Eugenia's Embrace

"What's the hurry, Eugenia?" Clarissa snapped, moving up the staircase until she was by Eugenia's side. "No lady takes steps two at a time. Is there something that you're anxious to do? Or possibly see?"

Eugenia's eyes shot upward toward the door that led to the tower rooms. No! It couldn't be possible that Clarissa had found Drew. Her heart pounded rapidly. She needed to run up the steps, to discover that he was all right. But she had to appear composed, as though she had no idea what Clarissa was talking about. She let her skirt fall freely around her ankles and stood firmly, her one hand grasped on the railing of the staircase so tightly the knuckles had grown white.

"I thought you were so ill," Clarissa continued, mockingly. "No ill person can hurry so fast. Come, follow me," she ordered.

"Where to?" Eugenia said meekly, following, wondering. Her heart seemed to fall to her toes when Clarissa turned at the top of the stairs and headed in the direction of the stairs that led to the towers.

"Where are you taking me?" Eugenia asked, knowing her voice faltered.

"You'll see," Clarissa snapped. "You just follow me. Do you understand?"

Without answering, Eugenia followed behind Clarissa. And when Clarissa's fingers wrapped around the doorknob that led up into the tower rooms, Eugenia felt as though she might faint on the spot. She only hoped that Drew would hear them coming. Oh, if only Clarissa hadn't already found him. Her feet felt as though they had cement weighing them down as she took one step after another. She shivered inwardly as Clarissa began the long walk down the dark hallway.

"Where are you taking me?" Eugenia pleaded again, wrapping her arms around herself, now shivering outwardly, from the chill, and from the fear of what lay before her.

"Do you need ask?" Clarissa answered, hurrying to the door behind which Eugenia and Drew had experienced such pleasures the previous evening. Was it only last night? Eugenia thought to herself. It now seemed years away. She stiffened as Clarissa threw the door open.

"Enter," Clarissa ordered, stepping aside to let Eugenia inch her way forward.

Eugenia looked quickly around the room. Drew wasn't there. Then she looked at some small objects lying in the middle of the floor, knowing that they had been placed there purposely by Clarissa.

"You do recognize the watch and the combs, don't you, Eugenia?" Clarissa snapped, crossing her arms in front of her.

Eugenia gulped hard. "Yes, ma'am, I do," she mumbled. While Eugenia had been talking with Dawn Clarissa had been snooping and had found the watch and combs. But what about everything else in this room? Drew, the blanket, the wine bottle, the basket that had held their picnic lunch, all of this was gone. Why had the combs been the only things left behind?

"So you thought you could get away with harboring a criminal in our house, did you?" Clarissa hissed further, going to the objects on the floor, picking them up. "You didn't think I saw how funny you acted a while ago? In your room? When you shut your vanity drawer? I knew you had to be hiding something in there."

"So you had to make a snoop out of yourself also, to add to all the rest of the things you already are."

"Now you watch your tongue, Eugenia," Clarissa said darkly. "When Frederick finds out what's happened here, your life won't be worth a thing to him. Sure, he'll have some fun with you first. Then he'll do away with you. Just like he's done before."

"Like he's done before?" Eugenia gasped, putting her hands to her cheeks. "Do you mean I'm not the first?"

Clarissa threw her head back and laughed. "You, the first? No. There have been a long line of girls. Frederick only hoped that each one of you would be the right one to make to perfection, so he could show you off, make you a star. But you were wrong. From the start. I knew it."

"But how did you think to come up here? Today? To discover my combs?"

"Your damn boyfriend stole one of Frederick's finest horses. And saddle to boot. The stable boy alerted me to this. When Frederick hears of this, he will go and find the son of a bitch and make him pay for it. And dearly."

"Do you mean that Drew was already gone when you… ?"

Clarissa laughed once again. "So he has a name, does he?" she hissed. "Yes, he wasn't here when I decided to take a look. What's the matter? Did he run out on you?"

Feelings of deep humiliation were flowing through Eugenia once again, thinking that Drew had done it once again. He had taken her, used her, then left her. She would never learn, where men were concerned. Especially Drew. He had such magical ways about him; she was mesmerized while around him. And what was worse, even after he would treat her so poorly she couldn't stop thinking about him and how much she loved him. But what was important now was the fact that he had fled to safety. His life was all she could consider now. Not her feelings.

"So what if a horse was gone?" Eugenia said stubbornly. "What made you think I had anything to do with it?"

"Dearie, this watch," Clarissa said, placing it before Eugenia's eyes. "It's all over town about the watch trick this criminal used. The sheriff had shown it to Frederick, and Frederick had described it to me. That's how I knew. When I found out the horse was gone, I put two and two together and went searching for more clues. That's when I found your combs. Up here. In this room."

A small ray of hope shone in Eugenia's eyes. Drew had known how much those combs meant to her, that her Papa had made them. He thought enough of her to leave them for her to find, not guessing for one moment that they would have been found by someone else first.

"So now what?" Eugenia mumbled.

"I told you. Frederick will use you. Have his fun. Then he will do away with you."

"What do you mean? 'Do away' with me?"

Clarissa thrust the watch and combs into Eugenia's trembling fingers. "Now just what do you think that means?"