Already, she seemed to have worked her way into a familiar position with Alden and Katie couldn't ignore a slight aching in her heart. It hurt more when she realized that Alden also seemed to be hanging on her every word, giving her special, meaningful glances as she spoke.
Katherine gave a nervous little smile, turning back to Katie. "Well," she had a satisfying look on her face, "Alden has been telling me the most interesting story about the two of us being betrothed as children. Isn't that fascinating? I was so surprised. My uncle never mentioned it to me. I can't imagine why not. He must have known something about it." She gave a pleasurable laugh. "I find it rather intriguing. Even though I'm sure no one can actually force us to wed, it is all very amusing just the same."
Katie forced herself to smile in response. "Is that so? I'm sure it is so thrilling for the both of you. It is so lucky that you were able to return and claim your...your spoils."
Katherine frowned. "Do I detect a note of sarcasm?" Her expression changed to amusement. "Don't tell me that the little seamstress had her eyes on Lord Alden Emerson, hoping he would sweep her away and save her from a life of servitude. How touching."
Katie glared at Katherine. She didn't dare look at Alden for fear of what she may learn from the look on his face. Was he laughing at her inside, the way she felt he had when he first found her helpless and humiliated in a puddle of mud? Was this all just a game that the well-to-do liked to play to see how uncomfortable they could make the more unfortunate feel?
She turned her eyes away from the two of them. "If you'll excuse me, I have things that need to be done,” she choked inwardly. "I will let you know when I am ready to fit you for your costume." Then she walked briskly down the hall.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Alain had been so right about Katherine and Alden practically getting ready to announce wedding plans! Katie wanted to close her mind to the whole affair. Why was she letting herself get so involved? What difference did it make to her what Alain did, or what Alden and Katherine did either? She had no part in their affairs. Why couldn't she just ignore it all and be the dutiful seamstress that she was supposed to be without having all these emotions pulling at her so heartlessly?
She had to be truthful with herself. She knew perfectly well why the lives of all these people involved her. Katherine and Alain were her cousins, James Langdon her father, and Alden...Alden was far too important to her for her own good, she told herself severely. Why did she feel there was some unspoken connection between them, when she knew full well that he was most likely betrothed to Katherine, and liked the idea?
Her relationship to them all did not help her feel any more secure. She could never tell them about herself. She could never become a part of their personal lives. She could only stand back in the shadows and watch and wonder, and...and suspect. Even though she was a Langdon, the same as Alain’s mother had been, which was a respected name, she did not have claim on that name, the same way Katherine Gail Langdon had, when Lord Winslow offered to marry her.
Was it her feeling of insecurity that made her side with Alain? She had to admit to herself that she couldn't help but suspect Katherine, as well. Were her doubts about Katherine based on true suspicion, or only because of the possibility that Alden was bound to marry the girl if she truly was the missing heiress? She wasn't prepared, or even wanted, to answer that question.
There was nothing she could do about the situation anyway. Alain would not tell her what she had overheard, if she had truly overheard anything. There were too many things in Katherine's favor and even Katie, herself, had to admit that the story and evidence presented was enough to convince anyone that Katherine must be the true heiress, except, ironically, herself and Alain.
In the back of her mind lingered an uncomfortable feeling which made Katie hope Katherine wasn’t the true heiress. This girl seemed too eager, and James Langdon was too quick to think that Maggie and she were meddling. If there was so much evidence that Katherine was the rightful heir, why was James Langdon so worried and insisted that Maggie and Katie mind their own business? If he had nothing to hide, he wouldn't care how much they snooped around. Even if it was true that Katherine was who she claimed to be, there was something that James was trying to hide, and Katie was determined to discover what it was.
But maybe it was nothing. Maybe he was only afraid that someone might discover that Katie was his daughter, and somehow that would spoil his plans, unless there was something more to it than that. Well, he needn't worry about her telling anyone about their relationship, Katie affirmed to herself. It was the last thing she would want divulged. However, Maggie, loving to tell stories the way she did, might accidentally let the secret slip, she thought frantically. Even though no one ever really listened to the old woman, or believed half of what she said, did James know that?
Perhaps, she had better warn Maggie again to be silent. She started towards Maggie's room. Anyway, she was curious to learn just what Maggie thought about her Kathy returning home to her, and was eager to discover the answer.
Katie hurried down the hall toward Maggie's room. All the while she told herself that she should be in her sewing room designing Katherine's costume instead of prying into matters that should be left to someone else. Who would determine the truth if she didn't, though? Alain, Alden perhaps? The two of them didn't seem to believe the things Maggie tried to tell them, and Maggie was the only one who was there the night of Lady Winslow’s death. She was the only one who knew the true answers. Unfortunately, Katie seemed to be the only one who actually believed her.
Katie found Maggie in her room. The old nursemaid was overjoyed that Katie should stop by to see her.
"No one ever bothers to visit old Maggie anymore." Her face twisted in a child-like pout. "In fact, they go out of their way to avoid me most of the time. Not you, Katie. No, you're different. You've never treated me like a silly old lady who lives in the past, and babbles on to people until their ears are sore.
