by Kari Miller
“No Kat, Salvador is innocent of all charges” he teased back to her, apparently unmoved by her scowl.
“Then it’s you who doesn’t trust me!” She shrieked out.
Peter smirked at her and shook his head in denial.
“Peter!” She growled out and stomped her foot.
“Charles informed me that you ladies visited the orphanage every week at this same time and I took it upon myself to attend you ladies. It’s Jeffery I do not trust Kat, not you.” he tried to assure her.
“Humph” was all that she could reply as she made her way to the carriage, leaving Peter laughing in her trail.
Rather than dropping Katherine off at her home, they sent one of the escorts back to leave a note for Salvador to meet them at Charles Estate for dinner that night and then proceeded to head in that direction. The remainder of the afternoon was spent wandering in Rachel’s hedge maze and playing dice in the game room.
Ed joined them later that evening just before Salvador arrived.
While the guests gathered in the game room, Charles brought Katherine to his gallery.
“My Lord, Charles! These sketches are incredible!” Katherine breathed out in amazement.
“If nothing else, I can admit that my drawings are the one thing that I can get right.” Charles chuckled out.
“You don’t give yourself enough credit.” Katherine stated absently as she studied a sketch that portrayed India.
“How so?” He asked curiously.
“You are a wonderful husband to Rachel, a wonderful friend to Salvador and one of the pillars to the Brotherhood. You’re a good man.” She responded in a tone that scolded him for not knowing.
“Wow Kat, that’s a true compliment coming from you.” He responded sheepishly.
Katherine gave a chuckle of disbelief.
“Dear Charles, I am not but a naïve country girl being led along by Salvador’s short leash. There is nothing substantial about me to compliment the bare facts.” She retorted as she turned her attention back to a particular sketch that caught her eye.
This sketch was of a woman staring out to the sea from her palace tower. She suspected the palace was in India but the woman did not look native to the land. Katherine could see all of the detail in her face and could actually feel what that woman was feeling at the time.
“She’s so sad.” Katherine mused out loud, furrowing her brows. “Defeated and longing for her home” she continued, unaware that she was speaking her thoughts out loud.
“That was my impression when I spotted her. I suspected she was part of the palace harem but I could never be sure. Day after day I would see her there, staring out to the sea.” He responded to her vocal thoughts.
“Such beauty should never be caged.” She speculated.
“Like you were?” Charles responded.
She snapped out of her trance and swirled around to meet his gaze.
“I was never caged!” She responded with disbelief.
“Of course you were Katherine. You were a rose hidden deep in the forest.” He responded, cocking his eyebrow for her to deny it.
“I am no great beauty Charles and my seclusion was necessary.”
She scowled thinking back to the first couple of months that she had fled to her cottage. She was terrified that she would be found. But even more so she felt guilty that her Father had ruined so many lives and by her fleeing, they would never get the closure that they deserved. Many men had invested their hard earned money into Father’s business ventures and when he failed, he let his investors fail as well.
“Necessary? You were a little girl Katherine, how could you justify your way of living?”
“It was me or them. I selfishly chose me.” Katherine’s bottom lip quivered.
She remembered one gentleman in particular who had come calling just before her Father had died. He stood in the receiving area shouting up the stairs to her Father who had refused to come down. He had lost everything because of him. She hid behind a chair and watched the man crumple to the ground and cry into his hands.
Katherine never hated her Father more.
She felt a finger brush away a tear that had fallen to her cheek.
“It wasn’t your fault Katherine and you were just as much of a victim as they were.” Charles said gently as he laid his hand on her shoulder for reassurance and comfort.
“I-I don’t want to talk about that.” She finally managed to say as she took a deep breath and returned her attention to the sketches on the wall, desperate for a distraction and change of topic.
“Please tell me about this one.” She prompted him, nodding to a sketch that was of a shady part of town with the focus being on an alley that disappeared into darkness.
“Ah, that sketch is of a crime scene. I had several others of that same crime but they were given to the bow street runners and were never returned.”
“Dare I ask more?” She asked cautiously.
“I have often been called to crime scenes because of my talent. I’ll capture every detail for the detectives and a few times my sketches have helped to solve a crime or two.”
“You must be proud.”
“Sometimes yes and sometimes no. Do you know my background?”
“No.”
“My Father was a bow street runner gone bad and my Mother was a victim of a tedious crime.”
Katherine gasped.
“You see, my Father had been chasing one particular criminal for years. When he finally got close to catching him, the criminal found my Mother and slit her throat – leaving her in his room at the boarding house he was staying at. It was a warning to my Father to back off.”
“I’m so sorry” Katherine whispered.
“She was a good woman from what I remember of her, I was only six at the time. But after that, my Father became obsessed with catching the man. He left me with one of his informants who happened to run a brethren house while he chased this man. My Father stopped seeking justice and put all of himself into revenge. When he learned that this man also had a family, he hunted them down and killed them all – including the man’s four year old daughter and ten year old son. If that wasn’t bad enough, he leaked out into the criminal circuit where I was and tried to use me as bait. I was almost eight at the time and was drunk off of wine when my Father set the trap.”
