Subj: Remember Me My Love Chapter 5
Date: 9/10/00 1:04:02 PM Central Daylight Time
From: Julianka
Nicholas climbed over the balustrade, handed the red rose to Katherine. Slowly, gently he took her hand in his and kissed it lightly.
"I was unsure of your regard for me, after the scene in the salon this evening. Perhaps my family have been blackening my name?" Nicholas watched her face for any changes.
Katherine thought of the scene he had mentioned.
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"NICHOLAS!" Never had Katherine heard a voice filled with such hatred.
Nicholas' spine stiffen, giving her an apologetic
half smile he turned and greeted his enraged
brother.
"Benardino." He said jovily. "Come to welcome the prodigal home?"
"What is happening?" asked Count Guido entering the room with Katherine's father. "Oh." He said catching sight of Nicholas, "I see."
Benardino snapped shut the lid of the little music box, cutting off the sweet tune. Silence reigned unchecked for only a few minutes, while Benardino and Nicholas stood glaring at each other.
"Treymoor, would you and Katherine please excuse my sons and I." graciously asked the Count.
"Of course Guido. Katherine?" Treymoor took Katherine's arm and lead her out of the salon.
Katherine glanced back over her shoulder toward Nicholas, who noticing her look gave a small half bow.
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"No Nicholas, no one has said a word against you in my hearing as yet. Only my father, he has commanded," this word hung it her throat, choking her, "commanded that I have nothing to do with you."
A small bitter smile passed over Nicholas' face. "I too have my orders. Unless I leave you strictly alone. I will be tossed out bag and baggage."
"Why Nicholas! What is it that turns your family against you like this? Until this I had thought your father a most reasonable and loving person."
Arching his eyebrow, Nicholas replied bitterly, "He is not my father. He is my step father."
"But you said your name is Chiavelli!"
"He adopted me when he and my mother married. In his words, he deplores the unsavory associates the I chose to keep company with. Before I returned this evening, I had been in exile, staying at our country estate."
"Nicholas, I.."
Crossing the short distant between them, Nicholas took her in his arms. Resting his cheek against her silky hair he sighed, "I know. You are wondering why I am skirting the issue. Let me hold you close while I tell you this part, for you may never let me again."
"When my mother passed away after Bernardino's birth, I was very bitter against Guido. I felt he was at fault. He left her alone a great deal. Oh, she never spoke of him with anything other love. But I found her diary on the day of her funeral. Written there was the account of my mother's discovery of Guido's mistress. It broke her heart and drained her of her will to live."
"Now comes the part I fear to tell you, I was seven at the time of her death. When I became a young man, I fell in with a group other young men like myself. Easily bored young men looking for adventure. We experimented in occult studies. Just dabbling, thinking it a game at first. But then before I knew it, practicing the Black Arts started to be an addiction. When it was discovered, I was sent away. You see until I reach my thirtieth birthday, Guido holds total control of me. My monies, properties, everything! He could turn me out onto the street and I would have no legal recourse."
Katherine tried to pull back in order to see his face. Nicholas tighten his arms around her, "Please, I wouldn't be able to bare it if I saw contempt in your eyes. Let us share this moment and then I will leave you forever."
Katherine reached up and pulled Nicholas' head closer to hers. His lips met hers, gently at first then deepening into so much more.
Katherine stepped back and looked directly into Nicholas's eyes. "Shall I tell you how I feel?"
Squaring his shoulders as if for a blow, he answered, "Speak my love and send me away."
"How may I tell you of the emotions of my heart since you took me into your arms this evening? How at first sight of you I felt as though you and I had know each other for all time. And how the thought of never seeing you again frightens me to the depths of my soul."
At her first words hope flared in Nicholas eyes.
"Until my father can be made to see reason, we must be ever so careful. For I can not give you up now!" Said Katherine as she returned to the comfort of Nicholas' embrace.
They held each, not speaking until the first bird of morning herald the coming of the dawn.
To be continued...............