Authors: Terri Reid
When the plate containing the
baklava was placed before them, Eloise shook her head. “I can’t eat another
bite.”
“You don’t eat baklava, it melts in
your mouth,” Paul insisted.
He took the dessert fork, cut off a
corner of the pastry and lifted it to Eloise’s mouth. She opened her mouth and
took the pastry into her mouth, closing her eyes in pleasure at the sweet
taste. She sighed.
“Oh, that is so good,” she said,
running her tongue over her lips to lick away the syrup that remained.
She opened her eyes to see Paul
staring at her. She panicked. “Did I do something wrong?” she asked.
Paul shook his head and swallowed.
“No,” he answered, his voice slightly hoarse, “I just realized that I am not
hungry for food any longer.”
Eloise shook her head in confusion.
“But don’t you want any more baklava?” she asked.
“No,” answered Paul very definitely,
“I think I’ve had as much as I can take.”
Then he paid the check and took her
hand. “Come on, let’s leave the car in the lot,” he said, “There are places we
can only explore on foot.”
He took her through the bright
bazaars lining the streets of Istanbul. Everything from spices, to clothing,
to jewelry was sold there. Eloise bought a lovely bright fringed shawl for a
woman who had lost her family. They both bought a number of trinkets for some
of the children in Izmet. Burdened with bags and parcels, they returned to the
car hours later exhausted, but happy.
“There’s one more place I want you
to see,” Paul said as he drove to a place on the western shore that overlooked
the city.
He took a blanket and a small pack
from the back of the car and the walked up a small hill. Paul laid the blanket
under a tree and they sat down. He leaned back against the tree and placed his
arm around Eloise’s shoulders, drawing her close to him. Then he pointed out
over the hill, to the city beyond and said, “Watch the magic.”
Eloise leaned back against Paul and
watched in awe as the sun set behind the ancient city. The sky glowed red and
the palaces were burnished gold in the distance. The beauty of the scene was
overwhelming.
“It is magic,” she whispered, a
single tear drifting down her cheek.
Paul turned her to him and wiped
the tear trail with his finger. “You are magic,” he whispered, pulling her
closer to him and lowering his lips to hers.
This time the kiss was not soft,
this time it was hungry and urgent. This time, as Paul angled his mouth and
deepened the kiss, it sent tremors through Eloise that she had never experienced
before. This time it made her feel things she had never felt and want things
that she had never wanted.
She lifted her hands to his
shoulders, wound her arms around his neck, and buried her fingers in his hair.
He carried her with him and suddenly they were lying across the blanket, his
mouth urgent, and his arms holding her tightly. Eloise was overwhelmed with
emotion. She closed her eyes tightly, trying to hold it all in. She wanted to
laugh and cry and shout. She felt afraid and indestructible at the same time. She
moaned softly as his lips left her mouth and he trailed a path of kisses down
her cheek and onto her neck. She opened her eyes slowly and all emotion froze. She
gasped.
There, standing just beyond the
blanket, was a man with a spear thrust though his chest. She watched as the
blood dripped from the gaping wound and stained the blanket. Looking around,
she could see an entire bloodied battalion standing around the blanket, their
eyes mirroring the horror of war and their bodies showing the cruelty that had
been inflicted on each man. Some with cavernous wounds, some stood headless
with blood streaming from their severed necks, and some, only boys, stared at
her in pain - mortal wounds in their heads and necks. She recoiled in horror.
“No, no,” she gasped.
“Eloise, what’s wrong?” Paul cried,
moving to shield her from whatever had frightened her. He looked around the
top of the hill and saw nothing. He turned and saw her eyes transfixed on a
spot just beyond their blanket.
He grabbed hold of her shoulders
and turned her to face him. “Tell me,” he insisted. “Tell me what you see.”
Eloise took a deep breath and
looked at the gray faces of death before her. “A battalion, perhaps
Centurions, they have been defeated, massacred, brutally killed. They are in
such pain, such awful pain.”
“Can you help them, like you help
the others?” he asked.
Eloise shook her head and sobbed.
“No, it’s been too long; they’re attached to this spot now. There’s nothing I
can do.”
She shivered and rubbed her arms
and then watched as they slowly faded from her sight. “They’re gone now,” she
said.
Paul tried to gather her in his
arms to comfort her, but she pulled away.
She turned away from him. “Paul, I
can’t,” she said sadly, “Please.”
