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“It’s magnificent,” she said under her breath.
“Isn’t it?” Nora said. “It belonged to her from before she was married, and she brought it to this house with her.” She ran a hand over the piano keys and an off-note melody rang in the air. Nora took a seat on the bench and motioned Carmen to do the same.
“Won’t you come sit down with me?” Nora asked.
“Certainly,” Carmen said. She took a deep breath as her fingers rested over the keys. It had been years since she had played the piano. When she was learning to play, she would stay up for hours, practicing till her fingernails bled out. Her parents had grown so tired of it that they had the piano locked up in a far corner of the house, but Carmen was resilient, and she managed to get inside there and practice at night. Eventually her parents gave in and asked a tutor to help her play.
“What’s wrong?” Nora asked, noticing the pain in Carmen’s eyes.
She shook her head in turn. “This instrument has been a very important part of life.” It made her and then it destroyed her too.
“How so?” Nora asked. But Carmen couldn’t explain without giving away her pain and suffering. She was just a child.
“It doesn’t matter anymore,” she said. And it was true. She was safe here, finally.
“Will you play the lullaby for me?” Nora asked. “You promised to teach it to me.” So far, Carmen had avoided doing so. She thought it was rather unfair that someone else’s daughter would get to learn it before her own daughter. But then she looked at Nora and realized all children were made in the image of God.
“I will teach you,” she said. She closed her eyes, her lungs filling with air. When she let go, her fingers descended on the piano, moving gracefully. A melody stirred up, soft and haunting. Carmen chased her instincts, and it was like meeting an old friend, something as simple as breathing or sleeping or even just existing. As the notes wrapped around her, she started to sing.
Sisters mine, far and wide
Come see what the fairies brought me tonight
Lovely, lovely, her skin is rosy
We all go posy around her
Carmen sang for what felt like seconds, minutes, hours. It was only after she finished the final stanza that she opened her eyes. Nora was looking up at her, her face a mask of pure awe. “You’re an angel.”
Carmen couldn’t help but smile. “What?”
Nora tugged on a strand of her hair. “When you were singing, it sounded like an angel’s lullaby.”
“Did you like it?” she asked.
Nora nodded. “Will you teach it to me now?”
“Well, of course.” Carmen nodded. “We play it like this…”
* * *
There was only so much time that Arthur could spend at Richard’s home. The man had duties to attend to and even if his friend never objected to his presence, surely, he would feel disgruntled to entertain him all the time. Richard was, at least, understanding about his condition and tried to accommodate him as much as possible.
He checked the time in his pocket watch. It was little after midafternoon, so it was a safe bet to say that the woman had left by then. As he walked into the house, however, he noticed that something was amiss.
“What’s wrong?” he asked Ramon who didn’t even ask for his coat or his walking stick. “You look terribly distracted.”
“Your Grace, Lady Nora isn’t in her lesson room.”
Arthur frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Well Mrs. Cooper was feeling a little under the weather so she wrote a note saying that she wouldn’t be able to make it here today. But somehow the servants misplaced it. I had duties to attend to and I assumed Lady Nora would remain in her care. Unfortunately, when I could make it to the lesson room, I realized she wasn’t there.”
Arthur narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean she isn’t there? Don’t you have any idea about her whereabouts?”
Ramon hesitated, his mustache twitching. “Well, she must be somewhere inside the manor because none of the servants saw her leave.”
“Must be?” Arthur almost roared. “How could you have allowed this to happen? And where on Earth is her music tutor?”
