Page 39 of Lady Fiona's Tall, Dark Folly
"Physical."
"Yes. She began to accept his assaults on her person as proper punishments for whatever transgressions he accused her of."
"You noticed this." Not a question, it was a request for answers.
"I did. How could I not? She had bruises. After one miscarriage, she had a broken arm. I couldn't stay silent. I talked with your mother about it and she told me never to speak of it. 'This is not your marriage. Not your husband,' she told me." Her aunt shifted in her chair, her complexion pale, her lips quivering. "Your father threw me out of your house."
"You never spoke of it with me." That was not an accusation but a statement of fact.
"If you remember, you would come here to us for holidays and for summers between school sessions. I was careful to monitor your health. He did not touch you."
"No."When I was ten, I picked up an andiron from the fireplace and threatened him with harm if he ever came near me."He did not. I was taller than he."
"He didn't like anyone who tested him."
So true."And your view of my mother's mind since his death?"
"Oh, Fee. He was the focus of her life. Mad as it was. Now that he's gone, she pines for him. I have no rules of nature to understand it, but she is quite lost without him and his punishments."
Fifi's stomach coiled in disgust. "She weeps to have him back."
"Hideous as that sounds, I would rather have her weep than feel the impact of his fists."
"So would I."
Her aunt blinked. "You are quite...circumspect about this. How can that be, Fee?"
"I lived with it, Aunt. Ashamed as I was of what they did to each other, it is over. And I too am glad he's dead and gone. She may take it as she wishes. I know I cannot reason with her or cure her."
"You are so wise."
Yet you never asked how I survived. Nor opened the subject to help me. I had to find my own solace. And I did.”I wish to live my own life now. Free of him and the past."
"Marvelous. Wonderful." She clasped Fifi's hand warmly and tears welled up in her brown eyes.
"So I have one question for you, Aunt.”
"What?" She sniffed back her sorrow.
"Why did my father have a so-called list of enemies?"
"A what? A list?"
"Did you know of it? Hear of it?"
Her aunt shook her head. "Never."
Frustration rolled through her. "You have no idea what the cause might be?"
"Your father was very private. He had to be. Such actions as he took with your mother are not the norm in society. Of his friends or his enemies, I have no knowledge. Nor does my husband. We did not ask about their lives, nor did we wish to. We cared only that you were safe. And often with us. Away from him. Given his nature, I would guess, Fee, that he had many enemies. But why or how or who, I do not know."
"Thank you." That was the end of her search.
Without reason to believe her father's list affected her or her attraction to the fine man that Rory was, Fifi accepted her aunt's apology for years of silence on the subject of her parent's cruel union. There was nothing to be gained by resenting her aunt for her failure to act any more on her behalf than she had.
When her aunt excused herself to tend to the final preparations for the ball, Fifi accepted her embrace and told her she appreciated her help in the past.
But now, Fifi was ready to embrace her own future. In her own way. With a man she did value and who valued her.
