Night Music

            by Maya Tippett

 

The sun rose behind the sunken hills, its arms outstretched across the misty fields

 

as Isabelle lightly tip toed her way through the marshy land behind her fathers home.

 

She reached the front door with the rising sun caressing the back of her neck. She placed

 

her hand on the iron knob and pushed forward, unable to suppress the distinct creek,

 

awaking the sleeping bodies spread about the old house.

 

            “Pull your skirt up Izzy! You’ll track mud all through the house.” Mrs. McQueen

 

howled from the kitchen, her head peered around the corner with smudges of flour caked

 

on her face. The smell of baking bread overflowed the house.

           

Once in her room, Isabelle quietly lifted back the quilt covers and slid into bed,

 

warm from the heat of her sister’s body next to her.

           

“Where did you go last night?” Alice’s voice was muffled from underneath the

 

nest of blankets and pillows she had piled on top of her. “ And the night before that? ”

 

Alice peeled back a corner of the quilt revealing her angelic face, her cheeks flushed with

 

life flowing through her veins. She had always been the more noticeably handsome of the

 

two girls. She sat up, her golden hair cascading like waves about the stacks of

 

embroidered cushions, her hazel eyes fixated on Isabelle’s.

 

            “I’ve been working for Lady Barker.” Her haunting blue eyes trailed off into

 

another time, reliving the previous nights.

 

            “Lady Barker?” Alice let the words out with a tired yawn. “ What could she

 

possibly need you for? I mean at night?”

 

            “I play. I play the piano for her,” Isabelle’s at first alarmingly loud voice turned small.

 

            “ The piano? At night? Why?” The sleep from Alice’s voice had lifted away,

 

replaced with uncertainty. “ What use are you to her playing the piano at night?”

 

            “ She likes falling asleep to the piano, she says it calms her nerves to know it’s

 

playing while she sleeps.”

 

            “ You mean to say that she makes you play while she’s sleeping? That’s cruel.”

 

Alice’s forehead crinkled as Isabelle bit her lower lip. “ Why? Why is she asking you to

 

do this? Isabelle, I don’t understand.”

 

Isabelle coiled her chocolate chestnut locks around her fingers,

 

            “It’s the only thing I could do… I couldn’t let them… You can’t marry Grant

 

Marconi Barker. Even if he is Lady Barker’s Nephew.” Isabelle’s eyes searched for

 

reaction in Alice’s, as she blinked her tears fled from their prisoner, and off into the

 

shallows of her hair.

 

            “ What’s done is done.” Alice lifted hear head to the windows, gazing out into the pastures.

 

            “No. No Alice, we just haven’t tried hard enough. You can’t marry that horrible

 

man. You can’t!” Isabelle tightened her grasp on her sister’s arm. The sound of urgency

 

climbing with every word she breathed. “ How could father do this to us? I hate him, his

 

bloody estate is more important to him than his relations - ”

 

            “ Don’t swear Isabelle, and don’t speak of father that way.” Alice’s stare was

 

stern, her head shaking at Isabelle.

 

            “ I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Why don’t you care? Why don’t you care

 

what’s happening to you?”

 

Alice sunk back into her fortress of pillows, the sun shone through the windows and

 

kissed her skin.

 

            “ What good does playing the piano do for all this anyhow?” She crossed her

 

arms around her chest, clutching her body to herself as if it would detach if she did not

 

hold on. “ I know how beautifully you play… but what difference does that make to

 

her?”

 

            “ I don’t know. But she said she would make a deal if I did, a deal concerning my

 

sister and her nephew. What else would she be talking about? She must mean that there’s

 

some way out of you having to marry him.” Isabelle’s hopeful eyes tried persistently to

 

pierce through Alice’s doubtful ones. 

 

                                                                      ~

 

            That evening the sun sank with the rising of the full moon; it’s army of stars

 

followed close behind. Isabelle looked out of the opened window, the moon shining as if

 

a hole cut out of the night sky. Isabelle had waited impatiently for the night to settle, and

 

for the rhythmic snores that escaped from the bedrooms of the house to become

 

consistent.

 

Once fully dressed, her floor length jacket tied tightly around her waist, she placed the freshly inked parchments, filled with treble cleffs and sharps into her pocketbook. Isabelle set off on what had become a nightly routine over the past few weeks. She skillfully slipped out of her house careful not to make even the slightest of sound.

The moment she surrendered herself into the night air, she began her crossing through the dauntingly untamed woods, which she had been warned of since childhood. The wind licked her face in lashes, staining her cheeks a flushed crimson. She drew her wool garment even closer around her. Most young women the age of Isabelle would not dare venture into the woods alone. However there was something calming in the presence of nature to Isabelle, and she did not fear the trail surrounded by trees.

Isabelle could have composed and arranged an opera in the time it took her to reach Lady Barker’s house. She climbed the gaudy stairs leading to the magnificent steel door, guarded by statues of frozen men in mid gesture. The door opened for her after the first knock, just as it had the night before, and the night before that.

