Chapter 9 The Move

It had been two days since Elansa’s secret meeting with Carl on the hill and her father still hadn’t found out about it. She’d called the telephone service company and using her credit card, she’d cancelled all the documents (computer and written) concerning her chats with her admirer. Her last name had been powerful enough to banish all the phone documents of the year to hell in 45 minutes. But Elansa had stuck to her short conversations with Carl and let the rest live.

 

Summer was finally upon the Churchill estate and several moving trucks and trailers had appeared in the driveway overnight. Hired workmen could be seen loading dozens of her father’s prized hunters into the trailers and being transported away. Elansa watched the whole process from her bedroom window, popping some bubblegum in boredom. Her father still hadn’t dropped his “grounded suit” against her.

 

It was officially moving day for the Churchill’s, but unlike her father, Elansa wasn’t looking forward to it whatsoever. She’d spend the entire summer in some foreign mansion, away from Carl and constantly trapped in her dad’s radar. Then when September came, she’d be shipped off to London, alone and forced to join some snotty private school with a bunch of snobby kids her age. She was positive she’d hate it with a passion.

 

A tap on the door made her retreat from the window and slump onto her neatly made bed. Victor entered, looking happy, dressed in a white pair of capris and a loose, sand-colored shirt.

“I see you’re enjoying the view from a more distant location” he told her, nodding at her open window.

“Just letting in some fresh air, that’s all” Elansa lied in return, not meeting his eyes.

“Obviously, dear. We’ll be leaving shortly, so I suggest you come downstairs and say your good-byes to the old place. I’m sure it has grown on you, more then on me”.

He departed and she sighed, going back to her spot by the window.

 

She was leaving, so soon. She’d grown up in this house, in the stable, for so long. Her mother had walked here and breathed this very air not so long ago. Some other rich family would move in and paint the place with their memories and it wouldn’t be Elansa’s home anymore. She blinked hurridly, not wanting to cry. It was just a house, just wood and furniture, nothing alive. She left the room as it was, with the window wide open and everything she owned tucked neatly into boxes by her closet.

 

*

 

Victor sat in the leather seat of his limousine, a glass of vodka in one hand, staring out of his smoked window. Elansa was seated beside him, her arms crossed, obviously still pretty pissed off at him. She hadn’t uttered a word since they’d departed. Marina had been like this too, stubborn and only wanting her way in things or else she’d grumble and glower at him until he gave in. It was funny how a daugther could resemble her dead mother so much. Marina’s funeral had been a sad day, a day that haunted Victor’s thoughts and nights with his wife’s white, staring eyes and accusing words. An article had been published a few days before her funeral, angering him to a point where he nearly trashed his entire Parlor with screams and yells of frustration from the constant aching of his heart and soul.

 

 

 

 

 

London Inquierer

October 25th 2004

 

Marina Teslo dies in tragic freak accident

Sherman St-Paul

 

The wife of millionaire American, Victor Churchill (who is the owner and top CEO of Churchill Motors) died yesterday morning during a foxhunting tour in Windsor Park. Marina Teslo suffered fatal wounds to her head and lungs when she was run over by four horses, after she was tossed from her own hunter. Witnesses confirm that the tod the foxhunt was going after strangely turned itself toward the oncoming hounds and went head-on at them. Dodging the dogs, it went straight for Marina’s horse, who reared out of impulse, making her fall off. The horses that ran her over were galloping at such a break-neck speed that their riders didn’t have the time to react to the situation fast enough. Marina was transported to the Windsor County Hospital where she was pronounced dead on arrival. It was her second time as Master of Foxhounds during this foxhunting tour and her friends conclude that she wanted it to be her best.

“Foxhunting has been her passion since she was a child” Ariel Cummins, a close friend, said last night. “Her parents always had horses, so she naturally grew up loving them” the tall blonde added, whiping away tears.

Victor Churchill was unavailable for comment, nor was Marina’s mother, Isadora Wellington. Marina’s father, Richard Teslo (the British foxhunting champion of 1981 and 1983) died of  a heart attack back in December. She had no siblings. She leaves behind a 5 year old daugther by the name of Elansa.

 

Marina Teslo married Victor Churchill at the young age of 19 in Rock Solid, Rhode Island on August 6th 1998. Elansa, their only daughter, was born to the couple two years later. Born in Berkshire, England on April 12th 1979, Marina was immediatly raised on her parents 23 hectare Foxhunting estate. Homeschooled until 8, she then joined a private school in downtown London, before being admitted to boarding school during her teenage years in St-Philippes, Scotland.

