Heart Healer Read online

  “This is all your fault! Yours and that thing!” The man yelled pointing to the newborn. “I want that thing out of my sight!”

  “Father, no! He’s your son!” The women pulled the baby closer to her.

  “He is no son of mine! Take him away, and you better pray to your lucky stars that Ethan marries you!” the man screamed before storming out of the house.

  The women fell to her knees as her sobs filled the room. Christopher wanted to run to her and comfort her, but his feet were glued to the spot where he was standing. Soon the women disappeared into the darkness.

  ****

  When light reappeared, he was no longer in the living room, but in a graveyard next to the women who was placing someone to rest completely alone.

  “I am so sorry, Mother,” she whispered. slowly walking away from the grave.

  Christopher ran after her. “Stop, please! I want to help you! Please don’t go back to your father!” he begged, but there was no sound as he said the words.

  He realized all he could do was follow her and watch what happened. They soon came upon a mansion twice the size of the whole house, and there was a wedding going on in the front yard. The woman froze for a moment before she flew through the open gate, rushing up to the groom.

  “What is going on here?” she yelled.

  “What the bloody hell are you doing here?” the groom yelled back.

  “I came to see why my fiancé was not at my mother’s funeral.”

  “Fiancé?” The groom laughed. “Why in God’s name would I marry you? Your mother is dead. She was the last of the full-blooded Matthews. How can I get power and position from you now? You are just some half-breed who can’t even give me a son without dying. No man will ever want to marry you. Now get out of my sight!”

  Suddenly, two guards came up and dragged the woman out of the yard and into the mud. Cursing, Christopher ran over to her, and wrapped his arms around her. But his arms went right through her and once more the woman being to disappear.

  “No, wait!”

  Suddenly a voice spoke.

  “You are my daughter’s last chance at happiness. Please save her and give this to her. You will know the right moment.”

  A beam of light appeared, and in Christopher’s hand was a blue diamond.

  Chapter Five

  Blake

  Blake awoke feeling as giddy as a child on Christmas morning. He could not remember the last time he felt like this, and he was so happy that everything was going his way. Everyone knew the hell he could bring down on them if things did not go according to his plans. His father taught him the importance of discipline. His father punished his mother because she was weak. Blake remembered that night so clearly. His mammie was getting him ready for bed when his father began yelling in his drunken state, and his mother started screaming. Blake ran to his mother and father’s room just as his father was coming out. His father smiled at him and knelt in front of him, putting a hand on Blake’s shoulder.

  “Always punish the weak, Blake, because they deserve it,” his father told him and walked away.

  He ran into his mother and father’s room and saw his mother on the floor with a bruise around her eye beginning to form. He knew his father was right; the weak did deserve to be punished. He swore he would never marry a weak woman. Catherine did have her weak moments, like last night, but he punished her for it. Now they could start acting like husband and wife.

  “Catherine, my dear, how did you sleep last night?” he said, reaching out, expecting her to be in bed next to him. What he felt was an empty space. At first, he did not think anything of it. He thought she was getting breakfast for them, but as the minutes went by, he felt his fury rise. He threw some clothes on and went downstairs to find her. She was nowhere. When he stormed into the kitchen, he ran into Jessica.

  “Master Blake, I am so…”

  Before she could finish, he slapped her across the face.

  “Where is she?” he yelled.

  “Where is who, Master?”

  “My wife, Catherine!”

  “I don’t know, honestly I don’t.”

  Blake’s anger consumed him. He knew very well that he told Jessica to watch Catherine, so she must have helped her run away.

  “If you won’t tell me, then I will beat it out of you!” he growled.

  “No, Master, please no!” she cried as he dragged her outside, chaining her to a pole in the front yard and getting out the whip.

  “Now, I am going to ask you one more time. Where is Catherine?”

  “I swear to God, I don’t know.”

  He raised the whip and began whipping her back as she screamed out in pain.

  “Do you still swear to God that you do not know where my wife is?”

  “Yes, Master.”

  “If you are lying to me, Jessica, not even God himself will be able to help you,” Blake said as he let Jessica go. He went back into the house and got his shotgun, determined to find Catherine. As he rode out, he knew that when he did find her she would wish for death.

  Chapter Six

  Christopher

  Christopher woke up in a chair next to the mystery woman’s bed. He felt something drawing him to her. She was beautiful, but it was more than that. He couldn’t get what had happened last night out of his mind. Whenever she had regained consciousness, her eyes were fearful and sad. That look made him want to help her and get to know her. He didn’t know how to go about it. For the past year, he’d been so focused on Ryan that he never thought about a relationship with anyone. He had girlfriends in the past and had been married to Chelsea for six years, but there was something about this woman that was different. He felt a connection to her, and he could feel her heartache. Christopher shook his head. What kind of romantic nonsense was this? He had Ryan to think about.

  Getting up, he put his hand against her forehead and felt that her fever had gone down. He was glad she had slept through the night. With everything she had been through, she deserved all the peace she could get. He heard the bedroom door open and saw Ryan standing in the doorway. For the first time in almost a year, Ryan reacted to something. It appeared he was wondering who the strange woman in their house was.

