CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Katie was jolted out of her sentiments by a loud rapping on the door. It frightened her because she couldn't imagine who it could be? She dropped the book into her skirt pocket, as she stood up, and started to the door cautiously. Before she could reach it, the door flew open and Alden entered the room.
Katie stood still staring at him, wondering what she was to do. Had he come to do away with her no matter what?
"Katie!" he roared, and then he saw her there, standing motionless in the doorway of her mother's room.
"Katie!" he rushed up to her and grabbed her by the shoulders. She instinctively pulled back, but he would not let her escape. "Hear me out first before you try and run from me again!" he insisted. She stood still.
Alden took a deep breath as he realized that she was actually going to listen to him. "You upset me so when you ran off like that! I couldn't understand what had happened."
Katie pulled away from him stiffly, and stepped back a few steps. "You needn't pretend with me anymore, Alden. I know all about you and Katherine, and why you wanted me out of the way!" she snorted.
"What are you talking about, Katie? You have everyone made out to be the villain. I know there is something going on at Winslow Hall, and even if I were a part of it, which I am not, I would never do anything to harm you. Don't you understand? Didn't you believe me when I told you that you could trust me?"
"No! I...I don't understand," Katie stammered, as she searched Alden's eyes. "I...I thought I could trust you, but Alain said..."
"Does it matter what Alain said? Can't you listen to what I say for once? It seems that you are always listening to everyone else but me, Katie. Why won't you believe what I say?'
"Alright, I will listen to you, Alden, but the first thing you must tell me is how you are involved in all of this missing heiress business," Katie said, folding her arms in front of her, and taking a determined stance.
"What do you mean, how I am involved? My only involvement is that I am to marry the heiress or lose my Estate." He paused and took a step closer to her. "When you ran off like you did, telling me that I could have my heiress, it made me think about how wealth was influencing all my decisions. I was willing to marry practically a total stranger, that I knew nothing about, save we were betrothed as children, in order to have an abundance of riches." He took another step closer. "I was willing to spend the rest of my life with a woman I didn't even know, or love, and let the one I did love slip through my fingers. Having a huge Estate...no, two huge Estates, and several other houses, was more important to me than eternal happiness."
Katie looked puzzled. "What...what are you saying?"
"Did you not tell me that you loved me, before you dashed off for some unexplainable reason?"
"No...no...I...I was telling you I must have been a fool for having thought I loved you."
"However, at one point you did think you loved me." Katie was silent. "So you don't plan to make this easy for me do you?"
"Make what easy for you?" Katie asked timidly.
"Don't you understand, Katie? It was love at first sight that I had been talking about, the day your cinch broke. The reason I felt like I knew you was because you intrigued me, from the moment I saw you walking down stairs in my sister's dress. No, even before that, when you called me an odious man for soothing your horse. There was something about you that captivated me. I could not let you suddenly disappear after I had found you. I needed to know more about you.
“Then all this heiress business came up, and cloak and dagger incidents. Nothing was making sense anymore. Can you understand what I am trying to say?” Katie just blinked. “So what, if the heiress has returned to claim her spoils, I shall not be one of them!"
"But...what will you...you do?" Katie whispered in unbelief.
"Try not to lose your friendship and trust, for one. And discover if you were telling the truth when you said you loved me. You have been claiming to dislike me all this time, you know."
"Only...but why should you care? Alain told me that she overheard you and James talking. She claims that you were afraid I knew something about the real Katherine Gail, because you know, of course that the one at Winslow Hall is an impostor."
Alden's eyes widened, but Katie did not give him a chance to speak.
"She told me that you were the one who shut me in the secret passage and cut my saddle cinch."
"And of course you believed her."
"How could I not believe her, Alden? She knew that you had seen the likeness of James Langdon, which I showed you. How would she know about that? She said she heard you telling James about seeing it, the night before the ball. I didn't tell you who the man in my locket was until the day after the ball."
"When did Alain tell you all this," Alden wanted to know.
"Just before we were getting ready to leave for Windy Gates. She said that you and James were planning to be rid of me once and for all."
"Has it ever occurred to you that Alain is insanely jealous of both Katherine and you because of the attention I was giving you both? She would say and do almost anything to make people believe that Katherine is not really her sister. She never accepted Katherine from the beginning, and now she thinks I am just as much a threat to her as Katherine is because of our betrothal. So you can see why she would try and turn you against me.
“Alain did hear me tell James that I had seen the locket, but it was not the day before the ball, it was the day your cinch broke. When you walked back to the house, I realized that you must have suspected something, and you were so sure James was someone to fear, so I had a little talk with him. I told him how you had shown me the locket when you first came to Emerson Manor, and that I knew who he was. I didn't tell him how I discovered who he was, but I did tell him that I felt he was trying to frighten you for some reason. I also told him that if anything serious happened to you, that I would hold him accountable. If Alain over heard anything, that was the conversation she was referring to, but it did not occur before the ball."
"What about the jewels in my pocket?" Katie wanted to know.