 

Please see TESLO, con’t on pg. 17

 

Elansa searched through her backpack from the floor of the vehicle and pulled out a battered book on British Foxhunting in the 1800’s. She ignored her father completely and quickly got captured into the large, maroon manual. Victor suppressed a sigh and continued staring out of his window, not really noticing the beautiful blue canal they were driving by. His mind was still on the last time he’d seen Marina’s face.

 

Victor entered the church, Elansa holding onto his hand and sniffing slightly. Her eyes held red rims and a slight puffiness to them. The seats were completely filled all the way to the front, where his parents stood dressed in black and Marina’s frail-looking mother sat, dabbing at her face. Victor joined them, keeping his eyes deliberately away from the white casket beside the polished stage.

 

Samuel gripped his son’s shoulder, pulling him into a tight hug. His mother pressed her lips to his cheek and started sobbing. Isadora stood from her seat, lifting the veil that fell ove rher face with trembling hands and kissed him with cold lips, before leaning onto his arm.

“I never knew this day would come so soon” she mumbled softly, pulling the veil back down to cover her mascara streaked eyes.“A mother is not suppossed to bury her daugther”.

Elansa stood at her grandmothers side, her hair tied in a low ponytail, with such a sad face that Victor could have bawled all day. Isadora wrapped one arm around her grandaugther, pulling her close and the service began.

 

The preist rumbled on and on about Marina’s tragic end, her place in heaven and so on. At one point Elansa started crying and Vanessa and Isadora followed suit, searching for kleenex. Victor’s eyes stayed dry, but his mouth felt so parched he thought he’d suffocate. He kept clearing his throat as silently as possible. Finally the preist departed from his place at the foot of the casket and the assembly stood, pressing forwards for one last look at Marina, before she was buried and let to rest amid the other dead corpses littering the country-side.

 

Aunts, uncles, cousins, girlfriends, past boyfriends, co-workers, they all filed to the front, some genuinly sad, while others looked more then curious. All reporters and cameras had been shunned outside, as Victor had wanted no media at the funeral. Death was a sacred thing, never to be publicised by a grieving family. Slowly the procession moved on and Victor and Elansa followed suit last. Marina’s marble white face appeared, her lips painted a subtle pink. Even though all the life had been drained from her body, she still looked as if she might just open her eyes at any moment and start living again. Her hair was loose and it fell around her shoulders in lovely, radiant waves. They had dressed her in a golden summer dress, with pearls along the neckline and cuffs.

 

“She’s beautiful” Elansa whispeared, looking down at her mother from her father’s steady arms.

“Like always” Victor said, smiling for the first time since the accident.

“What are we going to do without her?” Elansa asked him, her eyes still on her mother’s face.

“I don’t know. It’s going to be very hard, but we’ll manage somehow” her father told her, shrugging.

“At least I’m not alone. I still have you daddy” Elansa reminded him, pecking him on the cheek.

“You do, but without mommy things will be different”.

“Are we going to be sad forever?” she wondered seriously.

“I don’t think so. At first it will seem as if we will be, but once time starts to pass, everything will feel better” he assured her.

Victor let Elansa lean in and kiss Marina’s cheek, before watching her walk off to where his parents were waiting, farther away.

 

He faced the casket again and took a deep breath, bringing his hands together so that they wouldn’t start shaking. So this was it, it was time to say good-bye. He approached his dead wife, clearing his dry throat again.

“I never thought you would actually be gone one day” he admitted, trying to keep his emotions in check. “I took it for granted that you would be beside me until my dying day”.

He smirked at his words, bringing a hand up to his carefully placed hair.

“I’ll miss you, that’s for sure. The bed won’t be as warm, the house won’t be as joyful and the world will be less beautiful. My heart is breaking as I say this, but I know I wasn’t the best husband. I should’ve been around more often, cared about you more. But I was too selfish and so missed so many days that I could’ve spent with you” he said sadly.

He shook his head at the memories of her death and felt a tear slide down his left cheek, making a slow progress to the curve of his mouth.

“I’ll take care of Elansa, I promise you that. I’ll try to take care of her the same way you did. I’ll cherish all the amazing times we had together, all the kisses we shared, all the places we visited. I won’t forget the things you taught me or every smile you made just for me” he went on, as another tear followed the first one. “I love you Marina, I always will” he added.

