Chapter 2

"Oh William, William! My dress is stuck on the carriage again!"

"Not to worry, dear! Com on, now! Let's get you out of there!"

"Oh, Finis, how ridiculously embarrassing! How could we have let ourselves be talked into riding with them?"

"Now, now, as embarrassing as they are, let's not forget that… rather unfortunately… they are the name our daughter has taken. If it wasn't for them, I'm afraid I don't know what we would have done…"

"Be more careful! You'll rip it! You'll rip it!"

"I've almost got you! Just hold on!"

"Oh dear…"

"Hmmm…"

A tall woman scurried to the door to see what all of the noise outside was about. Ah, the Van Dorts and the Everglots had arrived, as planned, for their lunch together. Just in time, too. She had just finished making the large meal and had cleaned up the mess poor Madam Victoria had made when she had tried to help. She laughed. The poor dear wanted to learn how to cook so very badly. She just didn't have the knack for it. Oh well. This was not the time to worry about that. The family was here! She swung the door open and smiled proudly.

"Why hello!" she bowed properly, then tugged gently on her wrinkled apron. "It's so nice to see you all again! Oh do come in!" she scurried back inside.

"Why thank you, Samantha," Maudeline nodded, acknowledging the maid. She and Finis stepped through the door. Moments later, William and Nell also came to the entrance, both with big grins on their faces.

"Beautiful! Absolutely gorgeous! I just love what you've done with the place!" Nell looked around and admired just about every little thing about the main room.

"Thank you so very much, Mrs. Van Dort. You know, most of the decorating ideas were from Madam Victoria," Samantha nodded, motioning for them all to take a seat. "Please sit down and make yourselves comfortable. I will inform them that you have arrived," she took off quickly and dashed up the stairs. Hopefully they would be ready.

"Well, Victor, how are you feeling today? Do you suppose you'll need to take a quick nap in your plate this afternoon?"

Victor laughed, "Oh, no Victoria. I feel just fine," he smiled and straightened his tie. "I do hope that you are feeling well today."

"I do, actually," she nodded and looked back at Victor through the reflection in the mirror. She brushed back a loose strand of her hair and stood. "I told you that I would be just fine in no time at all. Why… I didn't even begin to feel sick while I was helping Samantha in the kitchen," she latched onto Victor's arm and gave it a quick squeeze.

"That's fantastic news!" he grinned rather relieved.

"Speaking of helping Samantha, I do hope you'll enjoy the dish I've made! I worked quite hard on it, and I'm sure that it turned out just perfect this time!"

"Ah…" Victor smiled nervously, "I'll… be sure to look for it especially." He knew very well the horrors that Victoria had come up with in the past. Hopefully today's dish would be… well… different?

"Master Victor," Samantha knocked on the already open door and grinned, "the families have arrived, and everything is fully prepared. Come now, we don't want to keep them waiting!"

The three of them walked down the stairs. Victor and Victoria's hands only parted when they had left the final step, and Victor's mother came running at them.

"Oh Victor, dear! It's been much too long!" Nell grinned, waving her fan. "It's so nice to see you again!"

"It's only been two weeks, Mother," Victor laughed nervously. "Two weeks… if even that."

"Two weeks is too long if you ask me!" she looked to Victoria now. "And you, dear, how have you been? You look well. Oh, and I just adore your decorating ideas!"

Victoria smiled, "Aha… yes… thank you. Yes, all has been quite well. I do hope all is well with you, and I hope you'll enjoy our lunch today! Again, Samantha has done a wonderful job."

"I can't wait for the lunch, Victoria my dear!" William took Victoria's hand into his own and winked. "Ah yes, it's so nice to see you both again."

Victor smiled and walked on ahead to lead them all into the dining room. He passed the Everglots and nodded, "It's been much much longer since I've seen you. It's certainly nice for us all to be together again, yes?" he held out his hand to Finis hoping for a quick handshake. He raised an eyebrow nervously when Finis looked up to his wife, rolled his eyes, and then finally took Victor's hand.

"Yes, yes, hello, my boy. It's a pleasure, really it is," Finis replied blankly and shook Victor's hand quickly before returning it to his side.

"Well then…" Victor cleared his throat, "Why don't we head into the dining room? I'm sure you're all as hungry as I am."

Victoria stepped ahead to walk with Victor. She nodded and motioned for everyone to follow, "We don't want everything to get cold now!"

After everyone made their way in and took their seats, lunch was served.

"I must say, Victoria," Maudeline spoke up, tapping her mouth with a cloth napkin," your Samantha has certainly outdone herself. Yes, she is a fantastic cook indeed!"

"Really she is, Mother. She's even been teaching me how to make some things. I believe I'm getting better," Victoria nodded while looking around at everyone. She smiled. Sure, it was still a bit tense. Her and Victor's parents didn't exactly like each other, but after nearly a year of her living with the Van Dort name, things had gotten a little better. Well, at least everyone was enjoying their food.

She looked down at her plate and sighed. It was odd; all morning she had felt just fine. Even as she had helped to prepare this food she had felt fantastic. But now, as soon as she had smelled everything she started to feel just a bit uneasy. She had yet to take her first bite. It was hard for her to understand. One moment she was fine and the next she couldn't look at food. She didn't want anything to ruin this meal, though. She would just try to ignore it…

"Victoria, are you feeling quite alright?" Finis asked in between a slurp of his soup. "You haven't touched even a crumb…"

"Oh… yes, Father, I…" Victoria glanced around. Everyone was staring at her, and Victor looked… a bit worried. "I just wanted to be sure everyone was comfortable!" she smiled sweetly and nodded. To prove her words, she ripped off a small piece of her bread and set it in her mouth. Still smiling, she chewed it slowly, beginning to feel worse by the second. She… just had to keep trying to ignore it.

"…" Finally, everyone had gone back to their own business. She took a deep breath and sighed once again. Perhaps it would stop… if she kept ignoring it.

A few minutes later, she felt that she was ready to pass out. She felt so nauseous that she was beginning to sweat. She just couldn't pretend everything was okay any longer.

"… Excuse me…" she squeaked and ran off quickly. Everyone at the table looked around, very confused. Maudeline and Nell, however, quickly glanced to each other. The look on Victoria's face… it was very familiar to them.

"Excuse us!" They both hopped up and rushed after Victoria.