“This is the information I have collected. I would like to write a paper about the life of the sixth Duke. Mystery shrouded his life. He lived during the time my ancestor worked there, so that makes his story a little more personal. His name was William. His first wife died under suspicious circumstances, and rumor has it that he might have driven her to her death, but it gets even better. It seems he married again, but the identity of the second wife is an enigma. I found the copy of the marriage certificate, but there’s no mention of her in any society papers or any other events.”
He drew a quick breath before he continued, his fascination with the subject evident.
“You would think the marriage of a Duke would warrant more ceremony, but it seems this marriage was almost secret. Then she vanished, and I can find no more trace of her in any record. Not long after that, he disappeared too and was presumed dead. A newspaper from the time speculated he might have taken his own life after his second wife left him. But of course, that is only speculation.”
Olivia listened to this with growing dread. This was Dale’s story. Of course, she could not share this with the vicar.
She feigned only polite interest in the tale of the sixth Duke, praying her face didn’t give away that she was dying inside. This tale corroborated what she had seen engraved in the memorial stone. Dale had died shortly after she left.
She looked at the books and newspaper articles. She glanced over the date of Dale’s first marriage, a couple of newspaper articles speculating about Eloise’s death, and her own signature in the register of their marriage, dated 1872. Then she found the horrible article the vicar had mentioned, which claimed that Dale had taken his own life.
A bullet to her heart would have probably hurt less. It was too much. She had to go before she broke down in tears. She stood up.
“Thank you so much, Mr. Simmonds. You have been most kind, sharing your own research with me.”
The vicar gave her a look she couldn’t decipher. Maybe he didn’t know what to think of her, either.
“My pleasure, Olivia. Let me know if I can be of further help. By the way, did you notice that the Duke’s second wife’s name was Olivia, just like you?”
She went cold inside. “Was it? I was looking at so many records that it must have escaped my notice. How coincidental! Of course, Olivia is not such an uncommon name.”
“Wish I could talk to that Olivia from long ago. She would have had an interesting tale to tell.”
If only he knew. “I’m sure she would,” Olivia smiled. She needed to get out of here fast because she couldn’t maintain the detached façade anymore. “Thank you for your help, Mr. Simmonds. I appreciate it, but I must be going now.”
With that, she exited the church and started walking back to the cottage. Her stomach growled, which alerted her to the fact that she was faint with hunger. She realized she had eaten very little since arriving in the present time. She hadn’t been hungry. It was hard to eat when your heart felt like it was being squeezed inside your chest. But the body had its own needs. So she stopped by a little shop on the way, bought herself some dinner to go and went straight to the cottage.
Tomorrow she would go back home. She longed for her family, longed to bask in her father’s good humor and her mom’s warmth. In other times, she could have unburdened herself with her mom. She had always talked to her about everything. When she was little, her mom would prepare her a snack and sit with her, hearing the stories about school and her friends and the not so friendly kids.
Once Olivia had become a woman, they had shared a bottle of wine between the two of them and talked about life. Her mom’s sympathetic eyes and sound advice always made all problems appear solvable. They hadn’t done that since Leah’s passing. Maybe it was time to have a long talk with her mom. Hopefully, a bit of sanity and normalcy would come from that.
Tomorrow she will have a very early start. She should sleep now, but her brain refused to shut down. The revelations of the day and thoughts of Dale swirled through her mind until she could hardly breathe for missing him.
Oh God, how could she have left him? How was she going to live the rest of her life without him?
CHAPTER 68 - The Writings of a desperate man
