Roses and Black Glass: a dark Cinderella tale (21 page)

No! This
could not be!

Almost like a
song of mocking crickets, Christian heard a squeaking sound to his left.  He
closed his eyes in silent prayer and leaned over to peer out the window and
near the road below.  Though his view was only slight, he could see the wheel
turning crookedly on its post, producing the squeaking sound that was now
haunting him and causing him to sweat.   

Two will
die together on the road…

“What is it?”
Cindy asked, looking at him quite worried.

His eyes grew
wide as he looked back at her, but could not stand another moment of
hesitation.

“Stop the
carriage!” Christian yelled – just as the latch broke and the wheel flew free.

5

The town
officials scattered about as the lawmen tried to push the crowd away from the
bloody mess on the street.  The body splattered there was quite the scandal and
the officials wanted it cleaned up quickly so all worries would be done away
with. 

Isabella van
Burren’s drastic actions had stirred thoughts of demon possession – especially
after all this recent talk of witches.  The girl had thrown herself from the
tower, and some had said she was bleeding from the mouth after the ceremony was
over.  The town was in panic.  All possibilities of mass hysteria must be done
away with.

The chapel was
left in a state of utter shock after the groom had simply walked out on his
bride.  No one had stopped him, yet the Charmings were drowning in
embarrassment.  They did not even want to be associated with the event.  As far
as they – especially his mother – was concerned, he was no longer their son.

Samantha gazed
up to the broken window above.  The glass was completely chipped out, the image
ruined.  That particular piece had been the finest window in the church – a
large red rose and a cross.

The woman saw
the police asking questions and was itching to get away.  She wanted to be home
– away from all this!  Where was her husband?  She searched the area for him and
finally saw him emerging from the crowd gathered at the church door.

“There you
are,” she said, grasping his arm and pulling him to stand with her outside the
crowded circle. “I think we should get out of here.”

“The police
have asked us to stay,” he informed her.

“Drat!” she
said. “Out of all these people
we
have to be the ones!”

“What do you
expect, dear?” Anthony asked her rather flatly. “It was
our
event.”

Samantha shook
her head.  Perhaps now she saw where her son got his disagreeable attitude from,
though she’d always believed her husband to have as much backbone as a worm.

They stood
outside the circle that formed in front of the church, peering as the people
scrambled about and the police were set to work.

“I wonder what
possessed that poor girl to do such a dreadful thing,” said Samantha
thoughtfully, clutching tightly to her husband’s arm so that he would not slip
away from her.

“I’m not
sure,” Anthony said. “She was under a lot of stress.  Her mother and sister
died and all that.”

“I surely hope
it had nothing to do with Christian’s actions.  That wretched boy!  Who does he
think he is?”

“I don’t know,
my dear,” Anthony said rather dismissively.  His wife did not seem to notice.

“One thing is
for sure, he is not getting his hands on
any
of that money!  You will
change your will as soon as possible and not a moment later!  That child has
always had his head in the clouds!  He’s selfish and spoiled and thinks he can
walk over us without facing consequence!  I say that, indeed, this time he has
stepped much too far over the line!”

“Yes,” said
Anthony. “His name will be removed for this embarrassment.”

“The
nerve
of that child!” Samantha continued, making sure to keep her voice low. “I am
glad that he’s gone!  We’ll be getting no more trouble from him!”

Samantha
stopped her speech as a black-haired lawman stepped up to the couple. She
forced a smile as he opened his mouth.

“Could I ask you to step back a few feet?” he asked.
“The crowd is out of hand and we need more room.”

“Oh,” said
Anthony. “Of course.”

The man and
his wife stepped away from the crowd to give the officers more room to move the
people.  Samantha scowled through it all then, thinking of what a fool her son
had made her out to be.

“Yes,” she
said. “First thing tomorrow morning, his name is coming out of that will.  I’m tired
of waiting for him to grow up!”

Anthony nodded
to the words he didn’t even hear his wife say – words she had already said
before – but jerked his head abruptly upward when a yell reached his ears.

“
Look out!”

Anthony turned
only to see a carriage barreling down the road – moving too quickly for either
he or his wife to get out of harm’s way.  The two of them froze, their pupils
shrinking to pinpoints.  Nothing could save them.  The horses plowed through Anthony
and Samantha Charming as they released their last yells of desperation.  The
large, shoed feet trampled their faces while the wheels of the carriage did
their part to splatter the blood on the street.

People gasped
and pointed as the carriage finally came to a halt after the entire thing had
rolled over the crushed couple.

“What is all
the fuss out there?” came the feminine voice from inside the carriage.

The driver
dropped down from his seat as the shocked townspeople began to form their
circle around this scene now.  The young black-haired driver knelt down to touch
Samantha’s wrist.  He stared over both of the bodies for signs of movement. 
There were none.

Another
black-haired man, a footman, came from the back to open the door for the lady
inside.  A long dress of purple velvet began to spill out the door of the
carriage when it opened.  Out stepped the woman, looking quiet disappointed
about her interrupted ride but not seeming to care much for the bodies on the
road.

“What of
them?” the woman asked, glancing over the two who had been crushed beneath the
horses’ weight.

The man who
drove the carriage looked up to her with no emotion in his eyes.

“They are
dead, miss,” he informed her.

The woman with
the red wine locks and the black hollow eyes scoffed.  Many eyes saw her, and
though many of them had seen her recently and nearly all of them had spoken of
her in whispers, she was recognized by no one.  If they had known her, they
would have been struck with fear.

This woman
should have been dead.

“It’s a pity,”
she said unfeelingly, “but they should never have crossed me.”

