Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue
About the Author
Prologue
Shadyside, 1898
I am going to marry Thomas Fear!
Sarah Burns repeated these words to herself as the black carriage rolled along. She could scarcely believe it. She was going to marry a man she had never met.
Sarah could see her reflection in the polished brass trim inside the carriage. Soft brown eyes. Flaming red hair that framed a pretty, heart-shaped face.
That’s you, she assured herself. The same person you’ve seen in the mirror for twenty-one years.
But she felt as if she were looking at the face of a stranger.
She took a deep breath, trying to slow her racing heart.
I am Sarah Burns and I’m going to marry Thomas Fear.
I am Sarah Burns and I’m going to marry Thomas Fear.
One of the carriage horses gave a shrill, high whinny. What is spooking the animal? Sarah wondered.
She clutched her white bonnet to her head and peered down the forest road. She spotted a tall young man in a dark cloak and a top hat striding toward them. The wind whipped his cloak around him like a dark cloud. Shadows hid his face.
Her driver pulled hard on the reins, bringing the horses to a halt. “Can you direct us to the Shadyside church?” he called down to the stranger.
The horses shied away as the man in the dark cloak stepped over to the open carriage. Silly creatures, Sarah thought. There was nothing frightening about the young man. In fact, he was quite handsome, with closely cropped dark hair, a dimpled chin, and twinkling eyes.
It was his eyes that fascinated Sarah the most. She had trouble pulling her gaze away. Almost as if he were hypnotizing her with his stare.
“You have overshot the Shadyside church by a number of miles,” the young man said. “If you will allow me to accompany you, I’ll show you the way myself. We can’t have the bride be late to her own wedding.”
Sarah ran her fingers across the lace of her bridal gown. “Thank you,” she answered.
The man stepped up onto the riding board, opened the door, and climbed into the carriage. He gave directions to the driver.
Then the stranger turned to Sarah and smiled slightly. He twirled his walking stick between his palms. Sarah noticed the tip had been carved into the shape of a serpent.
“I am Hamilton Davies,” the young man told her as the carriage turned around. “And you are?” he prompted with a smile.
Sarah opened her mouth to answer, but no words came out. They both laughed.
“You will have to excuse me,” she said. “Since my name changes today, I suppose I am a little confused about just who I am at the moment. My name is Sarah. Sarah Burns.”
“May I ask who you are marrying?” he inquired.
“Yes, though I am afraid I cannot tell you much about him. It is an arranged marriage, you see,” Sarah admitted.
Now why was she blushing? What was it about this young man that made her feel so flustered?
“I am rather surprised that a woman as pretty as yourself would agree to an arranged marriage.” He blushed deeply, as if he were amazed by his own words. “I hope you don’t think me too forward for saying this, but I would think you could have the pick of the town.”
She had turned twenty-one last December. But Hamilton’s compliment made her feel like a tongue-tied schoolgirl.
“So you have never met your husband-to-be?” Hamilton continued.
“I’m afraid not. But I know his name, of course. Thomas. Thomas Fear,” Sarah told him.
At the mention of her fiancé’s name, the old driver turned his head sharply.
“Do you know him?” Sarah could not resist asking.
“I do not like to spread rumors,” the driver replied in a low voice.
Even though they were the only ones on the road, he glanced around nervously before he went on. “Everyone in these parts has heard the rumors about the Fears, ma’am. They say they practice the dark magic.”
Wonderful, Sarah thought. Just what she needed to calm her nerves before the wedding—rumors about her husband-to-be’s family!
As if the weather wasn’t enough to make her feel anxious. Her mother always said, “Happy is the bride the sun shines on.” So Sarah knew it was a good sign when she had awoken to a beautiful May morning. The sun shone. Birds twittered.
But once they arrived in Shadyside, the skies had begun to darken. Now a cold wind lashed the trees. It looked as if it were about to rain.
Mother never said what happens to a bride the rain falls on, Sarah thought. But it cannot be good.
Hamilton smiled at her. “You look nervous. I hope you are not frightened by what the driver said about the Fears.”
“Oh, I do not believe in such foolishness,” she promised. But she felt a little chill run through her.
Thunder rumbled in the distance. The stranger stared up at the black clouds blotting out the sun. He flashed a smile at Sarah. He had such white teeth. “I am afraid your wedding day is not getting off to a very good start,” he observed.
The carriage turned the corner. There was the church, rising up into the dark sky like a pale white ghost.
The driver stopped the carriage. Hamilton helped her to remove her bags.
“Well, thank you,” Sarah told him. “You should continue on and take this carriage to your own destination.”
Hamilton smiled at her. “But I am already here.”
Sarah’s heart seemed to stop beating. “W-what?” she stammered.
He took off his hat. “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is … Thomas Fear.”
The driver threw a panicked look over his shoulder. He lashed the horses with his whip, riding off at breakneck speed.
Thomas only laughed.
Sarah’s heart pounded frantically. So this was Thomas! The man with whom she would share the rest of her life!
