All the Things You Never Knew
Read All the Things You Never Knew Online
Authors: Angealica Hewley
Angealica Hewley
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved.
PROLOGUE
Bridlington
Leon Heartily cursed under his breath as he and his siblings stood, staring at their broken down estate.
“Well, this is a beautiful sight,” said Jack, the second oldest to Leon, as he tip back his hat and look at the house.
The Heartily Estate is now nothing more than a wasteland. The roof had collapsed; the walls were cracked and glasses shattered in glistening piles on the deadly brownish grass. Mud puddles and mole holes filled the place, leaving no space for any other form of life to inhabit. No leaves formed on the trees. No neighbors surrounded the place. All was dead and quiet without a sound or movement.
“Beautiful, indeed,” Edward said with a sigh, as he drops his suitcase and sat down on top of it.
“I’m so glad to be back,” Aidan responded with feign enthusiasm.
“There’s surely nothing like home. Sweet, sweet home,” Blake chimed, scraping mud off his shoes with a dead branch he found lying on the ground.
“Stop being sarcastic,” said their sister, Avangelene, as she secures her hair up with a ribbon. “Our estate may not be in the condition we wanted but with a little maintenance, I believe we will be able to have it restored in no time.”
“Easy for you to say. This is no little maintenance,” Gabriel said,
Angealica Hewley
picking up a shard of glass and testing its point on his finger. “I don’t want to get prick all over by these things.”
“And I don’t want to twist my ankle by falling into these holes,”
Chance said, testing his foot in one of them.
“Perfect size for your foot,” Lavender said, coming around to stand
by her twin brother.
“Don’t you dare push me,” Chance said, taking his foot out and
moving away. “You’re the evilest twin anyone could ever have.” “I am not!”
“Hey, we better find shelter soon,” said Namine, pointing to the sky.
“The weather doesn’t look so good.”
Leon looked up to see the black clouds darkening the sky. “This
isn’t good,” he murmured, looking back at their manor.
There’s barely a roof over their head. If it pours, they will sure be
facing a long night of misery.
“I can’t believe we left Swale for this,” Sheik said, kicking away at
the dirt. “We could have lived at the Harrington Family’s barn with the
hogs.”
“It’s kind of scary,” said Phoenix, the baby of the family, as she
peers at the house. “Perhaps it’s haunted from the many years that we
have neglected it.”
“Don’t be absurd,” Leon answered, picking up his suitcase. “We
must hurry in and organize our belongings, for we have a long night
ahead of us.”
“How long has it been since we left Bridlington?” Blake asked,
following behind Leon as he led the way to the front of the manor. How long had they been gone from managing their estate? Leon
doesn’t know. Close to half a decade. It surprises him to see what time
could do to an abandon estate. How many storms had it fought? How
many raids from the enemies?
The enemies.
It was the enemies that took away everything from their life: their
love, their parents, and their home.
Now he has returned to take revenge on their loss and start anew. Leon stopped in front of the door and turned to his siblings. “Ready?”
They nodded and replied in unison, “Ready.”
Leon grabbed the door handle and–
“Oh, hell!” he cursed, as it detaches and fell from his hold. “What do we do now?” Phoenix asked. “I don’t want to get rained
on. I heard you can get bald.”
“Like you’ve never been rained on before,” Sheik scoffed, and step
up towards the door. “I’ll handle this.”
With one mighty thrust, Sheik kicked the door open and it fell–or
rather broke down heavily onto the ground.
More curses erupted from the Heartilys in dismay as the other half of
the roof tumbles down right after it.
“Shit.” Leon slowly stepped in around the door and kicked aside the
pile of concrete. “Come in,” he said to his siblings. “Be careful, too. Who
knows how many more damages would occur.”
With that, they entered to begin a new life with many businesses to
handle and repairs to tend.
London,
England
1817
Lady Rose Dawson sighed, as she threw down the one hundredth
wedding dress she had tried on for the afternoon.
“Enough,” she said, slipping her gown back over her head. “Susy,
can you get these buttons for me.”
“Of course,” Lady Susannah replied, rushing over to help her.
“I’m guessing you didn’t find a dress to your interest.”
“There are too many,” Rose said, fixing the pins in her hair. “If
only Lord Lansing was here to help me pick.”
“Oh, please,” Susannah derided, finishing the last of her buttons.
“Like he knows anything. Always in his cups and dallying away with
lightskirts.”
“I know you don’t like him, but his lordship isn’t that bad,” Rose
said, smiling as she turns to pinch her friend on the cheeks. “Besides,
he’s an honorable man. He would never do such a thing. It’s only your
imagination, True that he drinks sometimes, but he’s a man. What can
you say?”
“I say he’s unfaithful,” Susannah answered, moving to look at the
rack of dresses beside her. “And would not bring you much
happiness.”
“He makes me quite happy, actually,” Rose said picking up one
of the white dresses she had left on the floor and hanging it back up on
the rack.
“Oh, please tell me you’ve found a dress to your taste, m’lady,”
said Madame Marionette de Florette, shop owner of Florette’s Dress
Emporium.
“I’m afraid there are too many to adore that I cannot decide on
which one to pick,” Rose answered. “I think I’ll wait for a day when
my fiancé is not too busy so he can come and help me decide.” “Oh, that will be splendid,” Madame Marionette exclaimed. Then
to Susannah, “You’ve got to find your true
amour
soon and return to
get your wedding dress. I’ll be waiting here to be call at your service.” “I’m afraid I’ll just find an unfaithful drunken arse like somebody
here and have to shoot him dead,” Susannah replied, looking back at
Rose.
