The Price of Deception (35 page)

Robert couldn’t contain the urge to peek at his
bride. He turned his head and looked at Suzette, fighting back
tears. At last, his petite French mademoiselle, whose virginity he
had claimed seven years ago, was about to become his wife. Robert
Holland had found truth and love.

Epilogue

Vienna, Austria – Summer 1887

Count Eduard von Lamberg walked mournfully behind the
horse-drawn, glass funeral carriage, which carried the remains of
his beloved wife inside a polished mahogany casket. Multiple sprays
of white and red roses draped the coffin, adding a splash of color
among the starkness of death.

The procession of mourners included immediate family
members, friends, and an entourage of musicians playing a
traditional funeral dirge. The Count’s footsteps met the pavement
with a cadence that matched the timing of the sorrowful piece.

The procession meandered through streets that were
lined with curious onlookers. Women bowed their heads, making the
sign of the cross, and men took off their hats, displaying their
respect. The Count, recognized as one of the most influential men
in Vienna, received the sympathy of the city for his recent tragic
loss.

Funeral attendees kept their gaze straight ahead,
each dressed in Vienna’s finest fashions of black dresses and
suits. Somberly, they marched toward the Zentralfriedhof cemetery
to bury Countess von Lamberg. The Vienna news had printed her
obituary and funeral information announcing to the city the time
and location of her burial.

Eduard held the hand of his three-year-old
stepdaughter, dressed in a black taffeta dress, with matching
gloves and hat. She walked obediently silent behind her mother’s
casket. Her hand clung tightly to that of her stepfather, and a
blank facial expression mirrored her child-like confusion.

The horses, draped in ceremonial black, click-clacked
their hooves on the pavement. Upon arriving at the gated entrance
to the cemetery, they proceeded down the tree-lined lane to the
open burial plot waiting to receive the body.

The ceremony, somber and filled with grief, moved the
Count to tears. The parish priest conveyed his deep condolences.
Eduard grabbed a handful of dirt and let it slip through his
fingers onto the coffin. He mumbled his last goodbyes, and then
bent down to encourage his step-daughter to throw a red rose upon
her mother’s coffin.

“Say goodbye to your mother, Angelique. Toss her a
rose to take to Heaven.”

She did as told, and a tiny tear trickled down her
flushed cheek. Eduard wondered if she comprehended the finality of
the moment.

“I am so very sorry for your loss. If there’s
anything I can do, Eduard, let me help. I’ll stay with you as long
as you need me.”

He pulled his eyes away from the coffin being lowered
into the cold earth and rose to his feet. “That’s very kind,
Geraldine, but I will be fine. You should return to Berlin to be
with your husband.”

His sister had been at his side day and night since
his wife’s death, comforting him at a most difficult time and
helping with the care of his daughter.

“I do not see any of Jacquelyn’s family here. Did you
not write to them about her death?”

“She had no family that I’m aware of, except for her
daughter, Angelique.” He looked down at the forlorn face of the
little girl holding his hand.

“Will you keep her?” Geraldine inquired.

“Of course, I will keep her,” he replied, with
determination. “She will be my daughter, as she has always been my
daughter, since the day I married Jacquelyn. I have every intention
of raising her on my own.”

“It’s a shame that she will never know her mother,
Eduard. How awful to have lost a parent at such an early age.”

“I will try and keep her memory alive, for the
child’s sake. She was an exceptional woman, Geraldine, and will be
missed.”

“Have the doctors shared their findings with you,
Eduard, as to the cause?”

“Yes,” he said, lowering his voice so that those
nearby would not hear. “I was told after the autopsy they
discovered that her fallopian tube had ruptured. She was pregnant,
but the fertilized egg had lodged wrongfully there rather than in
her womb. When it burst, she bled to death. By the time she
complained of the pain and the doctor was summoned, it was far too
late to do anything about it. A few hours later, she was gone.”

“Oh, dear Lord,” Geraldine moaned.

“Thankfully, God had blessed her beforehand with this
angel.” He bent down and kissed the side of Angelique’s cheek. “She
was a devoted mother, who loved her daughter deeply. I can do no
less.”

Others began to crowd around the Count to express
their sympathy over his loss. He continued to hold tightly to his
stepdaughter’s hand, determined to bring her up for the sake of her
dear departed mother.

When it was over, he glanced at the large, ornate
headstone that he had commissioned to mark her grave.

“Countess Jacquelyn von Lamberg. Beloved wife of
Eduard, devoted mother of Angelique Jolene.”

Tears filled his eyes as the gravediggers began to
cover the casket with dirt.

He thanked everyone for their kind words. After
seeing the confused and tired look upon his stepdaughter’s face, he
led her away from the scene of death.

“Come, Angelique. It’s time to leave.”

“I want my mommy,” she began to cry. “I want my
mommy.”

His heart tore over her plea. “Someday you’ll see her
again, child. Someday.”

Count von Lamberg climbed into a waiting carriage and
headed home. Behind in the grave he left the woman whose past he
never knew—Duchess Jacquelyn Spencer-Holland
.

The End

####

The Legacy Series

The third book in The Legacy Series,
The Price of
Love,
will pick up 14 years later, at the turn of the century,
as the young Lord Robert Holland heads to university to find his
destiny.

Travel along as he journeys toward a shocking
discovery in Vienna where family secrets are revealed. Discover the
fate of Angelique, who at 16 is introduced into society and is
confronted with the surprising truth of her past.

Scheduled for release in 2012, it will be the final
book in the series.

For more information about The Legacy Series,
updates, and interesting historical facts woven into the series,
visit
http://legacyseriesbooks.wordpress.com
.

About the Author

Vicki Hopkins is the author of three other
publications:

The Price of Innocence
(Book One – The Legacy
Series)

The Phantom of Valletta
(a continuation of
Gaston Leroux’s Phantom of the Opera)

Lessons From the Phantom of the Opera
(a
popular blog now in print)

She is also the host of
All Things Phantom on
BlogTalkRadio
(
http://blogtalkradio.com/All_Things_Phantom
),
an Internet radio show focused on Phantom of the Opera.

For more information on any of her publications
and/or her blogs, visit the author’s website at:

Website
http://vickihopkins.com

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/Vicki.Hopkins.Author

Twitter at
http://twitter.com/VHopkins_Author