Chapter 5
Walking down the stairs, I went into the sitting room where I heard some women talking. Upon entering the room, I was immediately bombarded by older women asking me questions and looking me over. "Where did you say she was from again Sophia?" one lady asked, pushing me around in a circle so that she could get a good look at me without having to move much.
"She is from America; Washington D.C. to be exact." my Aunt Sophia responded.
"She has gorgeous green eyes!" another lady said from her chair.
"How old did you say she was Nana?" another lady asked, staring at me like a hawk looks at its next prey.
"Kitiara is seventeen." Nana said.
"Ladies, let the poor girl sit! She literally just got here, so she is probably exhausted!" Grams said, leaping to my rescue. Well, not literally leaping, but you know what I mean.
"Ladies, may I introduce to you my granddaughter, Kitiara Magdalene Crossley." Grams said, once I was able to find a seat on one of the not-so-comfy couches. "Dear, would you like something to eat or drink? I didn't know if you have had lunch yet, so I had Linda whip up something for you." she said, looking around for her maid. "Now where has she gotten off to now? Excuse me ladies."
"I'm okay Grams, but you might want to ask Tristan, he seems to like to eat." I said, chuckling under my breath.
"Who is this Tristan I keep hearing about?" asked the lady who had commented on my eyes. "Is he your suitor Kitiara?"
"Oh, light no! He is my bodyguard!" I cried in disgust.
"Are you ladies talking about me?" Tristan asked, walking into the room. "My name is Tristan Alexander, and yes, I am what she says."
"Why in the world do you need a bodyguard?" the lady who has asked how old I was asked. "Is America really that unstable? Maybe you should just move here permanently if it is that unsafe for young girls."
"Oh, light no!" I said again. "The only reason why I need a bodyguard is because, one, my parents are mentally insane, and two, because my father is a senator in congress. My brother, Nathanial would have had one as well, but he is a boy, and can get away with it."
"Still, is it really that unsafe, even for a figure head and his family?" asked the lady who had asked where I was from.
"Well, they are afraid of terrorists, and think that if one can get a hand on even a senator's daughter, they would put a ransom on me, then that could effect how they would make decisions for our country concerning whether or not to pass certain bills. It is a precaution, but so far, nothing has happened, and I'm not anticipating on it ever going to happen." I said. "Pardon me for being rude, but I have no idea who any of you are."
"Oh, that is my fault Kitiara." Nana said ashamedly. "This is Lady Alice." she said, indicating the lady who had asked where I was from. "This is Duchess Walters." She pointed to the lady who had asked how old I was. "This is Lady Porter." she said, pointing to the lady who had commented on my eyes. "This is Countess Elliot; this is Lady Wellington; this is Duchess Alcott, and this is Lady Annette." she said, pointing to the only women who hadn't commented when I walked in. In order, they were all: old, older, young, younger, old, oldest, and middle aged; as best I could tell anyways. "Oh, Lady Annette works at the Palace! She is a councilor for the Queen, and her daughter, who is about your age, helps train horses. A rather unsuitable job for someone of her status, but nobody can make her stop." Nana finished.
"Really! Does she ever get to see Prince William?" I asked excitedly.
"Oh brother." Tristan mumbled from where he was seated next to me, the only seat that had not been taken previously.
"Quite regularly actually. You know, I think that the two of you would get alone quite nicely! I think I'll arrange for you to come over to meet her." Lady Annette said, smiling at my hopeful face.
"Even if you do get to go to the palace, you won't be able to meet the prince." Tristan said, spoiling my little day dream that I had been having of "accidentally" running into Prince William, and spraining my ankle so that he had to carry me back to the palace.
"Party pooper." I whispered under my breath so that only he could here. To Lady Annette, I said, "I would love to meet your daughter! You will have to arrange with my Grams when I may come over though, because I think she is the one in charge of my schedule while I'm staying in London."
"Oh I think we can work something out." Grams said smiling.
"Kitiara, what do you do in the states? For fun I mean?" Duchess Elliot asked. "When I visited a couple years ago, I found it to be quite boring. There was simply nothing to do!"
"Well, it really depends on where you are, and what you consider fun. Where did you go while you were in the U.S.?" I asked.
"Saint Louise Missouri, Hampton Virginia, and Topeka Kansas. I have family friends in all of those cities. What I would consider to be fun would be to go to some plays, maybe take a ride in a park on a carriage, and sail around a harbor on a nice yacht."
"Um, those are hardly cities; more like towns. Saint Louise is large, larger than the others, but I agree, there is nothing to do there. My friends and I have nicknamed it the state of misery because of that fact. If you wanted to do any of those things, my suggestion would be to go to New York City. They have the best Broadway productions, a huge park with horse drawn carriages, and a large harbor with some nice sized boats. Or you could have gone to Miami Florida, Washington D.C., or Las Angeles California."