“That’s most improper of you to say, Susannah!” Rose said,
alarmed. “My apologies, Madame Marionette. I’m afraid it’s time for
Susy and I to get back home to not miss our uh…afternoon tea.” “Oh, that’s all right,
ma cherie,
” Madame Marionette said
cheerfully. “I’ll be waiting for your return.
Au revoir
.”
Rose took Susannah by the arm and dragged her out of the door
into the carriage.
“I truly appreciated that comment in there,” Rose said crossly,
tapping on the wall for the footman to drive away. “You didn’t have to
say that to Madame Marionette.”
“You know what I said was true,” Susannah argued. “Why can’t
you see that he’s no good?”
“Because he
is
good,” Rose countered. “He’s nice and gentle. Ah
and charmingly sweet.”
“I think I’m going to spew up pebbles,” Susannah said, making a
sick face and fanning herself with her hand. “Ugh, I need some air in
here.”
“Stop it, Susy,” Rose laughed, swatting at Susannah’s hand.
“Lord Lansing is the most charming man in the world.”
“I’ve heard that before,” said Susannah. “It was to a different
beau though. What’s his name again? Hm…it was–”
“Don’t you dare say it,” Rose snapped menacingly. “Don’t you
dare!”
“Why not?” asked Susannah. “
He
is who qualifies to be called
charming
.
He
is who’s
nice
and
gentle
.
He
is who you can trust to be
faith
–”
“Stop! Stop!” Rose cried, covering her ears. “Please, just stop.
There’s no one that can compare to Lord Lansing.”
“That is where you’re wrong,” Susannah said. “You know well
that–”
“Leon is
nothing
to me!” Rose fumed. “
He
is
nothing
!”
“Ah, yes,” Susannah clapped. “Leon. Monsieur Leon Heartily,
that’s his name. Thanks for reminding me.”
“You’re not welcome,” Rose answered irately.
“Surprising that you still remember his name after all these
years,” said Susannah. “You don’t actually think I will believe you
when you say he’s nothing to you, do you?”
“Susannah, I don’t want to talk about this.”
“But I do.”
“Please stop torturing me,” said Rose, flinging her arm over her
eyes. “I’ve worked hard enough to forget him.”
“But you never did forget, did you?
Rose pales and turned away to look out the window without a
response
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
“You don’t understand, Susy,” Rose murmured with a sigh. “I understand one thing for sure,” Susannah replied. “You still
love him.”
“I don’t!” Rose protested. “I don’t love him–not anymore. Not
even an inch!”
“Or so you say,” Susannah countered. “Tell me, do you love Lord
Lansing then?”
“Of course I do!” Rose blurted. “Why would I want to marry
Marcus if I don’t love him?”
“Oh, so now he’s Marcus?” Susannah smirked and went on. “I
don’t see it,” she said. “I just don’t see it. It was different. Different
from the way you were with–”
“You have no idea, Susy. Please, let’s not talk of it anymore.” “Very well, but still, I know you don’t love Lord Lansing.” There were no more comments made for the remainder of the ride.
Rose felt like crying as she reflects back to the past. She didn’t want to.
She had spent ten years of her life forgetting, yet something always brings
it back.
Leon.
She had loved him very much.
He was like the world to her.
And yes, Susannah was right. He is who qualifies to be called
charming. He is who’s nice and gentle.
But he is not one you can trust to be faithful.
That was where Susannah went wrong.
He had broken her heart by–
Rose couldn’t even bear to think of what happened between them. It was Leon’s fault. It angers her every time when she thinks back to
that day. She just…she just wanted to strangle him! Yet she knew she’ll
never have the heart.
Their love was one of a fairytale.
She still couldn’t understand why it ended the way it did. Why did Leon do that to her?
Was she not good enough?
Or was it because she’s too–
A loud crash outside the carriage took away her thoughts, and she
looked out the window to see what was going on.
“Did we hit something?” Susannah asked, looking out of the
other window.
“Just a little rough turn, m’lady,” the footman answered from
above. “Somebody was heading fast towards us and I was trying to
make way.”
“Who was it?” Rose looked about to see a galloping horse
charging forward, and tried to make out the feature of the man on top
of it.
“Lord Lansing!” Rose exclaimed, waving her gloves at him. “Lady Rose!” He came to a rough halt beside her window with
his horse and reach out his hand. “I’ve come to sweep you away, my
love.”
Rose smiled and took his hand, feeling a sense of déjà vu. “Great, you’re going to climb out of the window and leave me,”
Susannah pouted. “What a great friend you are.”
Rose laughed and turned back to her. “I told you he’s charming.” Susannah rolled her eyes and gave Rose a dismissive wave.
“Whatever, then. Just leave me be.”
“I love you, Susy.” Rose gave her a brief kiss on the cheek and let
his lordship pull her out onto his horse.
“Did you miss me today?” Lord Lansing asked, giving her a kiss
on the cheek as they turned and rode back down the path.
“More than you’ll ever know,” she answered, sliding her hands to
hold his on the reign.
Everything felt so familiar.
“Well, I hope you’ve found the perfect dress for our wedding.” “Uh…about that…it was rather difficult,” Rose answered. “I was
thinking that we’ll go together on a day you’re free to Florette’s and
pick the dress out together.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Lord Lansing agreed.
“How was your day today?”
“Quite gloomy without you,” he answered, pressing a kiss to her
neck.
“You’re such a joke,” Rose laughed, and then caught herself. Everything they’re doing now seems to have happened before.
She had experienced it.
Not with Lord Lansing, no. It was with someone else.
Oh, thanks Susannah so much for ruining everything!