A Momentous Occasion, Henryella

[Isabella Scarborough]

Isabella Scarborough



September 12th, 1869

Oh so it had been Henry? Bella sat up perfectly straight again and cocked a brow. Bella could still remember that day as if it were only yesterday. She had put her hair half up and threw it over her shoulder. All the young boys told her she looked a lot like a woman who worked at some bar. Bella yelled at one of them asking if he was implying that she was a whore. Those little boys loved to make her snap and the boys younger than herself were too afraid to even speak with her aside from James her small sidekick. He was a quiet shy eight year old who had always looked up to Bella like a big sister. "Well I hope your friend enjoyed the beating I gave him, very few civilian's have ever had the pleasure of being beaten by me." That wasn't really true, Bella had hurt a lot of people with her skills. They were her only means for self defense yet Bella had learned the most dangerous people in this world were seldom men but grown women trying to turn you into an example for other young girls. More grown women in well paid finished schools had hit her harder than any man at the brothel ever could. By the time Bella was fifteen she had become an expert of hiding who she truly was because the world deemed her inappropriate.

"I didn't know any of my love interests back then aside from Patrick and I never gave myself the illusion that he was someone I could ever marry. Though it crossed my mind when Ellie..." Bella stopped, when that happened her value and worth to the world dropped. It made it so easy to become a whore when she was worth nothing to her parents. When all the wealthy men who had been fighting for her turned their backs. Had Bella stayed in that world would she have been married off? Of course but she wouldn't have liked her husband for a second because though no one knew of Ellie's birth the rumors of Bella's broken chastity was known and who wanted something that was broken? So Bella would sell her body then, why not no one would have taken it in higher society though in time ironically most of her customers were rich men with wives. "Besides by the time you were a grown man I was still only fifteen years old. Of course at that age grown men were asking my parents for my hand." It hadn't been because Bella was a fully blossomed woman either. She had been a stunning creature that reminded them of a swan and her personality had been captivating. She was a tall thin graceful creature who moved like the wind supported her.

"The only man of my past my parents would have actually wanted me to settle down with would have been the doctor. He was a brilliant man, worked in an insane asylum and somehow when you work with the mad you go mad yourself. You become a little dangerous and he never liked to hear no which I frequently said to him." She could still remember visiting him and him asking her company to stay outside the office while he talked to her. First off Bella's nanny never thought it right to take a girl like Bella to an asylum. It was no place for a young lady with a fragile mind but they had been speaking of Bella. There was nothing fragile about Bella. The good doctor had gotten angry with Bella when she said her life with him would be miserable. He had slammed her into a wall trying to make her fear him but typical of Bella she never showed her fear, Giovanni had raised her to be the perfect poker player. In a world where your emotions made you appear weak Bella was the master of the game among all other women. You could have threatened her with her life and she would have stood there with a smile on her face, lying with her body motion to never give away the fact she was terrified. "He wasn't my uncle by the way he was my fathers childhood friend and a large shareholder of the company. Vincent Valcony." And a member of the Italian organized crime family, a hit man.

Henry tried to tell her that Darla had destroyed everyone's life, well maybe so she had played god but was it so wrong? Bella had done far worse than Darla. She hadn't killed just one child, just her own, she had murdered plenty of them. Sometimes Bella thought Alex was taken away from her because she killed children and fate felt she didn't deserve to be a mother. After everything she had ever done. What would Henry think of her if he found out about that part of her life? How she had killed one of her own unborn children, posioned a woman so she would miscarry, and had aided in so much suffering even agreeing to help a married woman rid herself of a child she carried because her husband had hit her and she didn't want to have his child. As desert rolled around Bella didn't bother getting anything for herself. One of the women at the table even asked if she had lost her appetite. Of course she had, she hadn't even come with one really but Bella hold her tongue not wanting to embarrass herself anymore than she had. Henry pushed his tart towards her trying his best to make his wife eat. Bella could let herself wither away and die, she could will it. She could stop her hunger, stop her thirst and die so easily but she wouldn't. Bella loved her life, why shouldn't she? That was the only reason she would eat something without being hungry. Bella just told herself she had to live for Danny, Elizabeth, and Henry. "Thank you darling."

