In a Lawless Love

Charlotte lay on the bed forcing away the screams of pain. She’d been fighting pain for two weeks, since Margaret Hayes had died in her bed. Two weeks the pains of labor had gone on but she’d not given birth to her son. Matt’s doctors had only come once to see her, to give her a vile of a bad tasting serum that would slow the progression of labor. As promised, Amber had never left her side.

“Why won’t he just be born?” she cried as pain coursed through her body.

“I know it does hurt, but you must be strong. The longer he is not born the better he will be once he comes,” Amber said softly as she wiped away sweat from Charlotte’s brow. “You will be quite fine.”

“Oh Amber…it is so terrible…the pain…” Charlotte said in a whispery voice. “I wish so much only to be rid of him now. My body cannot withstand this much longer…”

“Perhaps the doctor will give you a new serum…so that he might come out now.”

“No…no…she has told me no…” Charlotte said, tears lining her eyes. She took hold tightly of Amber’s wrist. “Amber…darling…you shouldn’t stay all your time here with me.”

“I should never leave you,” Amber said. Then she winced in pain as Charlotte’s grip on her wrist tightened further. She’d spent fourteen days and nights with her friend, wiping the sweat from her face, giving her small spoons of tea and water to calm her. She’d braided Charlotte’s hair each day. Now as she looked into the face of the poor girl on the bed she could see the ferocious urgency.

“It is happening now…” Charlotte said. “I feel it…the…wetness my mother complained of when my youngest sister was born. The child should be born now.”

“I will send for…”

The scream from Charlotte’s throat was enough to raise the hairs on Amber’s arms and the back of her neck. She took a breath to steady herself and she carefully raised the blankets on the bed.

“Please don’t be upset should I look under your sheets…” Amber said.

“Oh just remove this creature from my body!” Charlotte wailed, tears falling down her face now. There was a roar of thunder outside the window.

“Yes…yes Charlotte I see…” Amber said and swallowed hard. She replaced the blankets then and moved away from the bed. She took a deep breath to collect herself before walking to the door. She knew there was not time to call for the doctor who would never reach Charlotte in time. The child was coming now and she would have to help Charlotte herself. She opened the door with shaking hands and looked out. There was an old maid in the hall. “Anita! Oh Anita!” Amber cried.

“Yes darling?”

“I should need towels…now…many towel…and…and scissors. Yes…Miss Charlotte should deliver her baby any moment and I will need those items. Please! Please do hurry!” Amber said in a rushed voice.

“Yes, yes at once dear!” Anita said and hurried down the hall in a frenzy.

Amber took another breath for courage and closed the door before returning to Charlotte’s bedside. “I am to help you, Miss Charlotte. I will help you through this…I will be here with you for every moment.”

“Amber…Amber, I think…I think I should die from the pain!”

“Oh no! No you mustn’t say such things! You should be quite well in very little time. The doctor will come and the child will be well saved and you…”

“My mother…my mother nearly died. She nearly died giving birth to my youngest….oh my…my oh…” Charlotte cried, her sentence cut off by the stab of pain.

Anita rushed into the room with an armful of towels, a pair of scissors, and a ball of twine. She threw the things into Amber’s arms and rushed out again, her breath quite lost. Amber looked after her suspiciously. It seemed strange to her that a woman with such experience in life would run wildly from the birth of a baby.

“Okay…there there…” Amber said after a moment and placed some of the towels on the bed after pulling away the blankets again. “I should be here with you.”

She had to hold her breath a moment when Charlotte suddenly bore down harshly and let out a scream of pain and terror. It was only a moment later the room door opened again. Matt burst in, looking more tired and worn than he had the day his mother had died.

“Where is it? Where is the child!? Anita told me it should be born soon! Where is the little creature!? Has it died?!” he shouted.

“The child is not yet born,” Amber said, her voice on the edge of rage.

“Why is it not born!? You incompetent fool! Have you no knowledge of how to birth a baby! You will remove the thing from the woman should you have to kill the mother!”

“Get out!” Amber screamed then. She could see clearly the stress his presence but on Charlotte, who now lay moaning in the bed, her body weak and tired from two weeks of pain. “Get out now! Get out of this room you disgusting vile human! You should not see the child until his mother grants you permission! Out of the room at once!”

