Forever Young The Beginning (17 page)

Soon the group was riding their mounts
along a trail that led into the forest. They continued along until
about a half-hour later they wound their way to the waterfall where
Ian and Cosette had gone swimming. Dismounting they let the horses
graze on the abundant grass alongside the stream. Marie led them to
a shady area and removed her broad-brimmed hat, as did
Cosette.

“
Gentlemen, we are safely
away from prying eyes. Now you may see a few things done here that
are common among vampires.”

“
We swam here this morning,
Marie.”

“
Then show our guests the
quickest way to the top of that waterfall.”

Cosette leaped onto a rock some twenty
feet away, then to the opposite bank, then across the stream again,
and in two more bounds was at the top of the waterfall. Ian then
followed her example.

The three men sat there dumfounded.
Ian and Cosette sprang off and in a few leaps rejoined the
group.

“
Uncle Angus, do ye see that
maple tree yonder, across the stream?”

“
Yea, laddie.”

“
How far away is
it?”

“
It is a good sixty
feet.”

“
I can see the veins on each
leaf, and I can see black ants crawling on the trunk.”

Angus shook his head in wonder, and
Ian said “Let me show you, Uncle. Come over here.” Ian scooped up
Angus like he was made of straw and leapt across the stream,
lightly landing on the other side and setting him down next to the
tree. Angus looked at him in utter astonishment, and then looked at
the tree.

“
There are black ants all
over this tree lads, just as he said.”

Ian again scooped up Angus and leapt
across the stream again, depositing him on his feet next to the
group. The men stood in silence, then Li applauded and smiled, then
Armando joined in. Both were smiling broadly at Angus who stood
shaking his head in astonishment.

Marie spoke up, saying “Ian
has demonstrated remarkable progress in his
imprinting
. So far he hasn’t had any
problems whatsoever with direct sunlight.”

“
Will he have…..problems
Marie?” asked Armando.

“
Vampires will burn to death
if exposed to sunlight for even a short time. Some of us will burn
faster than others.
Adepts
tolerate it better and take longer to catch fire,
but we’ll burn to death in direct sunlight given enough
time.”

“
Does sunlight affect your
vision?”

“
We don’t tolerate
reflections of sunlight well at all. It hurts our eyes whereas with
humans, it just causes them to have to squint to see. Ian so far
has shown no reaction to sunlight. I don’t know why this is, but it
is a good thing. Come along now, we must show you more of the
place. Oh, Cosette how long did it take you and Ian to travel back
to the chateau from here this morning?”

“
We took two minutes or so
to reach the pasture Marie, but that was because Ian was carrying
the deer carcass.”

“
Two minutes?” exclaimed
Armando in disbelief. Ian replied “Aye lads, if not for me, Cosette
could have made it there in maybe a minute.”

“
By heaven that is
miraculous!” said Angus shaking his head as Armando and Li nodded
in agreement. The group then mounted and rode along behind Marie,
continuing their animated discussion as they wound their way
through the beautiful countryside.

Dinner was a happy time of conversing
and the men found their hostess to be dazzling in beauty and wit.
They were charmed and won over. Angus said “Lads, it is my
considered opinion that if this had to happen to Ian, he could be
no better place than with these two lovely ladies.” Standing he
said “I propose a toast to our lovely hostess, Lady Marie, and to
our lovely Cosette.” Ian, Li, and Armando all stood, saying
“Hear-hear!” as they drained their wine goblets.

Turning and walking around to Marie at
the head of the table Angus stopped. She stood and faced him. He
then said “Marie, I’m moved beyond my poor means of saying it… how
happy and grateful I am for your boundless kindness toward Ian. I
will forever be in your debt Lady Marie.” He took Marie’s hands,
kissing them both and Marie stepped close to him. They hugged
warmly even as Ian said “I hear a coach, two horses.” Marie turned
to Ian and said “Oh, Ian, you heard that when I did. That’s good.
Those sound like our horses. My husband is home.” They all walked
to the front veranda and waited for the carriage to
arrive.

