Whispers in the Dark

1

She had only been a child when she first heard the voice whispering from inside the darkness of the locked room. When her Grandmere warned her never to open the door, she was frustrated but hardly defeated.  With a child's curiosity, the unknown of what was behind the door grew in its demand that she discover its secret. 2

One night she made her decision.  She waited impatiently for her beloved Grandmere to sleep and then stealthily slipped the key from her neck. With wide-eyed innocence she tiptoed down the hall stopping before the forbidden door.  She looked furtively down the hall, cocked her head listening for sounds of discovery.  The silence was comforting until she heard the whispers once again from inside the room.   Her young hands were determined and she slipped the key into the lock.  She turned the key, turned the knob and pushed open the door. The blackness of the room brought her childhood fears into play.  Her heart pounding she reached for the light switch.  With a loud click the room flooded with soft light. 3

In her child's mind she had expected anything, but never one lone mirror in middle of an empty room. It was huge, it's cherry wood frame ornately carved with swirling designs. She danced before it, curtsying and giggling as a little girl would. She touched her reflection and pressed her ear to the glass, she listened...and then she smiled. 4

Years of therapy had convinced Lisette it was all illusion. Now twenty years later, a dying bequest and it was hers, the house, the mirror, and the memories. She ran her hand once again down the intricate frame. She closed her eyes and placed her face against the coolness of the glass. A tremor ran through her body, tears welled from her eyes. "Am I crazy?" 5

"No” Like soft warm fingers the voice caressed her. She sighed, and allowed its warmth to envelop her, cradle her, and rock her in its hypnotic strength. 6

"Lisette...it's time to dance for me. Take my hand...come." 7

She lifted her head and looked into the mirror. Her tear-filled eyes were huge. Her complexion fair, she could see the tiny veins beneath the porcelain of her own skin. She raised her eyes slowly. He stood behind her, his hand outstretched. 8

"No ... please. Don't ask this of me." 9

She turned slowly, the anguish of her words reverberated off the hard wood floor, echoed from beamed ceiling, only to be trapped once again within the gasp of her own throat. She saw no one behind her. 10

She dare not turn; to look again into the mirror would mean insanity. She ran from the room, slammed the door, locked it! It didn't matter though, for his voice still echoed. 11

"Lisette... come back." 12

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~` 13

Like a gray shroud the clouds hung low to the earth. The day of her Grandmothers entombment had become a dismal portrait on a colorless canvas, and yet somehow the bleakness of the day seemed fitting. 14

The priest droned unheard words of comfort amongst the handful of family that surrounded the closed casket; closed due to her Grandmere's request. 15

. 16

" I'll be damned if I want all my family slobbering over me after I die! The only lips I want to feel will be from a MAN when I'm alive and well! Heed my words ma petite, I expect YOU to make sure your Mama follows my wishes when I'm dead and gone! " 17

"Oui, Grandmere. Do not worry, I shall do as you say. Promise me though that you will not die for a very long time. " Her child eyes had filled with tears at the mere thought of her special Grandmere not being here. 18

With a soft smile her Grandmother hugged her dear granddaughter close to her, " Ah ma cher, you know that I shall always be with you." She touched Lisette's chest with her forefinger "Forever ma petite, I shall be here, in your heart." She reached around her neck and removed the chain and key. "This my little one, will be yours one day. It will keep me close to you always. Do not ever forget that this is yours when I am gone." 19

Lisette wiped the final tear from her eye. She placed one white rose upon the casket, bent and kissed the closed lid. She whispered " Grandmere, I shall miss you. You were always my best friend. You always believed me...always. I love you. Be at peace, I shall see you again one day." 20

With that final thought the sun suddenly cracked from behind ominous clouds. A soft breeze caressed her face. She turned and looked at the accusing eyes of her two Aunts and her own Mama. 21

The fact she had inherited everything of worth from her Grandmother, had made a distance born of petty jealousies between them, even greater. As she faced their accusing eyes her fingers unconsciously slid down the length of chain, which draped her neck, until she clutched that key which hung warmly between her breasts. 22

