Never Without You

Jeremiah is a very untidy ghost. Abigail accuses the DuPres family of being in league with Victoria Winters, the witch, the cause of all the Collins family’s bad luck. Andre intends to speak to Joshua about his sister’s insulting remarks.

“From you, madam, I expect nothing but narrow opinions of a lonely and fanatical old woman. It is at once a pity and a blessing that you were not born in France. Good day, madam!”

Natalie and Andre leave Josette alone for a moment. The Ghost of Jeremiah pays his widow another visit, then vanishes.

Andre and Joshua dismiss the strange occurrence at the cemetery as a hallucination, brought on my Josette’s grief and Naomi’s drunkenness. Andre puts Josette to bed while Joshua and Naomi bicker. Naomi sees Jeremiah standing outside the window, but Joshua sees nothing.

Josette wakes and sees Jeremiah at her bedside. She thinks he has recovered. Andre tells her that Jeremiah is dead. They realize he died at the exact moment Josette saw him in her room.

Angelique manages to leave Josette with the impression that Barnabas hates her for marrying Jeremiah and destroying his friendship with his uncle. Angelique smiles as she leaves. Meanwhile, Barnabas tells Andre that he forgives Josette and he wants to forgive Jeremiah. However, he finds it hard to forget that Jeremiah is Josette husband and stole her from him. Suddenly, they notice that Jeremiah has stopped breathing.

Josette refuses to leave Jeremiah’s bedside. She is to blame for everything. She feels the chill of death in the air and believes Jeremiah will die soon; Andre asks Barnabas to speak to Josette and ease her guilt…if he ever loved her.

“I loved her.”

*Poor Jeremiah. Dying of a chest wound with bandages on his head. lol

While Angelique eavesdrops, Trask insists a coven of witches may have helped Vicki escape. The household must be interrogated. Andre objects to being questioned by a “complete idiot.”

“You want him to kill you!”

Jeremiah doesn’t want to die, but perhaps that is the cost of their betrayal. Andre interrupts with the news that Barnabas wants to see Jeremiah. Perhaps they can settle this without dueling. Josette persuades him to talk with Barnabas.

“Jeremiah, if you must be punished, so must I. Let our punishment be our life, not your death.”

Andre kicks a curtsying Angelique out of Barnabas’ room (yes, what ARE you doing there, Angelique?), and asks if Barnabas might still want Josette to be happy. Barnabas gets all melodramatic, “She’s ruined my life!” But Andre wonders if he won’t feel remorse if he destroys Josette’s life to save his pride.

*Why is that tacky orange and gold bedspread on Barnabas’ bed in 1795? That thing just screams 1960s.

“This morning Ben woke us up and he brought a letter to Jeremiah from Barnabas. Jeremiah read it and left. Papa, they are going to fight today!”

Josette is frantic. She had hoped Joshua would stop the duel from taking place. Angelique is shocked and apparently the last to know about the duel.

*I guess Angelique didn’t count on Barnabas possibly getting his head blown off. lol She really doesn’t think things through, does she?

*Does this mean Jeremiah and Josette stayed together in Josette’s room? Sacrilege.

Josette is reunited with her father and Jeremiah with his brother. Jeremiah blurts out that they are married. Andre isn’t happy Jeremiah broke his promise to stay away from Josette. Fearing village gossip and scandal, Joshua insists that they will live at Collinwood. Period. End of Discussion. Joshua Collins has spoken.

“I will not tolerate the gossip that your staying in the village would start. There will be enough questions asked behind our backs as it is. We are a family. We will be a united front. This is the way it must be!”

Barnabas still doesn’t believe that Jeremiah ran off with Josette, but does wonder if Josette could have romanticized him and perhaps he is not the man she remembered from Martinique. Andre assures him that Josette loves him. Joshua enters and announces that Jeremiah and Josette are the victims of witchcraft—Victoria Winters’ witchcraft. A witchhunter, Reverend Trask, is coming to investigate Vicki. Barnabas thinks this is absurd and threatens to put a stop to it. Joshua warns him not to interfere or he will consider him an enemy. Barnabas glares at his father.

Barnabas doesn’t understand how Josette’s wedding veil ended up on the road. Could she have been abducted? Andre doesn’t know what to think. Angelique enters and inquires after her mistress. When she is alone with Barnabas, she begins to urge him to go to bed. He cuts her off, staring daggers at her.

“In spite of what I’ve been through, I still love her. No matter what happened, or what will happen, I will always love her.”

*Well, that didn’t go exactly as planned, eh, Angelique? lol

Barnabas and Andre find Josette’s wedding veil caught on a tree branch on the road leading out of town. Meanwhile, in the servant’s quarters, Angelique is describing the scene as she stares into the flames. Ben reckons Angelique can do anything, and the meaner the act, the better she is at it (lol…truthteller Ben, I love you!). They’ll go downstairs and witness the fun, but must take care to arrive separately. Why, taunts Ben, is she afraid Mr. Barnabas will think there is something between them? She warns him not to make her too angry, or he could have a similar fate to Joshua Collins.

“You’re a mean, unmerciful woman.”

“I can be. When I’m not treated with the proper respect.”

*They gave us a winter backdrop for the road (it’s December, 1795), but forgot all about the surrounding woods being green. lol

Barnabas searches the woods for Josette. Angelique causes an apparition to appear, laughing and mocking and claiming to be Jeremiah. Since the apparition neither looks nor sounds like his uncle, Barnabas isn’t fooled. But when the apparition uses the “u” word…”Josette has been unfaithful to you!”…Barnabas shoots at him anyway. Andre comes along and really thinks Barnabas has lost it when he claims to hear a voice (Angelique’s, but he doesn’t recognize her…lol), telling him to go to the road that leads out of town.