PART III
Our home felt like a terrible crucible of anxiety and stress the morning after Albert Lord became ill. All night I could hear him moaning and groaning from his third-floor guest room that was directly above mine. I was frightened. I had never been around anyone who seemed this ill, not the way Albert was.
I snuck out of my room, it was early morning - six o'clock I think. The sun was hidden behind a veil of fresh storm clouds and all I wanted was for things in our home to go back to normal. I quietly made my way down the hall and saw Sebastian standing at the foot of the stairs that led to the guest rooms on the third floor. He was staring up listening to his ill grandfather fight whatever illness had taken over his mind and body.
"He'll be alright." I wished after I approached.
"What do you think made him so sick so fast?" my future husband asked in a meek tone that I had not yet heard from him.
I shrugged "The journey to London was long; he could have caught something on the way and only now has it taken over. I'm going downstairs for a glass of water -- would you like to come?" I asked.
Sebastian turned to me smiled and nodded. I extended my hand and took him downstairs.
In Albert's room, Rebecca paced the floor as her husband lay in their bed feverish and speaking in a language he did not know. My mother came out of the washroom with a cold rag and a small porcelain bowl that she placed at Albert's side.
"When will the doctor arrive?" Rebecca asked my mother.
"Shortly." My mother replied, as she placed the cold rag on Albert's head.
"Oh! Please, I should be doing that. I'm sorry, my mind is just in shatters."
My mother smiled kindly back and handed Rebecca the rag.
Meanwhile back at Queen Anne's Square the woman in veils of gray sat at a wooden table in the back of her shop staring down at a wooden scarab. It was an exact replica of the golden one she gave to Jacob; the one that she cursed and that Jacob gave to his father, unbeknownst to the veiled woman.
She placed the wooden version in the palm of her left and covered it with her right hand and hummed a song.
The clouds above swirled in shades of black and gray as a rumbling from the sky shook the windows of our home. The woman then spoke:
"Wiggle in; further deep. Grant my wish of never sleep. Send his mind a storm from hell. This is the way of my spell. Tenebras sequere — age!"
She pressed her hands together, pushed them down onto the wooden version of the golden scarab, and when she lifted her hands all that was left was dust.
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| Albert and the curse |
Albert sat up in bed just as the sky sounded off with the coming storm. Rebecca and my mother both became startled at his sudden jolt upward his back straight as a board. With his eyes wide open and sweat dripping down his forehead as his fever grew as hot as a wildfire. He slowly turned to his wife who smiled and walked towards him trepidatiously, believing he'd miraculously come out of his fever.
"Albert?" Rebecca said, his voice sounding distant, under water even, in his mind.
The sick man's eyes were empty and dark. Rebecca soon saw this. She gulped and began to step back and just ask her foot hit the ground, Albert screamed a deathly scream into her face and lunged out of the at his own wife. He grabbed her shoulders and screamed into her face. She screamed back and my mother screamed too.
We heard this from the kitchen. The horrible sounds were so mighty I dropped the glass of water onto the floor and shards of glass and water went all over the white tiles.
By this time my father and the doctor, Dr. Byron Rothschyld who'd just arrived, burst into the room and were able to subdue Albert and bring him back to his bed.
"Hold his arm down." Dr. Rothschyld said to my father as Jacob entered and pushed my father aside to help the doctor.
"What the devil is happening to him?" Jacob asked with alarm.
The doctor pulled out a needle Jacob grabbed the doctor's forearm back. "Its a sedative." Dr. Rothschyld explained. "It'll help him rest while he fights this."
The needle went into Albert's arm and he winced in pain as the prick into his skin was a sharp like the bite of an Egyptian asp. He looked over at his frightened wife, now lucid and cried out "What have I done, oh Becca, please don't be angry!"
Seconds later, Albert's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fell asleep.
"Please, please, everyone out, I need to check him over." The Doctor instructed.
My mother ushered everyone left the room, even Rebecca who was in so much shock she could not even answer Albert when he spoke.
"Come," My mother instructed "let's all just go down into the parlor."
Back at the shop, the woman dusted off her hands. A smirked of perfect white teeth could be seen though her gray and dingy veils. She knew her twisted curse was working, but not on the person she intended it to work on.