Bending down, he kissed her cheek, feeling the cold skin and took a last full glimpse of her beautiful face, before closing the casket over her and going to join his waiting family.

 

*

 

Corina was braiding Kassandra’s long hair in one of the rooms of The Red Rock Palace, when the phone rang. Pandora, who had been reading on the floor, answered.

“Yeah, hullo?”.

There was a pause.

“Yes, one moment”. Pandora handed the phone to her mother.

It was the Berkshire airport.

“Good-morning mam. I’m sorry to say that all flights out of the United Kingdom have been cancelled until further notice. A strong gale has been threatening airports since yesterday, so you tickets shall be postponed until the weather clears up” the woman informed her politely.

“Is that right, how unfortunate” Corina said, shaking her head, dissapointed.

“We will call you back when the flights are to be back in commission”.

“Okay, thank-you”.

 

She hung up and went back to braiding Kassandra’s hair.

“Bad news girls, were stuck here a little while longer. The airline just informed me that our flight had been cancelled due to bad weather”.

Both daugthers groaned loudly.

“I know, but I wouldn’t want to be stuck in the air in a storm anyway, so we best wait it out” their mother said.

“But mum! We’ve been in this crummy hotel for over 4 days!” Pandora whined loudly.

“I’m aware of that, dear, but we have no choice”.

“We could go back to Victor’s place” Kassandra suggested, standing up to peer into the mirror at her finished hair.

Corina chose to ignore her comment.

“Just settle down until your father arrives, then we’ll have supper and discuss about this misfortune as a family”.

 

*

 

Elansa was busy highlighting important passages in her foxhunting book, her eyes never straying from the wilting, yellowing pages. The book had been in Marina’s family for ages and had been published in 1923 in London. The limousine started to slow along the road and Elansa finally lost her concentration on Chapter 6: The History of the sidesaddle and let her eyes wander out of her window.

 

Her gaze went from the stone hedge and 12 foot tall iron gates, to the looming mansion, it’s roof spire’s reaching up to the very blue sky. The limo spun past the open gates and up the smooth driveway, past perfectly trimmed green lawns filled with blooming patches of lilacs, roses and baby’s breath. The vehicle stopped exactly beside the marble steps of the mansion, leaving the silence to be taken up by twittering birds and whinnying horses in the distance. Elansa opened her door slowly, her breath caught in her throat as the immense beauty and grandness of her new home encircled her. In the middle of the driveway, a few feet from the limo rose the bronze statue of a stallion, water sprouting out of it’s open mouth and splashing down around it’s hooves.

 

Elansa stepped out of the car, her book forgotten on the leather seat, her mouth gaping, her eyes wide. Victor got out too, smiling again, despite the memories that had awashed his thoughts during the ride. His daugther looked shocked, but he knew it was a good thing. If she was happy with the changes, with their new home, then he would be too.

 

Presently a tall man dressed in a dark suit and supporting an oily mustouche and sleek, combed back hair, appeared at the foot of the marble stairs.

“Ahh, Bastien, come, I’d like you to meet my daugther” Victor said loudly, as the man bowed to him.

Elansa appeared at her father’s side, having just closed her gaping mouth, still somewhat shocked.

“Elansa, this is Bastien Jewer, our new butler” Victor presented. The butler bowed to Elansa also and she acknowledged him with a smile.

 

Elansa and Victor followed the butler up the marble steps of the house and into the exotic wooden doorway. The entrance took Elansa’s breath away once more. It could have swallowed up their old home with one bite. Lavish white wool carpets covered the floor as far as the eye could see. Two oak staircases spiralled up to the second floor, supporting newly polished banisters and blood red carpeting along the steps. The butler gave them a tour of the mansion, keeping his manners first-hand and letting Elansa gape at the stone fireplace in the livingroom, the live-in chef and his assistants in the kitchen and the ancient looking bath sunk in the floor of the bathroom downstairs.

“Now, let me show you your new room, miss” the butler said and Victor immediately noticed his daugthers eagerness. They climbed to the second landing and the butler pointing to the second door to the right. Elansa approached it and pushed the door open, stepping inside the room.

 

The place was at least three times larger then her old room at the estate. A huge, king sized bed stood at one end, holding silver curtains that could be closed for the night. A dark maple desk stood at the other end, along with a leather chair and a white laptop. There was a black loveseat by the desk, an oak bookcase filled with all her favourite books, a silver-framed mirror hanging by itself and a glass cabinet where all her riding paraphenellia had been stored.

