Secret Heart

Secret Heart

  Marie Brown

  ©2016

  Sulking again, eh?

  Sir Simeon Meriwether Kerrigan, owner of the fantastic skyship Midnight Aurora, wealthy beyond the ken of mere mortals, displayed a most troubling trait of sulking like a little child when the world failed to bend down and serve him as he desired. Like now. Simeon stood at the furthest forward point of the skyship's gleaming wooden deck, hands locked on the brass railing, head down. Edwin Julius could see tension in his body, a certain stiffness of posture beneath the elegant daytime suit. Tendrils of wet gray streamed over the man as the skyship plowed through low-hanging clouds. Edwin wondered what it would be like to rest his hands on those tense shoulders, feel the taut muscles warm and relax beneath affectionate ministrations.

  Awkward thought. Edwin sighed, shook off the wayward desires, and stepped up to the railing beside his friend.

  "What's bothering you, Kerrigan?"

  "What makes you think there's something bothering me?"

  "Well, let's see..." Edwin replied with a faint smile. "You won't talk to anyone, you're barely civil even to Rebecca, and you're hanging over the rail of the Aurora as it flies through a cloud. Need I say more?"

  "Oh, very well, then. There's something bothering me." Simeon straightened from his bent posture, but still his dark eyes avoided Edwin. They remained focused on some distant vision known only to him.

  After a moment of silence broken only by the steady thumping of the steam-powered engines, Edwin prompted him to continue. "And what would the problem be, old lad?"

  "It's of a rather... personal nature, so if you don't mind I'd—"

  "Rather not talk about it, I know," Edwin interrupted. "It's my guess that your problem is Rebecca."

  At that, Simeon did turn to glare at him. "Rebecca is not a problem, she is my cousin."

  "And as such, you care about her deeply... perhaps too deeply?"

  "You know nothing of my issues, Julius! Go now, and trouble me no more!" His eyes betrayed deep inner turmoil, despite the unchanging facial expression.

  "You don't mean that, do you." Edwin continued to gaze steadily into his friend's eyes, bright with distress behind brass-rimmed lenses.

  Tension hummed through the damp air for a long moment, then Simeon glanced away. "No, I do not."

  "I thought not. Now, if you're done being difficult, perhaps you could tell me what is going on in that head of yours?"

  "Perhaps I could. But then, perhaps I could not." Simeon allowed himself a faint twitch of a smile.

  "Kerrigan..." Torn between exasperation and amusement, Edwin settled on shaking his head with a smile of his own.

  "Julius, my friend, there are some things which you simply do not want to know. Such as the true cause of my troubles." A flicker of emotion crossed his face, gone before Edwin could identify it. Longing? Not likely.

  Simeon turned away, with a curious reluctance which sent a shiver of hope racing through Edwin. Could it be that—no, impossible. He must be imagining things, seeing something he only wished for.

  "Always a possibility, granted." Edwin started to sigh, then caught himself. He sounded like a bellows with all the gusty sighing. Much more of that and the firemen would set him to tending the boilers. "Lord knows I haven't the spotless clean soul and mind. Doubtless there's things in there nobody wants to know. I know for a fact there's plenty I'd rather not tell you, so I suppose you're entitled to your own privacy. Unfortunately, your turmoil has begun to affect this entire crew of thrown-together adventurers. And so I shall continue to nag at you until you divulge the reason for your atypical upset."

  Simeon snorted. "Atypical upset, indeed."

  "Yes, indeed. You have always been the level-headed one of us, least likely go off half-cocked. And yet look at you now, my friend, mooning about like a lovesick schoolboy."

  "And so what if I am?" Simeon's gaze bored into Edwin's very soul. "So what if I am indeed lovesick? The object of my affections does not return them, nor does Rebecca. Now leave me to suffer in peace."

  The Midnight Aurora hit a trough in the air with a dip and a lurch. Edwin's insides echoed the maneuver. Had he misheard Simeon's words? He took a deep, steadying breath. It struggled past the tightness in his throat to reach his lungs.

  "Someone... other than Rebecca?" His voice sounded strained, strangled by the unseen hand clamped around his neck.

  "Yes, someone other than Rebecca. Now do leave me alone." Simeon turned back to the clouds.

  Edwin retreated quietly into the interior of the skyship. He passed Rebecca and Claude in the parlor, playing at a hand of cards. Neither of them looked up. He passed through without a word, to the living quarters and the privacy of his cabin. Simeon felt interest in someone other than Rebecca.

  But who? Rebecca, Simeon's second cousin, had been all but betrothed to him since birth. They'd grown up together, with the clear expectation that they would marry once Simeon completed his education. Even now, embarked upon a bachelor's last wild journey before settling into the bonds of matrimony, she accompanied him with the clear blessing of her family. Of course Simeon should care about her, should be upset when she danced with other men as she'd done at nearly every stop on their drifting travels around the world.

  Edwin never once suspected the true cause of Simeon's upset centered on someone other than Rebecca.

  Edwin sat in the barrel chair. Bolted securely to the floor, it occupied a space beside a round table, set at an angle somewhere between comfortable and awkward. He fingered its dark red leather upholstery, its brass studs. Someone other than Rebecca.

  Who?