Meeting his gaze, Emma shuddered at what she saw within his eyes. Choosing to ignore the warning of iced rage that lay therein, she pleaded her case with the man she was to wed in just moments. “Please, Archibald, allow me to break our engagement. There is no love between us; we will only make each other miserable if we continue down this path.”

“Oh, but you see, my dear, I could care less if you have feelings for me.” Rising to stand before her, he looked at her with distain in his eyes. “The wedding will take place as scheduled in ten minutes and you will appear as is fitting of your new position.” That said, he strode from the room, slamming the door behind him.

Justin watched as time sped forward through the rest of the day. The wedding and reception took place as arranged in the greenhouse with the entire town in attendance. If the bride was quieter and more withdrawn then she should have been, no one seemed to notice. Before he could completely comprehend what was happening, Justin once again stood in the dark front parlour of the house with the mist circling around his feet and the ghost of Archibald standing at his side. “She was ungrateful and disobedient from the start, even before the vows were spoken. Now I will show you one more memory before this night is through.”

Slowly, the room lightened again, although this time it seemed to glow with the rosy golden rays of a winter sunrise. As before, Archibald remained by his side until the room was completely free of any lingering mist, but before he slowly faded away, he turned to Justin and smiled a wicked, mincing grin that chilled the young man deep to his bones. While waiting for something to happen, he looked around the room, trying to determine how much time had passed by noticing the little differences in the room. The room appeared to be the same in every way, until Justin turned to face the fireplace and saw a beautiful, black Newfoundland sleeping before the glowing embers. Suddenly Justin heard a fearful cry from above. “No!” The dog lifted its head off its front paws, looked around and sensing nothing amiss, lowered its head and fell back asleep.

Justin turned toward the stairway and looked up at the ceiling, where he heard the sounds of someone rushing around frantically from the floor above. He could hear the noises of doors and cabinets opening and closing, the splash of water being poured into a wash basin and the sound of someone washing and dressing in haste. Moments later he could hear footsteps moving toward the stairs.

Emma came down the stairs clutching her skirt up in one hand, to ensure she would not trip, and in the other she tightly grasped a bundle of white sheets and a white linen nightgown. As she hurried down the stairs, she was muttering, “Not again—why did it have to happen again. He will be angry if he finds out.”

Justin watched, unable to help when Emma stumbled on a trailing edge of a sheet and fell to the floor, landing on her hands and knees. She was just regaining her footing and gathering up the scattered linens, which he was now able to see held small bloody stains heralding the beginning of Emma’s monthly cycle. As she reached out her hand to grab the last item, the front door opened and Archibald stalked into the room. Finding his wife on the floor, her arms wrapped around the sheets and the evidence before him, he reached out and grabbed Emma by the upper arm, yanking her to her feet. Leaning over, he picked up her nightgown and shaking it before her face began yelling, “Again Emma? Yet another month and you are without child! Are you such a failure at being an obedient wife that after nine months of marriage you are still unable to become pregnant?”