Loving Heaven's Gift ( Book 2 of The Loving You Series)

Chapter 4.

January 4th, 1857, Ireland.

       "Mother!!! Mother, stop! You're scaring me, please mother, just go back to bed as the Doctor ordered, you are not well." 

Thirteen, Year-old, Angel Kent, pleaded as she ran through the halls of their house. Each time she looked over her shoulder she could see her mother coming closer and closer, the madness thatAngel saw in Annabelle's eyes was frightening. If only William was here. Or a servant or anyone, but the servants left to spend Christmas with their families three days ago and William left the house the same time to propose to Sarah Green, she was the daughter of their father's closest friend. In her desperation, Angel tried to think of who would be able to assist her in defending herself from her mother. For a moment, Angel thought of her father, only forgetting that her father had died only two weeks ago. Angel received a note yesterday evening, saying that William and his new fiance Miss Sarah Green were on their way home and would arrive shortly this afternoon. If only William would arrive here faster. Up ahead was the small library, it was a small room that shared its space with the front foyer. When she reached it, Angel ran into the room shut the doors behind her before her mother could reach them and glanced about the room; looking for anything she could use to bar the door with. She could hear her mother pounding on the door with the fire poker she happened to grab before she ran out of her bedroom. Suddenly there was silence, there was no more banging on the dining room doors,  Angel breathed a sigh of relief. William was told by Doctor Johnson, that their mother was seriously ill. She became ill after the birth of their baby brother Cameron. On other occasions, William believed that their mother was just distraught from her grief after their father died; but that wasn't true. Angel happened to observe her mother one afternoon, last year. At first,  Angel thought that her mother was simply a lonely woman, that she didn't have the strength or willpower to spend time with the rest of her family. However,  Angel soon found out that wasn't true when she happened to read a letter that her mother received from her sister that lived in Boston. Apparently, she had the disease of the mind. To put it simply, Duchess Annabelle Kent was stark raving mad. The silence continued and there seemed to be no more banging, so very carefully, Angel unbarred the library room doors and poked her head out the room. Angel looked to the right of the hallway; but as she was about to turn her head to the left the door swung open with such force that Angel was thrown back, the momentum caused her to slide across the floor and hitting her head on the wall. Angel shook her head to get herself out of a moment of dizziness when she felt trapped to the ground, Annabelle had her pinned to the floor! When she tried to regain her breath, Angel could not draw in any air to breathe, when she reached up to her neck, she could feel her mother choking her with her bare hands. She tried to pry Annabelle's hands away from her throat, but with her strength fading quickly, Angel found that she was unable to do so. Just when she thought that this was the end of her life, she heard a shot, then she felt her mother's weight slam right onto her body. Trying to wiggle free from under her mother, but realizing she couldn't move, she was relieved and shocked to feel the sudden weight of her mother being lifted off of her. When Angel next opened her eyes, she looked up and saw her brother standing over her; Angel crawled shockingly to her knees then ran towards William's open arms. She was shaking so bad that she failed to hear her brother speak to her, it was then that she felt him shaking and crying too.

"Oh, Angel, why didn't you tell me that no one else was in the house and that you were in here all alone with mother? Oh my god, I almost lost you!!!"

The tears that clogged Angel's throat made her unable to speak or reply, but William knew; he should have expected that something was wrong with mother. While holding on tight his sister, William looked up and gazed at his mother's bloodied and still form. When he walked into the house and saw what his mother was trying to do to Angel, he couldn't believe what he was seeing! Taking out his pistol from inside of his jacket, William aimed his pistol at Annabelle's head and shot her, immediately ending her miserable life. After witnessing what just occurred, William was glad that he persuaded Sarah to remain in the coach, she definitely would not want to see what just happened. William turned away from the sight of his mother and escorted Angel to the green drawing room where he had her seated in the wing chair. Then he walked to the windows and taking out his penknife, William, ripped away from the curtains and walked back into the foyer and covered Annabelle's body with the curtain. William knew that Angel would be alright for the time being, and knowing that their father would not like it if he left his mother lying dead on the hall floor; William picked up the curtain wrapped body of his mother and proceeded to carry her out towards the family's burial plot. After carefully setting her aside, William took the shovel that was leaning against the willow tree and began digging a hole. When the hole was deep enough he lowered his mother's body into the hole and started to re-fill the hole. When he was finished with that, William was able to find a large enough piece of wood; then he took out his penknife again and started to carve out a marker.

Here Lies: Duchess Annabelle Elizabeth Kent. Loving wife of Duke Samuel John Kent. Mother of William; Angel & Cameron Kent. Born May 23rd, 1822. Died January 4th, 1857. Rest in Peace.

William then began walking towards the carriage; he knew that due to his absence, Sarah would be wondering what was taking so long. When he opened the Carriage door he got to see that the carriage was empty, perhaps, Sarah went into the house. In an instant, William just remembered the blood that was on the foyer's floor, racing into the house, William stopped in his tracks when he saw Sarah standing over the spot where his mother's body was once was and she was staring at the pool of blood with a horrified look across her face. Breathing in a deep sigh, William approached her. He turned her around and pulled her into his arms, without even speaking, William started to rub her back and reassure her that everything was OK. He then picked Sarah up and carried her into the green salon room where Angel was and placed her down on the sofa. William could see that both women were still in shock... so to warm up the room, William Started a fire in the fireplace and stirred the coals, coaxing them to warm up the room a lot faster. William then made his way to the brandy decanters and poured himself a drink of whiskey and two small glasses of brandy for both Angel and Sarah. After placing both glasses on the end table next to the sofa, William sat next to his sister and tried to comfort her. Watching Angel coming around made William's heart glad, after helping her take a drink, William hugged her again.