She walked over to a box and opened it. Six more of the wooden scarabs looked up at her. One to crush for the next six days.
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| Panic in the parlor |
Our parlor was filled to it's four walls with everyone concerned with Albert. Rebecca sat on our sofa while Augusta warmed her friend's shaking hands with hers. My mother stood by the hearth, her arms around her body as if she were her only protection. My father came to her and held her. She fell into the nook between his extended arm and body.
"He looks -- like the living dead." Jacob said of his father.
"I've never seen an influenza like this, never." Rebecca said.
We could hear this in the kitchen, Sebastian and me. We were still cleaning up the broken glass and spilled water. He looked at he as we cleaned. His eyes so full of fear yet at the same time they calmed my own worry.
As he scooped glass shards from my cup, a sliver stuck him. The prick instantly drew blood and he licked it clean. "Ouch." He whispered as Aunt Marissa returned through the front door unable to stay home as my mother ordered worried about Jacob's actions.
She had no idea what she was about to walk in on.
"What -- what's happened?" Aunt Marissa asked as stepping into the parlor. Everyone turned to look at her pale and silent as if they'd just seen a ghost.
"Mr. Lord is very ill." My mother said. "Dr. Rothschyld is upstairs examining him now."
"Is there anything I can do? Does anyone need coffee? Tea? I can brew some to calm our nerves." Aunt Marissa asked.
"That would be lovely!" Augusta answered.
"Of course." Aunt Marissa said, as Jacob's eyes watched her.
As Aunt Marissa went into the kitchen and made the tea she helped us clean the glass. The Doctor entered the parlor with news of Albert. He removed his perfect circular spectacles and wiped them clean with a lily-white handkerchief that had a blue embroidered Rod of Asclepius on one of its corners.
"Doctor, can you tell us anything?" My father asked.
"Well," The doctor gulped "Mr. Lord was not very responsive, mostly because of the sedative I gave him, but I was hoping for some kind of vocal response even if it were muffled. That helps me understand the patient's cognitive capabilities -- but there was nothing. That being said, when the medicine has worn off a bit I'll try again. He has a very high fever. There's no visible signs of infection on his glands, but I noticed some swelling inside his throat."
"You looked inside his mouth?" Jacob asked with a cringe.
The doctor turned to Albert's son and narrowed his eyes, a sign he was not impressed with the wealthy heir's lack of couth.
"You can't tell us what has him so ill? Or why he'd react that way to me?" Rebecca asked.
"The fever has a lot to do with that Mrs. Lord. I think once we get him to rest a little longer and get his fever down he'll be able to talk and then explain what symptoms he's suffering from. That's when I'll now more. For now, let's just keep his body cool. Keep him hydrated as best possible and if he can eat, light foods. Soups. Broths."
"Yes doctor." My mother said, checking off his list for our cook later.
"Thank you." Rebecca replied as she got up from Augusta's comfort and shook his hand.
"I have to get back upstairs." Augusta announced. "My ship leaves back to the states soon. I should pack. Becca, darling, all you need do is call out my name and I'll be right here."
"I'll follow up." the doctor replied as he headed back to be by Albert's side.
Rebecca smiled.
My mother quickly followed Augusta to help her pack. My father sat on the sofa while Rebecca and Jacob walked together and stood by the window that over-looked the path outside. The storm clouds had blocked the sun, and my father noticed how the mother and son Lord seemed to step into the shadow of that gloom like they belonged in it. They stood there, comfortable in the coolness of the shade and did not feel the chill that came with it.
"He's going to die, isn't he?" Jacob said as Sebastian entered from the kitchen.
Rebecca noticed Sebastian. "Keep your voice down."
"Mother you saw what I saw. He's dying." Jacob continued. "We have to make sure we're prepared for whatever happens all the way out here and away from our legal team."
"Legal team? What the devil are you talking about?" Rebecca whispered back.
"The company. Once father is gone, I can't be asked to share duties of representing this family with..." He paused and looked towards Sebastian. Rebecca's eyes followed as she watched her handsome grandson go over to a chair and wait for me.
"...an eleven-year-old orphan." Jacob finished.
Rebecca's blood ran cold; her stare could have burned a hole straight through Jacob. She could not believe what she was coming out of her own son's mouth and mind.