Wordlessly Paul stood up and helped
Eloise to her feet, he gathered the blanket and pack and they walked to the
car.
Once in the car, Paul turned to
Eloise.
“I want to understand what happened
out there,” he said.
Eloise turned toward him, but moved
back so she was leaning against the car door. “I don’t know, it’s never happened
to me before,” she said, “Usually I sense the spirits I need to help before I
see them. I can feel their sorrow, sometimes even their pain. But this time,
it was like their pain, their sorrow, their hopelessness ripped right in to my
soul.”
“Before, when you’ve been with
other men, has this ever happened?”
Eloise turned, bowed her head and
looked down to her hands, clasped tightly in her lap. “I’ve never…” she began.
“Never had this problem with other
men?” Paul continued, “So, it’s something about me.”
Eloise looked up and shook her
head. “No, I’ve never been with other men before,” she exclaimed.
Embarrassed, she turned away from
him towards the door, tears of mortification streaming down her cheeks.
Strong hands closed over her
shoulders and turned her to face him. He swore softly, pulled out a tissue and
wiped the tears away.
“Okay, you’re telling me that the
entire male population of Wisconsin is blind?” he asked gently.
She smiled through the tears and
shook her head. “Remember, I’m the nerd girl who can see dead people,” she
answered, “Not a fun date.”
He brushed her hair back from her
face with gentle hands. “So, all that happened today was pretty new for you?”
She nodded. “And pretty emotionally
overwhelming,” she added.
He nodded and moved forward to kiss
her. Acting on instinct, her eyes widened in fear and she jumped back against
the door. Paul immediately pulled away. He gazed at her for a moment, turned and
looked forward. He clasped his hands on the steering wheel and bowed his head
for a moment. Then, without turning to look at her, he turned the key, placed
the car in drive and drove home in silence.
When they arrived back at the base
camp, she thanked him for the day. He smiled and nodded politely. And they
walked out of each other’s lives.
“Sally, you’re right,” Eloise finally
said, “The only way we are all going to get any kind of rest is for me to sleep
in the safety of Paul’s arms.”
Paul turned to her and shook his
head.
“No, Eloise, I don’t want you to
feel uncomfortable or be in danger. I can stay up.”
Sally turned to Paul. “So what
happens when you finally have to fall asleep, who protects her then? You’re
both going to have to get some sleep – if you can manage it within each other’s
arms – then it’s a win-win situation.”
Sally yawned and stretched. “You
two figure it out, I’m going to bed,” she said, “If you need me, just wake me
up.”
She walked down the hall and they
heard the door to her room close.
Paul knelt in front of the chair. “Okay,
what do you want to do? Really?”
Eloise pondered it for a moment and
then smiled down at Paul. “We’re both tired, let’s get some sleep.”
She stood up and he followed her
down the hall to her bedroom. Eloise washed up first, changing into a baggy
pair of sweats and oversized t-shirt. She sat on the bed and waited for Paul
to finish in the bathroom. He came out wearing a low slung pair of pajama
pants and no shirt. His body was just as she remembered it at the Turkish
Bath. Even after six years, he hadn’t changed.
Eloise shook her head. “You have to
have a shirt on,” she said, “No compromise.”
Paul grinned and reached back into
the bathroom for a t-shirt. He pulled it over his head and down his body. The
shirt seemed to cling to each of his tautly defined muscles. “Ready for bed?”
Eloise swallowed, then nodded and
climbed into her narrow bed, moving as close to the wall as she could. She
turned, so her back was towards the outside of the bed. Paul flipped off the
light and she felt the bed dip as he climbed in. He molded his body to hers
and wrapped his arms securely around her waist.
Eloise tensed and froze; she could
feel his warm breath against her cheek. She could feel his heartbeat against
her back. She could breathe in his distinctive male scent.
“Eloise,” he whispered in her ear,
making her shiver, “This isn’t about sex, this is about protection. Relax and
trust me, I promise I’ll keep you safe.”
Eloise took a deep breath and forced
herself to relax. She snuggled closer into his embrace and closed her eyes. He
tightened his arms around her. She did feel safe.
“That’s my girl,” he whispered,
“Sweet dreams, Eloise.”
The soft sound of his breathing and
the rhythmic movement of his chest soon lulled Eloise to sleep.