[Henry Scarborough]

---

September 12th, 1869
Apollo Hall, Denver, CO
Around 8:00pm

“He deserved it, as soon as I jumped that fence and saw all the Italians I about . . . lost control of my bowels.” he was going to say ‘shit a brick’ but decided against it. Buddy was a moron, he had no place among them running those mean streets, he belonged back home with his perfect parents, his perfect house, and his perfect future. Henry felt he had his reasons and they were rightly justified, when he went home his father beat him, so why go home? He still loved his mother, was honestly a bit sad to hear his father had died, not surprised in the news that his mother had remarried. If she didn’t live in New York he may have even gone to see her once a year or so but there was also that fear of what she would say to him. People could call him names to his face all day long and he wouldn’t flinch. His mother telling him she regrets the day he was born, really burned him. He would be perfectly fine never seeing her again and could have taken the time to write her a letter while he was also writing a letter to Christopher but never felt up to it.

It was not exactly unheard of for men to begin lusting after a woman when she was fifteen years old, asking for her hand so by the time she was sixteen and ripe for the picking she would be his. Some women had the luxury of being wealthy and having a say in who they married, some women had the luxury of being ugly so that no man wanted her. But for Bella, everyone wanted her and for Henry to end up marrying her was nothing short of downright astounding, especially seeing as how she could have married anyone, anyone she wanted and yet she apparently wanted him. He couldn’t complain, the biggest worry on his mind right now, even bigger than the run for office, was getting Bella healthy enough to carry their next child they were working so hard to make. It had been three months and still nothing, he knew she was getting discouraged but as he pushed food in her face all the time, begging her to eat, it would surely only be a matter of time until they would be happy expectant parents again.

“I doubt at fifteen you were imagining yourself here, huh?” he laughed and ate a spoonful of cheddar bacon soup. Most of the dishes on the table seemed to be French but he thought the French hated pigs so why was there bacon? He must have been mistaken, but he did know they liked frogs, a delicacy he was hoping to eventually man up and try for himself. As Bella spoke of a doctor that very platter came round and he gingerly helped himself to a leg of frog, he had never seen one this large around here, where the hell did frogs get this damn big?
“My father threatened t’send me away to a place like that every now and then, but I don’t think he ever would have, he sorta had my whole future planned out an’ I doubt he would’ve just thrown it all away like that. It was just a rouse I guess t’make me straighten up.” besides Henry was not crazy, just belligerent and rebellious, a common and understandable trait in a man his age, but for a woman it would have been frowned upon and seen as deviant behavior. Pulling a piece of meat from the bone with his fork Henry hoped it would taste all right and helped himself, “Hmm . . . tastes like chicken.”

Bella thanked him for the apple tart and he reached out with one finger, pushing it even closer to her, then went back to the strawberry cobbler. He had been careful this evening, some things he had a hard time digesting or they simply did not sit right with him. He had avoided anything with tomatoes or other acidic foods, the cheese well, he wouldn’t have to worry about that for at least a day. All he had to do now was stay standing or seated with proper posture and he wouldn’t have to worry about a stomach ache, or worse, gas. He hoped the host wouldn’t have a problem with a little after dinner smoke either, looking around at the silver cigarette tins peeking out of breast pockets it appeared many other guests were thinking the same.

As the chatter rose it was clear many of the diners were finished with their meals and now Henry noticed many servants coming from the ballroom up the marbled hall. This was a very nice theater, albeit small and quaint, it was still rather impressive. Faint music of many softly played strings floated melodically down the corridor and hushed the guests as their host joined them and said they would be heading to the ball room now. Henry polished off his wine followed the example of the other men as they got to their feet, stepped over to their wives and offered their arm. These people had clearly done this many times, filing down the sides of the table and heading for the ballroom in orderly single file fashion, the only sounds were the soft whispers of restrained excitement and the swish of evening gowns, the clatter of polished heels. The high vaulted ceiling was decorated with motifs and gold leaf, flickering flames dancing across the guilt surfaces of the room, original paintings hanging on every wall as the band softly played in the corner. The banker wondered if the woman on his arm was as nervous as he.

[Isabella Scarborough]

Isabella Scarborough



September 12th, 1869

Bella had to think about that question for a moment. She was absolutely certain at that young an age she wouldn't have been in this life...well in this moment yet she expected her life to look like this. but not on how it came to be, never. How could she have known she would become a whore and marry a drunk because she couldn't live up to her job and keep herself from getting pregnant. Though at the same time Danny wasn't going to be easy to avoid since Henry had tried to make him. It was more or less not her fault that it had happened and she loved her little boy so much. Life without him was hard to imagine, his big blue green eyes and that mop of dark curls. That baby was far too cute to ignore. "I can't say I did expect myself to end up here though I did assume I would be married to a banker or a doctor of some sort. But I didn't think I would love him and i certainly didn't think I would have a beautiful little boy with him. Then again I was living with the impression that the man I married would be old and ugly so I wasn't expecting adorable children." Perhaps the sort that were mistaken for family pets.