"You bite your tongue." She hissed. "As long as I live no one will erase the vision and passion your father has for this family and this company. His company. He is not going to die, Jacob, and another thing -- your nephew is only an orphan in your eyes. He has me. He has his grandfather and he has the unborn child you've conceived with -- with -- that bar maid! We're a unit, damn it, we don't single each other out. And remind yourself why he is alone in the first place before you ever speak that way again."
Jacob raised a brow. All of his crimes circled him as if his mother's words were a murder of crows.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to take care of my sick husband - YOUR father."
**
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| Evie & Sebastian in the garden |
Later that afternoon as Dr. Rothschyld tended to the ailing Albert, Sebastian and I sat in the garden during a break in the storm. Sebatian extended a blanket on a stone bench that had lion's legs carved into it. We watched a cardinal sail from the top of our neighbor's tree and into our overflowing bird bath that had green algae and moss coating the surface of the pool.
I could see Sebastian's concern had moved his mind away from our pretty garden. It made sense, his grandfather's sudden illness overtook any and all happiness our first meeting was supposed to conjure.
"He's going to be alright," I said, unsure of my own confidence. "Dr. Rothschyld will see to it."
"Do you really think so?" He asked.
"I do!" I lied; I wasn't sure.
"When my mother died, I was only 7. No one could explain what had happened in a way that made any sense to me. One day she was there, the next she was gone. It was all so fast." Sebastian explained suddenly. "And then -- my father was gone." He added.
"I can't imagine how painful that was." I replied.
"I have never understood death in that manner. Or why bad things happen to good people. My mother was so kind. So warm. And --- she was taken, just like that." He told me.
I reached over and touched his hand, he turned it over and cupped my fingers gently. He smiled and nervously took his hand back as if I were some sort of piece of art he wasn't supposed to touch.
"And now grandad...." He began but I interrupted.
"This -- this is different." I said. He stared at me as if he wanted me to explain how I knew it. I couldn't.
"I hate that we're here, not because I didn't want to meet you, Evie. You're very nice. Your family is too. But if we were home, grandad would be in his own bed getting better. But we're so far away from all we know."
"I guess that will be what I feel when I finally go to Welshport. Far away from all I know."
Sebastian turned to me and frowned. He didn't say anything, but I could tell that perhaps my words stung a little. It wasn't that the two of us even understood what it would be like to be married to each other when we were older. How could we? The only marriages we had to reference were our parents' and for his part, Sebastian only had a dark image to recall.
"But it'll be ok." I quickly added. "Just like now, Mr. Lord will get better in no time and everything will be alright, you'll see."
"Do you really think so?" He asked, his blue eyes staring back at me like two tiny little globes with histories and time swirling within them.
"I do." I said and smiled hoping my optimism would light his heart.
He smiled back and the cardinal chirped once and swept itself out to the wide-open sky that had darkened with the rest of the brewing storm.
"Hurry." I said. "It's about to come down."
Sebastian lifted his head to the sky "A sky like Welshport." he said softly I pretended not to notice and folded the blanket up before we scurried back inside.
We went through the back foyer that had paintings of our family dangling on the wood paneled walls and up through the parlor where my father and Jacob were chatting about something random in the newspaper trying to pass the time and distract from the illness in the house. Jacob's eyes followed as we went up the stairs that was visible from the olive-green toned parlor. His eyes creeped along our steps like a honing device -- he was watching my every move.
At the top of the stairs, we turned towards the second-floor parlor where I had many books to read and games to play with while we passed the storm (both in the sky and in Albert's body) but Sebastian kept going down the hall. I peeked out of the parlor door and saw that he went down towards the guest room where Albert was recovering.
"Sebas---" I said, whispering half his name before deciding to just follow him.
As I caught up all we could hear were voices. He was following the voices. It was only seconds before the two of us had our ears up to the bedroom door to listen in on what they were saying. Sebastian looked over to me and put his finger to his plump lips "Shhhh."
**
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| Augusta departs |
In the bedroom Rebecca Lord and a freshly packed Augusta Stoddard sat on two chairs facing the sleeping Albert. A rumble in the sky startled them and the two looked out the window to see the clouds had burst and rain was now drenching the streets outside.
