Once Bound Always Bound

Chapter 3

Emmeline walked around the gardens clearing her head and forgetting about her little encounter with Alistair in the entryway. She started feeling better admiring the beautiful garden that Mrs. Crump had always taken such great care of in picking the flowers that would always bloom again the next year. Emmeline had always dreamt of settling down with a husband who was wealthy enough to give her a beautiful garden. Though riches weren't everything to Emmeline. Even if she married a man who wasn't wealthy, she would still be happy to have at least a small garden that she could tend to in her spare time. Emmeline has always had such a love for flowers, which is something that she shares with her mother. Emmeline's mother always takes such great pride in her garden; growing anything from beautiful flowers to things that could be consumed as well as the different spices and herbs that have proven to be useful. Emmeline learned so much from her mother and is always learning something new from her every day.

Emmeline let out a sigh knowing that she had to head back into the house to the study where her parents were sitting around, talking with Mr. Crump. It didn't take long for her to return to the study and sit down next to her parents, before she turned to Mr. Crump. "I'm sorry I'm a bit late in my return. I had found the most beautiful garden, and wanted to take some time to admire it before I came back inside. It has such gorgeous flowers planted in it."

"I see you found my late wife's prized garden. She always did take such pride in her garden, picking out only the most exotic flowers that she thought would stand out from all the other neighbor's gardens. My wife always liked to have our mansion stand out from all the other mansions around here. Which is where my son gets his fascination in all things beautiful from...his mother. Though recently with his sudden marriage to spite me, has me questioning what goes through that boy's mind," Addison said. "Honestly, I believe he does half the things he does is because of the fact that his poor mother was taken from us too soon. I bet if his mother were alive right now, my son would not have taken three of his mistresses as his wife."

"Mr. Crump," Emmeline began.

"Oh please dear, call me Addison. There is no need to be formal with me. Your father and I are such great friends. I would hope that your mother and you would call me by name rather than by referring to me by formalities," Addison said.

"Alright, Addison. I hope you don't mind me saying this, but what on earth happened to Alistair's first three wives that he had to take up a fourth," Emmeline asked.

Addison sighed. "Truth be told, it all started with Alistair's first wife. They married though they made it more than well known to everyone around that, they didn't love each other as they had fooled everyone to believe when they first took a look at them. Then there had been rumors going around saying that Alistair's first wife was going behind his back having an affair. I honestly wouldn't know all of the details on that though, seeing as my son made the decision to marry the woman against my wishes. Though she had tried coming to me for help in talking to my son. Alistair's first wife believed that it was Alistair who was running around behind her back; and that he may have been going as far as to plot her death to be with the woman that he had on the side. Naturally I believed she was speaking nonsense. What reason would my son to have to kill her? That and from what I have learned from the doctor at the time of her death, she had many illnesses. So, naturally it's believed that she died from one of those illnesses. But it didn't take long for my son to gain a second wife. Which shocked me with how quick he was to marry again. So soon before his beloved wife was even buried in the ground. I'm sure you can imagine all the talk going around the town about, how my son had gotten married so soon after the death of his first wife. But then his second and third wives both died. It was a repeat every time his wife would die. Alistair would go out and get married again before his previous wife had a chance to be buried in the ground. I noticed that it has become a bit of a pattern with my son. Though it does make me wonder, before his wife suddenly dies, does my son go wandering the streets looking for the first woman who catches his eye, pursues her, all while his wives mysteriously die withing a few short weeks."