She was going to be late, but she
couldn’t resist another peek in the looking glass. Mama had told her that
vanity would be her undoing, but tonight she felt that even Mama would forgive
her, she felt like a princess. The light green tulle fell in soft drapes over
the hoop skirt, making her tiny waist seem even smaller. The bodice of satin
and tulle was even more daring than she realized when she had been fitted for
the dress, but her soft white shoulders showed to perfection. Her auburn hair
had been fussed over and curled into dozens of ringlets, all caught up in a
matching satin band. The diamond earrings Papa had given her sparkled at each
turn of her head. She had never felt like this before, tonight was going to be
magic.
“Louisa!” her mother’s voice rang
up the stairs. “If you don’t come down right now, we will take the carriage and
you will be forced to walk.”
Louisa giggled, Mama’s threats were
empty, but now she was ready for the gala. She picked up her fan and her
evening bag and dashed out of the room.
Sophie, her mother’s personal slave,
stood at the top of the stairs waiting. “You dash down the stairs like that,
you gonna break your nose,” she stated baldly, “Ain’t no way for a princess to
make an entrance to society.”
Louisa threw her arms around
Sophie’s neck and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“Thank you, Sophie,” she said, “I
will practice more decorum, I promise.”
“I don’t like you going to that
Lalaurie place. That whole family’s bad,” Sophie said.
Louisa shook her head. “No, that
was her sister-in-law from New Orleans, this family is fine,” she said,
“They’re good people.”
“Bad blood travels in families,”
she said firmly, “You make sure you take care.”
Louisa nodded. “Yes, ma’am, I
promise.”
“You got that amulet I gave you?”
Louisa loosened the strings of her
evening bag and pulled out the small packet of cloth that was attached to a
satin ribbon.
“Things get bad, you put that
around your neck,” Sophie warned, “It will protect you.”
Louisa dropped it back into her bag
and tightened the strings. “Yes, ma’am, I certainly will,” she replied with a
quick curtsey, “Can I go now?”
Sophie’s solemn mouth turned up
slightly. “You ain’t nothing but a tease,” she said with love in her eyes. “You
go and be a good girl, hear?”
Louisa grinned. “Yes, ma’am.”
She hurried down the stairs, out
the door and onto the wide pillared porch of the plantation home. She
collected her skirts and climbed into the comfort of her father’s traveling
carriage.
“So, what words of warning did
Sophie give you?” her mother asked.
Louisa smiled. “She really is
worried about the Lalaurie family. Mother what happened in New Orleans?”
Louisa’s mother tightened her lips
and shook her head. “It is not something we discuss; it is enough to say that
it was cruel beyond words and horrible beyond imagination.”
Louisa shivered in the warm summer
air.
“Should we be going tonight?” she
whispered.
Her mother smiled and laid her hand
over her daughter’s. “Of course, we’ll be fine,” she said, “Besides, I
understand that there is a young man attending who would protect my daughter
from any kind of trouble.”
Louisa blushed at the thought of Lieutenant
Jean-Paul Gruyere. He was a Marine Officer stationed at Port Orleans. He was
sought after by many of the match-making mothers in New Orleans’ society. Not
only was he handsome and intelligent, he came from a good family and would make
an excellent match.
Louisa cared nothing for society’s
view of the handsome lieutenant; she had seen how he treated the poor and
unfortunate, how he had protected those who could not protect themselves. He
had honor and nobility and she had simply fallen in love with him.
“Louisa,” her mother’s kindly voice
interrupted her thoughts, “Wipe that dreamy look off your face. We are about to
make our entrance and you would not want the whole world to know how you feel
about young Gruyere.”
Louisa blushed and then grinned.
“Thank you, mama,’ she teased, “I will put on my society face now.”
The carriage turned toward the
majestic mansion. Large willow trees bordered the drive, creating a cascading
curtain of green. A marble fountain stood in the center of the drive and
lanterns had been placed everywhere to illuminate the summer night. At the
entrance of the grand house, the carriage stopped and Louisa and her mother
alighted.
They walked up the steps and across
the porch. The oak double doors had been thrown open and music and laughter
spilled out. The house was furnished elegantly; marble statues, highly
polished mahogany furniture, and the latest fixtures in the newly developed gas
lighting. Louisa knew that no expense had been spared to turn this home into a
showcase.
They walked from the parlor into
the large ballroom. As soon as she stepped into the room, she could sense Jean-Paul’s
presence. Her heart seemed to beat faster and she felt a warmth flow through
her body.