“Why aren't you like the others? Why do you trust the things I tell you when the others think it is just my imagination running away with me?"
"Is it just your imagination, Maggie?" Katie’s eyes became serious.
Maggie looked a little hurt and confused. "You... you... don't believe me anymore? Have they convinced you that I'm...I'm just an old..." The old frail woman looked so unhappy that Katie had to stop and assure her that they were still friends and she believed the things Maggie had been telling her.
"I just want to make sure that they aren't just made up stories, and if they aren't, then I think you are being misjudged and badly treated by the others," she told Maggie truthfully. "If what you say is true, then you are the only one here who knows the real circumstances of Katherine Gail's disappearance, and it would be interesting to know how they compare with the story James Langdon tells."
Maggie was obviously relieved that Katie still believed in her. "Well, young lady," she puffed out her chest slightly, "I haven't heard the story James has conjured up, but if you have, by all means, tell me about it and we shall see how it all fits in."
Katie related what she had heard earlier that week and how the emeralds matched the ones in the portrait, and how the jeweler confirmed that they were the authentic necklace.
"I certainly would like to see that necklace." Maggie’s eyes gleamed. "I have seen it many times before and would know it for sure, but if the jeweler said it was authentic, then I suppose it is the same one. Lawrence had it made special as a wedding gift to Katherine, you know. There is no other like it." She paused thoughtfully for a moment and then went on. "There are a couple of things that have me puzzled," the statement caught Katie by surprise.
"What are they?" Katie’s voice was eager, wondering if there was something lacking in James' story.
"You said that James indicated the jewels disappeared at the same time Katherine did, and also that he had charge of the child." She paused again and Katie nodded her head in agreement. "Well, if I remember
correctly, no one mentioned the jewels were missing until after Katherine and Charles were dead, and that was several weeks after my charge had been secreted away. Katherine would have paid James in coin and would have never given him anything for safe keeping, especially not the necklace that her husband had given her as a wedding gift, not to mention her other jewels. James was not that trustworthy. Why she trusted him with her daughter at all is beyond me. If she were going to put her jewels in safe keeping so Charles wouldn't get his hands on them, she would have given them to Alden's father, or put them in a bank vault.
“I do recall she had been wearing the emerald necklace the night before she was killed. They had a dinner party that evening. She hadn't worn that necklace since the day poor Lawrence died, except for when she sat for the portrait. I was surprised to see her wearing them that evening, and when I asked her about it, she told me the strangest story.
“She said she had always hated those emeralds. She always thought they were too flamboyant. However, she was wearing them as a gesture to apologize to her dead husband." Maggie gave a shiver as if speaking of the incident made her feel uneasy.
"Apologize? What did she mean by that?"
"I was as puzzled as you when she told me," Maggie confided. "Then she told me something I would have never guessed. She told me, tearfully, that she had never really loved Lawrence, that she had always loved Charles Yarnell. She had only married Lawrence because she knew Charles would never have her and it was a chance to get the things she had always wanted. Now she knew that she had been wrong. Lawrence was the one she should have loved. Charles had never loved her, and she should have realized it from the very beginning.
“She said it made her heart ache when she thought of all the things that Lawrence had done for her and yet she never returned the love that he so desperately hoped would grow between them. She had always hated the emeralds, but she wore them because she said it would have pleased Lawrence. She said that everything she did from then on she was going to do with Lawrence in mind."
A little tear trickled down Maggie's wrinkled cheek, and she impatiently brushed it aside. "Poor girl, she didn't live long enough to fulfill that promise. I’m sure, however, that maybe she and Lawrence were able to find one another in the hereafter, and perhaps then she told him the words he had longed to hear her say."
Katie's eyes were moist also as Maggie related the story to her, and she had to blink back the tears at the picture that came to mind of how lonely and forlorn Lady Winslow must have been, losing the only man who truly loved her and having to give up her daughter because she had fallen in love with the wrong man.
"If you don't think Lady Winslow gave the jewels to James, how did he get them?"
Maggie shook her head. "I just don't know," she said slowly. "Maybe I am wrong, maybe she did give James the necklace, but not at the time that little Kathy disappeared." She paused, stroking her chin in thought.
"It would have had to have been the very day she was killed that James received the jewels. Also it is strange. If James had the child in hiding, why was he still at Emerson Manor after Kathy disappeared? He was the one who told Charles Yarnell about Katherine sending the girl away the night that Katherine fell down the stairs. If Kathy was to be protected and hidden away by him, why did he tell Charles about her? I am sure it was after Katherine's death that we lost track of James, and there were few that cared what had happened to him."
"That is strange. It was so long ago though, how can anyone really be sure what James was up to at that time? Are you sure he was staying at Emerson Manor? Maybe he had just come by for a visit?"
Maggie shook her head in bewilderment. "I see your point," she admitted. "I knew he was around, but I can't be certain just where he was staying. I very seldom left Winslow Hall, but if he was supposed to be protecting Kathy from Charles, why did Charles tell Katherine that it was James who told him the child was hidden away?"