Rebecca exhaled, she felt as if she'd been holding her breath for hours and hours.
"It's going to be alright Rebecca." Augusta said as she held her hand. "But maybe I shouldn't go back so soon before you. Maybe I should stay."
"No, no, not at all. You've done a wonderful service to us coming here and introducing us to the Jordans, I can't ask you to stay longer. I have to keep reassuring myself that Albert will get better and that the doctor knows what's he's doing. Besides Jacob and Sebastian are here -- at least one of them will be comfort to me." Rebecca replied.
Augusta smiled but the kind of smile that looked like it was forced from a frown. It was silent now with the exception of the storm outside and clock ticking away the hours before Dr. Rothschyld returned. Rebecca reached into a pouch she had tied around her waist and removed a silver rosary and began to fiddle with the beads. She wanted to pray but the words were not coming to her. She rubbed the cross and could feel the delicate bumps and grooves carved into it's smooth silver shape of Jesus. As she finally relaxed her mind Albert began to make noises indicating thirst.
"I'll get it." Augusta said allowing Rebecca to begin to pray.
As Augusta got close to Albert with the small glass of water his eyes snapped opened. Augusta did not expect it and yelped. Albert knocked the glass of water out of her and splashing it everywhere.
Rebecca shot up out of her chair, the thunder clapped in the window behind her casting her shadow over the bed in three split second flashes. "ALBERT!"
Sebastian and I heard it all as we stood at the door. I could feel my hands shake. I looked over at Sebastian and his face seemed pale, his lips white like he was about to faint.
Suddenly -- it got worse. Albert again shot up in bed and began to speak a language no one in the house knew.
"Neshen-ee!! Ha-tee! NESHEN-EE HA-TEE!!!" Albert screamed into the room.
"ALBERT PLEASE! PLEASE STOP!" Rebecca shouted trying to calm him and holding onto his arms that were flailing all about.
But Albert would not or could not. He was under the control of the Cleopatra's golden scarab that was kept in the drawer of his bedside table.
"GO!" Rebecca shouted to Augusta, "GET AURORA! Tell her to call the doctor, he needs more of the sedative, he's burning up!!"
Augusta nodded and dashed towards the bedroom door opening it to see me and Sebastian. Our six eyes met and Augusta didn't even try to get us to leave she just moved passed us and rushed down the hall in layers of dark chiffon and silk.
I stayed at the door shaking as the rain crashed down outside. I could hear it pouring and I could almost feel the chill of the air seep in and surround me like a Nordic wind. Sebastian slowly walked into the dark bedroom where Albert had finally fallen back down to the bed but was awake and coughing. His eyes were bloodshot. His pillow soaking of sweat.
"Sebatian, go on, get out, we don't know if grandad is contagious." Rebecca ordered as she attempted to tuck Albert back into bed.
I watched as Sebastian kept walking in slowly. Closer and closer to her ailing grandfather. He got to the side of the bed, and I managed the courage to get at least up into the doorway and looked in.
"Sebastian...." I whispered. "come back."
He did not.
He stepped up to his grandfather and touched his hand. It was on fire; his whole body was.
"Grandad...." he said softly. "It's me -- Sebastian."
Albert, now awake and somewhat alert, turned his head and looked over at his too tall-for-his-age grandson and he smiled. A temporary moment of clarity. As sure as I saw the rain fall outside the window Albert once again began to scream the language no one knew.
Sebastian tried to help Rebecca calm him, but he was too wild, too rough.
Albert then again stopped screaming in the mystery tongue and looked right at me. His eyes wide and red. Rebecca and Sebastian turned back to see what got his attention.
It got quiet again. Ticking clock. Rain on the window.
"DEAAAAAAAAAAAAAATH!!!!!!!!!!!" Albert screamed at me point at me. It was blood curtailing. Chilling.
I screamed and went backwards into the hallway. My mother and Augusta came rushing over. Augusta yanked Sebastian out of the room and closed the doors on us.
He hugged me -- tightly.
My mother came back out as my father and Jacob came shortly after.
The five us in the hall unable to make sense of what just happened.
"He's -- he's so ill." Augusta said to Jacob.
Jacob did not say a word only sighed half annoyed with the whole situation and entered he's father's sick room, quickly closing the door behind him.
