Page 62 of The Seven Rings
Arabelle’s hand stopped, froze as it lifted once again to stroke Catherine’s hair. The flames in the hearth stilled and held.
Catherine turned to Sonya.
“I never became mistress of my own home, or had a honeymoon in the spring. I had this one day, this one night as a bride, as a wife.”
“I’m so sorry. I wish—”
“I am a practical woman. Wishes?” She fluttered a hand in the air, a hand where her wedding ring glowed. “Feathers in the wind. What’s done is done. For this day, this night, for the first time in my life I felt beautiful. I found the joy my mother hoped for me. William was,as she believed, kind and patient. And more. For a few hours I knew desire, and what it is to be desired.
“I wonder if we might have made a child this night, if not for the dream.”
“It wasn’t a dream.”
“No, no, not a dream. It began as one, or so it seemed. Dreaming of spring when we would make our crossing as husband and wife. Mr. and Mrs. William Cabot.”
Rising, Catherine moved around her mother, gestured to the window.
“We had a winter wedding, both of us impatient to begin our life together. Such a storm, the snow, the wind, but it meant nothing to us in our happiness. Instead I dreamed of spring, and walked out of the manor and into the flowers, the green, the sunlight.”
“A lie.” Standing there, facing the young bride in white, Sonya felt the cruelty of it. “Her lie. Hester Dobbs.”
“A lie, yes, and a wicked one. She waited for me out there, and laughing, I went to her. When she took my ring, the ring William placed on my finger only hours before? When I came to myself, oh, the terror! The horrible cold. I tried to run, I tried to call out for William, for my father, for Mama, but it was too late. And the tears froze on my face as I fell, as I died alone with my fear.”
“She’s evil, Catherine, and obsessed. She stole your life.”
“This I can never recover. This nothing can change.”
She held up her left hand where her gold wedding ring caught the candlelight.
“William put this on my finger, and made his promises to me. I made my promises to him. She took it for her own. It is not hers. None she took belong to her. This can be recovered. This can be changed.”
“I want to get it back for you, to get all of them back for all of you. I don’t know how.”
“You will.”
She walked back to sit under her mother’s waiting hand. “Because you must.”
She turned her face toward Sonya. “You must,” she repeated.
Arabelle’s hand came down; mother and daughter’s eyes met with a smile in the mirror.
And the room changed back with sunlight streaming through the windows.
“Damn it.” Sonya shoved a hand through her hair. “Just damn it.”
She started to turn, then jolted when she saw Cleo in the doorway, phone in hand.
“Sorry. I didn’t want to… interrupt, I guess.”
“Did you see them?”
“No. I didn’t see anything but the room, and you. I know you did. You were talking to someone. One of the brides?”
“Catherine. I need some air.”
“Let me get you some water, and we’ll go outside.”
“I’ve still got some at my desk.” They started out, then Sonya stopped in the hallway.