“Sarah,” he said with a charming smile, “you must forgive me. I came outside to wait for you. I was so excited I couldn’t stand still. I started walking, and ended up far from the church. When you asked for directions, I panicked. I was afraid to introduce myself. What if you didn’t like me?”
She raised her eyes to meet his gaze. She could not speak. She was too nervous, too flustered.
He held out his hand. “I very much hope you will stay.”
She clasped his hand in her own white-gloved one. It was as if some electricity passed between them.
“Yes, I want to go ahead with our marriage, Thomas,” she said. “With all my heart.”
Thunder rumbled again. A second later it began to pour.
Thomas grabbed Sarah’s hand, and they raced up the flagstone walkway to the church. He pulled open the heavy wooden door.
A large crowd filled the pews. All heads turned toward Sarah. Her throat went dry, and she swallowed hard.
An organ began to play, filling the high-ceilinged room with deep, vibrating notes.
Sarah removed her hat and set it on the last pew. She pulled her long white veil over her face. Thomas took her elbow and guided her up the center aisle. Toward the altar. Where the
minister waited.
I can’t believe I’m doing this, Sarah thought. I can’t believe I’m marrying a complete stranger.
As the minister began the service, Sarah cast shy glances around the assembly. Something about the crowd seemed strange to her. But she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was.
She turned back to Thomas. His eyes glittered like diamonds. She couldn’t pull her gaze away.
“I do,” she said dutifully, prompted by the minister.
The minister looked so grim-faced. And suddenly, Sarah realized what seemed so strange about the crowd that had gathered to witness her marriage.
Everyone was dressed in black and gray, men and women both.
She glanced through her veil at the crowd.
Row after row of unsmiling faces stared back at her.
They don’t look as if they are here to celebrate a wedding. No, they look as if they are attending … a funeral.
Chapter
1
Six Months Later
Sarah stared out her bedroom window at the gray November afternoon. Icy drafts found their way into the room, like a ghost’s fingers trying to reach in and grab her.
She gave a long sigh. Then she turned her attention back to the blank piece of gilt-edged letter paper sitting on the rolltop desk in front of her. The blank paper seemed to stare back at her, as if daring her to write.
Someone knocked lightly on her door. Thank goodness, Sarah thought. She needed company so badly.
She capped her fountain pen. “Come in.”
The maid entered and curtsied. “I’m sorry to bother you, ma’am. But I am going into town. I wondered if you still wanted me to post that letter?”
Sarah smiled. “Thank you, Clara, but I’m afraid I have not yet finished writing it. In fact, I have not even begun!”
Clara wrapped her arms around her skinny body and let out a nervous giggle. She tugged at one side of her starchy black dress. “I’m the same way myself, ma’am. When I try to write anything, I get all tongue-tied. Well, I’ll leave you to it.”
“Wait,” Sarah said quickly.
She hoped she hadn’t let a pleading sound creep into her voice. But she felt so lonely in her new mansion of a home.
The place was like a castle, with its two large turrets. It looked down on an endless, sloping green lawn, dotted with trees and shrubs.
From Sarah’s bedroom window on the second floor, she could see halfway down into the town. Which meant that she was constantly reminded how alone she was in her huge house.
Thomas seemed to be away so often—either at his mill, or the bank, or on errands he would only describe as business.
Clara cleared her throat nervously. Sarah didn’t want to be alone, but she could think of no reason to keep the maid. “You may go,” she said at last.
Clara stared at her strangely. Then she hurried out, shutting the door before Sarah could ask her to leave it open.
My dear friend, Sarah wrote slowly, beginning the letter she had put off for so many months.
I suppose I must begin by apologizing for not writing sooner. But no word has reached me from you either, so you are equally to blame!
Oh, so much has happened in so brief a time! Just think. I now write to you as Sarah Fear! I have a new name, a new husband, a new home.
I hope you are as happy in your new life as I am in mine. I think of you often, and wonder how you are enjoying your travels. I miss you so much.
I haven’t made any friends here yet. I had tea with a woman named Liza Teasedale, but she’s a horrible gossip. All she wanted to do was tell me awful stories about the Fear family. She claims—
Bang! The bedroom door flew open. Sarah gasped.
Thomas stood in the doorway, grinning at her.
“You’re home!” Sarah cried. She felt so glad to see him. She wished they had more time to spend together. They had been married six whole months. Yet she sometimes felt as if she did not know Thomas any better than she did that first day they met.
“I have a surprise for you,” Thomas told her. “Michael!” he called. “Margaret! You can come in now!”
A loud clatter of footsteps erupted like gunfire in the hallway. In raced Thomas’s niece and nephew. They wore overcoats, and their caps were tied tightly under their chins.
“Aunt Sarah! Uncle Thomas says we can go rollerskating!” Michael cried. He grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Can we? Can we?”
“Oh, please say we can go,” Margaret squealed. She tugged on Sarah’s other hand. The little girl bounced up and down so hard that her blond sausage curls shook wildly.