"Maybe he was warning Charles that he should give up since the girl was in safe keeping. So that brings us right back to where we started. We really don't have much to go on. Perhaps everyone should just give up and accept Katherine for what she says she is."
Maggie looked a little disappointed. "Yes, I suppose you are right. I do want my Kathy back...only...only there is something wrong. Her face resembles the little Kathy I remember, but she does not remember me. She is not the same kind of person she was when she was small. However, anyone living under the influence of James Langdon as long as she has would have turned out the same way."
"Well, it’s not surprising that she doesn't remember you. She was so young when she disappeared."
"She is even a little rude to me," Maggie went on, nursing her hurt feelings, "and acts like she is afraid of me. I suppose it is James causing her to feel that way, though. He probably led her to believe that I am a crazy old woman and may harm her in some way. I wouldn't harm my little Kathy, you know that don't you Katie?"
"Of course, you wouldn't! You've looked forward to her return for so long. Didn't you tell her that? I'm sure if she knew you supported her story she would be less afraid."
"Only....only she isn't my little Kathy anymore, she has changed too much. She is not the way I would have liked her to have turned out. She is nothing like you, Katie. I wish she was more like you. I wish I had been right when I thought you were my little Kathy."
Katie smiled sadly. "There is no use in wishing for things that will never come to pass," she said, almost mothering, to a lady who was old enough to be her own Grandmother. "I have found myself doing the very same thing lately, and it has only made me feel worse." She thought of the things Alden had said to her the day he had given her Chance.
He had wanted them to be friends and said that she was not unimportant to him. Yet that was before he had met Katherine Gail Winslow. Katie could plainly see he was now completely wrapped up in the thoughts of his possible marriage to the beautiful Katherine. She tried not to think about it and turned her attention to Maggie again.
"I just left Alain not too long ago. She is very upset and seems to think Katherine is not the person she claims to be."
"It is to be expected," Maggie mused. "The girl stands to lose everything, except for a small trust that was set up for her support, now that Katherine has returned. However, she should take consolation from the fact that she will not be a burden to anyone, and a pretty girl like Alain will marry soon enough."
"Without an inheritance she may find it hard to find the sort of husband she had expected to marry." Katie was sure she had expected to marry Alden.
"You are forgetting, her mother had no inheritance and she married well. Besides, Alain has her father's name, which is acceptable in society, even if he did squander his father's money away."
"Perhaps," Katie had to agree, but still argued, "Not everyone is as lucky as Lady Winslow was to find someone like Lawrence Winslow."
"I'm sure there are others like Lawrence around," Maggie said. "Take Alden for example. He has always been fond of the girl and has helped her so much these last few years since his own father died and could no longer look after the Winslow Estate. He would never worry about how wealthy a person was. It may turn out that he will marry her. She has always had the hope that he might. You can see how she is so dependent on him."
Katie frowned. "I think not," she swallowed hard. "After all, Alden is betrothed to Katherine Gail, you told me that yourself. From the way he has been acting toward her, he seems to be pleased with the arrangement."
Maggie's eyes widened, and then she shrugged. "Ah well, what will be, will be. We shall just have to watch and see what happens."
Katie wasn't quite sure she wanted to watch and see Alden and Katherine get married. Only there was nothing she could do about the situation. Unless she was dismissed for some reason, she would probably be a witness to that very action. The thought of such a possibility was painful to her.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The week seemed to pass quickly
for Katie, who was busy every day in the sewing room piecing together Katherine and Alain's costumes. Alain had reluctantly agreed to attend the ball. Katie and Alain decided she should go as the Snow Queen, a character from a fairy tale they had both heard as children. Katie had sketched out both the Queen of Hearts and the Snow Queen on paper, and after gaining the approval of both Alain and Katherine, she began to work on the dresses.
Of course, they both had to go as a Queen of some sort, Katie thought amusingly to herself, although neither of them knew what the other would wear. Since she felt sorry for Alain, Katie decided to make the Snow Queen costume a little more elaborate than the Queen of Hearts. She was still going to make Katherine's costume very stunning as she had promised, but at the same time, she was not going to let Katherine outshine her sister.
There were many fittings, as Katie had predicted, and during the fittings, Katie tried to get Katherine to tell her more about herself and her uncle. However, Katherine just repeated the things her uncle had said earlier. They fitted well with the story Maggie had told, except the part about the jewels. That part could not be proven one way or the other since Maggie was the only one left in the house, who had attended that dinner, or seemed to know anything about the jewels.
Katie also wondered what James had done with little Kathy up until the night Katherine was killed. If Maggie was correct about him staying on at Emerson Manor until then, the child had to be taken care of by someone. She made a note to herself to ask him about it if she found herself in the position to do so.
Also Katie was curious to know what kind of accidents had happened to Katherine when she was a child. She decided to ask Katherine about it, but strangely enough, Katherine didn't seem to remember much of her life at Winslow Hall. She could not recall any of the accidents that made her mother spirit her away either.
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