OLIVIA
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Cal kicked open the door to the
parlor with Nelson right on his heels. He stalked over to the bar and threw off
the lid to the decanter.
"Cal, I brought you home to
sober you up, not watch you drink yourself into a stupor." Nelson slammed
the door.
"Get away from me,
Nelson," Cal snarled, and sloshed the alcohol into the tumbler.
"Isn’t there a beach in the Riviera waiting for you?"
"I think you will find why
I’m home more interesting," Nelson retorted.
"I could care less why
you’re home."
Nelson shook his head as he came
to stand in front of him. "You are a fool, Cal. You have everything a man
could ever want, and yet you treat it like it’s nothing. You’re careless and
reckless, and it’s come home to haunt you."
Cal snorted and slammed the
tumbler down. "What would you know about it? You know nothing of my life.
You’ve been too busy cavorting all over Europe, wasting your money on God only
knows what. Do me a favor, Nelson. Don’t come here with your sanctimonious
speeches telling me what a good life I have. You know nothing," he
retorted, and picked up the decanter. Nelson grabbed it from him and threw it
behind the bar, shattering the glass against the wall.
"You’ve had enough,
Cal," he gritted. "I know what’s going on here, all right. I know
everything about why you’re drinking yourself into a stupor every night. I know
about the money and your wife and the sons she was supposed to deliver. I know
everything," he told him. "It’s despicable to think of how you two have
manipulated that poor girl."
"Nelson, so help me, if you
don’t leave…" Cal growled as the two men faced each other.
"I also know that she hasn’t
gotten pregnant since the fall when she miscarried. Yes, my dear cousin, I know
it all. It seems my uncle has been coming down hard on you to produce more
heirs, and you can’t deliver the goods. So, where does that leave Olivia? She’s
only one of the victims in all of this. If the girl had a modicum of sense,
she’d leave you and never look back."
"Why, you…" Cal grabbed
his coat while rearing back with his other arm. "Get out of my
house!"
Nelson shoved Cal back and
gripped his hands into fists at his side. "I’m not leaving until you hear
what I have to say."
"I can’t imagine anything
you have to say would interest me in the least," Cal retorted as he
adjusted his collar and jerked down his jacket.
"How wrong you are,
cousin."
"Nelson, I’ve had quite
enough of you for one night. If you don’t leave, I will have you thrown out,
family or not."
"Tell me, Cal," Nelson
started. "When is the last time Julia crossed your mind?"
Cal paled slightly as his head
jerked around to Nelson. "What did you say?"
"Julia…don’t tell me you’ve
forgotten her already."
*****
Olivia and Marietta entered the
foyer and stepped into the hall. The lights were dim and all was quiet until
she heard the sound of crashing glass. Stopping at the foot of the staircase,
she turned to Marietta and bit her lip.
"I’m not sure I want to know
what is going on in there," she said quietly.
"Miss Olivia, please come upstairs,"
Marietta implored. "You would only be hurting yourself if you go to him.
He’s hurt you so much already."
Nodding in agreement, Olivia took
her hand and squeezed it. "I know, but he’s still my husband. Whatever is
going on, I must know about it. You go on upstairs. I’ll be along
shortly."
Frowning, Marietta slightly shook
her head, but did as Olivia instructed her. When she was finally alone, Olivia
walked to the door, ready to open it until she heard Cal and Nelson’s raised
voices.
"Julia…don’t tell me you’ve
forgotten her already?"
"I have no idea what you’re
talking about." Cal laughed nervously.
Olivia listened to her husband’s
reaction to Nelson’s question, wondering why he was suddenly sounding so
strange.
"Don’t you?" Nelson
asked quietly. "Do you even care to know what happened to her?"
Cal’s voice became more agitated.
"Is there a point to this, Nelson?"
"She’s dead." Nelson
landed the statement cold and hard. "I was with her in the end. She died with
your name upon her lips. She loved you until the end of her life, and
you…" He paused for a moment. "…and you didn’t even have the decency
to care about her or the child she carried."
What? Olivia’s mind reeled as the impact of
Nelson’s words hit her. What was Nelson talking about?
"Nelson, not one more word.
This is not the time--"
"This is exactly the
time." Nelson cut him off. "She came to me, you know, when she found
out she was pregnant. She was scared, afraid of what you would think."
