Family Secrets (Young Adult Edition) (Davenport Manor (Young Adult Edition)) (6 page)

Emma sat by the parlor window watching
them film outside. She had to admit, they did a great job of
finding actors that resembled their founding family and the
costumers matched every last button and thread. William’s waistcoat
was the exact shade of blue as his painting and Victoria’s dress
was a truly beautiful shade of purple.

Emma was touched by a wave
of nostalgia and got up to go upstairs. She climbed the grand
staircase and headed left towards the bedrooms. She slowly turned
the knob of the Davenports’ master bedroom, which remained
unoccupied, and carefully went inside. Past generations had made
sure to keep the room tidy, dust-free, and clean. It was never used
since Victoria died in her bed in 1830. Emma went to the far-right
side of the room where there was a built-in dresser and mirror.
Old, dried bottles of perfume and such sat on either side. The
center bottle was the largest—Emma carefully wrapped her hand
around it and tugged it towards her, hearing the familiar
click
inside the
connecting wall. She looked around to be sure no one was there, and
pushed it open.

She climbed the long, narrow, wooden
staircase up to a secret room on the third level. It was along the
corner of the Manor and cylindrically-shaped with windows facing
three directions. The floor was made of wood and it was dusty; she
made a mental note to come up there and clean one of these days. It
was always easy to forget—out of sight, out of mind.

The room could easily be a historian’s
playground. If a museum curator ever knew this room existed they
would be like a kid on Christmas. The room was occupied with old
chairs, tables, jewelry boxes with some of Victoria’s finest gems,
and many odds and ends that belonged to the founding family. Emma
picked up a faded, stained, now-ugly porcelain doll and gently
turned it around in her hands, studying it.

She walked over to an old, large
bureau and carefully opened it. Inside hung the garments that once
belonged to the founding Davenport family. Everyday clothing and
formal wear hung like forgotten fashion. She pulled out Victoria’s
purple dress, now thin and threatening to fall apart. She held it
up to her face and inhaled deeply, hoping to catch a scent of
Victoria herself. Instead, it smelled of must, dust, and of wood
from the bureau. She carefully hung it back up in the same place.
She touched the arm of William’s fading waistcoat and ran her hand
along the clothing next to it. She took out Elizabeth’s green
dress, sat on the floor, and cradled it in her arms. She closed her
eyes, silent in thought, and a bright red tear ran down her
cheek.

While Emma loved having people in her
house and being a social butterfly, she also welcomed this moment
of quiet solitude. She sat for quite some time by herself up in the
secret storage room.

She heard footsteps coming up the
wooden stairs and twisted her body to face the door. It was
Zachariah.

“What are you doing up here, love?” He
asked while he casually surveyed the room.

“Nothing, just reminiscing,” she
replied as she glanced around the room.

He saw the crimson streak of blood
down her cheek. “Why are you crying?” Then he noticed she was
holding Elizabeth’s dress. He walked over and sat on the floor next
to her.

She paused for a moment, looking down
at the flimsy fabric in her hands. A couple drops of blood had
dripped onto it. “I just miss them…”

“I know you do.”

“Sometimes I get a slap in
the face when I realize I will never,
ever
see them again.”

Zachariah looked her square in the
eyes and replied with an unsympathetic tone, “I know the
feeling.”

Guilt hit her like a wave
crashing down on her. She put her head in her hands and began to
cry outwardly now. “I’m sorry…I’m so, so sorry. I was so selfish
back then, I
knew
better! I just couldn’t imagine you leaving me forever as
well. When you got pneumonia I told myself I was going to let you
go. I acted with haste that night and I’ll never be able to tell
you how sorry I am. I wish I could go back…”

He put his arm around her, “Don’t.
Nothing can be done now, so don’t live in guilt. I forgave you a
century ago.”

She reached over and hugged him. She
knew that while he might have forgiven her for what she did to him,
he would never forget. He began to chuckle and she pulled away to
look at him.

“What are you laughing at?”

“Me…” he responded while
shaking his head. “I can’t believe for nine years I believed you
when you said you had poor circulation that caused you to be
cold.
Nine years!
I was such a lovesick puppy; I would have believed anything
you said.”

She ran her fingers through his hair.
“I knew it was wrong when we first got together; when you were
trying to court me. You were a poor, orphaned stable boy. But,
there was something about you that pulled me to you.”

“You knew I’d be a great lover.” He
confidently replied.

“Uh…no. That’s not it,” she
laughed.

He narrowed his eyes to a sexy glare
with a devilish grin on his face. “You knew I’d look good with
these…” and he slowly tilted his head back and ascended his
fangs.

Her voice, now deep and seductive,
replied, “Ding, ding, ding…we have a winner.” She licked the tip of
one of his fangs with a flick of her tongue. A low growl was
simmering in his chest and Emma knew what was coming next. Before
he could pounce, she put her hand on his chest to top him. “Not in
here…”

He exhaled in frustration and looked
at his watch, “Shoot, I have to be back soon anyway.”

“That’s too bad, but you know it’s
available for you whenever you are.”

He paused for a moment, thinking of
how to put what he was going to say. “You’re headed down the same
path again, you know.”

She looked at him blankly, not
understanding what he meant.

“With Todd. You used to behave that
way around me when I was still breathing—I see a lot of
similarities between him and me. Just be careful, my
love.”

“I won’t make the same mistake twice.
However, I may have acted rash back in 1839, but you m’dear, are
not a mistake. You’re the best partner I could have asked for.” She
touched his face, careful not to smear the handy work of the makeup
department.