Her Mother's eyes narrowed and she sniffed in disgust. "And I suppose now you will go back into that house... that house that has caused nothing but insanity, and you will let its madness take you once again?" She barely paused for breath before she began again. " We should have inherited that damnable house and been allowed to sell it, or burn it to the ground! How could that woman leave us NOTHING?" 23

Lisette sighed. " Oh Mama you know why she left you NOTHING! She wanted to love you but you never allowed it! It wasn't her fault that your own Mama died! You didn't want her to love Grandpa, and when he died also you made her attempts to care for you feel like they were payment for something she had no control over! You know she wasn't the evil stepmother that you imagined her to be! " 24

"And what would you know about my childhood?" 25

" Oh Mama...I know more than you would ever want me to. Grandmere was my friend, and as such she confided in me. It broke her heart that she could never get close to you and my aunts. Grandpa was taken before she could have her own child and she WANTED to love you! YOU all turned her away and broke her heart. Don't cry now because you can't take what little she had and SELL it to the highest bidder! " 26

"Fine, my dear DAUGHTER, you go back to that house! YOU take what should be rightfully my sisters and mines. When the insanity that almost claimed you once comes again, do NOT call out in the dark for me to help you! You always were more HER daughter than mine. So go now... go and when you lose your mind, perhaps SHE will come from her grave and save you! Ha! I am done with you. I no longer have a daughter! " 27

Lisette watched as the three of them turned almost in unison and stormed up the hill. She felt nothing. She sighed once again the realization that she had been deprived of love from her Mother her entire life. Her Father had loved her, but he had died in a horseback riding accident when she was only six. Her memories of him were very vague. Had it not been for her Grandmother, she would never have known what love felt like. She doubted that being thrown from her Mothers life now would matter one way or the other. 28

Her hand unconsciously reached for the smooth silver key. Her Mothers words crept into her mind. " When insanity claims you..." Her eyes rose to the old house that was now hers. Her fingers traced the outline of the key. She felt the pull once more, the pull which always led her to that room. "If I close my eyes I can almost hear his voice, if I close my eyes I will feel the caress of his fingers against my face." She shook her head, let go of the key. " He is not real, as much as I want him to be...he is not. Still...." she closed her eyes. 29

"Liseeeeeeeette..." the voice was so distant...so soft.... so.... compelling. 30

Her eyes opened, her voice soft,  " I'm coming" 31

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 32

She woke up disoriented. She could smell the salt air, and hear the gentle lapping of the ocean waves in the distance. Her head felt heavy, sluggish, and she tried to remember where she was and how she got there. She sat up looked around. She was in a huge four poster bed. A white canopy hung overhead, its drapery soft and cascading, hung to the floor at the four mahogany corners. She didn't have to think much longer as to where she was, for suddenly she could see him before her. His reflection watched her from the mirror again. It was at the opposite side of the room, and she could see him standing there.... smiling at her. 33

She sighed. Seeing him, replaced her sense of confusion with an odd sense of rightness. "Wait a minute... If I am looking at him in the mirror again, then this room should be empty. Where did all this furniture come from? Have I been asleep so long that Mama filled this room with furniture? NO! She left me, she hates me. Why can't I remember?" 34

The questions swirled in her mind, but she gave a sudden start as his image moved towards her and then disappeared around the bend of mirror. 35

"WAIT" she couldn't help but to call out. Who are you? " Her voice trailed off and a deep sadness took her heart. 36

Lisette pulled back the covers of the bed only to find she was clothed in the sheerest of silk. Her nipples pressed the fabric that clung to them almost in transparency. In spite of her wonder, and the confusion that still filled her thoughts, she smiled at the beauty of this gown. She stood and let her hands trace the length of the fabric, the outline of her breasts, the taughtness of her stomach and the fold of the cloth where it fell between her legs. 37

