary replied as she rolled her eyes. "Now tell me why you followed me?" She added as the small waves lapped up on the shore near their two boats.
"Well that's just it Mary, I don't agree with Celeste. In fact I think you should come to the wedding. Perhaps as my own guest. You are the mother of Sebastian's only cousin after all." Jacob replied to a confused Mary.
"What? Your guest?"
"Yes. Don't you want to come to the wedding? Charlotte will be there. She's the flower girl. You'll have a wonderful time." Jacob said with a glimmer of wicked in his voice.
"You've kept my child from me all her life and now you want me to come to the wedding and be your guest? What are you even talking about?" Mary said, her voice clearly shocked in this sudden bizarre change of tone.
"Mary I would be happy to involve you in our daughter's life you know that it's really my mother who's kept you away all these years. I promise. I've been wanting to tell you this all along. I want you to be in Charlotte's life, she deserves to have her mother. She always has. Rebecca is a cold woman, and...well, things will have to change. Eventually." Jacob replied.
"How will they change? If you're saying Rebecca is the reason I cannot see Charlotte, how am I to come to the wedding? Rebeca will be there."
"That's true, but I know that there is a way that we can both meet in the middle of this strange new circumstance we find ourselves in. You see, if you come to the wedding, as my guest, you'd have to do something for me. Once that is all said and done it will have all the access you need to Charlotte. I will even introduce you to her myself. Rebecca and her medaling will be obsolete by then, that I can assure you." Jacob explained.
"I don't understand, how can we do this? What would I have to do?" Mary wondered.
Jacob smiled and reached into his vest and slowly removed a silver revolver and placed it in the palm of his other hand and extended it to his ex-lover. "This." He said softly as the waves from the small channel of water between the two islands crashed.
Mary's eyes widened. She stepped back. She didn't understand why he was handing her a gun. So many thoughts ran though her brain; was he going to use it on her? Was it a joke? Was it a trick?
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"Take it. This is your key back into Charlotte's life. Do with this what I want you to do and I will never stop you from seeing Charlotte again. Neither will my mother Rebecca. I promise you Mary." Jacob said stepping one step forward with his hand still extended to Mary with the gun. "Take it." He repeated.
Mary was weary. She knew Jacob was a monster. She knew he was a man with a heart of coal, a body of sin and a mind of pure evil. But the temptation of being able to see and be apart of her daughter's life again was too strong. Mary grabbed the gun.
"That's a good girl. A very good girl Mary." Jacob said as she slowly came up to Mary and grabbed her and hugged her close. Then he slowly pulled her body from his and stared deep into her eyes. She felt a power over her that she could not understand. It was a power that Jacob had used once before, when they first met, when they first kissed, when they first made love and conceived Charlotte. He looked deep into her eyes and kissed her passionately. She felt her body almost feel as if it were levitating. Passion running from the tips of her feet to the top of her hat covered head. The blood rushed around in her veins hot and fast. He pulled his lips off of hers and a tear had fallen from her left eyes. He wiped it away and held her face in his two large hands.
"Now, you'll do what I ask won't you?" He whispered to her. Mary nodded yes. "For you to have access to Charlotte, I need you to use this gun....take it with you and keep it. Bring it to the wedding and, Mary, I want you to shoot both Sebastian and Evie in the head. Do you understand? In the head Mary. They cannot survive. They must both die. For you and for me and for Charlotte. The two of them must die. Will you do this for me?" Jacob asked.
And just as Eliza warned, the darkness entered Mary's heart when she agreed.
She agreed to kill Sebastian and kill Evie in cold blood on the day of their wedding all while Jacob dangled access to their daughter in front of her like a carrot on a stick.
"Good girl." Jacob grinned as the fog from the sea slowly rolled in and covered them up like a white wet blanket of clouds.
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| Mary holds Jacob’s revolver pensively |
****
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| Rebecca & Evie in the bridal suite |
The following day, a sunny autumn sky and customary gusty island wind blew over the island of Welshport welcoming guests from the mainland to Tirymôr House for the wedding of Evie Jordan to the rich and powerful Lord family heir Sebastian. The house was bustling with final touches from caterers to florists all making sure Rebecca's plans for the day were met with absolutely no mistakes.