"Yes, what about them, why did you have the jewels? I gave them back to Katherine so she could give them to the banker as she had planned, but why were they in your pocket? I can't believe Katherine gave them to you to give to the banker."
"Alain told me that you and James and Katherine were responsible for that. She said you were going to claim that I stole the necklace so you could send me to prison, and be well rid of me. My cloak had been rolled up and placed in the branches of the willow tree since the night of the ball. When I put it on I found the jewels in the pocket. So how did they get there? You were the only one who knew that my cloak was in that tree, Alden."
"Apparently Alain seems to claim she knows a lot of things. I have no idea how the jewels got in your cloak."
"Yet Alain is right about one thing, Alden, Katherine is not the real heiress." Katie stated, causing a silence to fall for a brief moment. He looked unbelieving at her, but she would not waver. "Another thing I have discovered, is James Langdon is not my father either, as I thought he was."
"Then he could not be the one threatening you," Alden reasoned.
"Not necessarily. It turns out that he is actually my uncle after all. Nancy Dow was not my real mother, for I have finally discovered my mother's maiden name at last.” Katie paused, watching Alden closely, but he only stared back at her expectantly. “It was Langdon, Alden. My mother’s maiden name was Langdon, and her married name....would you like to know her married name, Lord Emerson?"
Katie took in her breath, waiting to see if he would betray himself in some way, but his expression had not changed, as though he really didn't know what her next statement would be.
"Her married name was Winslow," she said at last. "My mother's name was Katherine Gail Winslow."
Alden's mouth dropped open. He looked at Katie in amazement. "What are you saying, Katie? Do you expect me to believe...Maggie must hav
e put all this into your head."
Katie frowned. Was he trying to make her believe that she was not the true heiress, so he could continue with the hoax as planned? "No," Katie said evenly. "Maggie knows nothing about it. I...I just learned about it myself."
"If this is true Katie...do you know what this means? Did you hear anything I just said earlier? I was coming here to tell you that I had decided that keeping the Estates was not important enough to me, if I had to lose you in the process. I was willing to be satisfied with the few houses I would have left, and the meager allowance, if it was the only way I could have you. When you told me you thought you had loved me, I realized that I had loved you all along, and now I was going to lose you. I couldn't let you go that easily. Now you...you are telling me that you are the missing heiress, that you are the one I was really betrothed to?"
Katie wondered if she could really believe the words he was saying? Everyone else had deceived her up to this point. What made Alden any different? He was looking so intently at her, could it be that what he said was true? Had Alain actually said those things about Alden because she was jealous, or had she just been trying to confuse Katie somehow?
Katie took a deep breath. She had already told him that she knew who she really was. There was no point in keeping anything else from him. She took the book from her pocket and handed it to him. "It is all in there," she told him. "Nancy Dow wrote down everything that proves I am Katherine Gail. That is why James did not want me to come back to Windy Gates. He must have come here looking for this. When I got here the place was turned inside out. It was here all along, only Nancy never told me.
“She wrote how my mother hid me away from my step-father, and how she asked Nancy to take me to protect me from Charles Yarnell. Nancy cared for me like I was her own child, and after a while she started thinking that I was her child. That is why she never took me back. At first she felt harm would still come to me because Justin was there. Could it have been Justin who did those things? He seemed to know an awful lot about me."
"Katie, the little seamstress, Katie, is Katherine Gail Winslow?" Alden exclaimed.
His astonishment and the look of joy on his face convinced Katie that he must not have known the truth after all. Katie laughed in her excitement. "Yes, Yes! It was always here, all the proof I needed, and I didn't even know I needed any sort of proof as to who I was, because I always thought of myself as the seamstress."
Alden looked at her for a long moment, and then spoke rather seriously. "Remember when I told you titles came easily if you were born into the right family? You always seemed to think that you were unimportant because you were just the seamstress, and worse yet, a bastard child. Are you any different now than you were when you thought of yourself so? Now you know you are an heiress, but you are still the same Katie I met, riding through a storm, determined to discover who she was. You are still yourself… that same proud slip of a girl I found sprawled in a mud puddle."
Then his expression changed a little, and his eyes twinkled at her in amusement. "You know, of course, if you wish to claim your inheritance that you will have to have me in the bargain. We are, after all, still betrothed. Should I now complain that you were once a seamstress and, therefore, beneath my notice?"
"Perhaps I shall refuse, and let it all go to charity," Katie teased.
"Will you ever admit that you want me, Katie? After all, I was willing to give up everything to have you."
"Would you have really done that, Alden?" She blushed, and turned slightly away. Her heart was leaping for Joy, but her throat felt tight. She still did not know how much Alden was mixed up in all that had transpired. "Too many things have happened right now for me to know how I feel. In one day I have changed from a seamstress to an heiress. For months, I felt I was in danger. At one point in time, everyone has been suspect. All of this inheritance tangle needs to be straightened out, before I can even think straight. I need to discover why Alain told me those things about you and James, Alden. Even...if I thought I loved you...it would not mean that I trusted you until I found out the truth for myself."