“Madame Rousseau, Louisa, good
evening,” Jean-Paul smiled as he greeted them.
Louisa turned to return his
greeting and felt, once again, the power of his presence. He was dressed in
his uniform, a white double-breasted cutaway jacket with tails, a
red
silk cummerbund and narrow white pants. The buttons, epaulets and cuff stripes
were gold. Louisa thought that he looked like a fairy tale prince.
He paused to say a few words to
her mother and then turned his attention to her. He took her hand and brought
it to his lips, holding it just a little longer than appropriate. He caught her
eyes with his and she saw the same heat and desire she knew must show in her
own.
“Will you…,” he began, his voice hesitant,
his body tense. “Can I show you the garden?”
She knew that her mother would
frown upon such behavior. She had not even greeted her hostess, but she could
not deny him. She longed to steal some secreted moments with Jean-Paul.
“Yes, please,” she whispered.
His face relaxed and he took her
arm and guided her through the crowds and outside through the terrace doors.
They moved quickly across the terrace and down a flagstone path to a gazebo set
in the midst of a grove of stately willows.
Jean-Paul led her up the steps of
the gazebo. She looked around her in awe, the willows concealed the gazebo
from the prying eyes of the party-goers and the glow of moon illuminated the
gazebo like candlelight. Jean-Paul caught her hands in his.
“Did I mention that you look
delectable?” he asked, lowering his lips to hers and stealing a sweet kiss.
She smiled and stepped back from
his embrace. “And what would you do if prying eyes caught you kissing me?” she
teased.
He reached out and caught her chin
in his hand and gently lifted it so she had to look into his eyes. “I would
immediately claim your hand in marriage, carry you away to a solitary place and
have you all to myself,” he whispered huskily.
Louisa trembled in response. “Then
my greatest desire in all the world is that someone will come upon us,” she
whispered in response.
“Louisa,” he breathed, as he
lowered his lips to hers and kissed her with a hunger that echoed his words.
“Jean-Paul,” she moaned, once he
freed her lips and held her tightly in his arms.
A stifled scream from beyond the
grove caught their attention immediately. Jean-Paul released Louisa and jumped
down the gazebo steps, before he turned back to Louisa. “Stay here, you’ll be
safe, I’ll come for you,” he promised.
Louisa lowered herself to the
narrow bench in the gazebo and clasped her hands together. She listened
carefully, trying to discern where the sound had come from and if she could
hear Jean-Paul moving through the night.
She fingered her evening bag nervously
and then remembered the amulet. With unsteady fingers, she opened the bag and
removed the amulet and tied the satin ribbon around her neck in a tight, secure
knot.
She stood and walked to the
entrance of the gazebo. She leaned forward trying to catch the sound of
something. Suddenly, the quiet of the night was once again disturbed by a
scream. Louisa heard Jean-Paul cry out in pain.
Before she consciously was aware of
her decision, Louisa was running across the lawn, through the curtain of willow
branches toward the sounds. She stumbled as she came out of the grove and the
lawn disappeared, giving way to rough ground and unmanicured woods. Louisa
spotted a narrow path which seemed to cut its way through the woods. She
stayed close to one side in order to hide herself if need be.
The path led to a small open area.
In the midst was a carriage house that, by its outside appearance, looked
abandoned, but Louisa could see light escaping through the cracks in the walls.
She walked alongside the woods,
keeping close to the brush for cover until she was facing the back of the
house. She darted across the open area and then pressed herself against the
rough planking of the building. Slowly she made her way to a dust covered
window. She wiped away a small area and peered inside.
At first all she could see was the
bright light coming from the lanterns that were hanging from the rough beams
that ran along the ceiling. Then her eyes adjusted and she could see a number
of tables lined up against one wall. She also thought she could see several
large objects hanging from the walls. She scanned the room to see if anyone was
moving, she stood on her tiptoes to get a better view of the room.
A cold rough hand came down on her
shoulder. “Why peek in from the outside when I would be more than happy to
give you a tour from the comfort of the inside of my laboratory.”
Louisa turned and gasped in shock.
The woman’s face was twisted and
grotesque. Her hair was white and disheveled. Her hands, though strong, were
also gnarled and bent. But it was the look in her eyes that made Louisa’s
blood run cold. She had never seen such evil, but she recognized it
immediately.