The sounds of clashing blades peppered with the soft grunts and groans of the two opponents rang in the empty barn. There was a loud clang as one sword fell to the ground. This was followed by a laugh and a triumphant cry of "Do you concede, Ewan?"
"Yes, Miss Thompson, I concede," admitted a rueful young voice.
"Excellent. You are a natural at this, Katherine," Elizabeth praised, "Soon you will completely outstrip Ewan and we shall have to ask Will for his assistance."
"You are blinded by friendship, Elizabeth. I do not believe that my talents are that great," chuckled Katherine.
Blushing, the young man practically tripped over himself in his haste to assure her, "Oh no, Miss Thompson, Mrs. Turner is correct, you are a natural."
"Thank you, Ewan. As always, your assistance and tutelage is greatly appreciated. Will is lucky to have you as an apprentice."
"Yes, thank you, Ewan. I shall be sure to tell Will that you are most helpful," agreed Elizabeth while rising with some difficulty from the bale of hay that she was sitting on. "I don't know what we should do without you. With me this large, I can hardly walk let alone teach Katherine to fence."
The mention of her "delicate" state had the young man blushing even more and he mumbled, "My pleasure, ma'am and miss. Now I'd best be off and back to my work." He awkwardly backed out and away from the two women.
Elizabeth and Katherine burst into peals of laughter. "What is it about a pregnant woman that so terrifies men?" Elizabeth wondered.
"I don't know, but I have noticed how you manage to utilize your condition to trump Will in every disagreement."
"Yes, it is rather handy for that. He finds that he cannot deny me anything while I am carrying his child; a development that I intend to continue to exploit to the fullest. Come. Let's go clean up, have some tea, and finalize the plans for tomorrow's dance. Yet again, I find that I am simply starving even though you are the one who has had all the exercise."
While dressing the following evening, Katherine's thoughts were on how handy it would have been if she had had the skills she now possessed with a blade when Sir Huntley had made his advances, it would have felt wonderful to have held the point of a sword to his chest. She let herself get lost in a daydream where Sir Huntley was begging for mercy. The she laughed at the absurdity of her musings; unless she could have somehow managed to conceal a sword in the bodice of an evening gown, her new skill would not have been of any use in that particular situation. Still, as Elizabeth had argued when she presented the idea, it never hurt for a lady to know how to defend herself.
As Jenny finished fixing her hair and generally fussing over her, Katherine began to get excited about the evening ahead. It had been forever since she last attended a dance and she intended to thoroughly enjoy herself tonight.
"You look pretty as a picture, Miss Katherine," the maid said with pride.
"Thank you, Jenny. The gown is flattering isn't it?"
"Yes miss. The golden color suits you. It brings out the green of your eyes. I daresay you'll have a bevy of admirers," and with seeming nonchalance she added, "I wonder if the Commodore will attend."
Katherine fixed Jenny with a disapproving stare, "I really would not know. I assume that he was invited but I doubt that he will attend. After all, tonight is about having fun and that would not suit the Commodore's disposition at all. Now I really must go down or I'll be late for our dinner."
"Yes, miss. Cook told me that she had prepared a light pre-dance dinner for you, the Governor, and Mr. and Mrs. Turner. I believe she said that some other friends might join in. Have fun, Miss Katherine."
Her temporary displeasure at Jenny for having spoiled her happy thoughts with mention of the Commodore evaporated, "Thank you, I shall. By the way, I heard that the music from parties can usually be heard in the barn. There was even mention that sometimes the servants gather there. I don't believe that I shall need your services for the rest of the evening."
Jenny grinned. "Thank you, miss."
Katherine left the room and descended the stairs smiling. She had seen the way that Jenny and the Governor's stableman Robert had been eying each other for the past few weeks. While she was not of a romantic bent herself, she had no aversion to others making fools of themselves in matters of love.
As she entered the parlor, she noticed that Jenny had been right, there had been friends invited to the pre-dance dinner. Funny that Elizabeth had not mentioned that to her but she supposed that with all the arrangements it had slipped her mind. Well it was no matter, the more the merrier and the sooner that the festivities would begin. Then she saw a familiar tall form conversing with Governor Swann. She had not seen him since the end of their voyage and had long since abandoned any plans to repay him for his slights. She had decided to take the high road and just forget about him and now here he was ruining her first real evening's entertainment in ages. Spying Elizabeth and Will, she crossed over to them and hissed to her friend, "What is he doing here?"
"Well he was invited, Katherine. After all he is in command of the fort and a family friend. Besides, you knew he was on the guest list."
"Yes, I know that, Elizabeth. I just did not think that he would actually attend let alone that he would be here before the dance even began," Katherine grumbled.
"Father invited him to dinner and although I realize that you do not care for him, I could hardly object."
A confused Will began, "But Elizabeth, you…" and here Will stopped speaking as he felt his wife's elbow in his ribs and saw her warning gaze.
Katherine, who was busy glaring in the Commodore's direction, did not notice the exchange. "I apologize, Elizabeth. Here you and your family are gracious enough to house me and arrange this lovely evening and I am complaining. It's just that I find that man so damnably annoying. However, do not worry. I shall be polite and gracious."
Before Elizabeth could reply, the dinner bell rang and everyone adjourned to the dining room.