Up in her room, the bride sat at a lovely vanity while Celeste carefully put the final touches of her wedding attire on her.
Evie's dress was a vision of white lace, with full length sleeves to her wrists, rounded puff shoulders and a neckline that covered up almost to the top of her neck. Her shoulders were encrusted with pure white pearls, the dress was a gift from her parents. Her dark hair was combed up in a curly swoop in the back and two small curls dangled elegantly over her ears.
Celeste fluffed the bottom tussle of the dress and made sure every hair was in place. The bride was prefect and beautiful and dripped in diamonds and pearls, all given to her by her mother for the special day.
"These are so beautiful." Celeste said of the droplet pearl earrings.
"It's so bitter-sweet that they're not here." Evie said.
"Your family?" Celeste added to Evie nodding. "Well they're here in spirit and in these gifts that they sent with you. You know objects have a power within them too. Especially when they're gifts. Think of these earrings as holding the love and pride your mother and father have for you. Let them be the spirit of your parents. It sounds silly, I know, but it might help the loneliness." Celeste added.
Evie turned around from the mirror and jumped up and grabbed hold of Celeste and hugged her.
"You've been the best friend I could ever ask for here Celeste. Thank you for everything." She said as tears slowly made their way to her eyes.
"Now, now, now, don't muss your face. It took us long enough to get it all pretty." Celeste said, tears also filling her deep brown eyes.
"Emotions are very high in here." A voice came from the bedroom door. "The guests are arriving.”
They bride and her maid of honor both turned to see Rebecca Lord standing at the door in her long black dress, equally as confining as the bride's and her hair tightly tied back with emerald earrings that sparkled as they dangled in the autumn sunlight that peeked through the large windows of Evie's bedroom.
The two girls curtsied to the dowager matriarch and she smiled sweetly, but the visit was not a social one.
"Celeste, darling, would you mind if I had a moment with my future granddaughter-in-law?"
"Of course, ma'am. Evie, I'll be back as soon as Mrs. Lord sends for me alright?" Celeste said as she lifted the front of her dress enough so she didn't trip on the hem on her hurried exit from the room at Rebecca's orders.
"You look ..." Rebecca said pausing to give Evie one last look...."divine." She said.
"Oh, thank you Mrs. Lord."
"You're nervous?" The old woman said seeing Evie's hands trembling.
"A little."
"Come….sit here." Rebecca said, as she sat on the large bed and ushered Evie to sit with her.
The pair sat by each other, a direct contact: one in virginal white, the other in sinner's black, one young and fresh, the other older and warned. Rebecca looked over at Evie like she was reading carefully the pages of a book. Every line, every crease and every stitch of lace of the dress. Evie was indeed exquisite to look at. Her perfect peach-toned skin and eyes that sparkled with youth seemed to light the entire room.
"At my wedding, my mother told me that I had the weight of the world on my shoulders. The weight of the world, she meant, was the weight of my father's name. My father was a gambler you see and he had used up our entire fortune and by the time I was to marry my husband Albert we had nothing. Well, not nothing but very little left. I had to be married to off to the wealthiest man in New England. It was the only way to keep my family from ruin. So I understand what you're going through." Rebecca said revealing to Evie that she knew of Evie's family's financial ruin.
"Oh. I..." Evie began before she was interrupted.
"Don't worry my dear. I'm not here to warn you about doing anything I didn't do in my past. Not in the slightest. I'm here to give you my gift. My very personal gift for just you." Rebecca said as she reached into her dress pocket and removed the crystal amulet Gaspar gave her to use on Evie.
Just as she did, the large painting in the back of the room once again had a pair of eyes watching from behind the wall in the room on the other side. It was Gaspar watching intently as Jacob too waited for news that Rebecca was able to hypnotize Evie.
"It's very pretty." Evie said reaching for the crystal just before Rebecca pulled it away and stood up in front of a sitting Evie.