“How dare…” He was taken greatly by surprise when the young girl who had always been quiet and timid wound back and slapped him hard across his face with enough force to turn his head to the side. It left a burning sting.

“I said out at once,” she said in a firm voice. “I do not fear your punishments…for you have done the vilest of sins against me already. Get out before I slap you again.”

He took hold of her arm, rage building up in his eyes. “You are an employee you worthless little bitch. Should I choose to throw you onto the street it is at my convenience.”

“Unhand me, for soon I shall stab you with the scissors I hold in my hand,” she spat.

He released her then and left the room in a rage. The door slamming made her jump and instantly she dropped the scissors, noticing for the first time she’d held them so tightly they’d torn the skin in the palm of her hand.

“I’ve no time to mend this now…” she whispered to herself and tore a strip from the hem of her dress to tie around the wound. She expected to spend her life on the street now with her husband who would assuredly lose his job for her defiance. But for a moment she had only helping Charlotte on her mind.

Hours passed as she soothed her friend and assisted her in letting the child be free from her body. When finally at sunset a baby was born. He was quite small, born six weeks too soon, but somehow he managed to cry on his own. Amber wrapped the child in a clean towel and placed him against Charlotte’s breasts.

Charlotte held the baby gently and looked down onto him with adoration and tears lining her eyes. He was too small and too sick she knew to survive long if the doctors didn’t come soon. But for now, for a moment, the only thing in the world was her and her son. A beautiful little creature she had created out of love with a security man. Yes the child was his, it was clear in the shape of his eyes and mouth. He’d been born with his mother’s nose and chin, and he was quite beautiful for being so very small.

But time was against her and not an hour after he’d been laid on her breast did the door burst open again and Matt come in. She was no longer carrying a child and realized she was suddenly no longer protected from the law that he could not hurt her during her pregnancy.

“Give me my son,” he said with rage.

“Matt, please…” Charlotte cried. “Give me some time with him…”

“I said give me my son!”

“Please, I beg of you Matt…I’ve only just…”

“You’ve carried him for more than 7 months! It is my time now!” He tore the baby from her arms then.

The baby cried out loudly as the suddenness of being torn from his mother.

“Oh hush, child,” Matt snapped. “This is the little rat you present me? This little vile creature it what you call a child!?”

“He is early born, Matt…” Charlotte said. “Please do be careful with him…or you may kill him.”

“A sickly little thing like this hardly deserves to live,” Matt said. “I should take him now to the doctor. The woman has been waiting nearly an hour. We will see…if she can make him well.” He turned then and left with the baby. As the door slammed Charlotte could no longer hold back her tears.

“I hate him! Oh how I hate the disgusting man! I should wish him dead!”

“Oh darling…no,” Amber said gently as she sat with Charlotte and smoothed her hair back. “I know he is a vile creature…but do not use what little energy you’ve left on him. Rest…the doctor will help your baby be well. In no time the child will be quite well.” She carefully rubbed Charlotte’s forehead then until the poor girl was asleep.

Four months after the traumatic birth of Erik Hayes he was well and happy as a baby could be. He was able to breathe well and he’d grown rapidly and Charlotte adored him. Though to her it was very clear that the baby was not Matt’s, Matthew Hayes never gave notice for he seldom paid attention the child at all.

Amber had not been fired for her lash out against Matt. She’d lost a small portion of her salary but because she’d spent two straight weeks with his wife and delivered what he believed to be his son despite inexperience as well as injuries he’d allowed her to stay on his service.

Charlotte sat now in her room with her son on her chest. The child had fallen asleep after she’d fed him from her breasts. She sat in the rocking chair and rocked it gently and held her son against her chest while he slept. He was an angel from heaven in her eyes and to hold him filled her with a kind of joy she almost hated.

She did not notice the door to her room open and shut as she admired her son’s sleeping face. She did not notice the presence in the room for some time until he spoke.

“You vicious little whore,” he said in a ragged voice.

She felt her body break out in goose bumps at the sound of his words. It had been a long time since he’d spoken to her harshly. “Matt…what are…?”

