Captain Jones's Temptation - Audrey Harrison Page 0,59

think she never comes to visit your mother’s grave? She doesn’t care, that’s why. She is as hard as they come, caring for no one but herself.”

“If that was the case, why did she send me to my uncle?”

“Because you were no longer any use to her,” Boyd explained. “She knew you would be suspicious of anyone else she introduced to you, and you were nothing but a watering pot, by all accounts.”

“You seem to know a great deal,” Samuel said.

“Yes, I do, don’t I? Again, perhaps Sophie hasn’t been quite as honest as she should have been with Esther.”

“You are trying to play games, filling my head with nonsense,” Esther said.

“No. I am trying to tell you the truth of the matter. Your mother was like some sort of demon, fists flying everywhere and quite a few times hitting her mark. I only pushed her away to stop the bombardment. It was not my intention to harm her.”

“But you did.”

“Yes. She stumbled and fell. I honestly tried to stop her fall, but it all happened so fast. One moment I was being battered by her, the next she had hit her head on the fireplace.”

Esther closed her eyes. It was all still so plain to her. She had screamed when he had advanced and tried to kiss her, his hands seeming to be everywhere. Her mother had burst into the room and had not asked what was going on. The fact that her dress had been pulled down was enough of a clue. Her mother was a blur of fists and foul words until she stumbled, and then it all went deathly quiet.

Esther always awoke from the nightmare at that point, heart pounding, breathing heavily, and awash with tears. Now, although it pained her, she forced herself to remember what had happened.

She remembered Mr. Boyd had dropped to his knees, picking up her mother in his arms and rocking her, moaning at her to wake up. He shouted at Esther to fetch Sophie, at which she fled the room.

After that, it turned to a blur. Sophie took charge. Esther remembered receiving a slap across the face once from Sophie to try to stop her from crying, but it didn’t work, and she was left alone whilst Sophie dealt with everything. The weeks after her mother’s death remained fuzzy in her memory, but for the most part, she remembered being alone.

“You are remembering, aren’t you?” Mr. Boyd asked.

“Yes.”

“My behaviour was perhaps unfortunate. I should have treated you more gently, but I went blundering in, probably because I was annoyed with Sophie. Believe me when I say I wished neither you nor your mother any harm. I was expecting the night to turn out in a completely different way. You would have been mine, and we would have lived happily.”

“I doubt that very much. Do you expect me to forgive your part in it because you say I was promised to you and what happened to my mother was an accident? Surely you can see that you are still at fault?” Esther asked.

“I suppose I want you to believe the reality of the situation, that is all. The three adults in that situation were at fault, and I wanted you to realise that. They were never honest with you about anything.”

“You are lying.”

“Am I? How did two women provide so well for themselves and you? Have you never been even a little bit curious about your start in life? Who your father was and why your mother went to Sophie? It’s about time you faced the reality of the past before you start condemning me.”

“You have said what you wished to,” Samuel said. “I think it is time you left her alone now.”

Mr. Boyd nodded. “For now I will, but I think it is time you found out the truth. I can only put my side across, but I wasn’t the one who offered you up. Remember that when you are finding out the truth. People aren’t as we remember them. Your mother was no saint.”

“She tried to protect me; I know that without doubt.”

“After she had agreed to your marriage to me.” He did not wait for a response, turning away and walking through the graves and around the corner of the church.

“Tell me you wish me to kill him and I will do so,” Samuel said.

With the tiniest of smiles, Esther shook her head. “It would not achieve anything. The images are in my head. His death would not