She cringed at the sight of Henry eating a frogs leg, it was bad enough to watch people eat meat but to watch them eat meat she otherwise would never consume even if she did eat meat was so much more. Bella thought back on her youthful days in Italy catching frogs and bringing them into town to sell. Was that what happened to the frogs she caught went to? Be be sold for food? Maybe they had, the frogs in Italy were rather large and the children would bring buckets of them to sell to some man who wanted them for some odd reason then would give the children a few coins to go spend on candy. Bella could hardly stand the thought, that she had caused the deaths of several frogs and she had been so good at catching them. As a child in her naive state she liked to think they would become beloved pets or perhaps e they would race them. Now she knew the truth and it made her stomach turn.

She tried to eat the tart without thinking back on the frogs and their untimely death. This was apart of the reason she could eat meat. When she looked at an animal she saw a living creature. Something that deserved to live, to breath, to exist. Something that belonged to the earth because if it belonged to man then they would have been created into captivity not the wild. She saw exotic beautiful creatures with extraordinary talents. choking down the tart was a bit harder than she had thought but when it was gone she was happy for it. Now Henry could leave her alone for the rest of the day about eating and not eating and never eating enough. As everyone rose to gather in the main hall for the dancing Bella watched the small army of men clean away the dishes and vanish back into whatever hole they emerged from. Likely to spend the rest of their night washing them up or serving small deserts to the guests in the dance hall. Bella had nearly forgotten how this life was. You never lifted a finger yourself, what was there to be proud of as a housewife? Even Bella now wanted to work, to earn her keep. She had learned in the brothel that you are only worth what you put into this world.

Taking her husbands arm she followed him into the grand room looking around at the architecture and taking in the sound of the...typical music played at such events. A far cry from the music they played at the dances in Buffalo. Turning to Henry she looked up into his eyes giving him a little smile. "It's funny, it's been so long since last I attended an event such as this and yet Henry it seems I have stepped into my old roles so easily. That man over there has had his eye on me all night." She glanced over Henry's shoulder to look at one of the men who had been watching her. Unlike so many wives Bella hadn't lost her figure through years of child birthing more had she lost her youthful luster. Bella still retained her charming youth.

[Henry Scarborough]

/___________________________________________________________________________________________________\



September 12th, 1869
Apollo Hall, Denver, CO
Around 8:00pm

Not wanting to laugh right away Henry instead took a sip of his wine, “Ya know, eventually I’ll be old and ugly, so you’ll be married to an old, ugly banker.” then he laughed. Some men aged very well and looked rather distinguished with the silver fletching in their beard and hair around the ears. Their eyes wouldn’t lose that youthful vigor but the lines around them told the story of how often they had squinted up to the sun on a warm day. Henry was already looking in the mirror in the mornings wondering where those lines had come from, they weren’t too noticeable, not yet anyways. Being so fair haired though it was difficult to tell if he was greying or not, the coarse, ginger hair on his beard would probably be a good indicator if his hair was greying but if he let it grow out too much Bella shunned him in the bedroom. Although grazing the inner of her thigh with the stubble on his jawline was fun, as long as she didn’t suddenly close her legs on his head. Smiling inwardly he gave thought to having more beautiful children at some point as Bella finished off the apple tart. One look from her and she would know his thoughts were far from squeaky clean, but with Henry they never were.

The bustling servants made due for a fine evening as they rushed about, silently with surprising covertness. Adorning garments that essentially harmonized with the color of the walls they were nearly invisible, but the white gloves, crisp cuffs and starched collars gave them away if the splayed silver trays did not. At the moment Henry’s cufflinks cost more than the average man’s entire outfit. The drifters swaggering into town with their muddied trousers, threadbare shirts and tattered dusters with the scuffed boots was no different than the way he had come into town those years ago. Now here he was with a pair of shoes that would cost as much as a ranch hand’s pay for a whole month of back breaking labor punching cattle. It wasn’t necessary but Scarborough couldn’t deny he felt like a new man, a better man. There were gents here dressed far better than he, the governor for instance wore a silk shirt that rivaled the banker’s whole suit as far as costliness went. Bella’s dress had been special ordered he guessed, he was always bringing some sort of thick catalog home, handed it to her and told her to pick out anything she wanted, if she wanted anything. He knew he didn’t have to buy her love or happiness but she had fine taste in dress and he loved to watch her try things on. Besides Christmas was in a few months and he wanted to get her something special. He was already getting his cousin something very special. The kids were easy to buy for and then there was Daniel Helm, whom he still needed to figure out.

