Midnight Secrets by Jennifer St Giles

heart wincing, I went directly to the dining room and redid everything Bridget and I had done the day before, from polishing the wood to the silver. As I worked, it occurred to me that in my six years of answering questions on women’s problems in “Cassiopeia’s Corner”, I had a very limited view of the world to be giving out advice like I did.
    Midday I finished with the dining room and joined Bridget in the library. In just two days of scrubbing, several blisters spotted my now reddened hands. And the aches and pains in my arms had spread all the way to my shoulders and down my back. All I could think about all morning was a hot bath. That is until the moment I walked into the library where Bridget dusted. Thoughts of a bath flew as Sean Killdaren’s presence took over. Even though it was just a canvas and paint likeness in the room with me, I couldn’t ignore him. The aura of the portrait was almost magical in its ability to capture my attention. Again, I stood before him and just stared at him. I studied the cleft in his chin, the determined angle of his nose, and the glint in his green eyes—eyes that matched the vibrant emerald eyes of the carved dragon on his cane.
    He appeared tall in the picture, with an imposing breadth to his shoulders that made me want to step back to make room for him to pass, as if he were an otherworldly prince capable of deciding more than just my earthly future, but the fate of my soul as well.
    Impractical nonsense. Utterly ridiculous, I admonished myself. Since I never had the luxury of fanciful dreams, my mind was determined play them out during the day with this man. Otherworldly prince, indeed! I shook my head and set to work. Pulling a book off the shelf, I began dusting and then froze as I read its title. Powerful Vampires and Their Lovers.
    “Good Lord!” I dropped the book.
    Bridget came running over. “Whot is it?”
    I pointed at the book, speechless.
    She picked it up, dusted it off, and held it out to me, puzzled. “Somethin’ wrong with it?”
    “Didn’t you read the title? Powerful Vampires and Their Lovers . Who’d have such a book?”
    Bridget reverently ran her finger over the gold embossing. “Blimey, that whot it says?”
    I pulled my gaze from the book and my mind back from its wild path. I shouldn’t jump to conclusions about the book’s content or those who owned it. Why, if someone poured over my books and chose to pull Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein down, they could suppose any number of horrible things about me. Then the significance of what Bridget said slowly dawned on me.
    I gently placed my hand over hers. “You can’t read.”
    She pulled away and slipped the book back onto the shelf. “Never ’ad the time for nonsense such as that, I tell ya. Too much to be done. What would I do with readin’?”
    “I’ll teach you to read. Pick any book, and I’ll teach you to read it, Bridget.”
    She glanced cautiously at the door then at me. She looked as if she’d been handed her heart’s desire, but didn’t dare take it because it would disappear if she did.
    “Please,” I urged. “You’ve helped me so much already. Please let me do this for you.”
    “Well…” She glanced at the books as if they were forbidden candy. “Whot titles are ’ere?” She waved to the shelf that held the vampire book.
    I pointed to each book, finding all of them intriguing and disturbing. Powerful Vampires and Their Lovers. The Trail of Blood: Vampires and their Victims. Haunts and Hunts Worthy of a Vampire. Mastery of Druid Magic. The Sacred and Profane Rites and Rituals of the Druids and Their Children. The Druid’s Thirst for Humans.
    Reaching, she chose the first book. “ Powerful Vampires and Their Lovers .” Her eyes danced with a saucy gleam. “Every Sunday I ’ear the Good Book read, but I don’t think there’s a soul around who’d tell me about vampires and such.” She looked at Sean Killdaren’s portrait. “I’m thinkin’ there’s a