Katherine
I woke up disoriented and a bit confused. The unfamiliar blue walls of the room that had once been my mother's stared back at me while I try to get my bearings.
I stared down at my night shift and my hand which contained the ring that Cillian had placed on it. The ring that only the mistresses of Stratford wore. Hadn't I envisioned myself in this ring but under a completely different circumstance? One where my future was in my hand and not in that of some self absorbed prick?
The deed was done, crying over spilled milk was something father always strongly advised against and I wasn't going to start after his death.
I rose from the bed, letting the covers slide off my body and fall in an unfashionable heap by my feet. I felt the same, calm, confident and still untouched by a man.
The morning breeze blew past my windows urging me to quickly change into something more outdoorsy and go for a walk to clear my head and think of what to tell mother should she ask how last night went.
And 'I shivered too much that Cillian knew I repelled him,' would not do.
The servants hustled about as I walked past the hallway filled with pictures of every Earl in the family. The hallways of greatness, as father would fondly call it.
His own picture had been hung up there not too long ago. Cillian's painting would begin as soon as he wishes it, if I can measure the weight of his self absorption by how he acted last night, he probably had called for an artist.
My legs of their own accord led me out of the hall, out of the front doors and round back to the garden that my mother had been keeping, another thing I had inherited.
Just as I stepped around the hibiscus tree to walk towards the shed, I heard a soft laugh and listened.
A feminine giggle, full of joy danced in the air for a while before falling silent.
"Oh Lewis, I brought you over for an entirely different reason." My mother's deceptively call voice rang out, stiffening my back.
What was she doing with Lewis, the family doctor? And why are they hidden?
I stretched out my head to get a better look and discovered that they stood in plain sight while I was in fact the one hiding.
"Katherine and the Earl must have coupled last night, I would like you to give her something to ease the terrible pain."
Terrible pain? I wasn't in … oh right.
"Terrible pain?" Lewis echoed my question. "Yes, this morning should bring out a discomfort and little ache in her but not so much so that she would be in pain. I would kill the new Earl myself…" There was a ruffling indication mother trying to restrain him.
"Lewis, you are such a good man. The only good thing my marriage with John had unknowingly brought into my life. Minus my two girls of course. You are very dear to my heart." I held unto my gasp, was mother cheating on father with the family doctor?
No wonder she hadn't mourn him, his death had given her leeway to frolic around with her lover. No wonder she hadn't fought to remain the mistress and fight my marriage to Cillian.
"Speaking of the girls, have you seen Katherine this morning?" Lewis asked.
I wished my name turned to ash on his tongue.
"No."
"So how do you know she is in pain?"
A pause.
"My first time had be terrible and…"
"Were you raped by the earl?"
How dare he ask such a question.
mother had the decency to try and straighten out hinge out. "Well you see, as my husband he was well within his rights to demand that I submitted to him, I tried my best that night but…" unable to listen to my mothers voice break any further with her secret lover, I retreated to my bedroom.
Father had worked tirelessly for us all and this was how she was repaying him.
"I've given my travel route much thoughts, first stop, Paris then Japan then America and then China." Shirley babbled on about the many ways to spend her inheritance while the servant's busied themselves with the plate settings.
The family had woken up famished and surrounded the dinning table before breakfast had been prepared and the servants seemed to quake in their boots each time they approached their new lord.
"Shirley dear, wouldn't it be wiser to visit china immediately after Japan? After all, they are in the same continent, just less of a cost if you've had to leave and come back." Mother said smiling like she was excited to hear Shirley unravel her plans.
"Oh yes, I hadn't even thought of it like that. I shall do that instead. I am certain for a fact that I shall return to London a completely different woman."
I almost snickered.
Where was all this bitterness in me stemming up from?
"No matter what color and attributes you return in, you shall always have a home here." Cillian said warmly extending a hand to briefly hold her. Hands that had played with my hair now held my sister.
"Thank you lord…" "Cillian, I have told you."
He had told her? When had they discussed things? Was he also seeing my sister in private?
My stomach churned and I left out a huff picking up a spoon and my glass cup and hitting it hard enough to get the attention of everyone on the table.
Silence fell around us.
"The eggs have been served and so has the bacons, please let us put our manners to good use and refrain from talking while eating."
"Well I'd be damned, having a lass control me in my own fucking house."
My cheeks colored at Cillian's colorful words and I fought to temp down the embarrassment while mother stared at both of us with moon in her eyes.