“How did it happen?” he asked quietly.
She brushed her hair from her face. “It is nothing. It doesn’t matter.”
Sam had seen enough scars in his lifetime to know exactly how she got them, but he needed to understand. “How did this happen?” he asked.
Her eyes watered and she brushed the tears away. “It doesn’t matter.”
Sam grabbed one of her hands. “Please. I want to understand.”
She took a deep breath. “My parents always had strict rules about how we were to behave. It started at a very early age. If we broke a rule, we received a lashing. When I was much younger, I was what my mother would call unmanageable.”
Sam could not imagine that about Clara.
“At first, I was very defiant even with the lashings. I fought them. When they realized the lashings were no longer working, they started giving lashings to Diana for my behavior.”
Sam shook his head in shock, horrified.
“Diana is two years older than me and never complained about them. Still, I did my best to change. She told me not to worry about it, but I couldn’t not worry. I could take the lashings, but Diana didn’t deserve them. She was truly perfect. Without even trying she was naturally ladylike, everything about her.”
She looked at him with such sadness that it almost broke Sam. She shrugged and said, “Eventually, the lashings became less frequent because Diana and I became the perfect ladies.”
“Who did this? A nanny?”
Clara laughed harshly. “My mother and father felt it was their duty, specifically my mother’s.”
Sam as a young boy had wished every day he had wealthy parents and daydreamed about the lives of privileged children. He would have never guessed what Clara just told him. He wanted to destroy her parents.
His anger must have shown on his face because she squeezed his hand and said, “Please do not worry about this or confront my parents. I hope to someday make amends with them.”
He looked at her in shock. How could she want to reconcile with her family after all they had done to her? “Why?” he asked, confused.
“I have a brother, Henry. I miss him, and he is all alone with them.”
“They wouldn’t—”
Clara shook her head. “Henry, they treat differently. He is the heir but still I want to be in his life.”
Sam was having trouble controlling his anger. “When was the last time this happened?”
“Please let's talk about something else?” Clara pleaded with him.
“When?” he bit out.
“The last time was shortly after Diana married Hensley. I imagine when he saw Diana’s scars, he had the same reaction as you. He met with my father. He never told Diana exactly what happened but said it would never happen again. And it hasn’t.”
Sam pulled her to him, wanting to take away the pain he knew he couldn’t. “Say the word and I will make them pay for ever hurting you.”
Clara shrugged, and it broke Sam’s heart that she could be so nonchalant about her parents’
cruelty.
She smiled at him sadly. “Truly I am fine. I just ask you to let this go as I don’t want to ruin my chance at seeing Henry again.”
The reluctance must have shown on his face.
“Please,” she said to him quietly.
He nodded, begrudgingly.