"Alain is rather impulsive at times. I have a feeling that she had reasons for wanting you to distrust me. However, we will soon discover what those reasons were. I am also anxious to discover who the other Katherine Gail is. She...she looks so much like the lady in the portrait!"
"I think she is James' daughter." Katie told him." Alain claimed she was, and I have to believe her about that because James told Nancy in a letter that he had a daughter about the same age as me. So I am sure Alain must have overheard something. James did have a daughter, but it wasn't me, and she was not illegitimate. However, you will learn all about it when you read Nancy's diary. Also, you need to talk to Maggie. She is not as addled as everyone seems to think. Her story matches perfectly with the things written in that book. She needs someone to believe in her, Alden. Will you talk to her?"
"Anything you ask, your Ladyship," he said, bowing deeply and taking her hand and kissing it. “If it is true that someone is trying to do away with you, then it is not yet safe for you to return to Winslow Hall. It might be better if you stayed here, until this is all straightened out. I will send someone to stay with you until the danger is over."
"I have to stay here anyway and take care of this mess," Katie informed him gesturing to the clutter about them.
"Are you sure you do not want to save it for your servants to take care of? You are no longer obligated to turn a finger if you do not wish to!"
"I have always enjoyed working," she told him. "It will be hard for me to adjust to anything else."
"Don't worry, I will be glad to help you adjust. There are so many things I would like to show you, to teach you. Katie, you have to believe me, I am on your side." He tucked the book under his belt. "I'm almost afraid to leave you here alone like this," he told her.
He cupped her face in his hands and Kissed her, but Katie refused to let herself respond to the kiss. This time she was determined that he should prove himself before he gained her entire trust.
"This will be over soon," he assured her. "I will investigate everything, and make sure you receive what is rightfully yours." Then he was out the door and astride Satan, his blue riding cape flying in the wind behind him.
Katie stood at the door watching after him. She felt so relieved now, knowing that she had no reason to be ashamed of her life, or her mother, or even Nancy Dow. She couldn't believe that only a few minutes ago she felt so lost and alone in the world.
When Alden was no longer in sight, she turned back towards the attic steps. She still had to solve the clue to the secret box. There had to be more information somewhere. Where were the letters from Katherine? Katie could not believe that Nancy did not save them as she had saved everything else. Her spirits were elated now. She wanted to find everything, which opened the doors to her past.
Katie noticed another trunk. A smaller one, pushed under a shelf, which apparently, had been missed. She pulled it out and opened the lid. It was not quite as exciting. There were just some old children's clothes that she recognized to be her own. She had started to pile the clothes back into the trunk, when a piece of material caught her attention. She lifted the small smock from among the rest of the clothes, and saw that it was the same smock that had been worn by the little girl in the portrait. The one which the broach had been pinned on all those many years ago.
She had been the girl in the portrait, yet she had been so young at the time she couldn't remember sitting for it. She lay the dress aside, so she would be able to show it to Alden when she saw him again. She wondered how soon that would be, and how successful Alden would be in discovering the truth concerning James and his daughter who was trying to usurp Katie’s place at Winslow Hall? She wondered what James would do when Alden presented the diary, proving that Katie was the rightful heiress?
Katie's head jerked to attention, as she heard the sound of the attic door clicking shut. She turned to stare at the door a
nd distinctly heard the sound of footsteps running down the stairs.
Katie rose to her feet and rushed to the door. "Alden? Is that you?" she called. She tried the knob, but it did not turn. It appeared to be locked. She pulled at the handle frantically, but the door remained tightly closed.
Katie ran to the window and tried to open it, but it was stuck from years of disuse. Then a wave of dark blue drew her eyes through the hazy pane of glass. She could not believe that she saw a rider in a blue cape galloping away on a midnight black horse, and the name came to her lips involuntarily. "Alden!"
What was happening? Why had Alden come back and locked her in the attic? Katie's thoughts raced, trying to understand just what had happened, as she went to the door again and tried to force the handle to turn. Suddenly she became aware of a strange, yet familiar, noise that she couldn't seem to distinguish. Then in a wave of panic, she knew what the noise was as she saw the smoke seeping under the crack of the attic door, and smelled the stinging fumes.
The house was on fire! Had Alden done this? Had he locked her in the attic and deliberately started the house on fire? This was impossible! He had acted so sincere about wanting her to trust him. He had claimed that he was on her side! Reluctantly, she had believed him. She had given him her only means of proving who she was and trusted him with her future!
Alain must have been right. He only followed her here to get her out of the way for good. He must have known that she had figured him out when she accused him so vehemently, and called Katherine an impostor, before she stormed away from Winslow Hall.
Once again, he had used his charm to gain her trust. When she told him she thought she loved him, he knew he could get her to confide in him if he only played her along, and pretended to love her too. Now he had the diary and he could use it to his own advantage, and no one would ever discover their great deception!
Katie trembled as she realized that he had come only to trick her and put an end to her life. This was maddening! Was there no one she could trust? Everyone seemed to be twisting the truth to suit their own ends.
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