  “Hey, Sport. Did you sleep well last night?” he asked, coming over to Ryan. Ryan didn’t say anything. He just kept staring at the woman.

  “She’s a friend of mine, and she’s not feeling very well right now, so she is going to stay here until she does. Okay?”

  Ryan turned away from the woman and looked at Christopher.

  “Are you hungry? How about I make us some oatmeal? Your Aunt Emma is coming over today.” He took Ryan’s hand and quietly led him out of the bedroom.

  ****

  Christopher was just spooning the oatmeal into bowls when there was a knock on the door. He went over and opened it to let Emma in. She entered the kitchen and said hello to Ryan.

  “How is she doing?” she asked.

  “Good. She slept through the night and her fever has gone down.”

  “That’s good. I am just going to check on her,” she said before she stepped out of the kitchen.

  A few minutes later, Christopher heard Emma calling for him. He ran up the stairs, worried that something had happened.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “She’s awake now, but she is very scared and confused.”

  He nodded his head before going into the bedroom. The woman was trying to sit up, but every time she did, she screamed out in pain.

  “It’s all right; you don’t have to be afraid. You’re safe here. No one will hurt you.”

  “Thank you. You are much kinder than all the others.”

  “The others?” Christopher asked.

  “The other guards that my husband hired to watch me. You did not let me die because he hired you?”

  “No. I wasn’t hired by anyone.”

  “Then why didn’t you let me die?”

  “I saved you because you looked like you
needed help.” He quietly came over and sat on the bed next to her.

  The woman was quiet for moment, and then, “Where am I?”

  “You’re in Beaufort, South Carolina. You are safe here in my home. No one will hurt you.”

  “How long was I asleep?”

  “Just through the night.”

  “So, it is December 14?”

  “Yes, but it’s…December 14, 2014.”

  “No!” she screamed utterly terrified. She tried to get up. “This can’t be happening!”

  “It’s all right. I promise you no one will hurt you, but you have to lie still. You have broken ribs. You need to rest.”

  “Can this really be happening?” she whispered, her terrified gaze darting around the room.

  “Everything will be all right,” he whispered back, brushing the hair from her face. “What’s your name?”

  “Catherine.”

  “Catherine, I’m Christopher.”

  “Christopher, I am so afraid.”

  “I know you are, but you don’t have to be. Did your husband…” He trailed off examining the pained way her chest rose and fell, knowing there were at least ribs broken. “Did your husband do this to you?”

  “Yes.”

  “I promise you, Catherine, no one will hurt you like that again.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You are welcome. Are you hungry? I can get you some oatmeal.”

  “That would be nice,” she said, her eyes closing.

  He got up and was about to close the bedroom door.

  “Please don’t close the door. I have been locked in rooms so many times.”

  “Sure.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered falling asleep.

  ****

  Christopher’s head was spinning as he walked downstairs. He could not understand how Catherine’s husband could do that to her. It was as foreign to him as if he could grow wings and fly. He stood against the opening of the living room, his mind still in a fog when he saw Emma sitting at the computer.

  “How is she doing? She was terrified when she woke. She told me her name, but she’s still out of it.” Emma said, turning around to face Christopher.

  “She’s good. She is sleeping right now. Where’s Ryan?”

  “He’s in his room. He only ate a few bites of his oatmeal so I put it in the fridge.”

  “Thanks. Hopefully he’ll be hungry later,” he said, worried.

  “Can you come over here for a minute? There’s something I want to show you,” Emma said.

  He walked over to the computer and saw that Emma had Wikipedia up. There was a photo of Catherine and what looked like her wedding

  “That’s Catherine. She told me her last name was Andrews. She was born March 30, 1835 to George and Elizabeth Andrews. She had a younger brother, James, and that’s her husband Blake.” Emma said, pointing to the man standing next to Catherine. Christopher was shocked. This couldn’t be the same woman who was in the next room! This situation was getting stranger by the minute. Christopher looked over at Emma. “Do you think that this could possibly be the same woman? Are we dealing with some strange cosmic occurrence?”

  Emma replied, “It would seem so, Christopher. A picture is worth a thousand words. That is the same Catherine in this picture. That would explain her clothes.”

  As Christopher looked more closely at the picture of Catherine and her husband Blake, he felt his anger toward Blake rise. He wanted revenge, he wanted justice, but he also wanted Blake to experience the anguish and terror that Catherine had to experience.

  “What?” Emma asked.

  “Blake is the one who beat Catherine.”

  “My god,” she said horrified.

  He clenches his hands into fists and narrowed his eyes. “Any man who treats a woman like that deserves to burn in Hell!”

  Chapter Seven

  Blake

  Blake Von-Clyer galloped into the drive leading to his plantation, leaving a cloud of dust behind him. He then jumped off the horse, threw the reigns to Brian his stable boy, and walked off without a second thought to the horse. He stormed down to the family cemetery, falling on his knees in front of the newest grave.

  “Oh, Rose. Why did you have to leave me again?” he whispered with tears in his eyes.