They finally moved into the ballroom and Henry could feel the electricity in the air along with that mellow but inviting bellow of a double bass in the small orchestra at the end of the room. Three violinists soon joined in and it was a rather slow tune and Bella quipped that she felt right at home. Well good for her because this was all entirely new to him, “This was the part of the fancy dinner where my parents stayed for hours on end while I went back t’the buggy and smoked or slept in the carriage. One time I walked home, took me a while though.” he laughed. Walking from fifty-ninth street where Central Park was now located to Fulton Street in Brooklyn was a pain. It was about five and a half miles but walking it took the sixteen year old a good while, almost two hours. In the dark and noisy streets of New York that was not a good idea anyways, “As for Mister Pennington eyeballing you, well he’s on the Council as well but he’s just a man with say so if you will . . . he votes, that’s about it. But he’s not married so I imagine he’s eyeing several women tonight.” he spoke lowly in that smoky voice one would associate with a barroom singer as he taps out a melody on the yellowed keys of an ancient piano in the musty corner of some ramshackle saloon. Taking her hand lightly in his he moved out onto the floor where only one other couple was daring to start the night off with the slow dance. Everyone else was smoking and chattering, “But, he’ll have to wait his turn.” taking a spot close to the City Manager and his young wife, but giving them ample space, Henry assumed the ubiquitous position of hand in hand, the other on the swell of Bella’s waist and just concentrated on not stepping on her toes and disallowing that urge to touch her in a way that would be deemed inappropriate, “I love you . . . I hope you’re having a good time, I know I am because that dress is . . . well it’s clearly distracting.” he eyed the others, a few of the wives had already yanked their husband’s ties for staring too much. Henry figured they could twirl around for a bit and then Bella could excuse herself to the power room if she so wished, then who knew what the rest of the night had in store?

Word Count: 927
Tagged:Isabella
Lyrics:None
Notes:Yay table!

LISS AT CAUTION 2.0 LOVES ME.

[Isabella Scarborough]

Isabella Scarborough



September 12th, 1869

Bella smiled at Henry, her eyes lighting up when he said one day he would be old and ugly. "Old maybe but never ugly Henry. You are quite the charmer and not a bad looker." People said Henry wasn't the most attractive guy in town. Of course not, no one was ever going to beat Daniel Helm. Honestly he was the hottest thing in Buffalo Creek Bay but by no means was Henry ugly. He had those cute blond waves, not really full curls until it dot to the ends when he grew them out and those eyes. Bella loved his eyes, aside from his poetry those eyes were one of the first things that had won her over. Bella took his arm following him into the dance hall and watching everyone else as they gathered around. Men found their friends almost instantly and starting up conversations as women gathered in small groups and gossiped. Bella was never one to gossip and so she didn't bother to join them. Besides she didn't know anyone here and didn't want to be the outsider trying to fit in.

"I wasn't allowed to the parties until I was 16 after my coming out party. Then I was allowed to stay at the dances and dance with the boys. Or at least the idea was that I would dance with the boys my age but the men were more interested. I was so mature for my age boys seemed like nothing but well...boys to me. Men could carry educated conversations on the other hand." Ah those carefree days as a naive little girl dancing with grown men and thinking they enjoyed her company because she was brilliant for her age and not because she was now old enough to start receiving suitors. Weather they enjoyed her company or not they enjoyed the profit her fathers company brought. Everyone was killing to get there hands on her fathers money and his daughter.

Henry explained who the man was Bella had pointed out. Ah so he wasn't married, wealthy single men were always on the hunt for a wife. It seemed once they were successful it became a race to get a wife, start a family, and then rest easily knowing you had sons to pass all of your hard work down to. Henry didn't have that rush and worry, he actually had a family on the way before he was overly successful. All Henry had was that little house and just recently got the bank when Bella was already two months pregnant. "Well I wish him luck in finding his true love but isn't it a bit rude to starve at someone else's wife?" The truth was they just didn't care. Men still stared at her mother even if the woman was in her 40's now. Even young men stared at her and tried to talk to her but for her age she was still rather youthful.

Following Henry out onto the dance floor she smiled up at him and followed along to the fluid rhythm from the band. "Oh course I'm having fun I'm with you aren't I?" Bella wanted to bad to kiss him but not in public. All the same the look in her eyes and the smile on her face betrayed her true feelings for Henry. She was a woman who was in love. More so than most of the other women in this room. True love, pure love. "Henry stop it, you're making it hard for me to concentrate." she laughed and held her body closer to his. "I don't mean to be such a tease it's just my nature and this you know. after all you are one of the few people who know of my past."

