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Post by Micaela on May 1, 2008 20:16:24 GMT -5
*She blinked and sort of stared at him for a moment, her face unreadable.*
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Post by Maxim de Winter on May 1, 2008 20:35:54 GMT -5
"'I'll make a bargain with you,' she said. 'You'd look rather foolish trying to divorce me now after four days of marriage. So I'll play the part of a devoted wife- mistress of your precious Manderley. I'll make it the most famous showplace in England, if you like. People will visit us and envy us... and say we're the luckiest, happiest couple in the country. What a grand joke it will be, Max! What a god-damned triumph !'"
*He'd been talking quickly, punctuating his words with bitter laughter. Now he was deadly serious again.*
"I should never have accepted her damnable bargain, but I did. I was younger then, and tremendously conscious of the family honor."
*He scoffed.*
"Family honor. She knew that I'd sacrifiice everything, rather than stand up in a divorce court and give her away- admit that our marriage was a rotten fraud."
*He sat again, looking exhausted and sighed.*
"Well, I kept the bargain, and so did she, apparently. Oh, she played the game brilliantly. But after a while, she began to grow careless.
"She took a flat in London, and she'd stay away for days at a time.Then she started to bring her friends down here. I warned her, but she just shrugged her shoulders. "'What's it got to do with you ?'she said."
*He shook his head.*
"Then there was a cousin of hers- a man named Favell."
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Post by Micaela on May 1, 2008 20:39:47 GMT -5
"He said something about being her cousin..." *She muttered to herself.*
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Post by Maxim de Winter on May 1, 2008 20:56:27 GMT -5
"You know him?" *he asked, surprised.*
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Post by Micaela on May 1, 2008 20:57:05 GMT -5
"He showed up at the rehearsal after you left. I told him it was a private party and instructed him to leave immediately."
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Post by Maxim de Winter on May 1, 2008 20:59:11 GMT -5
"Why didn't you tell me," *he demanded, perhaps a little harshly.*
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Post by Micaela on May 1, 2008 21:00:07 GMT -5
"I couldn't bloody find you! If you remember correctly, you were off freaking out about Pina!" *She snapped back.*
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Post by Maxim de Winter on May 1, 2008 21:26:58 GMT -5
*He seemed about to respond, but only shook his head with a tired sigh.*
"Favell used to visit her, here in this cottage. I found out about it, and I warned her that if he came here again, I'd shoot them both."
*He laughed bitterly.* "One night, I found that she'd gone to London, and came back the same day, which she didn't do as a rule. I thought that Favell was with her, and I knew then I couldn't stand this life of filth and deceit any longer. I decided to come down here and have it out with both of them. I brought a gun down here- just to scare them."
*He paused for a long moment, as if unable to continue.*
"But she was alone. She was lying on the divan, an ashtray full of cigarette stubs beside her. She looked ill, queer.
"Suddenly she got up- started to walk toward me.
'When I have a child,' she said, 'neither you nor anyone else could ever prove it wasn't yours. You'd like to have an heir, wouldn't you, Max, for your precious Manderley?'"
*His grip tightened on the chair.* "Then she started to laugh. 'How funny. How supremely, wonderfully funny.'"
*He laughed himself, though it was a bitter, harsh laugh.*
"'I'd be the perfect mother, Max, just as I've been the perfect wife. No one will ever know. It ought to give you the thrill of your life, Max, to watch my son grow bigger day by day, and to know that when you die, Manderley will be his.'
"She was face to face with me, one hand in her pocket, the other holding a cigarette. She was smiling.
"'Well, Max, what are you going to do about it ? Aren't you going to kill me ?' I- I suppose I went mad for a moment."
*He continued again, his voice almost emotionless.*
"The gun was in my hand-" *he broke off* "I'd forgotten," *he said slowly," *that when you shoot a person there was so much blood..."
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Post by Micaela on May 1, 2008 21:30:16 GMT -5
*She was somewhere between hugging him and smacking him and laughing and crying at the same time... but couldn't do much but stare at him blankly.*
*There was something vaguely triumphant lurking at the back of her mind, as well. Maxim had never loved Rebecca; all her fears about him comparing her to his first wife were unfounded. Rebecca hadn't borne him a son in twelve years of marriage; Micaela had done so in as many months and then gone on to bear a daughter as well. Held up beside Micaela, Rebecca had to be found lacking.*
"... who the hell calls you Max, anyway?"
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Post by Maxim de Winter on May 2, 2008 22:08:09 GMT -5
*He, of course interpreted her stare as one of horror. Dropping his gaze to the floor, he let out a heavy sigh.*
"You can't love me now, I know. I understand," *he said softly.*
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Post by Micaela on May 2, 2008 22:09:03 GMT -5
*Within seconds she was glaring at him again as she stood.*
"Of course I love you, you idiot!" *She cried.*
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Post by Maxim de Winter on May 2, 2008 22:12:50 GMT -5
*He stared at her a moment. He'd been certain she would hate him. All the imagined scenarios hinged on her afraid, angry, upset, no longer loving him.
Suddenly, his arms were around her and he was kissing her, deeply, hungrily- with more passion and love than he'd ever shown her.*
"I love you so much," *he whispered.* "So much."
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Post by Micaela on May 2, 2008 22:17:12 GMT -5
*She was shocked for a second before responding in turn, kissing him fiercely and tangling both hands in his hair. She suddenly threw her arms around his shoulders and held on tightly, burying her face in his neck. She could feel the tears leaking out of her tightly-squeezed eyes onto his collar. Whether they were tears of anger, relief, or joy, she couldn't say.*
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Post by Maxim de Winter on May 2, 2008 22:35:29 GMT -5
*He held her close for a moment, stroking her hair. After a while, he pulled back.*
"I'll get a lawyer- tell him the story. If I'm lucky, I'll get twenty years or so..."
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Post by Micaela on May 2, 2008 22:40:47 GMT -5
In prison. *Her mind finished for her. But when he said it, all she could hear in her head was a judge pronouncing the death penalty. And when she heard it, she saw Maxim dying, swinging alone and broken-necked on a gallows. And in that moment, she knew she couldn't let this get any farther than Kerrith. If it went to London, she knew she'd lose him.*
"No." *She said hoarsely, pulling away and shaking her head. Her heart pounded in her ears and she felt as if she might be ill.*
"No."
*The second time, it was more forceful.*
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