Afterthought, M J Marlow [bts books to read .TXT] 📗

accompanied by the sound of splintering wood. She cried out as her feet slipped on slimy rock and pain shot up her leg as her right ankle twisted. The back of her head hit the wall as she continued falling hard enough to make her black out again. “She’s fallen into the old well, Douglas,” Dustin cried as he saw their cousin vanish from sight. “We have to get help…” “Why?” Douglas broke in. “We were going to leave her out here for a couple of hours anyway. She’ll be just fine down there until after dinner.” “Are you certain about that, Douglas?” Dustin asked as they headed back. He usually enjoyed these pranks they pulled on Evangeline, but something about this one just felt wrong. “She can’t come to any harm down there, Dustin,” Douglas told his younger brother. “Her falling in will explain the bruise on her face. We’ll let her up in a few hours.” “I don’t know about this, Douglas,” Dustin continued speaking his worries. “Something about this feels wrong.” “You sound like an old woman, Dustin,” Douglas snapped. “Quit fretting. She’ll be just fine.” He looked at Dustin. “You’d better get cleaned up, Dustin. You show up at dinner looking like that and Father will know we’ve been up to something.” Dustin looked at the dirt all over his slacks and nodded. He hurried upstairs and took a quick shower. He still wasn’t certain they had done the right thing. He glanced out the windows as he combed out his thick sandy brown hair and frowned. Had the clouds been that threatening earlier? He shrugged and hurried downstairs to the dining room. “Dustin,” Sterling frowned as his son walked into the dining room a half hour late. “Where is your cousin, Eva?” “She asked to be excused, Father,” Douglas lied glibly. Dustin always was too quick to give in, and this prank would only work if it lasted a bit longer. “She wasn’t feeling well.” He glanced briefly over at Daria who hid her distress. “She said she would have a tray sent up to her room.” Sterling knew that something had happened to the girl then; but he only had suspicions. She probably had ‘fallen’ again and was hiding the bruise or scratch from him. He beckoned one of the servants over and had him go check. Then he nodded to his nephew, James, the seminary student back from school on break, to say Grace. The meal was more silent than usual, especially from his children; and he was more certain than ever that they had done something to upset their cousin again. Sylvie came down in answer to his summons looking agitated. “Eva is not up in her room?” Sterling said calmly, in a manner that had everyone at the table alerted to his anger. “No, lord Sterling,” Sylvie told him as she answered his query. “Eva went down to dinner on time. I made certain of it.” She looked distressed. “Maybe she went out for a little air and lost track of the time?” she suggested. “The child does that when she’s…” “Upset?” Sterling suggested. Sylvie nodded and he cursed. He looked at his children then. As usual, the trio looked uneasy; while his brother’s children; James and his sisters; twins, Jennifer and Jessica, looked confused and then angry. “Does your cousin have a reason to be upset, children?” His children all looked uneasy then. They knew their father’s tones and expressions and he was in a fine rage over this already. Douglas looked down at his plate as if the prime rib was suddenly something quite fascination. Dustin began to fidget in his seat and Daria bit her lip. It was Daria who finally broke down. She knew it was no use, she always told her father the truth. “She and I might have gotten into an argument, Father,” Daria said softly. She was the very picture of abject apology and he felt his anger mount. “The kind where you strike her while she stands there quietly,” Sterling’s voice grew even more still; “that kind of argument?” “She promised to help me this afternoon,” Daria defended herself, “and she just left…” “She was with me, girl,” Sterling snapped at her. “Your cousin does not need your permission to come and go around here.” Daria paled at the anger in his voice and he shook his head in disbelief. “Honestly, Daria,” he glared at her; “how can you continually disgrace yourself like that? Eva has never done a thing to warrant such treatment!” The others were on their feet now; knowing something was wrong. “Jennifer,” he looked at his brother Alexander’s twin girls; “you and Jessica check the gardens. Judith,” he nodded to his sisters-in-law,” you and Maura take the stables, Douglas and Dustin, the riding trails. James, you and I will search down by the river.” “She won’t be there,” Douglas spoke up. The others looked at him in shock. He looked very defensive. “She was running and she fell into the old well.” “And you left her there?” Judith cried in anger. “You little bastard!” She looked at Sterling. “I’ll get things ready in the hospital.” “I’ll rally the servants,” Maura added. “We’ll need a stretcher and some blankets. “Girls, bring down some dry clothing for her.” “I do hope she hasn’t hurt herself,” Jessica, the younger twin, cried in alarm as she started off. “It’s really raining out there,” Jennifer said as she looked out the window. She turned to Sterling and the others. “You’d better get your slickers.” “What?” Dustin cursed; glared at Douglas a brief second, and then ran from the room. Douglas took off after him. “They did something to make her fall, Uncle,” James guessed from his uncle’s tight expression. “Damn!” the seminary student cursed