"What are we going to do?" My father asked my mother.
"Pray." She whispered hoping Sebastian and I couldn't hear. "Albert cannot die here, not in this house."
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| Aunt Marissa & Jacob in the kitchen |
The housekeeper spotted Jacob and curtsied. Marissa turned and their eyes locked.
"Jacob." My aunt said, turning back to the housekeeper rolling her eyes.
"You're back." He said, handing the vase to the housekeeper who quickly refreshed it.
"I'll take it back to Mr. Lord."
"Thank you, Dolly." Jacob told the housekeeper, now alone with Marissa.
Marissa extended her arm and block him from getting closer. She took a breath and threw the dish towel back onto the counter.
"Yes." She replied attempting to make an exit, but Jacob grabbed her arm, this time he wasn't as rough. He grabbed her but did not squeeze. He softened her face and smiled.
"I want to apologize for our last conversation; I didn't mean to make you upset or to imply anything." He said.
"Jacob, just forget it. Whatever happened between you and I that summer happened, and its over and the two of us moved on. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to look for Aurora."
"We've both moved on?" He asked.
My aunt wasn't a sweet teenage girl lost in love. She was a smart worldly woman who'd been in love with men before. She'd seen passion and heartbreak and had no intention of every worrying about how a man of any stature or class would see her. What she saw in herself was the most important thing and she would not allow Jacob to snow her over with sweet nothings to get what he wanted.
"Did you think I was here in London licking the wounds of love? You're going to be father, Jacob, and I'm a mother now. We've both moved on and that's how it should be." Aunt Marissa said revealing she knew Jacob's paramour was with child.
"She means nothing to me. It was a mistake." He said of his future child's mother.
If he thought that response would have ingratiated him with my aunt he was sorely mistaken. Her eyes narrowed and she shook her head. She couldn't believe how cold he was, almost as cold as the storm outside. To have been with this woman and gotten her pregnant and acting as if she was nothing -- made Aunt Marissa sick.
"That's a wonderful thing to say about the mother of your child." She replied.
Jacob looked shocked "That's not what I meant."
"That's what you meant." she said before she turned to go upstairs to find my mother.
"Wait!" She shouted.
"Don't lie to me.... the boy, your son, is he mine?"
The truth was, she could easily say that her baby boy was indeed their love child and take the opportunity for the both of them, but that lie would trap her into a dangerous web that she could already see manifesting right before her eyes.
No, the truth was Roman was not a Lord -- thankfully so. She shook her head no, and turned to go.
"Marissa!" He shouted again.
She sighed and turned one last time "I said he's not Jacob; that's the truth."
He seemed to accept it finally "How did you know about the woman carrying my baby?" he wondered, as he had worked so hard to keep that scandal from ever escaping the mouths that knew it.
"Jacob, you don't hide anything about yourself the way you think you do. Everything is right here for all to see. Your lies. Your worries. Your schemes. All one has to do is look closely and see it." She explained.
"Gossip is treacherous." He replied.
"You're a crystal vase Jacob Lord, just like the one you came in here to refill," She smirked "empty and transparent but fragile. The slightly bump and you'll break into a million pieces."
My aunt finally broke free of the conversation and went off to find my mother to help her. Jacob stood in the kitchen alone as the rain poured rivers of water down the windows and onto the slick back pavements of our garden. Jaocb made a vow there and then that he would never ever let someone think of him as a fragile piece of glass again. Not his mother. Not Marissa. Not anyone.
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| Richard consoles Aurora |
Upstairs in their bedroom my parents held each other as the rain continued to descend onto our West London neighborhood. My mother was crying. Everything they had set up for the Lord's visit seemed to be slowly receding like ocean waves at low tide. It felt like a disaster.
"We have to stay the course." My father said, kissing my mother on the forehead.
"Richard, what if this all falls apart. Evie's future is depending on her marriage and connection to the Lords. I feel like if Albert, god forbid, dies here they'll never forgive us."
"We didn't do anything Aurora! He's ill. People get sick."
My mother turned away and looked out her bedroom window. She knew this was more than just an illness; it was much more. But she had no idea what it was.
"You just have to keep the faith; Evie's future does depend on this betrothal but so does ours." My father added.
