Once Alexander left the room, Katie stared at the door before looking down at her hand that was kissed not even a few seconds ago.
She went back to her room, a little too dazed with what had just happened. Since two days he had been giving her the cold shoulder and now he had asked her the question she had only dreamed of.
‘Won’t you be mine?’ was what he had said before placing a soft kiss on the back of her hand.
But what did her being his mean?
Did he mean what he said or was he only teasing her again? She bit her lip thinking about it; but then she hadn’t noticed it herself that her knee was bleeding until he took her to his room to attend to it. He cared, that much she knew, because no Lord would leave to look for his maid when he was in the middle of work. This made her smile.
Looking at the clock tick on the wall, she felt her eyes widen. Time did fly by while she was caught up in her dreamland. She usually finished her work in the mansion by noon on Fridays so she could visit her parents’ grave and spend time for herself.
Thankfully her birthday had come up on a Friday. She changed her clothes, left the mansion and was on her way to the cemetery in no time. Reaching the graves, she bent down on her knees before settling herself on her heels.
Every birthday until now consisted of wonderful memories with her family. Her aunt, uncle, her cousin Ralph and a few others in the town. It felt odd now. A year ago she wouldn’t have guessed that they wouldn’t be here with her to celebrate her birthday or any other occasion.
She knew she shouldn’t blame God but sometimes she felt He had been cruel, taking away everyone who was dear to her and somewhere deep down she was scared to acknowledge what Lord Alexander had said. She wanted to stay beside him and at the same time she was worried. It was an eternal conflict in her mind.
Shaking her head, she brought a smile on her face. When she was young, her aunt had often said that her parents were watching down from heaven when they visited the graves and if they were watching now, she surely didn’t want them to worry.
She placed the wild, white and yellow lilies on the graves and went ahead to visit her aunt’s and uncle’s graves. After placing some more flowers on her relatives’ graves, she realized she had brought more flowers than she had intended.
The cemetery had two more families visiting apart from her. As she was leaving the cemetery she found a grave covered in mud, like it hadn’t been cleaned for years. With so many bodies buried under the ground most of them had no families visiting them.
The other graves around it was comparatively in a better condition.
As she got closer she noticed that the mud had covered the name of the person who was buried underneath. Pulling out her handkerchief she moved the dried twigs and dust to see the name ‘Malphus Crook’ written on it. The strange thing was that there was no epitaph on his grave – nothing but his name.
She had planned to take the remaining flowers to her room but now it seemed like it had a better place and purpose. Leaving the flowers at the muddy grave she left the cemetery.
Glancing at the pocket watch she had borrowed from Dorthy, she saw that she still had a lot of time and decided to make a short visit to the town. Catching up with the carriage that had almost passed by, she reached the town and made a quick stop at the bakery.
Taking the treats in her hand, she walked through the narrow alleys to find the little ones sitting on a worn out, rough mat and sharing a loaf of bread.
“Miss Katherine!” Samuel yelled her name upon catching sight of her.
“How are you doing Samuel? I see Fanny is all better,” she spoke with a smile on her face.
“It’s all thanks to you,” he said and his sister thanked her on queue, bowing her head.
“Here, this is for the both of you,” she said handing over the bag to him.
The children looked at each other, half wanting to take it and half wanting to return it to her. Looking at their expressions she laughed,
“I bought this for you. It would be rude if you refused it,” she said with a stern voice and once they took it, she smiled again.
As they ate the treats she saw Samuel wince once in a while. There was a bruise on his forehead that she hadn’t noticed earlier. Streets and alleys like these weren’t safe for young children. Though the area was a part of the town, it was a darker part, one where thieves, poverty and sick minds resided. She wondered if the little boy got into a brawl with someone.
“What happened to your forehead?” she asked and saw the boy touch his forehead.
“This one? The old man across the street pushed me out of his shop before I could steal his sheep,” he answered scratching his head. Seeing the lady sigh he spoke quickly, “We had gone to work there but he locked up Fanny in a room while I was sweeping outside. Thanks to some of the customers Fanny was let out.”
True it wasn’t a safe place but where could they go? After a lot of thinking, she decided to take them to Lord Alexander. He had offered for her to stay at the mansion, may be he could let them stay and in return they could work for him.
With that thought in mind she took them to the mansion.
Alexander looked at the two children who now stood behind Katie.
He had been sipping his tea when Martin had knocked on his door, informing him that Katie wanted to talk to him. But he had never guessed that she would bring along two unknown children with her.
He knew Katie didn’t have any cousins apart from Ralph, none that he knew of at least, but the way the children clung to her brought in the possibility of them being hers. He narrowed his eyes at this thought, making the children shrink further behind her back. As women were married off in their early age, they bore children in their prime age.
That would be absurd, he thought to himself as he continued looking at them.
Katie stood in front of Lord Alexander in his study as he stared at the children. He hadn’t spoken a word since she had entered the room and she wondered if she should speak first.
“Lord Alexander, this is Samuel and his sister Fanny. They are orphans without a home and relatives,” she said giving a little pause and saw him only look at her, not uttering a word, “Um, I was wondering if you could allow them to work here.”
“And why would I do that?” he asked her without blinking.
“Because you are a kind man?” she asked him carefully, making him chuckle. Only she would think of him that way.
“I’m sure you are aware that we have enough servants and maids in the mansion,” she saw him lean back in his chair.
“Please Lord Alexander,” she uttered the words bringing his complete attention on her.
“Alright,” he said after few seconds, brightening both Katie’s and the boy’s faces while the little girl stood quietly looking at them.
“Thank you, Lord Alexander!” Both Katie and Samuel thanked him with joy.
“I’ll have Martin take them to their rooms and they can start working from tomorrow,” he said and Katie nodded before ushering them out of the room.
Later that night Alexander was still in his study when Martin arrived as usual to give him the day’s report. Once the butler was done talking, Alexander saw him pause and asked,
“What is it?”
“I heard one of the maids talk that it was Miss Welcher’s birthday today,” the butler informed him.
“I see,” he murmured and then dismissed the old man. “You can leave Martin.”
Katie had just gotten in to her room after her friends celebrated her birthday by making her blow out candles on the pudding they made for her. It was a surprise which she hadn’t expected. It ushered in memories of her other birthdays.
Right now she could do nothing but cherish all those memories.
She had hardly noticed the days leading up to her birthday and now there were hardly two hours left for it to get over. She sighed thinking about it. While she was lost in thoughts Katie heard a knock on the door, startling her. She got up to open the door.
“Lord Alexander?” Katie looked surprised.
“May I come in?” he asked tilting his head and stepped in as she pushed the door wide open, “I hope I’m not disturbing you.”
She shook her head to receive a smile from him.
In the evening she had gone to his study, concerned about the young children; but now that she was here, alone in the same room as him she felt his presence and was very aware of the effect he had on her.
“I’m glad. Katie, if you aren’t tired I would like to take you out to the night theater.”
“Now?” she asked confused, “Isn’t it closed?”
“It’s a vampire’s world darling. The night is always young and open for the creatures of the night. Believe me, the night has much more to offer than the day,” he said with a certain twinkle in his eyes before presenting a white box in front of her, “This is for you. Get ready. I’ll be back in sometime.”
And with that he left the room for her to change.