No sooner had it stopped at the
walkway than its door opened and out stepped a tall, handsome
distinguished man with brown eyes, dark hair, and the slightest bit
of gray hair at his temples. He appeared to be about forty years of
age, yet seeing Marie he began to run to her like a young man as
she ran towards him likewise. He caught her up and whirled her
around while she laughed and kissed him repeatedly. “I’ve missed
you so, cheri.”

“
And I’ve missed you mon
cheri.”

Ian’s heart warmed so to see it. He
already loved Marie dearly, and to see her so well mated and so
happy warmed his heart. Proper introductions were made all around.
Marie told a servant to prepare another place at the table and
ordered blackberry cobbler and apple pie to be served. Henri sat at
the head of the table where Marie had sat, and she sat at his right
hand. Every so often she would lean over to kiss his cheek or to
hug him with one arm as they talked. He would stop eating
periodically to return a kiss or hug. Sometimes their hands were
clasped, fingers intertwined on the table. They were clearly in
love with each other.

“
Armando said “You two look
like newlyweds. If you don’t mind my asking, how old are you
both?”

Marie had a fan dangling from her
wrist. Quickly looking about to be sure no servants were in
earshot, she snapped it open. Then she held it up so that only her
eyes were showing above it, fanning herself while peeking over the
tip of her fan. “I’m barely 320 years old but Henri is 457 this
year.” Then batting her beautiful eyes coquettishly, she said in a
lower voice “I’ve always had a weakness for older men.” At this,
everyone at the table threw back their heads and laughed
uproariously. Angus slapped his thigh repeatedly as he roared in
mirth. No one laughed harder than Henri who finally had to wipe the
tears from his eyes. ”My God but I’ve missed you Marie!” He said,
taking both of her hands and kissing them.

Angus stood and said “A toast to the
most marvelous host and hostess in all of France, and to the
happiest couple I’ve ever seen.”

Everyone else stood then as Ian said
“Hear-hear!” Ian said “Three cheers for Mr. and Mrs. Lafayette.”
Angus, Ian, Li, and Armando then stood and all said.
“Hip-hip-huzzah! Hip-hip-huzzah! Hip-hip-huzzah!”

After drinking the toast and seating
themselves again Ian stood up and said “I have something to
announce today.” Turning to Cosette, he took her hand and drew her
to her feet. She stood facing him with a quizzical look. He then
took both of Cosette’s hands in his and kissed them, and then
releasing them, he stepped back from her. Reaching into his pocket
he produced an exquisite diamond ring with a large stone. He knelt
on one knee before her, saying “Cosette, I love you. Will you marry
me?” Cosette’s hands flew to her mouth as her beautiful eyes
widened. She slowly took both her hands from her face and smiling
sweetly said “Yes, oh yes Ian! Oh yes, yes, yes!”

Slipping the ring on her left hand,
Ian stood and pulled her to him gently saying “You’re the center of
my world, Cosette. I’ll do my best to love, protect, and to make
you happy for as long as I live.”

Everyone at the table stood and
applauded. Henri and Marie went to Cosette and both hugged her and
kissed her and then both hugged and congratulated Ian.

Congratulatory hugs and handshakes
were given all around and then Henri proposed a toast to the bride
and groom to be, and immediately after that Marie cornered Angus to
begin planning the wedding. She knew who to get for a bridal dress,
and all arrangements to be made for readying the
Chateau.

Ian separated himself from
Cosette a moment, leaving her to speak with Armando and Li. He came
to Angus and Marie and said “I’ve spoken to Cosette, and we want to
be married on board
Elsie’s Cloud
at sea. We want you to marry us Uncle Angus. We
then want to have the celebration for our wedding here and we want
to invite
the
crew,
to attend. I’ll pay well for whosoever of the crew stays to stand
watch while the rest of them are here.” Marie looked in Cosette’s
direction to see her nodding her assent.

“
Then that’s what we’ll do.
I’ll send couriers immediately and arrange everything. Angus, you
only have to make
Elsie
available. If you don’t object, I would like to have a friend
of mine decorate
her for the occasion,
maybe one or two days before the wedding? Oh, when is the wedding
to be, Cosette?”