Then she
gathered her cloak around her shoulders to shield her pale skin from the cool
air.  She looked down at the man who was her driver, leaning over the death
they had caused.

“It is
finished,” she said quietly.

The
black-haired man smiled up to his mistress, his eyes gleaming red in the
sunlight.  She smiled back at him as well, looking over the three bodies on the
street.  One had died by her own hand.  Two had died together, bloody and
crushed on the road.

And so ended
the prophecy.

1

In the name
of God, Amen.

I, Anthony Charming
of Greenhaven in the State of Virginia, being of sound mind, memory and
understanding, and being desirous to settle my worldly affairs, do therefore
make and publish this, my last will and testament, in manner and form
following:

I will to my wife, Samantha Charming, for and during
the term of her natural life, my house, with the garden, and the rooms in said
dwelling occupied by family at the time of my death. I leave my wife all of my
worldly riches and possessions which dwelt with me on earth.

In the event that my loving wife shall die before me, I
will offer this selection: If my wife is not able to become the sole taker of
my possessions, I implore that my possessions by divided amongst my five
children: Anthony William Charming II, Theodore James Charming, Winston
Bartholomew Charming, Joshua Andrew Charming, and Christian Elliot Charming.
Should any of these children die before me, I would have everything be divided
between the remaining of my sons.

In the event that there are some of my sons left that are
not married and have not received their inheritance, my riches shall be divided
amongst them. If I shall die before my youngest son is grown, for I am getting
on in age, if the son is not married at the time of my death and has not
received his inheritance, I leave everything I possess to my youngest son,
Christian Elliot Charming. May he use the wealth in a manner that would please
God.

2

Three years later…

Cindy stared up at the sky through the window.  Her life
was remade in a town called Providence and her happiness rode steadily with the
passing days.  It rarely crossed her mind of what life would have been like had
she not trusted Amanda – or
Cassandra
, rather – or if she would never
have gotten Christian’s help.  Her life was different now; she had no time to
worry about the past.

The years had been good to her.  The day that Christian had
told the driver to stop the carriage, the wheel had flown off its place, but
not before the carriage was appropriately under control.  They and the driver
had all walked through the woods to get back into town.  When they’d gotten
there, they had found that Christian’s parents had been trampled by an oncoming
carriage – both left dead in the street.  Isabella had thrown herself to her
death from the belfry tower.  The prophecy was done.  After these events,
Christian found that he was the sole possessor of everything that was his
father’s.  It was quite confusing at first, to see how it had all happened, but
perhaps it was destiny – part of the
promise
.

Christian had married Cindy the very day that they had
arrived in Providence.  He left the family home to his brothers and fled, never
to return.  He and Cindy had lived their last three years in this new town as
rich citizens.  They had bought a lovely house on a hill above the town and
made the place their own.

A year into their marriage, Cindy had given birth to a
lovely little girl, who they named Amanda Margarette.  The child was nearing
two years, but already she had quite a personality about her.  Cindy smiled at
the thought.  Her life was finally whole.

“Would you give me a hand, Cindy?” came Christian’s voice
into the room as he entered, dragging the body of Desmond Mitchell.

“You’re supposed to be the
strong man
,” she reminded
him, but came over to help him lift the corpse besides.

Christian glanced down at the wrapped body on the table and
then back up to his wife whose long hair was tied back in a tight bun –
reminding him of the day he had first met her.

“You know, you never told me exactly how damned smelly these
corpses can be,” he said.

“I do believe I did give you fair warning,” she replied, “but
y
ou
were the curious one, Mr. Surgeon.”

“I suppose,” he said, pulling on his gloves and picking up
his scalpel.  In this town, Christian acted as both doctor and undertaker –
with Cindy always at his side – and no one seemed to have negative thoughts on
the matter.

He lowered the blade to cut into the flesh, but stopped
abruptly in thought.

“It’s strange,” he began, “that it takes being underground
in a cold mortuary to make us happy.  Perhaps we’re a bit
too
morbid.”

“No,” she said. “Only interested in the like.”

He smiled and kissed her lips over the corpse.  Then he
began to go to work, preparing the dead man for the grave.  It took only a few
years to realize that what it truly was that he wanted was something he never
dreamed he’d find.  This girl was his life and he never regretted what he’d had
to do to get her.

3

The wind blew gently through the field behind the house,
playing with the small girl’s hair.  The child’s laughter filled the area and
made the sun smile.  The baby smiled as gentle breath blew the fuzz from a
dandelion, filling the air with downy white fluff.  She grasped a few of the
red wine-colored strands of hair blowing in the wind.  The woman’s faintly
colored lips smiled at the child with motherly warmth.   

“Did you know you were named after me, Amanda Margarette?”
she asked the small girl. “It’s true, even though my name is Cassandra.  You
may not be able to say that yet, but you can just call me Cass.”

“Ca!” the little girl said gleefully.

The woman’s laughter was full of affection.

“That will also work,” she said. “Did you also know that
you are a very special little girl?  You were born of real love.  Not many can
say such a thing.”

The small girl with dark hair continued to grab at the
woman’s long tresses.

“And it seems we will be spending lots of time together,
you and I,” the woman continued. “Your mother wants me to teach you a few
things…”

Cassandra plucked a flower from the ground and made it
levitate to the girl’s grasping hand.

“You’d like that wouldn’t you?” she asked. “There are so
many things I can teach you, and I want you to know something now: I will
always be here for you.  No matter what happens, I will be here beside you.  I
am your Godmother now, and I will do anything it takes to keep you happy
. I
promise
.”