 

“I think you’re salivating, dear” her father said, breaking through the hushed silence.

“Possibly” Elansa responded rather faintly.

“Well, enjoy it and I’ll be satisfied” Victor told her, heading back downstairs.

“Wait, dad!” his daugther called. She caught up to him and hugged him brieftly. “Thanks” she added.

“For you Elansa, I’d offer anything. Now, I think a certian four-legged creature is waiting for a ride”.

“Willow!” Elansa exclaimed. She ran out of the mansion and across the grass, trying not to trod on the beautiful flowers and headed to the newly built stables.

 

And sure enough, her warmblood stood freshly tacked in the courtyard, a stablehand monitoring her calmly.

“Ready for a nice gallop?” Elansa asked her mare, climbing onto her back and heading out onto the lawn. She clicked her on with her tongue and both horse and rider went speeding off, chunks of fresh grass flailing into the wind as they rode.

 

*

 

Redrix sat on the cracked sidewalk beside the gas station, slurping on his blueberry slush, while his eldest son sat beside him, chewing on a bag of doritos.

“Why did we leave Victor’s house?” Mikell demanded suddently, looking up at his father’s face. “You never told us why we ran out of there so quickly”.

Redrix sighed, letting go of the straw in his slush and turning towards Mikell.

“Sometimes a parent cannot always tell his child things that happenned, it’s a fact of life” he began.

“Cut the crap, dad, I’m not a baby” Mikell reminded him, raising his eyebrows.

“I don’t think your mom wants me to talk about it to you kids”.

“So what, we’ll find out eventually. You can’t keep secrets from us, we were there with you. We know Victor and Elansa, what could possibly be so bad?”.

Redrix shook his head, getting back to his slush.

“Did he do something to mom?”.

“Yes and that’s all I’m saying” his father replied, keeping his gaze on the street before him. Not a car was in sight for miles.

“Did Victor hurt her in any way?” Mikell probbed. His doritos lay forgotten at his side.

“Yes, okay, yes he did!”.

“Calm down dad, it’s over. Mom seems okay, but you don’t. Did it perhaps affect you more then it did the victim-” Mikell began.

“Enough! This is a matter between Victor and I, no one else. I’m not going to sit here calmly and discuss his sick intentions with my son. Just remember that Victor is not the man he showed himself to be. He is cruel, arrogant and overly-proud of himself. I know the truth behind the mask he wears and it is disgusting!” Redrix spat, standing up and stalking off to his parked, rental car.

Mikell watched him go and followed him a few seconds later, throwing out the doritos as he went.

 

*

 

Elansa crawled into her new bed that night, enjoying the smell of the newly bought, dark violet blankets. Her father knocked a minute later and walked in, seating himself at the foot of the bed.

“So, like it?”.

She nodded, observing her room with delight.

“The entire house?” he pressed.

“Yes, dad, it’s beautiful. The stables are exquisite, Willow is really enjoying herself in her new stall. That fireplace is awesome, we’ll get to roast marshmellows indoor! And our very own butler and maids full-time, that’s a dream come true!” she admitted, smiling.

“I’m glad you approve, darling. It took lots of time to plan and decorate and built, but it’s all over. Now we can fully appreciate our new manor and start our life from scratch. No more fights, no more anger. Deal?”.

“Deal”.

They hugged and Victor’s eyes went out to the silver-framed mirror hanging close to the window.

 

“That mirror that I hung for you was your mothers, a gift from me at our wedding over 18 years ago” Victor said to Elansa. “It’s pretty isn’t it?”.

“It sure is. You kept it all this time without telling me, why?”.

“I didn’t want it in my view, too long ago it had haunted my waking life and dreams for weeks. I was afraid it would start all over again. When I was cleaning out the attic last night, I opened a box that I’d stuffed under a musty couch and found it, still gleaming because I’d taken care to wrap it up in cloths before putting it away last time. That’s when it came to me, the idea to give it to you at the revealling of the manor”.

“Well, thank-you dad, I love it. Everytime I’ll look at my reflection in it, I’ll try and see if mom looked anything like I do”.

“She did. You have her stubborness, but also her beautiful features and flawless complexion. She would of been proud of how you turned out, that’s for sure”.

Victor kissed his only daugthers forehead and left her to dream sweet dreams of her mother who always loved her, years and years ago.

 

*

 

Reviews

[empiethree]

Very good. A very entertaining read. I enjoyed it. The characters, the story line, the setting. Everything. Well done, and I look forward to reading your future work.