Read Online Shadows of Lancaster County by Mindy Starns Clark - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Mindy Starns Clark
Ads: Link
am including with this letter pages written by my own hand sixteen years ago in the months before you were born. In reading my journal now, I see that I was a vain and frivolous girl, but my hope is that you will look beyond the trivialities to the love I held for you even before your birth, as well as come to understand why I made the decisions about you that I did.
This is not a mantle you can refuse! As you read the following entries, my hope is that you will understand that truth above all.
All my love,
SdB
JOURNAL
March 5, 1812
I fainted at court today, prompting Karl to summon the palace doctor. I told my husband not to worry, that no doubt my condition was caused by the unseasonably warm temperatures heightened by the new turban I wore. It was a gift from The Emperor, who says turbans are all the rage in Paris these days. I am not sure why, as I found the thing to be quite hot and uncomfortable—but I do love to be in fashion. And oh, how I miss Paris!
In any event, after a private conversation with the doctor and a modest examination, he has confirmed what I have been suspecting since January: I am with child again, likely due to give birth in the fall. Oh, how I hope to give Karl a son this time!
Princess Amelie is but nine months old today. Though her smile gives sunshine to me in this otherwise gloomy palace, her existence does little to secure my position or validate my marriage to Karl. Luise works hard to make certain I am not happy here, and I know she acts from jealousy and disdain.
Once I give birth to a male heir, all will change.
NINE
A NNA
Finding an empty area not far from my gate, I pulled out my cell phone and calculated the time in Pennsylvania. It was ten thirty p.m. on the East Coast, which would make a phone call at this hour rude but not ridiculous. I decided that one of my first goals should be to find out more about Doug Brown’s death. Given the timing and Bobby’s strange appearance at Doug’s house that very night, I knew there had to be a connection of some kind. In the past I would simply have asked my father to look into it for me. As a code inspector for the township, he had worked closely with the local police and was always up on town gossip. Now that he had retired and moved away, however, I would have to depend on someone else, maybe some old buddy of his who still worked in Hidden Springs and had an ear on the goings-on there.
I thought of Mr. Carver, one of the few men who had stuck by my dad’s side and given Bobby and me the benefit of the doubt when he and I were arrested, tried, and convicted for our crimes. Back then, our whole family had been thrust into a very difficult situation, but at least we all found out who our real friends were—and there weren’t very many of them. From what I could recall, Mr. Carver had remained steadfast through all of it. I called information and got the man’s home number in Hidden Springs. He answered on the third ring, his voice warm and familiar.
After apologizing for calling at such a late hour, I jumped right in, telling him who I was and saying that ordinarily my father would have been the one making this call, but he was currently on vacation in New Zealand.
“New Zealand?” he cried. “What’s the old bugger doing way out there?”
I explained briefly about the bird-watching and then said I was headed to Pennsylvania to find my brother, who was missing.
“According to his wife, Bobby disappeared last night, and then today I heard about Doug Brown’s death. Considering that they were good friends, I thought it might help me in my search for Bobby if I could learn more about what happened with Doug. You were always such a good buddy to my dad. I was hoping it would be okay to impose on you with this call, to see if maybe there was anything you could tell me about the situation just so I could have all the facts straight.”
Mr. Carver sounded happy to hear from me, but he wasn’t sure how much help
This is not a mantle you can refuse! As you read the following entries, my hope is that you will understand that truth above all.
All my love,
SdB
JOURNAL
March 5, 1812
I fainted at court today, prompting Karl to summon the palace doctor. I told my husband not to worry, that no doubt my condition was caused by the unseasonably warm temperatures heightened by the new turban I wore. It was a gift from The Emperor, who says turbans are all the rage in Paris these days. I am not sure why, as I found the thing to be quite hot and uncomfortable—but I do love to be in fashion. And oh, how I miss Paris!
In any event, after a private conversation with the doctor and a modest examination, he has confirmed what I have been suspecting since January: I am with child again, likely due to give birth in the fall. Oh, how I hope to give Karl a son this time!
Princess Amelie is but nine months old today. Though her smile gives sunshine to me in this otherwise gloomy palace, her existence does little to secure my position or validate my marriage to Karl. Luise works hard to make certain I am not happy here, and I know she acts from jealousy and disdain.
Once I give birth to a male heir, all will change.
NINE
A NNA
Finding an empty area not far from my gate, I pulled out my cell phone and calculated the time in Pennsylvania. It was ten thirty p.m. on the East Coast, which would make a phone call at this hour rude but not ridiculous. I decided that one of my first goals should be to find out more about Doug Brown’s death. Given the timing and Bobby’s strange appearance at Doug’s house that very night, I knew there had to be a connection of some kind. In the past I would simply have asked my father to look into it for me. As a code inspector for the township, he had worked closely with the local police and was always up on town gossip. Now that he had retired and moved away, however, I would have to depend on someone else, maybe some old buddy of his who still worked in Hidden Springs and had an ear on the goings-on there.
I thought of Mr. Carver, one of the few men who had stuck by my dad’s side and given Bobby and me the benefit of the doubt when he and I were arrested, tried, and convicted for our crimes. Back then, our whole family had been thrust into a very difficult situation, but at least we all found out who our real friends were—and there weren’t very many of them. From what I could recall, Mr. Carver had remained steadfast through all of it. I called information and got the man’s home number in Hidden Springs. He answered on the third ring, his voice warm and familiar.
After apologizing for calling at such a late hour, I jumped right in, telling him who I was and saying that ordinarily my father would have been the one making this call, but he was currently on vacation in New Zealand.
“New Zealand?” he cried. “What’s the old bugger doing way out there?”
I explained briefly about the bird-watching and then said I was headed to Pennsylvania to find my brother, who was missing.
“According to his wife, Bobby disappeared last night, and then today I heard about Doug Brown’s death. Considering that they were good friends, I thought it might help me in my search for Bobby if I could learn more about what happened with Doug. You were always such a good buddy to my dad. I was hoping it would be okay to impose on you with this call, to see if maybe there was anything you could tell me about the situation just so I could have all the facts straight.”
Mr. Carver sounded happy to hear from me, but he wasn’t sure how much help
Similar Books
