Love & Second Chances

Chapter Fourteen - Garrett's POV

The cabin was empty. Once again there was no sign of anyone having been there at all. There was not a trace of any inhabitants to be seen even after a thorough inspection. When I first brought Elizabeth here, I expected that we would meet here quite regularly. Perhaps every few days or so. However, in the four days that had passed since she had returned home, she had yet to come even once. At first, I had thought that she might simply be unable to venture out with her ankle still tender, but then I noticed something else. Not a single member of her family had been in attendance at Mr. Watson's ball a couple of days ago.

I found this increasingly suspicious because her mother and father were close friends with the Watson's. There had to be an excellent reason if they knowingly did not attend. Yet no one knew why they were absent. There had been a stray rumor floating around that an important visitor was coming to town, but I was unsure of whether or not this had anything to do with the Stanfords. I honestly doubted that any visitor would be important enough to prevent Mrs. Stanford from exchanging gossip with her childhood friend.

By now I was growing uneasy as well as anxious to see her again. Perhaps having her in my own house for those seemingly few short days had spoiled me to a certain degree. I found myself longing to see her more and more each day. Despite her strange absence, she was always present in my mind. Her face circled through my mind all day, and at night she filled my dreams. Most of them were pleasant, consisting of the two of us doing many improper activities, but last night's dream had been different.

The dream began relatively normal. We were caught in each other's embrace, but then some unseen force seemed to pull us away from each other. We both struggled against it to break free, but it was no use. Elizabeth vanished into the shadows before my eyes. I called out for her many times, and she did re-emerge eventually, but she was somehow different this time. She stood tall and proud, much like her mother, dressed in the most elegant clothes I had ever seen.

Then, she spoke, telling me that she had to leave and that we could never again see each other.

Haunted by that disturbing dream, I decided that I would ride over to the Stanford estate myself under the pretense that I had simply come for a leisurely visit. It was the only way that I could think of to see Elizabeth, even if it was just for a fleeting moment. I needed to know that she was at least all right. She had mentioned how she was dreading the punishment her mother would have waiting for her. Having experienced her punishments myself as a young boy, I knew that there was a definite chance that she had been harmed.

Stepping back out of the cabin, I mounted my horse and urged her forward towards the Stanford Estate. It was not far, meaning that I could have walked, but I was trying to make an effort to appear as proper as I could before Mr. Stanford, knowing that I needed to get in his good graces if I were to be with his daughter. Before long I rode up in front of the house, next to the stable, where a stable boy came rushing out to take my horse for me.

"You need not bother placing him inside," I instructed the boy. "Just give her some food and water. I should not take long."

The boy nodded his head in understanding and led the horse off to do as he was told.

Marching up to the front door, I pulled on the knocker a couple of times. The amount of time I stood out on the front porch, waiting for one of the servants to open the door, seemed like an eternity. Under normal circumstances, I held a normal amount of patience, but I felt strangely unnerved at that moment.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a pair of eyes peeking out behind the curtains of a nearby window. I could not see clearly, but I was fairly certain that they belonged to Alice. A feeling of disgust immediately washed over me as I recalled the revolting kiss she forced upon me. I prayed that she would not be the one to open the door.