Sarah laughed. Such darling children. She hugged them both to her.
Thomas’s eyes shone with excitement. “I kidnapped them from my sister’s house,” he explained.
“But I thought you had to go to the bank,” Sarah said. She stared at her husband. He constantly surprised her. He had never shown much interest in his niece and nephew. But now he seemed eager to take them on an outing.
“Didn’t you warn me that business would make you late today?” she asked.
“Nonsense,” he scoffed. “The bank can take care of itself. The roller-skating rink is the place I must go.”
Michael and Margaret pulled Sarah in circles. Thomas appeared almost as excited as they were.
“I would love to go roller-skating,” Sarah told them. “We had a roller-skating rink in the town where I grew up. There wasn’t another one for miles and miles and miles. Now it seems as if no place is without one.”
“Hurray!” the children yelled. They tugged Sarah out of the room and down the stairs. She stopped to put on her cloak, and then they all ran outside to the carriage.
“Faster, Uncle Thomas, faster!” Michael and Margaret yelled as the carriage rumbled down the bumpy road. They leaped to the ground the moment Thomas brought the horses to a stop near the rink.
“The rink is crowded for a weekday,” Sarah commented as she and Thomas strolled after the children. Men in suits and women in long dresses with bustles in back skated round and around in big, slow circles.
Sarah put on a pair of skates, then helped Margaret with hers. Thomas tied double knots in Michael’s laces. Then they joined the other skaters in the rink.
The four of them skated in a row: Thomas and Sarah in the middle, with the children on either end. Margaret had a little trouble staying on her feet. But Sarah was a strong skater, and she helped the little girl keep her balance.
“Beautiful children, sir,” an old man with a bushy gray beard called out. He waved at them from his spot against the rink’s wooden railing.
Thomas nodded his head. “Thank you!” he replied proudly.
Thomas glanced at Sarah, eyes twinkling. He moved closer and whispered in her ear. “I do believe that soon we should be starting a family of our own.”
Children! Sarah couldn’t wait to have a family. She would love to have children running through that big, empty house of theirs. Laughing and yelling.
But Thomas had never seemed interested in starting a family before now. He changed the subject every time she brought it up.
“Don’t you agree?” Thomas asked.
“Yes,” she whispered back. “Yes! Yes! With all my heart.” She squeezed his hand.
It was a perfect moment. Better than perfect. She had never felt so close to Thomas.
“Why are you blushing, Aunt Sarah?” Margaret asked. Her blue eyes were wide with curiosity.
“Am I blushing?” Sarah asked.
Thomas grabbed Michael’s hands and spun the boy in a big slow circle. Michael squealed with delight.
“Faster, Uncle!” he urged. “Spin me faster.”
“Faster? You say you want to go faster?” Thomas picked up speed. Around and around Michael went, grinning with excitement.
“Oh, spin me too!” Margaret begged Sarah.
“In a moment,” Sarah answered. “Thomas,” she warned. “Not so fast!”
Mich
ael’s face had turned pale. He uttered a long, low cry.
“Thomas!” Sarah called. “What are you doing? You’re frightening him. Thomas! Stop!”
Thomas’s eyes glittered. His mouth twisted in a crazy grin. He spun Thomas harder. And harder.
What was wrong with him? Sarah had to stop him now. Before Michael got hurt.
But she couldn’t get close enough. He was spinning too fast. Sarah felt dizzy watching him.
“Thomas! You’re too near the wall!” she yelled.
Several other skaters had stopped to watch. She could see them out of the corner of her eye. All staring.
Thomas swung the boy so hard his skates were lifted from the wooden floor of the rink.
Sarah heard gasps from the people surrounding her. Then she heard another sound. A horrible sound. The sound of Thomas laughing.
Thomas let go of Michael’s hands.
“Nooo!” Sarah screamed.
Michael flew into the air. His head hit the wooden railing with a terrible crack!
Chapter
2
Michael crumpled to the ground.
“He’s dead! Michael is dead!” Margaret wailed.
Sarah skated over to the rail. She pushed her way through the crowd, and stared down at Michael’s body. Still. So still.
“Get a doctor!” someone shouted.
Sarah knelt beside Michael. She grabbed one of his hands in both of hers. It felt cold.
Someone crouched next to Sarah. She glanced over, and saw Thomas. He stared down at Michael—and smiled.
Sarah grabbed Thomas by the shoulders and shook him hard. “Thomas! Thomas! How could you do this?” she shrieked.
He stared at her as if he had never seen her before in his life.
“Thomas, what is happening?” Sarah cried.
He blinked rapidly. He shook his head as if he were coming out of a daze.
“Michael!” Thomas wrapped the little boy in his arms and rocked him back and forth.
And then Sarah heard the most wonderful sound. Michael began to moan.
♦ ♦ ♦
“It is simply a crime that you have not come to see me sooner,” Liza Teasedale rasped in her scratchy, old voice. “I enjoyed our last tea party so much.” She ushered Sarah into the drawing room.