She stepped closer to her reflection, reached out her hand and touched the glass. "Is that me? Can I possibly look like that? Why can't I remember what happened?" 38

She shook her head. She could almost see herself as a child dancing and twirling before this ornate mirror. She grasp the gown and spun around, her confusion replaced with thoughts of "him". 39

"Will I forever see him here? Am I never to know if he is real or illusion?" 40

" I am real" His deep voice resonated softly. 41

Lisette jumped. Her eyes searching within the smoothness of the mirrored glass. He was there, in the shadows of the room. 42

"Not again."  Her voice was soft, childlike, frightened. She closed her eyes tightly. " I will keep my eyes closed and he will go away." She put her fingers in her ears. " I will not listen. " 43

"Lisette....? Please, don’t hide from me." 44

When his hand touched her shoulder, her heart jumped to her throat. When his hands reached to pull her own hands from her eyes, she whimpered. 45

When his breath whispered against her ear, and his lips kissed the nape of her neck she gasp. When he turned her in his arms gently pulling her soft body against his, her eyes looked into his.... and she fainted. 46

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 47

He watched her sleeping.  His hands traced the softness of her face.  His thumb brushed her lips.  As her mouth pursed in a sleeping frown, he couldn’t help but to bend over her.     His lips captured hers,.tasted the sweetness of her breath and caught her gentle sigh of response.   He rose exhaling his own sigh of sadness. 48

"Can I keep her?"   49

"Don't be silly....You know that’s impossible." 50

" But I love her! " 51

"I know...I know. " 52

"Its more than love you know... she's a part of me. What if she loves me?  Wouldn't that change everything? " 53

" I don't make the rules.... " 54

"But YOU"RE here.... Didn’t that change the rules?? " 55

"Don't ask me questions I can't answer.  It's not like I don’t WANT her to stay here! I love her as much as you do!   You know as well as I do that it’s not up to you, or me!  All I can tell you is to love her now...while you have her here.  When the time comes she will either stay or go.  Neither you nor she can change that." 56

Lisette could hear the voices as she struggled to strip through the darkness of her sleep.   The female voice seemed so familiar and yet it was the male voice she felt the most urgency to awaken to.   57

His hand brushed her hair gently, quietly urging her to awake.  His thumbs traced the pout of her lips and the softness of her cheek.  He was so intent on his touch that when he realized her eyes were open and watching him, he was appealingly embarrassed.   58

Lisette smiled, reached for his hand.  She kissed it and lay it upon her heart.   59

" So....are you finally real? " 60

" I am M'Lady.  I am very much real. " 61

Lisette reached her own hand upwards... shaking slightly,  and lay it against his own heart.  Her smile grew as she felt the steady beat of his heartbeat beneath the flesh of her trembling hand.   62

" So M' lord....I am very much unsure of reality right now.  Can we perhaps begin with a name?   If I was to say it, would you or I disappear?"   63

The brightness of his smile made the butterflies in her stomach suddenly take flight.   64

" Lisette... I am Robert.... Robert St. Clair.  At your service M'dmoiselle"  He bowed....bringing her hand to his lips to place a gallant kiss on its back. "And that said...I do believe... that both you and I are still here. " 65

" Robert? "   The word rolled from her lips with wonderment.  "Robert" she sighed now.  The sound bringing and ache deep within his heart. "Yes... we are Both still here. " 66

She sat up and pulled him close to her.  " There is but one way that I know of to convince myselt that this is not a dream, or if it is, then this is how I command my dream to unfold. "   67

Her mouth sought his timidly at first,  her lips barely grazing his, being more content to just breathe him in.    Her hands sought to touch his face. She needed to convince herself he was real, and she needed to memorize him.  She traced his eyes, outlined the furrows of his brow.  Her fingers slid down the line of his nose and then once more to his lips.   Her thumbs traced first the upper and then the lower.   She stared into his eyes.  A part of her still unsure of her reality, she was afraid to close her own eyes.  When his lips once again moved against hers she gave in to the urge to close them, to give herself fully to the joy and ache she felt being in his arms.     68