Cosette stood smiling sweetly up at
Ian, their fingers intertwined. Shifting her gaze to Marie, she
said “Whenever you’re ready, Marie.” Ian nodded his
agreement.

“
Oh, this is going to be
marvelous, Henri! If Angus doesn’t mind, I’ll arrange to have a
canopy erected over a sizeable area for the guests.” said Henri, as
Marie nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, yes the ceremony won’t take
long and then we’ll all be returning here to celebrate. Oh this is
going to be such fun Henri. Our Cosette is getting
married!”

Marie led them into her parlor,
walking arm in arm with Angus. She said “I opened a note meant for
you this day.”

“
Oh?

“
I get so many from our
couriers; I just open them as they come in. I do
apologize.”

“
Quite all right,
Marie.”

“
Thank you. It was from a
lawyer. It seems the father of one of the two girls you saved has
not only made arrangement for a steady supply of delicacies and
fine foods for the crew of
Elsie,
but he has retained an attorney should that
scoundrel LeBlanc decide to pursue Ian in court for being so badly
beaten.”

“
Hmmph! Let him. Decent of
the man. Nice family. His wife had us over for dinner while we were
in Barcelona. Good that you decided to not let Ian in on this,
seeing how things have developed between him and Cosette. Best to
let sleeping dogs lie?”

“
My thoughts exactly,
Angus.”

Henri played the harpsichord and Marie
asked Ian to dance with her. Fortunately for him, his mother had
insisted that he at least know how to dance a minuet.

As they danced, he thanked her for the
ring she had given him for Cosette. She said “I always wanted her
to have it, Ian. No thanks are necessary.” she said, pulling his
head down and kissing him on both cheeks.

The planning and music went on into
the night. Ian and Cosette slipped away to the caretaker’s house
while all of the others were dancing and talking about the big day.
Soon they had no cares but to please each other. The world outside
of their room didn’t exist.

***

Again night had fallen
at
Angel’s Care
orphanage. The children had all settled into their beds in the
large dormitories. As every night, the only sounds were the sounds
common to institutions after daylight hours. An occasional cough,
the faint skitter of a mouse within a wall, the call of an owl
outside the dormitory. But tonight, there was a thump on the roof.
Little Michelle heard it, and silently got out of her bed and
crawled under it. She remembered a few nights ago hearing that,
then the next day thinking it was only a dream. Soon a creaking
sound was heard, seeming to come from one end of the dormitory. It
came from high up on the gable end wall. A shadow dropped to the
floor with hardly a sound. It froze in place, absolutely still for
over a minute. It seemed that only its head moved, swiveling very
slowly, eyes glowing, listening perhaps.

Michelle barely breathed, and silently
wet herself. The figure then seemed to glide rapidly to a bed near
to the wall where it had descended. It froze, leaning over that
bed, pausing there for nearly a full minute. Then stealthily, it
produced a rag and suddenly grabbed and gagged the girl sleeping
there. It rapidly tied her hands and feet, and then leapt straight
up some twenty feet to a beam only some ten feet from the window it
had come in. Then it leapt silently to the window with the figure
of the little girl hanging over its shoulder, and seemed to melt
through the opening.

Michelle lay under her bed in stark
terror, her hands over her mouth lest she betray her presence. She
lay there until just before dawn and she could see well enough to
know that the Bad Man was gone. She then got up and crawled into
her bed, but couldn’t take her eyes from the gable window. It was
pulled shut, and looked as if it had never been opened. Did she
have the same bad dream again?

She dozed then awoke. She had wet
herself last night and was ashamed. But why were the sheets not
soiled? Better to quickly put her nightgown and panties in the wash
and just pretend she had slept naked. She was too embarrassed to
tell anyone about it. Maybe if she kept quiet, no one would know.
The bed wouldn’t be soiled at least. She slipped off to the laundry
area and left her nightgown there in one of the soiled clothing
baskets. Concluding that no one was missing she decided that she
had once again only dreamt of the Bad Man.