A.N.:Here's the other chapter! Please let me know what you think! Unfortunately, this will be the last chapter I'll be uploading for a little while. School is starting in a few days, and I'm going to be really busy with that until May. Hopefully I can write during the weekends, but I'm taking two 300 level History classes this semester, as well as Philosophy and two German classes, so my brain will be fried, guaranteed. Thank you all so much for your love, kind words, and support! You're all amazing! Read and review! Xoxo
Catherine looked up and stopped dead in her tracks. She was face to face with an irate Alistair, and he was waggling his soiled lavender frock coat with the torn Chantilly lace in front of her nose.
"Do you see this?" he demanded. "This was several hundred pounds and a week's worth of work! Absolutely ruined! That blasted horse of yours threw me and shredded my lace!"
Catherine wrinkled her nose in distate and pushed the offending garment away with a finger. "Alistair. Please, remove this from my person. I have no wish to deal with you right now."
He snorted. "Oh. But you will entertain your commoner love interest at all hours, eh? Just like you Tuttles, you always leave the core of the family and go gallivanting off around the globe!"
Catherine was furious by now. "Alistair," she hissed. "Do not forget, you are just as much a Tuttle as the rest of us. Without my great grandfather, you wouldn't even have a club to gamble your inheritance away at! You are under my roof, and I will not hear such venomous things said against my family. Go to a seamstress and get it repaired, and do not waste my time with it again." With that, she pushed past him and stalked up the stairs.
Grace passed by at that moment, and Alistair thrust the coat at her with a mumbled, "Fix this," and followed his cousin to retire in his own chambers.
Grace glanced down at the article of clothing, then at the retreating back of the peer in shock. Apparently she would be taking a trip to the seamstress sooner than she thought.
Catherine was up and out of the house early the next day. She wasn't certain she could handle being around her cousin without doing something she would regret later. While she was dressing, she had Grace give Thomas a letter to have sent to Elizabeth, announcing her attention to spend as much of the day there as possible.
"The house will not be open to callers today, Grace," Catherine said as she picked up her fan and reticule. "However, if the Commodore should visit, have him redirected to the Governor's mansion. Elizabeth won't mind the extra company, I am certain."
Grace bobbed a curtsey. "Yes, ma'am. What should I tell Lord Witney?"
Catherine wrinkled her nose and rolled her eyes. "Tell him I am simply out calling today. His small mind should be able to comprehend that much."
"Very well, ma'am," the maid responded.
Catherine breezed from the room, the scent of her lavender perfume wafting behind her.
The carriage ride was uneventful, save for the jolts and rattles that set her teeth on edge. By the time she finally alighted it was just after nine, but Elizabeth was already running out of the door to greet her.
"Catherine! How delightful! I was so excited when I got your letter. I am so sorry your cousin continues to treat you in such an odious manner, but we shall have such fun together today! I have told the butler to say I am not receiving and callers today, so we shall have the entire house to ourselves. It will be just like when we were children again. We shall have tea and cakes and little finger sandwiches all day, and we shan't care a whit about acting like proper young women!" Elizabeth exclaimed.
Catherine laughed and hugged her friend. "Yes, just like when we were children, except I never knew you growing up. Come, let us go inside rather than stand about. We can talk more there." She linked her arm with Elizabeth's and the two of them walked amiably back into the grand mansion.
Once inside the sitting room, Elizabeth set about ordering them tea and finger foods. After that was finished, she reclined on her side of the sofa and gave Catherine a Look. "So. Tell me everything. What exactly is going on between you and the Commodore?"
Catherine laughed and rolled her eyes. "Absolutely nothing, Elizabeth. We're just friends. I promise. Why are you so interested?"
"Because," the governor's daughter said with a twinkle in her eye, "the two of you are nearly inseparable. You are always calling on each other, and you seem so happy in each other's presence."
Catherine sighed and fixed her friend with a glare. "For the last time, there is nothing between us. We are merely friends with each other, and he calls on me as much as he calls on you. I do wish you would simply drop the subject."
Elizabeth groaned. "You are ridiculous. You can never let me have a bit of fun. So, what shall we gossip about first? I-what are you pulling out? No, no, no! Put that back! You are not allowed to embroider while you are here! What is that anyway?" Elizabeth peered over her friend's arm and tried to see what she was doing.
