House of Shadows

Prologue

October 17th, 1898

Passmore Edwards Cottage Hospital, Falmouth

"A hospital is no place for the sick!" Muriel Hampton Parke declared as Adelaide observed her stepmother sitting gingerly on the edge of the narrow, cane chair that was next to her bed. Muriel had never been one to tolerate sickness, infirmity, or anything that inconvenienced her in any way. That included the sinking of the ship they'd only recently booked passage on to return to New York, the SS Mohegan.

Even thinking the name made her shudder. Adelaide's heart skipped and her breath caught as she recalled the screams and the icy black water that had submerged their ship.

"You just shivered! Please tell me you are not catching a chill! I will not have it, Adelaide! I will not. I have booked passage for us two days hence. We will be on that next ship and back in New York to enjoy the remnants of the social season! Do you hear me, girl?"

"How can you think of getting on another ship?" Adelaide asked. "Are you truly so heartless, so without feeling, that you are not consumed with dread at the thought of it?"

"Well, of course I am a bit anxious at the prospect. But I will not be ruled by fear and neither will you! I simply will not allow it... There are other concerns, you know? Not just the social whirl we might miss! There is the matter of your father's will, Adelaide. And while I do hate to be the bearer of bad news, I must inform you that he changed that will some time ago. The bulk of the estate is now mine entirely, at least until Stephan comes of age," Murial said, referencing her son who looked suspiciously like the dance instructor she'd employed for Adelaide in preparation of her debut. "I will proceed with the debut your father had planned for you as it is largely paid for already. You do have a rather substantial marriage settlement that was set aside for you and is overseen by a group of trustees."

The last bit had been sneered, as if Muriel found it distasteful that there was any part of Winston Hampton Parke's fortune she could not lay her grasping fingers upon. "I'm not entirely certain what point you are getting to with all of this."

Muriel smiled, a simple tightening of her lips. "I will return to New York. You may return with me and find a husband for yourself by the end of the year. If you do not, you will need to leave the Park Avenue House."

"It's my home!" Adelaide protested. "I've lived there my entire life."

"Your father is gone, my dear. If there is one thing certain in life, it's that change breeds change. Nothing will ever be the same for you again. Look at this as an opportunity for a completely fresh start... Of course, there are other possibilities. You do not have to return to New York. If you could find a man here who would be willing to take you on—your settlement could very well buy you an earl, so long as he isn't too terribly poor."

"I'm in mourning," Adelaide protested. "How can you be so cruel?"

Muriel patted her hand. "I understand this is difficult for you, dear. It's difficult for me, as well. But we all must move on with our lives. I've wired to that man in Wales your father just partnered with to inform him of the sinking, though I daresay it was hardly necessary. The news of it has spread like wildfire. I'll be talking to the attorneys to see if we cannot break that contract, but I imagine it is airtight on both sides. Your father was always such a stickler for the details."

"When did you wire him?" Adelaide asked.

"Yesterday morning, just after the accident. Why ever does that matter?"

"Because they didn't find father's body until this afternoon. You were already trying to squeeze every last cent from his estate before you even had a husband to bury," Adelaide accused. "You'd given up all hope for him when he might very well have been clinging to a bit of wreckage still or stranded on the rocks somewhere!

Muriel's lips firmed into a line of disapproval. "I'll not be judged by you, Adelaide. It's not your place, girl. And mark my words, if you cling to this idea that you must mourn your father publicly for a year, you'll find yourself doing so on the streets! Get a husband or get out. Those are your only choices. It's bad enough I'm saddled with my own child, why anyone would expect me to be saddled with a grown girl from my husband's first marriage is simply beyond me!"

Adelaide watched her stepmother sail from the simple hospital ward and out to a waiting carriage. She had no notion of what she would do, but she could not go back to New York with Muriel. The very idea of it left her shaking, both in fear and in fury.

Touching her head, she felt the bandage at her forehead. She would be well enough in a day or so to leave. But where on earth would she go?