Two bright blue eyes watched smiling from the corner of the room. Suddenly aware of just how intrusive her presence was she quietly opened the door and walked down the hall.   69

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 70

She smiled wistfully, happy to have her Lisette once more close by and yet the uncertainty of it all left her worried for the future.   71

A deep voice broke her concentration.   72

"So our  Lisette has finally made her arrival?" 73

"Darling... Hold me please.  It feels like everything is going to slip away.  I don't know how to keep her here anymore than I know how I came to be here. "   74

" Kat... Kat... don't think like that.  If their love is true...then they are meant to be.   Perhaps instead of her staying...Robert will go with her.  It isn't our choice. " 75

" Oh David...I know.  Still, I can't help but to wish for a way to...... OH I don't know... a way to understand all of this! "   Kathryn’s voice rose in anguish.   76

" Kat... shhhh shhhh.... What difference does it make as long as you and I know that our love transcended time.?  It is the same for Robert and Lisette.  Lets just be happy for them." 77

Kathryn sighed,  " Ah David...what ever would I have done without you here? " 78

" Its simple my love,  I would have found you THERE." 79

"Yes my Darlin', I believe you would have."  Her eyes twinkled suddenly.  "So...now my love....You know the best way to silence my ramblings.   I believe I would like you to quiet me now. " 80

David grinned and pulled her into his arms.   “Your wish is my command, however, quieting you is not what I have in mind”  His smile grew mischievous. “ Come here my kitten and let me hear you purrrr.”  81

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`  82

Lisette’s mind was lost in the wonder of this moment.  No matter that fact she could touch him and taste the kisses of his mouth, she still feared she was dreaming, or worse, had finally stepped over the bounds into insanity.  A part of her cared not if she had lost her mind for the magic of this moment was too much to end, and yet.... that other side, the one that insisted on reason and rational finally forced its way to the surface.  She pulled back, confusion in her eyes. 83

“ Lisette?   What is it my Darling?   Tell me you are not frightened of me anymore.”   84

She touched her lips and then touched his.  “ I..... I... still don’t know what is happening here.   Who are you?  I have seen you and not seen you for so many years.   I have gone through therapy to dissuade myself of your existence.   I have fought with my sanity, my heart, my soul, to find some solution to this madness.   And yet....here you are.  Finally.... After all this time I am here and if my reality is a true reality.... I can touch you. “     85

She reached out her hand. It’s trembling growing more by the minute.  “ Are you the devil come to steal my soul?   Is that it?  I am dead and you are here to take my soul to the hell my Mother has foretold to me.  Is this my punishment for loving a thing that does not exist?! “ 86

Panic in her voice was tearing Robert’s own heart out.   He could only imagine how this all would seem to her.  He reached out his hand, needing to comfort her, wanting to hold her, kiss her, love her until all doubts subsided. 87

She recoiled though.   Slapped his hand away.   “NO!  Do not touch me!  Please....I am so confused. “ 88

“ Lisette....” Robert’s voice was soft, soothing. “ I know this is hard for you.  I know it has been hard all these years, doubting yourself,  but I swear by all the love that I hold in my heart for you that THIS IS REAL!”   89

He reached out a tentative hand.   The warmth of his fingers when they touched her arm  told her this was not a dream.   The whisper of his breath on the nape of her neck told her this was most definitely not an illusion.  When he nuzzled her earlobe, kissed her chin, stroked his cheek against her own, she closed her eyes not caring once again about reality or insanity. 90

He moved slowly exploring the contours of her features.   His breath to her mouth tantalizing her with its gentleness till she opened to him.  His lips soft against hers, seeking response, suckling, teasing her with the tip of his tongue until hers answered.   His hands stroked the softness of her hair and caressed her back, once more pulling her against him.  Their bodies melded to one another.  Her breasts pressed hard against him and she arched and twisted to get closer.   91

