His Spoilt Lady by Vanessa Brooks

he
added, although feeling much pity as she started to protest. “You
are married now and there is no more to be said, so kiss your
father and let me remember you with pride. Stand bravely beside
your husband and enjoy the adventure of a new life together.”
    John stepped
forward, placed his arm around Linnett’s waist, and solemnly said,
“Be brave for your father, dearest, and do as he bids; you wouldn’t
want his last memory of you to be a sad one.”
    Linnett
trembled and cried, “No, Papa, no! I cannot leave you! How can I
leave? I may never see you again!” She flung herself forward into
his arms, tormented and sobbing with disbelief, her hands clutching
at his coat front.
    Sir Thomas
lifted his hand and stroked her hair, “My precious child, you know
that you could return with me and I may die tomorrow. I am an old
man, puss; if I should die, then what will become of you? John is a
good man, and he will look after you, and God willing, you will
give me many grandchildren who will come and visit their old
Grandpapa! Life goes on my child...life goes on.”
    He placed his
hands over hers and lifted them from his coat. He turned to John,
holding Linnett’s clasped hands out towards him, saying gruffly,
“Take her with my blessing, John. Protect her and love her.”
    John took the
weeping Linnett from him, folding her in his arms, “You know that I
will, Sir…. thank you.
    Sir Thomas
Wainwright reached forward, placed a hand on John’s shoulder,
giving it a squeeze, and said, “Good man.” With one last lingering
look at his sobbing daughter, he turned and left the cabin.
    Linnett
screamed and hurled herself after him, but John restrained her,
holding her tight against him. Finally, he led her to the bed and
sat, down scooping his wife onto his lap. John clasped Linnett
against his shoulder, his arm about her protectively, and so they
stayed while Linnett wept. Eventually when she was a little calmer,
John laid her curled up on the box bed. He pulled the eiderdown
over her and stroked her hair tenderly back from her forehead.
    “Sleep now,
sweetheart. I’ll wake you later for dinner. Just rest; all will be
well, you’ll see.” He left her to sleep and began to sort out the
various trunks piled high in the corner of the cabin.
    When Linnett
awoke some two hours later, she found herself alone. At first, she
simply lay on the bed feeling desperate and very alone, and as she
pondered, a white hot blaze of fury shot through her. It was all
that man Foster’s fault; he had tricked her into marrying him and
under false pretences. Linnett sat up and looked around and noticed
various details that in her distress earlier she had missed. The
bed she was lying upon was a box bed, a square wooden frame,
in-filled with a hair mattress, topped with a down quilt. A rail
ran around the bed secured on the wooden ceiling, dark red curtains
hung from them on either side of the bed, enabling the bed to be
surrounded, closed off from the rest of the room. It was secured to
the floor to stop it moving around in high seas. To the right of
the bed, there was a window, made up of tiny diamond-shaped pieces
of glass; this was framed by some rather ragged dark curtains.
Under the window sat a pair of large ornate oak chests.
    Linnett noticed
that her set of silver hair brushes and combs had been laid out
upon them. Sitting up in the bed, Linnett looked up to the other
end of the cabin, where a round table stood, fixed to the floor by
its central pedestal. Beside it were two stuffed, leather-covered,
comfortable-looking brown chairs, and these, she saw, were not
anchored to the floor. In the far corner, beyond the table, a
screen stood, and Linnett assumed that behind this, the pitcher and
ewer could be found ready for ablutions. Of their travelling trunks
there was no sign.
    Linnett leaned
back in the bed and, pulling the covers up under her chin, began to
think about her home. Why had Lottie not told her that she was to
go with