Chapter 11- Crescendo
There was an awful creek that echoed through the room as the door resisted the force of the tiny girl who proceeded to push it open. She whirled over the marble floor like a hurricane and spun elegantly in a circle seeking a hiding place. Her face lit up as she saw an antique piano to the far right of the room, the opposite side to the windows. She crawled underneath it and curled up amongst the pedals waiting to be found. She couldn’t help but giggle every so often at the immaturity that the light mood of her and Nate had brought about. Eventually her error- leaving the door open- led to her love stepping heavily and slowly towards her hiding spot. The door to this room was never open, it was another room that lay unused but traditionally should have brought happiness with it. Letty had learnt by now that she was not supposed to enter rooms with shut doors but this knowledge didn’t stop her from doing it despite her fear of the butler.
Letty was too awkward to be caught in the traditional way and so instead jumped at Nate from behind the instrument and made a frightful noise, though luckily he caught her and lifted her in his arms so they were almost close enough to kiss.
‘You found me!’
‘I never lost you Letty’ He grinned making her laugh again. He glanced at the piano that stayed to one side and raised his eyebrows. ‘I never thought you could play! How long have you been hiding this?’ he draped her across the bench and circled the instrument in a kind of awe.
‘The only thing that has been hidden is the piano, for I have no hidden talents, besides this contraption was hidden from me as well as you. Before our game I had no knowledge of it though I can guarantee that it is for ornamental purposes only.’
‘Not any more’ he laughed sitting himself down before pulling her into his lap, he leaned forward and whispered into her ear ‘For I shall teach you Miss Crawford. What should you think of that?’
‘I should think that you shall have a problem with the lack of sheet music and then my ignorance as to how to read it.’
‘So your fine education does have gaps in it! No matter, here give me your hands!’ she lifted them and he took hold of them before forcing them to hover above the ebony and ivory keys, gently he positioned her fingers and started to press them to the keys strategically in order to form chord sequences and the most beautiful sounds. Scarlett was too distracted by the feel of his hands controlling hers to take in or learn where he was forcing her hands to fall. They were both silent for once and apart from their hands and the occasional twisting to look into one another’s eyes and smile shyly before turning back they were still too.
Their peace could not last forever as two dogs skittered across the floor and barked at their delicate efforts. Letty laughed and slipped one of her hands from under Nate’s in order to pet one of the beagles, who jumped back and barked with its tail wagging. She scowled at the creature and huffed, disinterested since it would not obey her. She returned her hand to Nate as he was more than happy to give her his attention though the dog begun to investigate the pair which earned it a swift but sharp shove from Letty’s foot. The two little monsters howled and barked and Letty’s heart caught in her throat as the heavy thumping foot steps of Emerson came towards the ‘music room’. Nate snatched their fingers from the keys and tore the both of them from the piano to the window.
‘Miss Crawford! Are ya in’t music rum gul?’ he growled as he shuffled towards them. ‘Ya shudn’t be in thur! The Masta wul ave a fit! Out out! Ya Fatha’s wurkin!’ he jabbered on from down the corridor as Letty’s shaking fingers ripped themselves on the window latches as she pushed them open, causing the antique glass to rattle from their old lead fixings.
The bitter air blew in as Nate threw himself through the window and then reached to help Letty after him. She grabbed onto a tree branch in order to help her pull herself out of the room into the open air. It felt fantastic to be outside, to be wild once again. It was as though she could finally breath once more, as if the whole time she had been cooped up inside she had been suffocating. As she continued to haul herself out the growling fool had caught hold of one of her dainty booted feet and tried to drag the girl back into the house.
‘Ey! Whut are ya doin! Back inside! Miscreant! Wretch!’ she struggled and kicked as Nate stook staring in horror at the Butlers treatment of his young mistress.
‘Aah! Let me go! Let me go! You said you wanted me out! Aah! Ow, no…’ Letty whimpered and screamed as her leg was scraped against the coarse rusting iron window frame again and again and she felt her ankle begin to bruise from the harsh contorting grip. He made a series of strange sounds which seemed to be laughter, he was laughing at her pain, which caused Scarlett to sob even more uncontrollably. Eventually she managed to kick Emerson in the shoulder which sent him falling to the floor and her being allowed to fully remove herself from the building. Her screaming had ceased and she lay whimpering instead as a steady flow of blood oozed from the heavy grazing and scrapes on her bare leg. Nate grabbed her hands and pulled her up, urging her to run as she cried out and sobbed from the pain of her injuries. It took twenty minutes, double the normal time, for them to make it to the edge of the lake and collapse together to stare at the break grey-brown water.
Nate stared at her bloodied leg and freshly stained boots with that look of horror still stuck there. Eventually it moved to give her a sympathetic glance before looking forward and presenting her with a fact.
‘It’s the same leg you kicked the dog with.’
‘So? What relevance does that have to anything?’ Letty snapped, lying on her back in the mud, her eyes watering at the sting still. ‘Stupid animals shouldn’t be allowed in the house anyway.’ Nate smirked.
‘Such sophisticated words Letty.’ She rolled onto her stomach and smiled.
‘I know’ she breathed as she stared Out across the grassy lands, her hair blew in her face and her bloodied leg was waving in the air as she kept it from skimming the rough ground. He leaned over and kissed her lips softly before letting his thumb brush the misplaced hair from her face. She froze in shock as he leaned in and kissed her again, it took her a few seconds to react to the blissful sensations but kissing him back seemed to flick some sort of switch inside the two of them as their calm collision of lips turned almost as savage and primal as their personalities. By the time they broke apart Letty was on the verge of collapse and was somehow in Nate’s strong arms with her legs wrapped about his waist. Her fingers traced his face as she smiled sweetly. ‘You kissed me.’
‘Properly.’ He returned.
‘Did I act properly?’ she asked looking up at him from under her lashes.
‘God no.’ he laughed letting her stand for herself.
‘Then why did you kiss me?’ Letty asked her eyes bright with excitement and passion.
‘I didn’t, I kissed the heathen in your eyes.’ He brushed her hair back out of her face and leaned in to kiss her again.
‘That was me you saw there.’ She smiled and stroked the delicate, almost transparent, skin under his eyes.
‘I thought so…’ he returned. ‘I love it, so I must love you I suppose.’ Letty laughed. ‘And what of your mind and heart? Tell me how they think and feel?’
‘My mind feels numb as my heart once did as it lay dormant for so long. Yet now it feels warm and overwhelmed. It is so astonishing, astounding even to feel love and hate in such measurements together for a single soul, the one that is needed in order to complete your own.’ Nate smiled, a real smile that reached his deep, endless, rich eyes. Just to see that expression on this man’s face made Letty’s chest pound with the force of her beating heart. It made her happy to see him content, a new feeling for her.
‘Quite an eloquent speech. Now for something more primal.’ He grinned but Letty pulled away as he tried to kiss her and ran laughing when he tried to grab hold of her.
It is strange how so many people lead a kind of double life. Scarlett Crawford and Letty are two very very different people. Scarlett is refined, yet a bully who abuses her authority in her house but is sweet, lovely and indeed loved by everyone who graces her beautiful presence. Letty on the other hand is a girl with little control or authority over anything. She is the girl running over the sparce scrub land, her mid length skirts stained with grass, mud and blood. She is the girl who laughs so loudly and allows the countryside, the house, the ghost to bend her character and educate her in ways common sense could not. She could be loved by but only a few as she is selfish and wishes for the control that she could only have as Scarlett Heath.