The cadence of confusion in her mind changed to a pulsing that matched the beating of her heart.   All the desire she had experienced in the depths of her soul, mind and body through all the years she had fought so hard against it, came together in this moment demanding her surrender.   92

Somehow they were both suddenly naked, clothes in abandon strewn across the room.  They tumbled into bed.  Soft breasts pressed against his chest.  Arms and legs entwined together striving to be closer than was possible.   93

The urgency deliberately slowed so they could touch and feel every inch of one anothers bodies.   94

Robert stroked his hand in a slow path towards the soft curls between her legs.  The moistness paved the way and his fingers slipped slowly inside her only to withdraw and swirl across that part of her swollen with ache. 95

She sighed...... a slow gasp escaping from her lips.   He kissed her, catching the sound within his mouth.  His tongue mimicked his fingers as he stroked deep.   Her back arched, her legs opened wider.   96

“ OH God Robert.... what are you doing to me?” 97

“ I believe my Darlin’ Lisette, that I am finally doing to you what I have longed to do for my entire life.   I am holding the woman I love, the woman I crave...and in a few moments, I think I will hear her cries of pleasure as I send her tumbling into the abyss...where I will catch her in my arms.” 98

Lisette saw the twinkle of a smile in his eyes and then the smoky swirl of passion as his lips once again closed over hers.   99

His fingers were wet...slick from her desire.  They swirled and stroked, dipped and retreated.  His mouth found her breasts and  he suckled her nipples, nipping and soothing with soft licks.  He kissed his way down her abdomen till his lips tasted of her for the first time.     100

Her need was overwhelming.  Her mind crying out for him to finish her, to send her to that place where for a moment nothing mattered except the pulsing in every fiber of her body.   101

He brought her close...and then he would redirect his attentions.  No part of her was left unattended.   From her eyelids to her toes and back again.  His hands teased around the ache between her legs.  They stroked her breasts.  They tickled her they caressed her;  They attacked they retreated.   He kissed her, he licked her, he blew across her skin.    He felt the goosebumps rise and fall.  Her body began to tremble unabated and he knew soon she nor he would be able to wait another moment. 102

He looked into her eyes, could see the passion and the ache. “ Can you look at me Darlin?  Try... try to see me when the moment comes.”   His fingers dipped within her.  The slickness of her oozing around his fingers.  Her swollen insides grabbing his fingers and pulling them within her.  His wet thumb stroked her  and he caressed her insides.   103

Her head arched back and her eyes looked deep into his.  Her breathing was fast and he could feel the pounding of her heart as it beat against his chest.   Faster, slower,...... faster, faster, his hands did their magic.  Her body shaking uncontrollably now and as his fingers hit that last  stroke he saw the surprise in her eyes as they dilated and then closed.  Her back arched and her moan slipped out echoing across the room.   104

He could feel her loins as they contracted hard around his finger.  A gush of moisture oozed fresh against his hand.   He stopped motionless as she  gasped again and again. “ Robert....? “ 105

“Shhhhh Darling.... Let it go......I’m right here to catch you.   I would never let you fall. “   106

Her heart slowed and she could feel the blood thicken and flow like thick honey in her veins.    She could feel her pulse in every fiber of her body.   She smiled.... a sleepy ....but happy smile.  She rolled to her side and he spooned his body around her. 107

“ Go ahead Darlin... close your eyes and sleep.  I promise to be here when you awaken.”   108

“ Robert..? “ 109

“Lisette?” 110

“Don’t let go, Please?  If you let go then I will slip away. Promise me!”   111

“Never my love.... I will hold you in my arms till you awaken and you see that this is real, and that you belong here, with me.” 112

Robert watched the rise and fall of her breasts as she drifted to sleep.  He knew her fear was real and although he spoke as though she would never leave him, he honestly didn’t know.   Arms wrapped tightly around her he listened to her breathing, kissed her neck and then he too drifted to sleep. Come what may, she was his....for now. 113