Money. The root of all evil and also the root of the downfall of many well-to-do families who made bad investments. As was the case of my family. The Lords visit to London was not only so that they could meet us, it also came with a significant advance in Sebastian's dowery. This was a reverse way of doing things. In many families the girl would supply the dowery, but the Lords offered it -- such was their desperation to ease the scandal-mill back home with good news of future wedding.
"How much longer do we have until creditors start coming again." My mother wondered.
"A while. They've given us some breathing room." A lie.
My mother breathed in deeply releasing some tension as a knock on the door startled them both. My mother wiped away tears and told the person to enter. It was Aunt Marissa.
My mother rushed over to hug her sister. "Thank you for coming back, I'm sorry about sending you off like that."
"Its ok." Marissa replied with a slight smile, still hurt but understanding. "How's Albert?"
"The doctor has no idea what he's ill from. I've never seen anything like it myself." My father replied.
"You said he was feverish, it sounds like influenza." Aunt Marissa added.
"That's what we thought but with everything else, it just doesn't make sense." My mother said.
"Everything else?" Marissa wondered.
"He's saying things in a different language. Rebecca says the only other language he speaks is French and he was certainly not speaking that. I don't know what it could be. Dr. Rothschyld is coming back to keep an eye on him." Mother said.
My aunt Marissa sighed and looked over at my father who would not show emotion. He had to be the strong one and not give in that he was terrified too. Something was happening under his room and he could not make sense of it.
"What if this is some sort of sign?" Marissa wondered. "I think maybe you two should call off the betrothal and cut your losses. I just have a terrible feeling about all of this. Connecting this way to this family has already proved messy and complicated, I think you should end it."
"End it? Are you mad Marissa! We can't do that. We're too far gone. We're doing this to sustain our family and it will be the best thing for our daughter. She'll get the best education, the biggest opportunities now. We can't go back. That would be more of a disaster!" My father shouted.
"But look around you, Richard!" Aunt Marissa began, "None of this is normal. We're sending Evie --- "
My father put his hand up and interrupted "You're not sending Evie anywhere. This has nothing to do with you."
There was silence.
"Listen, Marissa, I love you like my own sister, but you have to stop trying to sway us one way or another on this matter. Evie is our daughter and we've decided that this is what is best for her." He finished.
"I love her too." My aunt said softly, the hurt in her heart for being pushed aside this way was as cold to her as the rain the drenched her on her walk here. My mother and father were very close to Aunt Marissa. She was at our home so often, it was as if I had a second mother.
"Is this about Jacob?" My mother whispered.
"Aurora," Aunt Marissa began before once again my father interrupted.
"Jacob? Oh no, oh no, no, no. Do not tell me you and Jacob are... are something!"
"It's not what you think, Richard." Aunt Marissa assured.
"Then what is it?" He asked.
"More like what was it, and it was a mistake, from last summer that I'm learning I should have squashed before any of this happened."
"So this is about Jacob!" My father said slapping down the newspaper he had rolled up under his arm down on a table. "Listen, I want to hear nothing more of any of this. Evangeline is going to be part of the Lords at some point in her life, Aurora and I have decided that. Stop meddling. Support us Marissa, that's what we need, your support."
My father then left the room to cool off. My mother reached over and hugged her sister. She would not allow the tension to break their connection, not this time. My mother then whispered to Aunt Marissa that my father would eventually relax. There was just too much tension in the house over everything happening. Marissa nodded, she understood, and it made sense.
My mother then went after my father leaving Marissa alone in the room with only the sound of the storm churning overhead. When she looked down at the newspaper that my father had thrown down in frustration she noticed a familia photograph on the front page but she could only see half the image.
She picked up the paper and unfolded it only to see a report on a museum that had a particular Egyptian artifact taken from it's collection only the week prior.
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| A shocking headline |
Marissa then realized it was the exact artifact Albert brought home from Queen Anne's Square was in the very house she stood in. What she had yet to discover but perhaps soon would was that dazzling relic of the past touched by the greatest queen of antiquity and cursed for Jacob by an unknown veiled woman at the Square was given to Albert by chance and was the cause of all the whole frightening ordeal.
CLICK THE IMAGE
FOR PART IV
