Chapter 3

                                 

 

The English Coast 1794

 

‘Do you understand me, Esther?  ’Mathilda asked gently.  ’You must trust me, and you must never tell your father or Mary about the people speaking to you in your dreams.’

 

Esther smiled, her face lighting up, stirring Mathilda’s heart.  Her precious baby, her daughter.  Was this how her gift would awaken? By dreaming of the dead?

She would never allow her to burn.

 

‘I understand Mother, ’she answered.  ’Are you afraid they will tell Magnus?’

 

Mathilda nodded.  ’He is not a good man, dear one, he will take you away from me and I will never see you again.’

 

 ‘I will not say anything to them, Mother, I promise.’

 

Mathilda pulled her into an embrace.  ’Our secret my love, ’she said softly, ’our secret forever.'

 

It was late afternoon when Tobias and Mary returned. Outside the sea was restless. A storm was coming and Mathilda pulled her threadbare cloak tighter around her as Tobias opened the  ramshackle door of their cottage, followed by Mary, her 12 year old face set in its normal grim mask.

 

 ‘Come Esther, ’Mary said, pulling her by the arm.   

 

‘To where?  ’Esther asked innocently.   

 

‘To the room, ’Mary said.  ’We must fall on our knees and pray.  We must beg the Lord our God to give us the strength to grow up in His righteous ways.  Everywhere we turn we are faced with evil.  We must not let it corrupt our souls.’

 

‘What has happened?  ’Mathilda asked her husband, seeing his earnest expression.   

 

‘Magnus exposed yet another witch, ’Tobias answered.  ’Praise be to God, tonight she will burn!’

 

 

 

………..

 

 

 

Just as Faye was texting Sybil to inform her that she would be leaving by bus for Kirkwood in two days time, there was a knock on her hotel room door.   

 

Nolan was there.  He stared at her distastefully as she opened the door and she returned the favor.  Where once she found him handsome and charming, he now seemed like something to pity, something weak.

 

Anything she felt for him was gone. 

 

The minute she’d found out she was pregnant, the safety of her unborn child became paramount.

 

 She would never allow Nolan or his mother to taint her baby with their ways. Even if it meant lying to him for the rest of her life. 

 

 ‘May I come in?  ’ he asked, casually leaning against the door. ‘To say goodbye properly?’

 

‘No, ’she replied firmly. Her mind worked overtime, trying to calculate how she would fight him if he tried to hit her again.   ’I have no wish to speak to you Nolan.  You weren’t even man enough to hash out the details of our divorce yourself.  You sent your mother like some minion to do your dirty work.’

 

 He smiled, much like his mother, coldly and cruelly.

 

‘Was the offer not good enough?  Is that why you refused it?  Tell me Faye, what’s your price?’

 

She glared daggers at him.  ’You son of a bitch.  Like I told your mother, I don’t want your money.  All I want is my freedom, away from both of you.’

 

‘And what guarantee do I have that you won’t go to the media with the details of our marriage?’ he asked, still smiling his cold smile.  ’Is that your plan Faye?  Magazine interviews and talk show  appearances?  The press would pay handsomely for your fabrications.’

 

‘My bruises were many things, Nolan, but they were never fabrications.  What guarantee do you have?  You have my word.  The sooner I’m free of you the better.  This will be our final conversation, face to face. After this you will never see me again.’

 

When he was gone, she finished her text to Sybil and plopped down on the comfortable couch in front of the fireplace, watching the flames and remembering the vision of the woman, burning at the stake.   

 

She did not see, nor feel, the young girl behind her, gently stroking her hair.