  ****

  While most families got tutors or governesses to teach their children, his father taught him how to be strong and how to punish the weak. After the night Blake saw how weak his mother was, his father took over his studies. His father taught him everything from math to reading, but also made him memorize journals full of his father’s advice and punishment methods. Whenever his father punished his mother, Blake was to watch and learn. He also had an older brother who was just as weak as their mother. So, their father sent his older brother to West Point to make a man out of him.

  Later that year, his mother died. The memories of the event were vivid to him. He remembered coming down the stairs and seeing his father sitting in his office with a vacant look on his face. Police officers were all around his father, but they were speaking in hushed tones so that Blake could not hear what they were saying. The grandfather clock ticked the hours into the afternoon as the officers came and went. The doctor came and removed his mother’s body, and then he heard the wailing sound that came from his father once they were alone. It was the first time he had ever seen his father cry. “What will I do without her?” He sobbed and shook Blake by the shoulders. “How could she do this to me?”

  Blake knew how this could have happened. Before Blake’s father began doing his lessons, Blake had been very close to his mother. She told him stories of Ireland and played games with him. After his father’s lessons began, Blake wanted nothing to do with his mother. The night after his father punished his mother, she came into Blake’s room and started to pack his things. Blake ran up to her and slapped her across the face, yelling that she was weak and foolish and deserved to be punished. He said he hated her and would never leave with her. With tears streaming down her face, Blake’s mother told him she would always love him and left his room. His mother must have gotten one of his father’s guns, because the slaves found her in the cotton field the next morning shot in the head.

  Dozens of people attended the funeral. They spoke kind words about his mother and his father played the grieving husband well. His father kept his eyes downcast; at times, he would take his fingers to his cheek and wipe the tears. Blake couldn’t understand why his father was acting this way. His mother was foolish and weak and deserved to be punished. Blake thought his father would be happy to be rid of his mother. He never understood it until he met Rose.

  After his mother killed herself, his father sent him to Carson Long Military Academy hoping that would keep Blake from turning out weak like his mother. Blake ignored everyone at school. He came and went as he pleased, wanting nothing more than a place to eat and sleep. That was how he met Rose. She was the headmaster’s daughter. The headmaster was trying to help Blake deal with the loss of his mother, and he thought Rose would make a good companion for Blake. He was right. It was love at first sight. Rose was also weak like his mother, but Blake finally understood why his father acted the way he did at his mother’s funeral. Even though she was weak, he still loved her so much. After they were married, Blake began to punish Rose like his father had done to his mother and had taught him to do.

  Rose became distant from Blake and would disappear for hours at a time. Desperate to find out where she was going, he followed her to an abandoned church where he found her in his brother Nathaniel’s arms. How in the hell did they meet? Blake had not spoken to his brother in years. The last thing he heard from Nathaniel was that he was living up north and owned some kind of mill. Filled with rage, Blake stormed into the church shooting and killing Nathaniel. He then dragged Rose back home and gave her the worst punishment he could think of. He locked her in the room with only bread and water to eat once a day. He found her a week later passed out on the flo
or sick with fever. He sent a slave to go get the doctor and that was when he found out she was pregnant. She was so sick during the pregnancy, and he knew that it was all his fault. If only she hadn’t been so weak then he wouldn’t have had to punish her and she would have survived giving birth to their son.

  Blake lost all reason to live. He couldn’t look at his son Nicholas for days after Nicholas was born, but when Mr. Andrews couldn’t pay his taxes, he tried to sell his daughter to him. When Blake went to London with Mr. Andrews, he thought he was going to get a servant out of the deal. But then he saw her. It was Rose and she hadn’t aged a day from the day she had given birth to Nicholas. But something had happened to her. She didn’t recognize him when she saw him. She said her name was Catherine. He knew he had to do whatever he could to get her back even though she didn’t remember him. He would be patient, but his patience only went so far. She was still just as weak as ever and he would soon cure her of that. But even with all his patience and kindness by calling her Catherine, she still left him again.

  “Oh Rose, please come back to me!” he cried.

  Chapter Eight

  Catherine

  A week later, Catherine awoke to the sun peeking through her window. She lay in bed with her head spinning, a thousand thoughts running through her mind. Could she really be in 2014? She looked over and saw a candle sitting on the nightstand, but it had something sitting on top of it and a strange rope going out of it into a hole in the wall. She reached over trying to find matches. When she found none, she ran her hand up the candle string and found a strange nob. Turning it, the candle lit. She jumped back terrified, but through her fright she smiled. She hadn’t been shown this much kindness or felt so safe since her mother died. Every morning Christopher would bring fresh flowers into her room. He would read to her or they would just talk. She took a calming breath, then slowly got out of bed and went downstairs. She stood in the kitchen watching Christopher. He was handsome, very handsome, but not in the typical plantation owner way, in a more natural and rugged way. He had a dark tan like he spent hours in the sun, and his eyes were dark brown. But they were the kindest eyes she had ever seen. When he looked at her with those eyes, it was as if he could see into her soul, if only she let him, and Catherine truly wanted him to get to know her. She quickly dismissed the thought. She would only know him as the man who had saved her life and nothing more.