The great hall she entered was as cold as it was outside. The marble floors echoed at the tap of her heels. To the right of the room and down the corridor there was a door ajar. Isabelle could see a dimly lit fire flickering from the wind that had followed her in. Isabelle approached the door slowly and as she gently laid her palm flat against the smoothed wood, she was stopped by the shrillness of Lady Barker’s voice.

“Get in here already, and shut that door behind you. Do you want me to die of pneumonia?” Lady Barker’s miserable voice dissolved into fits of coughing and pitiful wheezing. She murmured somewhere under her breath, “Stupid girl, makes me wait all this time… then she brings in that deathly cold draft behind her.”

The piano was set up as usual. Isabelle placed her coat on an available chair and floated towards the shining masterpiece. She slid her hands along the top of the polished panel. When she sat down she took a moment, her hands gingerly placed upon the keys of the grand piano.

As Isabelle began to play the notes floated in the air, dancing above their heads and swimming through their ears. The way in which Isabelle played was undoubtedly beautiful, however there was no hope for beauty in the music of Lady Barker’s interest. Lady Barker scowled at Isabelle, her dark beady eyes never looked away from the contact between Isabelle’s orchestrating fingers and the obedient piano keys.

After the fourth ballad Lady Barker had fallen asleep, her snores forming musical notes of their own. Once Isabelle heard the snores trailing from Lady Barker’s chair, she knew the woman had finally dozed off. Isabelle leaned down and opened her satchel containing the music notes she had written days before. She placed the parchments on the music stand, smiling to herself. As she began to play her music, everything lifted away, Lady Barker’s snores were drowned out, and Isabelle was allowed to fall into the world she had created through song.  Her melody was both graceful and sad. The notes were heavy under her hands. She closed her eyes and breathed the nocturne. She had become so absorbed in the notes that poured from her heart; she did not notice the presence of someone standing in the doorway, watching her. A tear tumbled down her cheek when the song came to an end.

 Lady Barker’s choked snores continued as they had before Isabelle started playing. She quite suddenly became aware of the presence in the doorway, and whipped her head around in that direction. There, a man stood leaning against the doorframe. Even though Isabelle was sitting a distance away from him, she could see that he was quite tall and he was undoubtedly the most handsome man she had ever seen. In the moment before they made eye contact Isabelle noticed how fondly he had watched her. When their eyes finally did meet, he stopped leaning and stood as straight as anyone possibly could have.

“Forgive me,” he whispered so as not to awaken Lady Barker. “I have forgotten my manners. I am so sorry to have disturbed you.” He lowered his head to her and quickly removed himself from her sight. Isabelle felt her heart sink in her body. Just as Isabelle was moving to get up, in order to find out who he was, Lady Barker woke up from her deep slumber.

“Finished are you? I must have dozed off a bit.” Lady Barker noticed the direction Isabelle was faced, and realized that the door was fully opened. She glared at her fiercely.

“I suppose you would like to discuss our little agreement regarding your father’s estate?” A cough buried deep within her chest began fighting its way out.

“Oh, yes. Yes of course.” The hope of finding out who the man in the door had been, began to dwindle, as she realized the importance of why she was there at all.

“In regards to your sister and my nephew, Mr. Barker, I have decided that they no longer need be engaged in order for your father to keep his small, somewhat sad estate. I have decided to arrange another contract between your father and I, one not concerning your sister’s future.”

When Lady Barker had seen the expression on Isabelle’s face, she new Isabelle had seen Aiden Oakley. Mr. Oakley was a distant relative of the Barkers, what kind of relation they were not quite sure. He was visiting Bedfordshire from Dorset for educational purposes. Purposes unknown to Lady Barker, for she had never asked. 

“Your services are no longer needed after this evening. I have kept my part of the bargain. Your sister is relieved from this arrangement, and your father may keep the estate.”

Lady Barker did not look at Isabelle whilst speaking of the contract. Astounded by the news being given to her, Isabelle tried best to keep her composure in the presence of Lady Barker.

“You have been most generous to my family, Lady Barker. If you don’t mind me asking, why did my playing the piano for you, persuade you to such drastic changes in the contract?” After Isabelle’s question left her lips she wished she had kept her response to a gracious thanks.

“It has nothing to do with your persona, heavens no. It simply has to do with the fact that you play more beautifully than anyone else in Bedfordshire, and I certainly don’t mean that in flattery. It just so happened that you were the daughter of a man in a contract with me over an estate. You required no payment, and agreed to play at an unreasonable hour for many hours, I don’t think anyone else would have been as foolish as you to have done so.”

Isabelle wanted nothing more than to insult her in appalling ways. However, under the circumstances, which Isabelle was all too aware of, she refrained herself.

                                                     ~

As Isabelle walked home through the woods for the last time, she couldn’t help but think about Mr. Oakley. He had appeared so unexpectedly that the image of him leaning against the doorframe remained embedded in her memory.

