That was when she came up with her plan to lull him to sleep during their next trip, and jump out of the moving carriage, despite all the risk it involved.
Now, it was all happening again. She could see him pulling her towards his wagon. It approached with menacing speed, and there was nothing she could do about it. No matter how hard she dug her nails into his jacket, no matter how hard she tried to punch him with her fists. It was all to no avail. She was too weak against an animal like Loveless.
“Unhand her!”
A sudden voice broke the air around them like lightning. Even Loveless himself stopped, turning around to see who it was. Rosalie’s eyes were wet with tears. Her field of vision was blurry, but she would recognize Hercules anywhere. She would recognize Armless Annie. The bearded lady. Lobster boy. They were all there, standing together. Standing with her.
“What did ye say, ye freak!?” Loveless growled at Hercules. “You’d berra go back t’ yer wagon, or else…”
“Not until you unhand Rosalie,” Hercules repeated, without a single indication of fear in his voice.
Rosalie couldn’t imagine him not being afraid. But he had managed to bury that fear under the guise of strength and bravery. He stood up to the man who had made their lives a living Hell. They all stood up to him.
With that newfound strength, she managed to yank her arm away from Loveless’ grip, then pushed him with both her hands so hard that he landed in the dirt. She couldn’t see his face clearly in the dark, but she could sense that his anger was growing.
She ran back to her friends, and stood behind them, hiding from Loveless’ hateful stare.
“Rosalie!!” he shouted furiously. “Ye berra get on over ‘ere!”
He pointed with his finger to the empty space by his side. She dared not say anything.
“Go now,” Hercules urged her, turning his head just a little to her, not letting Loveless out of his sight for a single moment. “We’ll take care of him.”
“Rosalie!”
She could hear Loveless’ voice echoing in the dark, long after she could no longer see any of them behind her. Breathless, she was running back, back to those she loved more than life itself.
Chapter 27
When Edmund woke up, it was quite late in the following afternoon. The liquor had kept him violently awake well into the night, and he only managed to find repose in the early hours of the morn. It was a restless kind of sleep, one that offered no respite of either the body or the mind.
As of right now, he was also graced with a headache the likes of which he had never experienced before. His head felt like a drum, echoing with noise. Refusing breakfast and asking for only a cup of warm tea that might dilute the fury of liquor still present in his stomach, Edmund paced about his sleeping quarters without knowing what to do with himself.
But that changed as soon as he walked over to the window, the one which overlooked the lush greenery in the distance of his estate, as well as the puppy’s new home. He could see the girls were there. However, they were not playing, as they usually did when they were with the puppies. That was what caught his attention.
Putting down the cup on a small table in the corner of his room, he quickly got dressed and rushed outside. When he reached them, the girls didn’t even turn around to greet him. They were seated on a small bench, their little feet dangling in mid-air. Silently, he approached and sat between them.
For a minute or so, he didn’t say anything. Truth be told, he didn’t know what to say. The events of the previous day seemed like a nightmare, and a part of him wondered, actually hoped, that he had only dreamt it. But the sadness which was etched on the faces of two little girls who had already known more sadness than any child ever should, assured him that it was all reality. Painful reality. There was no delusion he could imagine to reduce the pain. It was merely the phantom of love which had such a powerful influence over him. Once, it had elevated him into the realm of Heaven itself. But now, it had plunged him into the deepest pits of misery once more, and he didn’t know if he would be able to surface again.
“Will you bring her back?” Cecilia suddenly spoke softly, as if she was afraid of asking this question.
Edmund turned to her. He found it difficult to contain his most inner thoughts, and equally difficult to express them to two little girls. He felt as if he was required to gather up all the events that had happened, all of them, including both the wonderful and the horrible, and explain them first to himself, then to the girls.
“There is nothing I would rather do,” he assured her.
“So, why don’t you do it then?” Cecilia urged, her doll in her hands, for comfort, now that yet another loving woman had been snatched out of their lives.
The question felt like an icy wind that blasted right through the hot fire that burned deep within his heart.
“It’s somewhat complicated,” he replied vaguely, wondering how on earth could one explain such events to little children.
“What is so complicated about it?” Madeline interfered, and it were her questions that Edmund always feared. “If you love her, bring her back.”
Her conclusion seemed reasonable indeed. In the naïve mind of a child, life was so easy, so simple. Edmund envied them. He wanted his own vision of the world to be such, but he was marred by too much heartache, too much pain.
“I do love her,” he surprised even himself with the way he said it so easily. It was the truth, after all. The truth always remained the same, no matter what happened. “But it seems that she wasn’t entirely truthful with us.”
“What do you mean?” Madeline seemed to remember something. “Does it have anything to do with that man who took her?”