and did not correct himself. “If she’s hurt, I’ll wring their fool necks!” “We’ll just concentrate on getting her out of there first,” Sterling replied. “Leave the neck wringing to me.” They moved out over the grounds, and the exodus of the family had the servants following suit. As the sunset behind the horizon, flashlights played over the estate grounds and several voices called out the girl’s name. Evangeline heard them and raised her head to look around her in confusion. She was in a hole, she realized. How had she gotten here? She sat up and pain hit her head. She tried to stand up and she screamed as pain shot up her leg. She looked at it but she could see nothing through the water she was sitting in. Her confusion grew. Why was she in the water? “Somebody help me,” Evangeline screamed as she looked around desperately for some way out. Her voice came out as a harsh croak and her throat hurt. She was soaked, and so cold her teeth were chattering. “Please,” she sobbed as she heard something scratching nearby and saw a rat looking back at her. She backed away and her leg gave out. She fell back into the water with a cry of fear. When she tried to get up again, her wounded leg buckled under her and the knee of her good leg struck something hard hidden under the water; making stars shoot off in front of her eyes. She had been down here a while, Evangeline realized. Had she fallen in? She could not remember how or even why she was down here. All she knew was that her skin was cold to the touch and she was soaked. She shivered as the water came in from above her. It was raining! She tried again to get on her feet but she was shaking now and her legs would not hold her. She wrapped her arms around her body, trying to get warm; and prayed someone would find her. The water was rising steadily around her, if someone didn’t find her soon; she could drown. “There is always a way,” Evangeline whimpered as she tried to stay above the water level. “Sterlings never give up.” She felt around the walls and grimaced. They were cold, wet, and slimy. Even if she had two good legs, there was no way she could climb up. “Please,” she screamed out as loud as she could, and whimpered as it hurt her throat. “Someone please help me.” She kept screaming until she couldn’t scream anymore. She fell back into the water, exhausted and whimpering. “Evie?” Evangeline looked up; feeling worse than she had ever thought it was possible to feel. She was more confused than ever. Her legs were throbbing and she was wet and cold. She couldn’t seem to stop shaking. She saw light shining down from above her and she tried to get on her feet but both her legs were injured now. “I can’t stand up,” she tried to scream. Her throat hurt from all the screaming and came out as just a hoarse whisper. “I’ve hurt myself.” Evangeline heard the rat again. “Please get me out! There’s something down here with me and the water is coming in.” “Don’t panic, baby,” Douglas’ voice called down to her, comfortingly. “Dustin is coming down to you on the rope. You’ll soon be safely out of there.” Evangeline watched as a dark figure came down towards her. She could barely make out that it was a person in the darkness inside the well. Her head ached and her eyes were losing focus from the pain. Dustin knelt down next to her and he saw how pale she was in the light he was holding. Her teeth were chattering and her lips were turning blue. His worry grew as he felt the heat emanating off of her, and he realized that she was getting sick. He showed her the rope he was holding. “I’m going to tie this off under your arms, Evangeline,” he said as he did so. “Douglas is up there with some of the servants. They’ll pull you up.” He hid his worry. “Hang on to the rope, poppet,” Dustin said as he put her hands where they needed to be. When she did not have even enough strength to grip the rope, he adjusted the rope for her and kissed her on the forehead. “It might hurt a little.” “Just get me out of here,” Evangeline sobbed as she threw her arms around his neck. He finished tying off the rope and picked her up in his arms. Then she was being lifted up and away from him. Relief flooded through her and she passed out again; completely oblivious as the servants put her on a stretcher and ran her to the hospital that took up the newest wing of the estate house. Douglas and Dustin watched her go and then went to get in Douglas’ car. They knew it was best for them if they were not around for a while. “I’m going to kill them,” David, the eldest of the Sterling cousins hissed. He had arrived just as the servants brought Evangeline into the hospital and was still in his police uniform. Like his father, Andrew, the youngest son of the parental generation; the broad-shouldered, blue-eyed sandy-haired youth had gone into law enforcement. After he had graduated from the Academy, he had chosen to go to work with his father in the local constabulary. “How could they be so cruel?” “We don’t know they were responsible, cousin,” Jessica said softly as she turned her cousin’s wet clothing over to one of the laundresses. Her sister, Jennifer, was drying Evangeline’s hair with a thick towel. They had helped her into a warm, dry nightgown. Everyone looked at Jessica and she lowered her head. “Well, we don’t.” “She knows where the well is, Jess,” James, Alexander’s son, told his younger sister bluntly; “we all do.” He frowned as he thought of it. “She had to be upset or frightened about something so she wasn’t paying attention to where she was