If I Have To Marry The Duke Ch. 2

Trying to thicken the plot. Trying to get feedback as well.

Chapter 2

     Good to his word, Richard arrived two days later with his doctor in tow. Leaving the patient in the doctor’s capable hands, Richard questioned an elderly woman in her early 80s about the reasoning the doctor’s signature was on the page, since the said doctor had passed on a few years back. "The story is a sad one my lord." The women said her face full of wrinkles and her mouth caught by a frown.

     "Nonetheless I shall like to hear it." Richard replied. He had become annoyed with this place as soon as he walked in and he felt the story would only heighten his mood. The women, Rose Hendle, seemed to gather her thoughts about her before replying, dragging her tongue over her lips before she began.

     "It was quite a few years ago. Twelve if I am exact." She began, " I was head nurse at the time. Her mother and father brought the child to us on a rainy night. Her mother claimed she suffered from a mental ailment since she would not speak. She claimed the child was a defect and thus she was not suitable for the common world, nor the household they ventured from." Rose looked pained by this memory, and Richard was drawn to the look in her eyes. They seemed to glisten from the unshed tears, and he figured they must have seen more in this lifetime then he could imagine. "The child was feisty, and hard to control during her testing. She bit me a time a two I’ll tell you, yet she acted as a normal child would in her situation. The doctor originally concluded by the third day she was there that she was fine and had all her sense about her, but for the fact she would not speak. I found this unique in such a child. She had to stay with us for the remainder of the week since her mother had said that was when she would return so we boarded the girl. She stayed to the bed we gave her and ate our meals, never once speaking. Then, one night, the night before her parents were to come, I sat in her room with her. I talked about how excited she should be to be going home and to be seeing her mama and papa again. She listened and as a tear ran down her beautiful cheek she spoke to me." Rose said.

     "No, I do not think they will come back for me." The child said softly. I covered my mouth to help the surprised gasp stay in its place. "They won’t return." She said.

     "In the end it wasn’t enough though. The child was right her mother, nor her father, came a week later. No one came. The doctor had a choice of changing his results in the page or throwing her in the streets. I begged him to keep the girl here, so I could keep a watchful eye. He agreed and at the risk of his job changed her papers. After I became too old to care for the patients I was dismissed. I didn’t do my job well, protecting that child, but I suppose I could have at least helped her to escape." Rose said, dabbing at her eye with a handkerchief she had pulled out of her handbag. Richard digested all the information she had just gave him and realized that the girl had been as sane as he was when she was brought here. If she had stayed that way through all the treatment she hadn’t needed then she would be free to leave, and he was the one that was going to have to take her.

***

     Lainey took all the tests the doctor gave her, though she would not say a word. Shaking her head side to side or up and down seemed to suffice. Rhett had suspected this would happen when he had told her of his marriage he had told her of his plan. Lainey was sure it would fail but so far it was only a success.

     "Richard has the power to end this Lainey." He had told her. "He has the wealth and the title to get you out of here if we play our cards right." He had said. The idea had seemed to her as brilliantly clever in an underhanded sort of way, but any way to get out was a plan. They would play on his sense of protecting the innocent Rhett had said. Lainey wasn’t sure if that’s what this Richard was doing but she felt as if it was working.

     "Alright Miss, we are all finished." The doctor told her with a smile. Lainey sat up and wondered what would come next. The door opened and the man, Richard, entered with an elderly woman whom looked familiar as well as a younger woman whom was unrecognizable. Her voice gave her away as the women with Richard two days ago.

     "I’m sure your tests only proved what I have said all along doc…" She was cut off by the simple stare the doctor gave her. He held the papers from his testing out to Richard.

     "The girl is as sane as I am." The doctor said. Richard flipped through the papers quickly, his eyes skimming the text in front of him, "I did all the same tests that the first doctor did and she shows a healthy control of her person." He said. The younger women looked shocked.

     "Surly you are not saying she should be released!" She exclaimed. Richard handed the papers back to the doctor whom removed his spectacles before answering.

     "That is precisely what I am saying. She is, if the papers are legal, of age and mind to care for herself, the fact that she does not speak is not a defect of her mind but a will of strength she presents herself." The doctor said. "I truly believe if she was given palpable reason she could speak without hesitation." He told them. He directed his gaze towards her as he spoke again, "You my dear are very strong-minded, as well as extremely stubborn. I wish you the best in life." With that last remark he closed his bag and left the room.

     "She has no where to go!" The women said. Richard stood and cleared his throat. All was silent and still. Lainey looked over and he bowed gracefully to her, causing her cheeks to feel warm as they reddened.

     "Miss Johnson, I would be must obliged if you would stay in residence at my home." He said. The younger women gasped.

     "This is an outrage. She can not be in a bachelors residence, my lord!" She said. Lainey was starting to like the women less and less. "Imagine what will be said about her." Was added.

     "Frankly I do not see why you would be so concerned, madam, for if she were back in the room you gave her you would no doubt be forcing more unneeded medicine down her throat!" Richard said angrily. "Furthermore my home is not a bachelors residence since I saw fit to invite my mother to town. She will, no doubt, be in residence more then I ever have been." He added. Lainey stood when he walked over to her and grabbed her arm gently, helping her up. "You will have all her possessions, if she has any, sent to my townhouse address, otherwise Miss. Johnson is finished with this place." He said, leading her out of the room. As he led her outside, Lainey squinted as her lights adjusted to the sun. She sat in his carriage moments later riding away, riding from the nightmares and the pain that had reeked havoc upon her. She was finally free.

     "Oh dear heart do not speak that way." I replied. The child sits silently on her bed letting the tears flow down her cheek.

     "They won’t come because I would not speak to them." She whispers. I walked over to the bed and placed my arm around her.

     "Why wouldn’t you speak to them child?" I ask her. She sniffles a few times before replying.

     "Papa has the worst of tempers when he is angry. He once told me children were to be seen, not heard, and Rhett told me to abide by his rule. I was not to speak, he told me, he would take care of me, but if I spoke and upset Papa again then mama and papa might send me away." The child sobbed. My heart broke for her and I remembered how fiercely the small boy had tried to protect her…