Subj:Angelique's Cure
Date: 6/15/99 6:39:05 PM Central Daylight Time
From: Beverly LaCroix

She sat down slowly trying to comprehend what the letter said. No, it isn't true, she said to herself. He will come home tomorrow. Angelique had suffered this before with her husband. Always someone else that looked like his Josette. Was she ever going to stop being punished for Jeremiah and Josette? No, she didn't suppose it was written in the stars for her to be happy with the man she loved. She worshipped him. The sun rose and set with his whims in her world. Now, her world was dark. He was never coming home to her. He had found his Josette in the form of Lady Kitty Hampshire. Lady Hampshire was a widow and friend of Edward Collins, and she was the very image of Josette. Why not just let it go, and let him have his life with her? She just couldn't, a life without Barnabas was not living.

So many years ago, it had began in Martinique, and continued onto Collinsport. They had married after so much heartbreak for him, that it didn't seem possible for him to ever be happy again, but now he was. She could tell from the tone of his letter that Lady Hampshire had fullfilled for him the hope of being with his long lost Josette. What was she going to do, she sat in the twilight pondering this latest romance of Barnabas'. "Why indeed?" a soft voice said. Angelique jerked around to find a voice to match the face. "Who are you?" she demanded.

"Lucien LaCroix, Mrs. Collins." a tall man answered.

She could feel the power emanating from him, it was so strong. She began to feel afraid. "What are you doing here?" Angelique said in a tone she did not feel. "I am here to see Quentin Collins. Is he about?" this vision asked.

"He would be at Collinwood," Angelique answered mesmerized by the bluest pair of eyes she had ever gazed into. The were blue ice, palpating power behind them.

"Thank you, Madame Collins," LaCroix said.

"Monsieur LaCroix, how did you know what I was thinking?" Angelique asked him, never taking her eyes from his. She felt a thrill shoot through her, and immediately tried to diffuse it, but as if he had known what she was thinking, his full lips curved in a knowing smile.

"Une autre heure, Madame Collins," LaCroix' smooth velvety tone mesmerized her with his perfect French. (Another time, Madame Collins)

"Je compterai là-dessus, Monsieur LaCroix," Angelique answered in her native language. (I shall count on it)

Then he was gone. Angelique smiled for the first time in many many years at this charismatic stranger. And for one brief moment she forgot about Barnabas, and her pain.

The End

Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis Production.