“Don’t play the idiot! I know well the kind of little slut you are!”

“I…I…”

He tore the baby out of her arms, waking him and sending him into a screaming fit of fear from being woken so violently. He held the child’s little face violently. “This face! This child…that you said was my son when he so obviously is not! When I have now been informed by my kitchen staff that I have been made to believe I am the father of a child conceived by another man! Who is it!? Who created this disgusting thing!”

Charlotte was on her feet, trying desperately to get the baby away from Matthew. “Matt! Please you are going to hurt him!”

“Why should I care?! He is a bastard!”

“Matt please! Please, I beg you, give me back the child!” Charlotte cried, tears rolling down her cheeks. She took hold of the baby and tried to force him out of Matthew’s grip. “I should tell you the truth if only you give me my child please!”

He released his hold on the baby then and Charlotte held him tightly to her chest. She tried desperately to sooth him. He cried harshly against her body, his little tears soaking through the fabric of her dress.

Charlotte met Matt’s eyes and for the first time she matched his rage. “If you ever dare to put your hands on my son again I should just as soon kill you!” she screamed.

“You think I fear you, you stupid little farm girl!?”

“Why should the devil fear anything!?” she snapped. Then for a moment there was tense silence.

“Who is the father of that creature? Who!?”

“Jason,” she said. “He is the father…he is my true husband!”

As the words fell out of her mouth she realized what she had done. She’s spent more than a year trying to hide her love for Jason. She’s spent more than a year telling Jason they couldn’t leave together because Matt would find out about their relationship. When Margaret had died she’d resolved to make the run but then she’d spent two weeks lying in her bed in pain so bad she thought she’d go mad if not soon die. Four months she’d been caring for her child, spending afternoons in the old house the child had been made in, and painting. She still was well in love with her security man, and she understood now that she’d just broken every promise she’d made to herself.

“Jason…?” Matt repeated, his eyes wide and unbelieving. “Jason? The security man? Your fucking driver!?” He took hold of her arm then, forcefully, and drug her from the room.

She clung tightly to her baby so not to drop him as she struggled to keep up and ignore the pain of his grip on her. “Matt please! Please!”

“Shut up! For more than a year I loved you! I loved you Charlotte and this is how you repay me!” he screamed and pulled her down the stairs. “I will make you love me! If it kills me I will make you love me!”

“Where are you taking me!? Matt please, release me! Let me go! Just please let me go!”

“Not until we’ve been rid of your precious Jason and his bastard child!”

Then they were standing outside Jason’s door. Matt pounded at the door violently, so violently that the thing shook as if it would burst off its hinges. “Open this door at once! Open it!” he screamed.

“No! Jason no! Don’t open the door! Do not open the door!” Charlotte screamed from behind Matt. She felt as though her arm would fall off.

“Shut up! Shut up before I rid myself of you too!” Matt shouted at her.

She forced herself out of his grip, and she slapped him once she was free. “Keep your vile hands off me! You monster!”

The door opened just as Matt took hold of Charlotte’s shoulders and shook her violently. As she dropped the baby Jason forced himself between them and allowed her time to catch her son before he could hit the floor.

“Jason no! No!” Charlotte cried.

But the fighting had already started. Jason had a hold of Matt’s shirt collar, holding it tightly in his hands.

“I’ve waited so long for the moment I should get to kill you for the things you have done,” Jason spat. “So long I have waited, and now that the time has come I should enjoy it quite grandly.”

“No! Matt! Jason! Please stop this! Stop this now!” Charlotte screamed as the two men moved into the room Jason lived within. She looked helplessly around the hall she stood in for a place to leave the baby. Then suddenly Amber was at her side.

“Miss Charlotte, please, give Erik to me. I will take him. I will take him and Robert and I will keep him safe at the home Jason owns on the hill.” She took the child from Charlotte’s arms.

“Amber…please…do not put yourself in this danger…” Charlotte whispered.

“We are leaving this place…Robert and I. We will wait for you and Jason at the old house…I know this will happen. We will wait there with Erik.”