Katherine was grateful for the small mercy that had her and Commodore Norrington sitting at opposite ends of the table. With their party making a total of twelve, it meant that they did not have to converse. However, as dinner wound down, the small intimate conversations gave way to larger topics that the entire table engaged in. It was into this atmosphere that Will decided to comment. "Miss Thompson, Ewan tells me that you are becoming quite the expert swordsman."
"I fear that both he and your wife overestimate my abilities but I thank you for the loan of him. I never realized how much fun fencing could be."
A rather silly girl named Millicent Witherspoon, who was sitting two people down on Katherine's right, chimed in, "You use a sword, Miss Thompson? How frightfully unorthodox. Do you not fear that it will scare off suitors if they know of your pursuits?"
Katherine fixed the young girl with a cold stare. "Why would that be an issue?"
Millicent, who was not unaware that that several of the men at the table had been covertly and appreciatively eyeing Miss Thompson, sought to score points off a potential rival. "I do not mean to offend and yet I cannot help but observe that men prefer their ladies to engage in more feminine pursuits. If you wish to attract offers of matrimony, I would think that you would behave in a more ladylike manner."
"I fail to see how that is any of your concern. However, who says I wish to be married? Marriage is not in my plans for the future. It would not suit me at all. I am quite content as I am."
By now the whole table was aware of their conversation. James was silently and discreetly observing the exchange; he found it interesting that Miss Thompson had expressed an aversion for marriage. Elizabeth waited in anticipation of Katherine verbally shredding the little upstart.
At Millicent's falsely sweet, "Oh I understand, Miss Thompson. It is after all best to resign oneself to one's fate rather than fight it. After all, there are worse things than being a spinster."
"If you must know, I have had plenty of offers that I have chosen to decline. And yes, you are correct; there are worse things than being a spinster. For instance, I could be an insipid malevolent little witch who probably still believes that the world is flat and that babies are delivered by storks."
The silence was deafening. No one knew what to say. Privately, James applauded Miss Thompson for the set down that she had just delivered. He may agree that fencing was unsuitable but Miss Witherspoon's comments had been appallingly rude.
Governor Swann was relieved to hear the clatter of horses' hooves. "It appears the rest of our guests are beginning to arrive. Shall we head to the ballroom?"
Several hours later found Katherine sitting at a small table with Elizabeth and Will. Due to her pregnancy, Elizabeth was unable to dance very much and Will had remained steadfastly at her side. Katherine, who had danced almost every dance so far, was taking a well needed rest. Before tonight, she had never had much opportunity to converse with Will and she found him to be a very engaging man. She was telling Will about the progress on her home's restoration when she felt him walk up behind her.
"James, how good of you to finally come speak with us. Please, sit down," Elizabeth warmly greeted him, ignoring Katherine's look of annoyance.
"Elizabeth. Will. Miss Thompson." James nodded in greeting and sat down in the empty chair across from Katherine.
Ignoring him, Katherine continued her description of the repairs to Will. "I've mostly concentrated on the fields and outbuildings. While they were not in a complete state of disrepair, they certainly had not been maintained as well as they should have been. By next week I should be able to shift my attention to the house. With any luck, I won't have to prevail on Governor Swann's hospitality much longer."
Elizabeth rushed to reassure her, "Katherine, I am sure that father would not mind you staying here as long as you like. I fear that he finds it rather lonely since I've left."
Uninvited, James joined the discussion, "So you still intend to follow your harebrained scheme of living alone in that house?"
Will glanced at James. Good Lord what was wrong with him? James had just seen how Miss Thompson responded to Miss Witherspoon's verbal provocation, and yet here he was provoking her. Will was about to open his mouth to intervene when he felt a sharp kick from under the table. His wife was giving him the look that meant "shut up you fool", so he remained quiet.
"My scheme, as you term it, is not harebrained. It is perfectly natural that I should wish to occupy my own home."
"It is unacceptable for an unmarried young woman to live on her own."
"In case it has escaped your notice, Commodore, I don't give a fig for social conventions," Katherine seethed.
"Then I suggest that you start learning to care, Miss Thompson. Meanwhile, you are not going to move into that house."
"And just who and whose army is going to stop me, Commodore Norrington?"
"I will."
"You?" she managed to imbue the one word with a world of scorn.
"Yes, me. You will move into that house alone over my dead body," James snarled.
The two glared at each other, oblivious to their companions at the table.
Finally. Katherine broke off her gaze and agreed, "Fine. If you insist, I shall agree to your terms, Commodore."
No one at the table knew what to make of Katherine's sudden capitulation and they sat in surprised silence for a few moments.
Katherine gave a dazzling smile as a young man approached the table. "Here you are, Mr. Peterson. Come to claim your dance?" She stood up and started to depart but she turned back around just a few steps away. "Oh,Commodore Norrington, just one more thing. Please do try to refrain from bleeding all over the rug in the front hall. It is rather valuable and I should hate to have to replace it," and with a swish of her skirts and triumphant smirk she headed for the dance floor.
Elizabeth could not contain her gasp of laughter and Will spit out the sip that he had just taken and proceeded to have a coughing fit. James just sat rigidly still; a small muscle twitching under his left eye, his hands clenching and unclenching. Finally he stood and muttered, "Excuse me."
"Oh dear, I don't believe that I have ever seen him so angry," Elizabeth murmured, in a combination of amusement and worry.
"I would not like to be in her shoes," Will commented. "Now, let us discuss this habit you have developed of assaulting my person."