[Henry Scarborough]

/___________________________________________________________________________________________________\

September 12th, 1869
Apollo Hall, Denver, CO
Around 8:05pm

Anyone who didn’t know them could tell just from the way they looked at each other, that the Scarborough’s were by no means faking their affections for one another. Some couples came to outings such as these, smiled and held hands then went home and argued and fought like cats and dogs. But for a well-known and highly esteemed politician it was always good to show up to such social gatherings with a pretty lady on your arm. Or if one's children, also known as their future and heirs, were of age it was always a nice touch to bring them along as well and show them off. Hell it hadn’t escaped Henry that some of his respected colleagues had attended the invitational this evening with good looking women that were only here because they had been paid to accompany their client for the night. Oddly enough, Bella had probably been in a similar situation before but thankfully that was not the case this evening, “Why thank you dear.” he quipped, “I don’t have to tell you how beautiful you are, it would be redundant since I just told you this morning, and the morning before that, and the morning before that.” and not but a few moments ago to add to that.

When Bella was at those parties at sixteen Henry was in North Carolina teaching kids her age to decipher such scholarly literary intellects as Shakespeare and Locke and living with Virginia Huddleston whom he would be engaged to a year or so later. Shrugging a bit he looked down at the floor with a grin that bordered on devious and nervous, running his fingers through his combed back hair, “Well I’d rather not say what I was up to when I was sixteen.” up to no good for sure but when Henry was sixteen he placed highest in his class on his tests, was in the fifth percentile in the whole state for his college placement tests and made his parents very proud even if they never told him so. Henry and Yvette worried if they coddled their son, even with a simple statement like “I’m proud of you, son.” It would give him incentive to stop trying. How he would have loved to tell them they were wrong. Henry and his friend Bobby Greene had a job at a local grocer where they ran the register and stocked the shelves but when Henry’s drawer came up short on an almost regular basis he was fired shortly after he turned seventeen after holding the job for seven months. He voted for the first time that year when the run for Governor of New York fired up the campaigns and he got his first taste of the world of politics. He voted for Myron Clark but he lost to Republican John King. Later he would vote for James Buchanan who would become the fifteenth president of the United States. So although in the long run Henry at sixteen was still a hell raiser, he still contributed to his country and did more than okay in school.

“Well . . .” Henry gave Bella’s comment some thought, “I don’t think it’s all that rude but maybe he’s just jealous.” he laughed as they took to the floor, “It’s well known that a man is considered more stable if he has a wife and kids and will receive more respect from voters that way.” he informed her, “But, there are exceptions. The first president I ever voted for, Buchanan was never married.” Mister Buchanan had passed away just last year and Henry had felt a slight pang of regret to see the man go. He died not too far from Graham Scarborough’s ranch near Philadelphia. An even stranger coincidence was Buchanan had been engaged once to the sister-in-law of a Philadelphia judge and Graham was friends with the young woman’s older brothers James and Edward Coleman. The woman’s brothers and even her father did not approve of the engagement and Eddie and Jim hounded the future president until they thought they had evidence of his unfaithfulness and told their sister who, heartbroken, left Buchanan and committed suicide via a laudanum overdose, “I hope he does find his true love because Buchanan did but the girl’s family sabotaged the engagement and she killed herself. He vowed to never marry.” and it was a promise he had stuck true to until the day he died about a week before Little Danny was born, very committed man and would have made a good husband Henry was sure, “No other woman could compare and . . . I know what that’s like.” he added, turning toward her.

With the history lesson over for the time being Henry and Bella waltzed about the shiny marble floor for a few moments as she admitted to having fun tonight. She did however tell him that he was distracting her just a bit and he leaned down to whisper in her ear, “Looking around tonight, I’m pretty sure you aren’t the only woman here with that particular past.” he confessed, looking over her shoulder and scanning the crowd, “In fact I think for some of them, it’s not their past but rather their present.” they were high class gals so it was difficult to tell unless one watched the way they behaved around their male counterparts. There was a certain respectful clientele distance between them, they acted like strangers to one another. Ballroom dancing was not Henry’s strong suit, which was unfortunate seeing as how his mother was from Spain. But he had learned piano as a boy, not ballroom dancing. But hey, he hadn’t stepped on Bella’s toes so far.

Word Count: 952
Tagged:Bella
Lyrics:NA
Notes:NA

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