“No!” Katherine gasped out in horror.
She didn’t want to envision a helpless child being surrounded by whores and being fed spirits!
“I grew up quickly during my time there; I was a form of entertainment for the residences of that place…among other things.” He tacked on quickly as he flinched.
“Your Father couldn’t have known!” She declared, hoping a father could not be so cruel.
“He knew. He laughed it off telling me it was about time I became a man. But that’s neither here nor there. The object of my Father’s obsession took the bait. When he found me, he put a knife to my throat and when my Father sprung out of his hiding place, the man laughed with triumph and gleefully told him he was going to enjoy watching him as he slit my throat. My Father had the last laugh though. He said that I was a small sacrifice compared to the reward his death would bring and told him to go ahead and kill me. The man obviously was shocked and hesitated for just a moment. In that moment one of the women who had been trying to look out for me snuck behind him and slipped a blade into the man’s neck. As I was dropped to the floor, his blade cut my ear.”
Charles pulled back a tuft of hair to show Katherine a small scar located on his earlobe.
Katherine sniffed and wiped her tears from her cheeks.
“I didn’t even think. I grabbed the blade from the man when he fell to the floor and flung it at my Father in pure rage and hurt. The knife met its mark, implanting itself snugly into his heart. He would have survived if the whores hadn’t let him bleed to death. I myself was taken to another room to be comforted by the woman who saved my life. That woman turned out to be Rachel’s Moth
er.”
Katherine gasped in shock. She remembered Rachel mentioning that her Mother worked in such a place but would never have imagined just how destined Rachel and Charles were to be together.
“Did you know Rachel at that time?” She asked.
“No. Rachel was brought up by her Aunt and very rarely saw her Mother. Her Aunt was a religious fanatic and convinced Rachel that she inherited her Mother’s looks and therefore was a sinner and was doomed to turn out like her. She had tried to put Rachel in a convent, but Rachel would always run away. No, I met Rachel much later in life. I met her Mother once again when she was on her deathbed, shortly after Rachel and I wed and it was only then that I recognized her.”
“How tragic of a story.” Katherine scowled.
“I always believed that if my Mother hadn’t died, my Father wouldn’t have turned out to be the man he became. I was told that he was one of the best runners out there and because of him the city was safer. I sketch for the runners now to try and make up for what my father had become. It’s the least I can do.”
“But it wasn’t your fault.” Katherine declared as she saw that scared little boy he must have been on that day.
“If that’s what you believe then we have more in common than you think.” He speculated thoughtfully.
Katherine thought she caught his meaning but couldn’t be sure.
Before she could clarify, Peter and Ed walked into the room and joined them.
“Showing off your talents old boy?” Ed commented as he slapped Charles on the back.
“Indeed” Charles responded as he gave Katherine a meaningful look and turned his focus to Ed.
When she turned to Peter, he was studying her face with curiosity and then started to approach her.
She knew her eyes must be glossy from crying. This time her tears were for Charles.
“Are you alright?” Peter asked gently as he approached her from behind. Katherine had already turned to study another sketch.
“Of course - I have to admit that Charles talent is over whelming.” she managed to get out in an even tone.
“Yes, his talents can be quite…moving.” He responded carefully.
She turned her head to see him and smiled to assure him as he continued to study her.
“Katherine…” Peter prompted her.
“Katherine and I were just having a chat.” Charles voice came from behind them. “I was filling her in as to why I sketch for the runners.”
“Ah” Peter exclaimed from behind her. “That makes sense.”
Chapter 25 – Hope
Dinner was fantastic and so was the company. Salvador and Katherine arrived home later than they expected to and ended up falling asleep the moment their heads touched their pillows.
The next morning, Katherine woke up to her husband’s caresses. She smiled groggily at him and stretched out.
“Is it early?” She mumbled out.
“No Love, it’s mid-morning.” He beamed at her with a bright smile that made her heart flutter.
Salvador traced patterns with the tips of his fingers on her stomach, causing her muscles to clench beneath them.
“Shouldn’t you be working?” She asked groggily as she squinted to the window to try and determine where the sun was sitting in the sky.
“Probably, but you were too much of a temptation.” He responded with a wicked grin, before bending down to place a delightful kiss on the tip of her breast.
Katherine sighed and shivered under his ministrations.
“Have you been well?” He asked her gently.
“Yes, do I not look well?” She asked in confusion.
“You look beautiful.” He responded absently.
“Oh.”
She had felt dizzy a few times and a little nauseous but she wouldn’t equate that to being ill. Judging on the amount of un-planned naps she had been taking lately, she figured she perhaps needed more sleep, but didn’t want to bring that to his attention for fear he would unnecessarily dote on her.
He leaned over again and placed a heart-warming kiss on her lips and then her bare belly before moving from the bed.