            It was significantly colder than it had been on the way to Lady Barker’s house, and the heavy clouds hung low in the air. She had only just set out on her journey when it began to rain. At first the drops were light and almost affectionate in the way they skimmed her skin. She quickened her pace, hopeful that there would not be a most inconvenient downpour.

            Only minutes later the looming clouds darkened and opened up, relieving the once friendly dewdrops at an alarming rate, turning them into fierce pellets attacking Isabelle with unrelenting force. She began to run. The line of mud on her skirt increased until the hem was covered six inches deep.

            “Isabelle!” A voice called out in the distance, but did not reach Isabelle’s attention, and she continued to run.

“Isabelle!” Aiden Oakley’s voice was deep and filled with concern. His eyes searched for Isabelle’s figure in the night sky.

            “Isabelle!” The voice grew louder, and Isabelle felt the tremble of a gallop behind her. She spun around and their eyes met. Isabelle’s startling sad features and soft delicate face choked Mr. Oakley and he was at once found speechless.

They stood in brief awkward silence, each of them looking at the other with the deepest approval.

Mr. Oakley sat upright, looking as valiant as one possibly could on horseback.

“I noticed you did not bring a carriage with you.” Mr. Oakley had not thought of the speech he would give upon finding her. “You must let me take you home.” His voice rose over the rain, and the hopeful expression he wore on his face began to dwindle.

“I could not bare to be of more inconvenience to you than I have already been-“

Isabelle found herself forcing the words out; she wanted nothing more than for him to rescue her at this moment.

            “I insist.” A smile fought its way across Mr. Oakley’s face, which he quickly battled.

            Once Isabelle was settled securely on the horse, Mr. Oakley commanded the animal to charge. Surprised by the immediate force, Isabelle firmly grabbed hold of Mr. Oakley around the waist, her cheek rested peacefully against his shoulder and the two rode in blissful silence together.

            They arrived at Isabelle’s house with the rising sun. It felt as though they had ridden for years through the forest.  Upon seeing her home Isabelle felt a surge of disappointment. The thought of not having an excuse to visit Mr. Oakley after having only just met him devastated Isabelle in ways she was unwilling to believe.

            The horse slowed down and came to a full stop.  Both passengers remained motionless, afraid that if they moved they would never feel the same closeness again.

            “Thank you.” Isabelle hesitated, knowing that what she had just said might have ended their encounter forever. 

            Mr. Oakley gracefully maneuvered himself off the great animal and slid to the ground. His hand reached out for Isabelle, who accepted it immediately.

            “You’re welcome,” he spoke softly, his eyes focused on the moistened soil.

It was not in his character to be so heroic in the way that he had been with Isabelle, and the realization of his rescue was coming into view.

“Well, Goodbye.” Isabelle regretted every word she uttered to him, wishing that she knew how to say what she felt. He could only look at her and think to himself, This cannot end this way. Isabelle turned, her feet stubborn underneath her will, and with every step she took she realized she was only moving further away from him.

“You play!” The words escaped Mr. Oakley’s mouth in a most unpleasant manner. He cleared his throat, trying desperately not to bark her in his nervous state.

“You play more beautifully than I have ever heard. The piano I mean. You play the piano so beautifully.” His voice wavered from shouting at Isabelle to talking too the point where he was barely audible.

 Isabelle turned to face Mr. Oakley, the sunlight beaming across her face.

“I waited up every night that you came to Lady Barker’s, just to hear you play. I saw you once from my bedroom window, weeks ago. Forgive me for intruding this evening, but I had to see you.” He closed his eyes in disbelief of the honesty in which he revealed his feelings to her, and when he opened them she was standing close before him.  She gazed up into his handsome face, and took his hands in hers.

“Lady Barker has requested that I no longer perform for her.  My services are no longer needed.” Isabelle swallowed a lump rising into her throat; her eyes glistened in the reflection of his. “Will I –“ She hesitated; knowing that what she was about to say was far too forward for a woman of her status to say to a man of his stature.

“Will I see you again? Now that there is no need for my presence at the Barker estate?” She lowered her head in shame of what she had just said, to a man she barely knew, yet she felt more for him than anyone else she had ever met.

He placed his hand under her chin, lifting her face towards him. “It is my wish, that from this moment on, not a day goes by where you don’t.”

Isabelle surrendered herself to the smile creeping across her face.

            “I wish very much to see you again, and often.” Mr. Oakley’s cheeks tinted a vibrant pink as he spoke. Both Mr. Oakley and Isabelle stood beaming, smiles spread wide across their faces. Both felt foolish in their feelings but neither one could deny them.

The sun stroked their skin as they embraced. Mr. Oakley cloaked Isabelle in his arms, wrapping them tightly around her. Isabelle nuzzled her face against him in complete and utter delight. In this moment she thought him marvelous and he thought her heavenly.  They knew they could not stay this way forever, but together they were as one divine.