"Well, I guess I'll just have to go again and have you as a tour guide!" Countess Elliot joked. All of the ladies laughed at her little joke, and Tristan chuckled, because he knew that the only reason why I knew all of that was because it was common knowledge to anyone who is a U.S. citizen.
"Supper will be ready in an hour ma'am." Thomas said from the parlor door.
"Thank you Thomas." Nana said to her butler. "Kitiara, you should go freshen up."
"Yes ma'am." I said, leaving the room. Once upstairs again, we went to our separate rooms. A while later, Tristan came and stood in my doorway again. "Um, I have absolutely no idea what is considered proper attire for supper over hear." Rolling my eyes, I got up from the vanity and followed him into his room. Looking into his closet where all his clothes were neatly hung up; I started to go through his shirts, then pants, picking out kaki pants and a light blue button up shirt with medium blue and a light gold criss-cross pattern. "How's this?" I asked, turning around and holding up the clothes I had picked out.
"Perfect, thanks." Tristan said. Just then, we herd someone clear their throat from the doorway. "Oh, hey Thomas. Is supper ready?"
"Yes, it is. Helping your male companion pick out his wardrobe Miss Crossley?" Thomas said in his dry voice.
"He didn't know what to wear, so yes. I'll be going back to my room now. Thank you for letting us know about supper. We will be down in a second." I said, running out of Tristan's room and back into my own.
Five minutes later, I walked down the stairs into the dinning room. Nana and Grams were each seated at opposite ends of the table, Aunt Sophia on the far side with an empty chair next to her, with Tristan seated across from her, leaving an open chair next to him as well. Starting to walk over to Aunt Sophia, I was brushed aside by a young man, who went to her side, kissed her cheek, whispered something in her ear, and sat down next to her. Shrugging, I sat next to Tristan, a little annoyed that I was left to choice in where to sit.
"Well, now that everyone is here, let's begin!" Nana said, as food started to come out of the kitchens on platters carried by maids. Whoa! I knew that they had servants, but I didn't know how many! Well, not like three maids and a butler is many, but more than we have in D.C., that's for sure! I thought to myself. After food was on the table, Nana told everyone that we could begin eating; a more proper way for saying 'dig in' I guess.
"I'm sorry I was late, I got caught up at school." the man who had taken my seat said.
"Don't worry about it dear, you were right on time." Aunt Sophia said, patting his hand. Who is this guy? Is he my new uncle or something? He's a little young! I thought, staring anywhere than at this strange man.
"Sophia, I don't believe that the children have met before!" Grams said. "Kitiara, I would like you to meet your cousin Michael! Michael, this is your cousin Kitiara, she is the one from America."
"Pleased to meet you." Michael and I said at the same time. "So, um, how do you like England so far?" Michael asked.
"It's nice enough I guess, but all I've seen so far is this house, with the exception of the view on the ride here from the airport." I said.
"Maybe I could take you out clubbing later! That way you could meet some actual
people instead of being cooped up in here with a bunch of women knitting all afternoon."
"That would be great! Um, I'm only seventeen though. Can I still go?" I asked.
"No you cannot." Tristan cut in.
"Hey! You are not my guardian! You can't tell me what to do." I said glaring at him.
"Actually, I am your guardian." he said, putting extra emphasis on the word guard. Rolling my eyes, I went back to eating my food, which wasn't exactly what I'm used to. Supper consisted of veil lamb with cabbage and squash.
"I think it's a great idea!" Aunt Sophia jumped in to help my cause. Kudos for her! "This is a great opportunity for the two of you to meet some young people your ages! Michael, would you mind taking them out after dinner? I'm sure they could use some fresh air after that long flight and being stuck here all day."
"Are you up to it Kitiara?" Michael asked me.
"Are you kidding? Oh, and call me Kit. You can definitely count me in."
"Great! Oh, who's your friend? Did he come with you, or did you pick him up along the way?"
"Oh please. I had to bring him with me." I replied. "My parents wanted to make sure that I'd be safe, so they made me bring my own personal body guard."
"That's cool I guess. I'm Michael." he said, extending his hand across the table.
"Tristan." Tristan said, taking it and shook hands. "Okay, we can go, but only if we are back before midnight. Your parents will kill me if they find out about this!"
"Oh please, they sent me here for this reason! To have fun!" I said laughing, though it sounded a little forced to me.
During supper, I found out that Michael attended Oxford, and was taking summer courses so that he could graduate early. He seems to be a pretty cool guy, for a twenty year old. After dinner, I ran up to my room to put on something more comfortable to hang out in. Running back down stairs, I saw that Tristan had also changed, and both boys were waiting for me by the door. "Bye Grams! I'll see you tomorrow! Thanks Aunt Sophia, you're the best! Night Nana!" I called out.
"Have fun kids!" Aunt Sophia said as the door was closing behind us.