"It is something for Emma. She lost her handkerchief, so I thought I would make her a new one," Catherine answered. "She loves butterflies, so I am putting them all the way around the border. What do you think?" She held out the crisp white fabric for her friend to examine.
"Your work is far better than any I could hope to achieve. I think she'll love it, my dear Catherine." Elizabeth handed it back to her to finish. "What I do not understand, however, is why you have many more of these in your work basket. Exactly who are you sewing for, the Navy?"
"No," Catherine said with a roll of her eyes. "I am making each child two handkerchiefs of their own, since they tend to go through them rather quickly. I might have to sew them to the insides of their sleeves just to make sure they won't drop them somewhere."
"Well, I am certain they will appreciate your gift," Elizabeth said. They halted their conversation while the tea tray was brought in, and then resumed once the servants left.
"Tea?" Elizabeth asked. Catherine nodded. "And how will you be taking it today?"
"One sugar, no cream. I feel in desperate need of something rather stronger than what I normally drink," Catherine said by way of explanation.
Elizabeth dutifully poured out the beverage, then handed it back to the dark haired peer.
"So. I would ask you how it is having Alistair in your house, but considering your irate letter and the fact that you are sitting here right now rather than your breakfast room, I believe I can piece everything together for myself," she said.
"You guess rightly," Catherine sighed. "How is Will doing?"
"Much better. He had the burn lanced, and then a poultice applied to help bring down the infection and swelling. It is going to leave a rather ugly looking scar, but at least he is finally getting something done about it. He only did so because it was putting him behind on work." Elizabeth rolled her eyes and knocked back her tea like it was something far stronger.
"Will he be visiting anytime soon?" Catherine asked.
Elizabeth shrugged. "It depends on what he wishes to do, to be honest. Now that we are betrothed, he has enjoyed a higher social standing in the town, but it also means that more and more people are coming to him for work. I spoke with him about the shop earlier on in the week, and he says he does not wish to give it up once we're married. He does not enjoy a life of leisure – it makes him fidgety, he said."
Catherine sipped at her tea and sighed. "Well, I must admit I am not surprised to hear that. He never struck me as someone who would gladly retire from the working sphere to a life of…well, what we 'enjoy'."
They shared commiserating looks, and settled into silence as they sipped at tea and ate.
Norrington stopped over later in the afternoon, having been redirected from Catherine's house. He entered the sitting room and found himself in a bedlam. Catherine and Elizabeth were laughing loud enough to give him a headache, and it appeared they were impersonating a certain eternally inebriated pirate Norrington had no wish to ever encounter again.
"Elizabeth, m'dear! Look 'oos joined us!" Catherine exclaimed as she noticed Norrington. The officer was standing in the doorway with a look of disgust on his face.
" 'Ello, luv!" Elizabeth said as she sauntered over and looped her arm through his. "Come over and sit wiv us." Without waiting for his answer, she dragged him back to the sofa and practically pushed him into his seat between her and Catherine.
"What shall we do wiv the good Commodore today, Elizabeth?" Catherine said.
"I think we should keep 'im 'ere at our mercy, savvy?" the socialite returned.
"I think the two of you should return to normal now," Norrington interjected. "You are grating on already frayed nerves."
Catherine chuckled low in her throat. "The good Commodore says 'is nerves are frayed, eh? Methinks 'e should try livin' wiv that whelp Alistair for a while. Then 'ee'll know the meaning of the term frayed nerves."
Norrington glanced over and caught the furious glint in her eye and held off a retort. He sighed instead. "The children miss you," he told Catherine.
Contrary to the sparkling retort he thought she would come up with, she deflated a bit and said in her normal voice, "I miss them too. I feel very guilty for leaving them like this on such short notice, but Alistair demands all of my time and attention, and when he doesn't get that, he whines and rages like a child having a temper tantrum."
"Would you like for me to arrange having them brought to you?" Norrington asked her.
The change was astounding. Catherine brightened up immediately, and seemed to glow with happiness. "Oh yes Commodore, thank you! That would be lovely! It would do the children a world of good to get out and breathe the country air. And it would certainly give Alistair quite a turn as well!" She was definitely looking forward to this.