Authors: Lindsay Kiernan
Katherine's favorite new routine since becoming injured was taking walks with Winnie since she was not supposed to go alone anymore. They had much in common, including a love for horses and they talked comfortably for hours during their leisurely night strolls through the better parts of town.
“I have a beautiful white mare at home, but when we come to town we have to leave him there. I don't get to ride as often when we visit London,” Winnie told her.
One thing that they didn't share was Katherine's love of honeyed tea. Winnie had even tried hers one afternoon as Katherine sat sipping the beverage as if it were liquid heaven.
“It can't be that good.” Winnie had argued. Handing the cup over, Katherine had let her take a sip of the sweet brew. “No, that really is terrible,” Winnie had insisted after making a face.
They began trusting in each other, talking about their hopes of the future and what they would each require to be happy. While Katherine wanted to bare her secrets to Winnie, she held back from telling her that she would be disinherited by her mother were she not to marry a lord. She also skirted around talking about exactly what kind of man she wanted because she found herself as unsure as ever.
Winnie was more open and she spoke about how hard it was to always be the woman who couldn't join in on the events and she described how she longed for when she was old enough to attend dances and other social events. Going to the theater had been a huge deal for her and she beamed whenever she spoke of it. “I don't want to get married right away,” Winnie felt the need to clarify. “I hope to spend at least two years before settling for a husband. It's just the fear of being left out that makes me so antsy.”
Katherine promised herself that she would try to help Winnie not feel so cut off from the events that Mrs. Brentley took her and Robin to. She would include Winnie whenever possible and she planned to discuss with Mrs. Brentley the idea of letting her daughter begin attending social events a little earlier than she had planned.
“I get to come too!” Winnie exclaimed as she burst into the small parlor room that had become their own personal sanctuary.
Setting her book aside, Katherine patted the seat beside her on the settee for Winnie to join her. “What do you mean?” she asked, excited to see Winnie happy and exuberant. Her moods were always infectious for Katherine and it was easy for Winnie to brighten her day.
“Victor's invitation included Mrs. Brentley, her charges and family, and mother decided that I could go with all of you to the Sullivan Estate for the full week,” Winnie said.
The retreat was all that Robin had talked about on the few occasions when Katherine had seen her sister alone since the night that they had discussed Garrett and Kent.
Winnie had been equally excited even though she had believed that she would have to stay at the townhouse alone. Katherine refused to admit that she had taken any steps to help with Winnie receiving the invitation. A short discussion with Mrs. Brentley had not included whether or not she should be allowed to attend Victor's retreat, they had merely discussed how mature Winnie had become.
“Mother says that the crowd he keeps is likely to be unconventional and so she felt that it was not quite a society event. Therefore, even though I have not had a coming out party, she is allowing me to attend.”
“That's wonderful,” Katherine said, trying to sound like it was a shock to her. “It will be nice to have you there with me.”
“I won't be able to attend the ball at the end, but I can be there for the picnics. And we can finally go horse riding together. I've heard that Victor has some great horses and a large forest with trails running through it. This trip will be wonderful.”
Katherine watched how excited her friend was at the news, how she bubbled over with excitement. After years of seeing her mother take other girls on grand adventures it must have been a relief for Winnie to finally be invited along.
“Is Garrett planning on attending?” she asked quietly. He had not been by since the night that they had kissed beneath the apple trees and although Winnie didn't know what had happened she knew that something had gone wrong between the two.
“Yes he's going to be there too.” Winnie tried to move past the news and onto something that would make her friend happy, even if she did not approve of Katherine's affections for him. “Kent will be there as well.”
“Lord Kent?” Katherine asked, finally looking forward to the weekend retreat, maybe it wouldn't be as useless for her as she had worried.
Winnie nodded uncomfortably, handing her the small note that he had passed her an hour ago when she had been out to fetch some fresh flowers with one of the maids. “He asked me to give you this.”
The short note informed her that he had not been able to get past 'The Hag that guarded the doors of the townhouse', but that he would see her soon at the Sullivan Estate and he wished her well.
“If you really want to see him you'll have to be sneaky, mother has told me that she doesn't want him anywhere near you again.” After seeing Katherine with Kent at the dance, Mrs. Brentley had all but forbidden her charge from seeing him.
Katherine knew that she would be going against her sponsor's wishes and best intentions. She had begun to feel bad for Mrs. Brentley who was used to her charges listening to her. Their tea party had proven that the women had trusted her, and still did. They gathered each year to listen to the sage advice of their former sponsor. And Katherine was sure that Mrs. Brentley had chosen the twins as some crowning achievement before her daughter's turn and her retirement from London's society. Now both of her charges were pursuing men that she did not approve of.
“You like him, don't you?” Winnie asked after Katherine read the small note.
“Yes I do,” Katherine refolded the letter and tucked it away. “If I write one back to him, would you deliver it?” she asked, already knowing that she would be refused.
While Winnie had been willing to deliver the note to Katherine she put her foot down now. “I refuse to help you marry him, so don't ask me for any more favors when it comes to him,” she huffed indignantly before leaving the room.
Even after Victor's repeated gloating about his house, the Sullivan estate was much larger than either of the Wellings twins had expected it to be. Victor had filled them in on the history of the property, telling them about how it had once belonged to one of the richest Dukes in England. Through the years the family had become poor and their house had run into disrepair. For this reason Victor had been able to purchase the property well below its actual value. He readily admitted that the house needed work with updating into the newest fashions, but the size alone made the mansion fashionable enough to impress almost everyone who visited despite the outdated and sometimes dusty pieces of furniture.