Zachariah turned to go back downstairs
and she looked around the room, making a final mental note to do
some cleaning up there soon. She’d have to do it when she was in
the right mood; too many pleasant memories that stabbed her heart
were stored up in that old room. She gracefully went down the
stairs and made sure the wall was securely shut behind her. She
stood in the master bedroom, looking at the bed, the dresser, and
belongings around the room. She sighed deeply and said under her
breath, “I miss you, Mama and Papa.”

She went into the bathroom to clean
the blood tears off of her face and brush her hair a little. She
looked in the mirror and the reflection staring back at her was the
same one she had seen for the past two hundred years; never
changing and forever twenty-five years old. She would never get to
experience growing old or watching her face gradually change over
the years. She marveled at people who complained about wrinkles and
age spots that come with growing older, all the while she would
welcome the changes on her own face.

That evening, when filming was
complete for the day, everyone gathered in the parlor after supper.
The television was on for background noise and there were various
conversations going on.

Emma, Daniel, Zachariah, and Todd were
lounging on the couches facing each other and talking about the
day’s events and how filming went. Emma’s phone began to ring and
she looked down at the caller ID which said, “AIDAN O’SHEA”. She
looked at it with wide eyes and held it up for a moment so
Zachariah could see.

“Excuse me for a moment, this is an
important call I must take,” she said as she swiftly got up from
the couch to leave the room. She answered the phone while she was
briskly walking through the foyer to climb the stairs to her
bedroom.

She listened intently while he spoke
and when she entered her bedroom, she opened her laptop to look up
the flights going to Glasgow. “There’s a flight leaving at 9:00
tonight…three hours from now…I can make it, so then I’ll get there
in the morning….okay, see you then.” She set her phone down on her
bed and said, “Zachariah, you and Daniel come upstairs.” Knowing he
could hear her from all the way in the parlor, she heard him
respond with a simple, “Okay.”

She booked her flight and scurried
over to her closet to grab her suitcase and some clothes. She flew
around the room grabbing the things she would need to be gone for a
few days, which weren’t much. When they got to her room, she had
already finished packing at an inhuman speed.

“I have to leave for Glasgow tonight,”
she told them.

Daniel asked,
“
Why?
Why do you
have to go tonight?”

She put her hand on his face, “It’s
the way it is. Aidan needs me, I have to go.” Daniel was clearly
confused as to why she had to go. He knew of Aidan and who he was
in regards to Emma, but had never met him.

“Should I go, too?” Zachariah calmly
asked.

“No, it’s just me and the others that
he is summoning. But, if I need you I’ll call. I want to ask you to
watch over things here, okay?”

“Alright, but I’ll at least drive you
to the airport,” he replied while picking up her
suitcase.

When they got downstairs Emma walked
back into the parlor to tell everyone goodbye for a few days. “A
good friend of mine has a family emergency; I need to go to Glasgow
for a few days for some moral support,” she told the
crowd.

Todd got up off the couch and briskly
walked over to Emma. She smiled at him sweetly as he approached—she
knew she would miss his face.

“How long will you be gone for, love?”
he asked.

“Probably just a few days. I’ll give
Daniel a call and let him know when I plan to return. Tell you
what, why don’t you give me your cell number, I’ll text you,
too.”

Todd’s heart did a little skip, she
was taking his number! He gave her his number while she punched it
into her phone and saved it. He smiled and ran his fingers through
her hair, which made Zachariah shifty.

She gave his arm a squeeze and waved
goodbye to everyone else in the room. Daniel walked with them to
the door and they stopped before walking out. She turned to him and
he gave her a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“I love you, Emma.”

“I love you, too Dan. See you in a few
days.” She gave him another hug before she and Zachariah walked out
the door.

During the hour-long car ride to the
airport, Zachariah and Emma held hands while he drove.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to
come?” He asked.

“It’s not that I don’t want you to, he
only summoned me.”

“Or you just want to be alone with
Aidan.” He bluntly replied.

She turned to look at him with
incredulous eyes. Slowly shaking her head, her voice turned dark,
“I do not need your permission to be with Aidan if I so choose. And
you know exactly how it feels to be pulled to your maker no matter
how much you try to resist it.”

He remained silent because
he knew she had just won that brief argument. He
did
know the pull one
had towards their maker; you’d drop anything for them, you
physically desired them if you weren’t related and were the gender
you preferred, you loved them more than anything in the world…you’d
kill for them. Unfortunately for the one that was turned, those
feelings were not reciprocated from their maker. If a maker chose,
they could leave you high and dry and not give a hoot about it.
However, a maker could develop feelings for their offspring as
well. Zachariah was one of the lucky ones as Emma had loved
him
before
she
turned him; love was the very reason why she turned him over a
century ago. He knew good and well how fortunate he was to have her
as his maker even though his silent heart crumbled to bits time and
time again.

He had met Aidan once when he was
still a new vampire and several times after that. He was from the
ancient Celtic time and was at least 2,000 years old. He was 6’2”
with deep brown hair and muscular, a remnant of his human self. He
had been turned when he was 43 years old, so his handsome face was
frozen as a middle-aged man. He was bold and brave, like most men
were during his time. He was once barbaric, but had softened over
his years while roaming every corner of the Earth. He just so
happened to be the Vampire King of Europe and reigned over all the
countries in that region. He was known to be powerful and to be
feared, but was also fair to his undead subjects and humans
alike.

“You know I adore you, Zachariah.
Please try not to be jealous. I’m sure any one of those pretty
actresses would be glad to spend time with you while I’m
gone.”