It was then for the first time Charlotte noticed Amber was not dressed in her maid’s uniform but in a black dress and she was completely wrapped in a long black cloak. Her red hair was pinned back neatly and carefully and concealed under the hood of the black cloak. She looked much like a phantom that would pass through the night unnoticed. She immediately concealed Erik in her cloak and disappeared down the dark hall. Charlotte only stood a moment watching as her only child disappeared with a woman she’d easily have given her life to. Then there was a loud crash and she rushed into the room, fear stricken.

“Matt! No! Please no!” she screamed as she came into the room to find that Matt was holding a black neck tight around Jason’s neck.

Jason struggled to break free of the hold, choking and thrashing as he tried to get away.

“I want you to watch, Charlotte! Watch what happens! I brought you here to marry me! To be My wife! And for more than I year I tried…I tried so very hard Charlotte…you see to be a better person! To be a man you could love! And all the while you! You were sleeping with him! Giving away what is mine! Now you will watch what you have done!” he screamed.

“Please Matt! Please let him go!” she cried, her tears hot on her face. “I beg of you…”

“You beg?! You beg of me to let him go!? Why should I do a thing like that?! Why would I EVER let him be free now!?”

“Because I am asking you…” Charlotte said, and she fell onto her knees. “I will stay here…with you and I will be your wife only. Please…I will give you my life if only you will let him go.”

“No Charlotte!” Jason screamed through his strain. “Do not sell yourself to this man for me!”

“I will love you…I will be your wife, Matt. Just please…” she cried. She sobbed violently against the floor then, her heart breaking in her chest. She’d give anything if only to save Jason. She would gladly give her soul to the devil if it meant she could save the man she loved.

She looked up only briefly when she felt hands on her shoulders, and a new wave of tears rushed from her eyes when she saw Jason holding her. She sobbed against his chest for a moment then. She sobbed while he kissed her head and soothed her.

“Charlotte I should never be able to live a life knowing you gave yourself to this monster for my freedom,” he said in a soft voice. “I will never be able to live knowing I didn’t fight for you.”

“Unhand my wife!” Matt shouted then. “She has given herself to me! She has chosen me!”

“I will not let her make this choice!” Jason shouted.

“Please! Do not start again!” Charlotte cried. She forced herself onto her feet and took hold of Jason’s shirt. It was torn now and hung from his body awkwardly. She could see the red mark left on his throat where the neck tie had held him. “I beg of you…just go.”

But then she heard the click of a revolver.

“I have exhausted enough of my time waiting for him to leave. Now the deal is off,” Matt said.

“No!” Charlotte screamed. “Please! What can I do!? What can I do to show you I will be only yours!?” She tore herself out of Jason’s embrace and then she rushed to Matt. She took hold of his face and in a moment of courage she kissed him. She kissed him hard on his mouth, her tears still falling down her face.

She felt him loosen as she kissed him a second time, and he placed his hand on her back. She noticed then that for the first time he was crying too. She pulled away from him and met his eyes. They were calm now, tired and sad. And suddenly she realized she was free.

“Go…” he said. “Take all things that you need…and go…”

“Matt…”

“Go! Go now!” He collapsed onto a chair in the room. “Forget me, forget all of this.”

“Charlotte…come…” Jason said in a gentle voice. He took her arm and pulled her gently. But Charlotte could not take her eyes away from the sad broken man sitting in the chair across from her.

“Go now, and leave me…” Matt said.

Jason pulled her from the room then and she couldn’t stand the sadness. Then instantly she felt the weight of her wedding ring. The ring she’d worn to cover the tattoo that said she would forever belong to Matt.

“Jason, please…wait…” she whispered. She pulled the ring from her finger and pulled herself out of Jason’s grip before returning to the room.

Matt looked up at her, his face stained with tears, and he stood to embrace her. But she only placed the ring in his hand.

“Charlotte…I love you…” he said.

“I thank you…” she said in a soft voice. “For all you’ve done.” She turned away then and left him alone in the room.

She rushed to Jason and together they left in the car they had ridden in together so many times. Charlotte took with her only enough money to let them live comfortably but she knew so long as she kept Matthew’s name she could have anything she ever wanted. The ride into the darkness was strange and uncomfortable. But when they stopped at the old house and Amber was there as promised, sitting on the sofa with Erik she felt it was all well again. Finally she was free.