"This crystal my dear is going to be the best thing that ever happened to you. Look at all the fractals of light, aren't they beautiful? See them sparkle?" Rebecca said as the lights from the cuts in the crystal sparkled on to Evie's prefect face.
"It is..." Evie said staring at the crystal as it dangled in front of her eyes.
Rebecca's obsession with making sure Evie's memory of the secret was the most important thing for Rebecca at the moment. In Rebecca's eyes Sebastian and Evie could not have a happy marriage if the awful truth of David killing Sabrina lived inside Evie's mind for all their lives. The darkness of that past family secret could and would only bring misfortune and further death if it continued to live inside Evie's consciousness, and Rebecca, knowing full well how the darkness could creep back into her family, could not let any of that come to be.
The hypnosis had to happen. So, she dangled the crystal in Evie's face just like Gaspar, her spiritual adviser taught her.
"Keep your eyes on the crystal, Evie, see how it moves back and forth and back and forth. This is a metaphor for your relationship with my grandson Sebastian. Let the time flow through you in your mind and feel the happiness that he can bring you, let the light from this crystal open up your mind ....let your mind open up Evie, open it up to the light." Rebecca said.
In the other room Gaspar turned to Jacob and mouthed "She's doing it."
Evie was weary of Rebecca, the dream she had the other night of being buried alive and Rebecca being the one who did it still stung in her mind. She could still hear Rebecca's voice from the dream..."let her rest in peace"...the voice, Rebecca's voice echoed over and over as if her mind was reminding Evie to be careful.
"Evie," Rebecca said to Evie's trying to look away. "Don't you see the lights?"
Evie wasn't comfortable, the old woman's words often felt cold and hollow. She worried about what she really wanted and why she had such a horrible nightmare that involved her. A chill ran up Evie's white buttoned up back tightened with a corset and lace bodice.
Rebecca grabbed Evie by the chin and moved her face towards the dangling crystal, forcing her to look at the gift she brought her.
"See? There is light dancing for you within the crystal, do you see them Evie? Look deeper, deeper into the little fractals of light. Let the light go inside of your mind, Evie, let the light be a key for me." Rebecca said.
Evie's face began to change. She began to let the woman's words deep into her subconscious like a slithering snake in for the kill.
"I see the lights." Evie said, her eyes glazing over.
"Good, good...now let me inside your mind, let me clear you of the burden of that story of death and disaster. Let me fill you with only good visions of what our family and let me..." Rebecca said attempting to remove the memory of the secret from her soon-to-be new granddaughter's mind.
But then, in a blink of a millisecond, Evie pulled away quickly breaking the trans from Rebecca's control and got up from the bed. It was Rebecca’s voice. It was the same from her dream of being in the coffin. Cold. Cruel. Devious.
Evie shook her head and felt a little dazed but the hypnosis did not work, her discomfort with the woman’s voice from her dream, the woman who had been there in her nightmare and laughter at her being buried alive, that same voice, that matching voice was too horrible to listen to. As she recognized it as Rebecca She pulled herself out the hypnosis fully intact and walked back over to her vanity mirror in a shallow breath.
"I should finish getting ready." Evie said, noting the time nervously.
"But your gift." Rebecca said extending her arm with the dangling crystal on a red string.
"Thank you very much I will treasure it." Evie said snatching the crystal from Rebecca's hand and quickly putting into a purple painted jewelry box with all of her other trinkets.
Rebecca's eyes widened, she had failed. She could now only stare at the jewelry box and feel the utter disaster that had just occurred all throughout her senses. Not only did Evie now have the crystal herself but she continued to have the evil memory of the truth of David and Sabrina's demise. It was killing Rebecca inside that she could not snuff out the dark secret and hopefully start the new couple on a journey of happiness with Evie's mind clear.
Rebecca's superstitions of dark and evil swirling around Evie and Sebastian all stemmed from the secret of Sebastian's father killing Sebastian's mother but now she had to think of someway else.
"Well then," Rebecca said with her eyes on the jewelry box "Ill call Celeste back in to help you finish getting ready." She added with a disappointed tone in her voice.