“I’ve ordered up breakfast to the room this morning, so feel free to lounge around. I have to meet with one of my property managers in town today and probably won’t be back until supper time.” He informed her as he entered the bathing chamber and closed the door behind him.
Katherine scratched her head and sat up, trying to shake the cobwebs from her brain.
Today she had planned on going for a ride and then possibly trying to lose herself in the hedge maze, just to see if she could find her way out again. Bernard, one of her escorts, had informed her of the “Hands-on-Wall” method, so she wasn’t worried about needing a search party just in case she was un-successful.
When Salvador returned to the room, he sat beside her on the bed and brushed back a fallen hair that had slid to her cheek.
“Are you sure you’re ok?” He prompted her again as he looked at her with adoring eyes.
She was captivated by his gaze. Normally when he looked at her she saw an intense possessiveness or raw desire but now she very much wanted to believe that she saw love.
“Kat” He prompted her again as he leaned down and kissed her bare shoulder.
“Darling, I’m fine! What’s brought this on?” She asked quizzically as he turned his head to brush his lips over her neck.
She felt his lips smile against her skin which brought a shiver to her.
Before he could answer, Sarah had entered the room with her meal tray.
“Here you go My Lady, I thought you could use a light breakfast this morning.” She explained as she laid the tray on the bed and went to retrieve her lap tray.
The tray occupied a bowl of fresh fruit, a poached egg and dry toast. Next to that lay a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.
“Thank you Sarah” Katherine said kindly as she set the tray upon Katherine’s lap and proceeded to lay the food out for her.
Salvador had already made his way to his bureau to retrieve a cravat.
Katherine caught the scent of the egg and her stomach lurched. She quickly grabbed the orange juice and let the scent and taste settle her stomach and hoped her face wasn’t as pale as she suspected it was.
Salvador gave her a speculative glance, she smiled at him as she placed the orange juice back on the tray and picked up a piece of cantaloupe.
He walked over to the bed and placed a kiss on her forehead.
“Be good” he murmured to her before straightening up.
“You mean that my plans of racing and tree climbing will have to be put off today?” She said with feigned disappointment and a mischievous grin.
She heard Sarah gasp from the corner of the room but Salvador only cocked his eyebrow at her and returned her grin before turning and exiting the room.
~
Salvador was on top of the world that morning. He had felt the subtle swelling of his wife’s breasts and bloating of her slender stomach for the past two weeks, but held his tongue until he had proof.
That morning Sarah had given him that confirmation.
He was in his study going over his taxes when he heard a light knock at the door.
“Enter” he commanded without looking up.
“My Lord?” Sarah whispered out with unsteadiness to her voice.
“What is it Sarah?” He responded as he laid the document he was reviewing back on to his desk and gave her his full attention.
Sarah stood there, looking unsure of herself and wringing her hands in front of her.
“Well, you see…” She began. “You told me to report anything that may be amiss regarding Lady Katherine.”
She gave Salvador a quick glance and then quickly lowered her eyes again.
“Yes. Is there something you want to say?” He prompted her, trying to sound less intimidating so she would get on with it.
“You see My Lord; I have noted that Lady Katherine has not yet
had her monthly flow. At first I thought that it was due to nerves because of her new situation. I myself have had that happen so I didn’t want to jump to conclusions.” She explained nervously. “This is why I did not bring it to your attention earlier.”
“And now?” He enquired dryly, not letting on the incredible excitement that was building within him.
“Well, now I have observed her and believe that she may indeed be with child.”
She gave another quick glance up, no doubt trying to gage if this was good news or not.
“And what have you observed?”
“Her reactions to certain foods. I have not witnessed a morning sickness, however I do see that she pales and looks nauseous with strong smelling foods.”
“Anything else?”
“Just that she naps a lot, but other than that she seems well.”
“Thank you Sarah, I’m glad you told me.”
She looked at him wondering if she was dismissed or not.
“For now we will keep this to ourselves and administer treatment that her condition demands. I will be the one to inform her if she doesn’t already know.”
“Yes My Lord.” she curtsied.
“Please prepare for her breakfast to be served in her room. Something light and non-intrusive - if you know what I mean.”
“Thank you.” She replied and then quitted the room.
Now he knew without a doubt that his wife was with child. In all her innocence he knew she wouldn’t figure it out until she was much later with her monthly flow. He had already given strict instructions to the Stable Master and her escorts that she was to have limited activity. They of course did not know the reason but never dared to question. He had also reviewed the menu and instructed the Master Chef to remove all fish from any menu and to serve meals that were high in protein.
He didn’t lie to Katherine when he told her he was to meet with his property manager that day, but what he didn’t tell her was that he was also interviewing physicians and in-home mid-wives.
Katherine would receive the best care available to her no matter what the cost. Alex had confided that he also suspected that Angel was with child and was at least three months along. He also suspected that Angel knew but was holding back on telling him. Rachel unfortunately had been unsuccessful in her attempts to get with child and Charles and she were discussing the possibility of adopting a child of their own.