Once on his property, they passed woods and gullies for miles before reaching the house itself. Winnie smiled at the trees and rough terrain, watching little paths that wove through the grounds. “This will be great for horseback riding. I've needed a better challenge for quite some time.” Mrs. Brentley scowled at the comment. It was clear that she did not approve of her daughter's wild antics when it came to horseback riding.
Robin watched the servants running about and looked closely at the grounds and outbuildings as they approached the main house. She seemed to be deciding what she would keep or change about the place once she became mistress of the house. “Victor has enough money that I could set his estate up any way that I wanted to,” she told her sister before they left that morning, when Katherine had tried to confront her about Victor. “He's rich and he wants to marry me. That's enough of a reason to marry him.”
“But do you believe that you could ever love him back?” Katherine had asked, hoping to hear some kind sentiment about Victor other than his riches.
“God no, he may be somewhat handsome and intelligent enough to have stepped up in the world, but love him?” She laughed disdainfully. “Besides why would I want to? Love only makes life confusing and difficult,” Robin told her.
It was not the answer that she had hoped for.
Katherine tried not to look through the small crowds already gathering outside to greet friends as they arrived. Garrett had not come by to visit at the townhouse and she began to wonder if it was part of his larger plan. Getting her used to his presence so that she would notice when he wasn't there. It hurt her to admit that she had indeed noticed his absence over the past few days despite her best attempts not to. Besides she needed to find some way to apologize, not that she thought that he would accept it. He had been hurt by her and she didn't know how to patch things up so that they could be friends.
As their carriage stopped, Katherine was surprised to see that Kent's face was the first one they saw. Opening the door he helped escort Robin and Katherine out of the carriage, holding Katherine's hand just a tad too long and winking at her in the process. He had then offered his assistance to Mrs. Brentley who instead pushed past him as she exited. Looking into the small interior he found another occupant looking equally upset at his presence.
“Well if it isn't the little Brentley brat,” he said as he pulled Winnie out of the carriage against her will. Despite her gangly height and surprising strength Kent was able to easily over power her. Setting Winnie on her feet he looked her over. “I thought you were still too little for these events.”
Winnie brushed off her skirts as if his hands might have dirtied them. “I'm not the same little girl that you used to pick on. I've changed Kent.”
“I think you might be right,” he answered standing closer so that he could look her over better. “You're taller. That's what's different,” he decided, while ignoring that she had changed in any other way. “Still, what are you doing here?”
“Next year is my coming out, since I am nearly old enough, Victor invited me to join his party as well.”
Kent actually looked shocked to realize that she was that old already. “Next year,” he mumbled as Winnie brushed past him.
Katherine pulled at Kent's arm before he could say something more to upset Winnie, who was already seething as she began to stomp away. He definitely wasn't making things easier for her to sneak away and see him; Winnie was their only chance for cover.
Victor's tall figure came striding over to them and he grasped Robin, kissing her hand tenderly before acknowledging his other guests. “I have installed you in the upstairs family quarters,” he informed them. “They are much nicer than most of my guest rooms that the other guests will be staying in.”
Robin beamed up at him. She enjoyed being treated differently than everyone else. It helped confirm that she was as special as she had always thought herself to be.
“Are there enough rooms in the family suites?” Mrs. Brentley asked as she took a survey of the house behind her that extended for rows and rows of perfectly placed large windows.
“The house contains six family suites, nineteen guest rooms and a separate building for the bachelors, which I believe should be adequate,” he told her. While Mrs. Brentley had not tried to hide her opinion of Victor, he was already well aware that she felt he was beneath her charges despite his wealth and possessions.
Katherine was pleased to hear that she would not be sharing a room with her sister. Any more of Robin's tales about his wealth might cause her to become physically sick.
Victor hurried them past the other groups of guests and led them into the large empty grand hallway. He gestured to some of the antique fixtures that looked old and had suffered through irregular polishing jobs.
“I purchased the house and property from an impoverished Duke and so far I have kept almost everything the same. Clearly some of the rooms could use some updating and I have the finances but not the required taste to redo the entire estate.” He was quickly greeted by Robin's suggestions on what he could do to improve the house. She could have told him keeping wild animals and hay in each room would have improved it, and he still would have beamed at her as if she were the smartest woman that he had ever met.
After walking up two flights of stairs and twisting through a few long hallways, they were shown the family quarters where they were to reside for the next week. The servants broke off, each of them taking one of the ladies to show her the suite of rooms that she would occupy. Katherine couldn't help thinking during her own tour of the rooms that everything Victor bought seemed to be too large and gaudy, maybe Robin's help and advice would be needed. Her suite consisted of three rooms. The first was a small sitting room, designed for private guests and was built with a small reading nook by the window.
The second room was the bedroom with a large canopy style bed that Katherine had come to associate with only the very wealthy. Each pink cotton cover looked new and the drapes smelled clean and fresh. She was surprised at what lengths he had gone to just to impress Robin's friends and sister. Maybe given his past of broken engagements he was serious about trying to impress all of her relations to insure that the woman did not leave him again.
Finally, the third was a small powder room just off of the bedroom. A claw foot tub sat in the corner and outside of the window Katherine could see a perfect view of the stables. The large barn alone looked larger than most houses that she had entered back home.