"Thank you Mrs. Lord." Evie said, in a hurried voice hoping for Rebecca's quick exit.
Rebecca smiled coldly still with the stain of failure all over her face then turned to leave the room while Evie looked down at the jewelry box with the hypnotic crystal in it still warm from Rebecca’s hand and felt a shiver go up her spine like she had just scene a ghost.
In the other room, the painted eyes were returned to painting. And Gaspar threw himself onto the love seat in a lump anger that the old woman failed in the hypnosis.
"The old bat couldn't follow directions if they were written on the insides of her eye lids. She failed!!!" Gaspar said, his French accent melting into a British one.
Jacob, dressed in his finest tuxedo with golden cuff-links and a small chained watch in the pocket of his vest was standing at the French doors that led to a third story balcony over looking the grounds of the Tirymôr House as he smoked a cigarette. He grinned and threw the cigarette, still smoldering, off the balcony.
"Don't worry old boy, things are about to look up. I don’t pay you to worry only to keep my mother’s paranoias pumping. We won't need her to help us in our little plan anyway." Jacob said playfully slapping Gaspar's face.
"What do you mean?" Gaspar asked sitting up.
Jacob turned and looked at his friend in the face, he smiled and winked with a wicked look in his eye.
"Sooner or later your little trick of the eye playing on my mother's foolish little superstations was going to give way. I knew it. You knew it. You didn't actually believe my mother would always think you were some kind of spirit chasing, ghost talking, connecting to the other side guide, did you? It had to end sometime. Your fake Frenchie accent there was a good touch, and my money on you has been very well spent...especially the crystal thing, that was good, but only if it worked on Evie. And it hasn't. My mother will sooner banish you from this house now than trust you again. So being the devil that I am, I planned ahead." Jacob said grinning.
"Your money? The only reason I’m here pretending to be this ridiculous spirit speaker is because of all the money owe me. Don’t forget that.” Gaspar said.
Jacob quickly turned serious when his millions of dollar of debt to Gaspar and his partners was mentioned.
“How can I forget.” He said.
“Sometimes I think you do. This whole scam to push your mother to believe or this nonsense of tarot cards and palm reading and to off your nephew seems to be slower than I had anticipated. It hasn’t panned out and …” Gaspar said before being interrupted.
“Alright!!!! You’ve made your point. The money will come into play, my second plan is fool proof.” Jacob answered.
“Your mother would banish me if she knew the truth. Let’s make sure she doesn’t.” Gaspar suddenly said, realizing the dangers if their scam was revealed before it could come to fruition.
"But it doesn't matter.” Jacob retorted. “As soon as my second plan comes into play we'll be home free. See, I have a little scheme going with that little whore Mary. She's my ...well, let's just say my secret weapon."
"Mary Goode? How is that plan fool proof?” Gaspar asked sarcastically his voice still in his native British accident.
"Don't you worry about that. As soon as Mary completes her little task I'll be one more step closer at getting everything that I have always wanted and more, and that, my friend, means you'll get what's coming to you to. All of what's coming to you."
Gaspar seemed relived to know there was a second plan and that even with the new plan, Jacob would still pay him out. The two con-men were about to set in motion a deadly line of events that would change the face of Tirymôr House and the Lord family for ever.
And in the village, Mary Good, in her most beautiful of dresses got into a small black cab. She handed the driver $5 and told him to take her to the Lord family mansion in the Tirymôr forest.
"Ahh! Off to the big wedding, are ya? Well good for you, love, you look lovely." the cab driver said with a grin.
Mary flashed a nervous smile and sat back in the car's paten leather seat and clutched her black purse that matched her satin blue dress, and inside her purse the weapon. The revolver, it felt hot like a coal. It made her feel 100 pounds heavier. Her next move, the murder of two people she didn't care for was they key, she thought, the one event that would finally reunite her with Charlotte.
Back at the mansion, Evie and Celeste finished their prepping. Evie looked in the mirror just as the vail was placed over her face.
"This will be the best and happiest day of your life, a day you'll remember forever." Celeste said as she squeezed Evie's shoulders and the two cried together in hopes of a beautiful day.