Olivia covered her mouth with her
hand. The corseted gown she had on felt tighter than ever as she fought to
breathe. Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes, but she refused to let them
fall. She leaned in closer to hear what was being said more clearly.
"I refuse to discuss
this--" Cal started, but was quickly cut off by Nelson once again.
"She said you called her a
whore and the child she carried a bastard and you wanted to nothing to do with
either one. Did you honestly think this would just go away, Cal? Did you think
that you could get her pregnant and then walk away without another
thought?"
"What I do is, quite
frankly, none of your business!" Cal snapped tightly. "How dare you
show up here and start accusing me of such things?"
"I dare because I watched
her die! She lay there calling your name. She hoped until the last that
you would show up, knowing you wouldn’t."
"What do you want from me,
Nelson? Sympathy? I have none to give. She made her choices, as I did."
"You despicable piece of
filth," Nelson said in a low, dark voice.
"Call me names if it makes
you feel better." Cal laughed coldly. "It won’t change anything that
has been done. It won’t bring her back."
"You are unbelievable."
Nelson’s voice changed to that of incredulity. "Do you honestly feel
nothing in all of this? It was your child she carried, Cal."
"How do I know that for
sure? Because she said so? It could have been anyone’s," he said in a
dismissive tone. "It could have been yours, for all I know."
Olivia fell softly against the
door as all that Cal had said settled like a heavy weight on her heart. Who was
this woman? When did this happen? It must have been recent, or else why would
Nelson be here? Every fiber of her being wanted to storm into that room and
confront Cal about it.
"She was your mistress. It
was you she loved. It was you she wanted. I was only there as her friend and
her confidante."
"Lovely…see yourself out,
Nelson. You’ve conveyed your message, and your duty is done."
"Yes, but yours isn’t,"
Nelson threw out. "The child survived, if you’re interested."
Silence like the heaviness of
water fell over everything. Olivia’s mouth fell open in spite of trying to keep
herself composed. No! her mind screamed. It was too much, too, too much
to bear. Flinging herself from the door, she ran up the stairs, the tears now
streaming freely down her cheeks.
When she reached the top, she
fell against the banister and took in great gulps of air. Her eyes darted
wildly around the landing while her mind raced in confusion. Oh, God! She
had to get out of there. She had to leave. She could no longer stay in this
house with him. It was impossible!
She ran to her room and called
out for Marietta, who promptly came out.
"Miss Olivia?" she
asked as Olivia jerked at the dress she had on.
"Get me out of this! Undress
me now!"
"Yes, ma’am." She
nodded quickly and began to help her out of the constricting costume.
"Miss Olivia, is everything okay?"
"No," Olivia answered
shortly. "No, it’s not. Hurry, Marietta!"
"Yes, ma’am." She
became silent and went to her task with efficiency. When she was finally free
from the costume, she pulled her dressing gown on and ran out onto the landing
to the nursery.
"Olivia?"
She quickly turned to the
whispery voice and saw Patrick step onto the landing from the staircase.
"Patrick!" She ran to him and flung herself into his arms. Her whole
body shook uncontrollably when she felt his strong arms circle around her and
hold her.
"What’s the matter? What’s
going on?"
"Get me out of here,
Patrick!" she cried into his neck. "I don’t care where we go. Just
take me away from this place."
"Olivia, what is going
on?" He pulled back to look at her. Then his face turned dark. "He
didn’t hurt you, did he?"
"I can’t…I can’t talk about
it, yet. Just please, take me away from here."
"Olivia…"
"Please, Patrick!" She
grabbed his shirt front. "I can’t stay here any longer."
Sensing her urgency, he shushed
her and pulled her close to him. "We can’t stay out here. It’s too risky.
Follow me." He took her hand and led her down the hallway to the west wing
into an unused guestroom.
When they entered the room and he
shut the door, she fell against him and let the tears flow unchecked. He held
her, letting her cry until the sobs turned to small sniffles.
"Are you going to tell me
what happened?" he asked quietly in the darkness.
"Someday, maybe, but I just
can’t…not right now." She sniffed and held him tighter. "Just believe
me when I say I can’t stay here any longer. Please, please, take me away. I’ll
go anywhere with you. I don’t care where it is, as long as I’m with you."
"Okay, okay." He
soothed her and cupped the back of her head. "But we can’t leave right
now, Olivia. We have to plan this. The timing has to be right."
"Soon. It has to be
soon," she said firmly.
"Soon, I promise…"