"Dandelion and Burdock wine," he answered. "Do you not like it Kate?"
"Of course I like it, Husband, it warms my soul as you do," I told him. After a brief interval, in which time Kane and I laughed together and s.n.a.t.c.hed small, brief kisses amidst our gaiety, we ate food from the cauldron on porcelain plates with silver forks. The concoction of food was delicious and with the wine, warmed my whole being. Suddenly I felt delightfully sleepy, leaning against Kane"s shoulder I gently kissed his neck, snuggling up to him as he slipped his arm protectively around me. I felt safe and loved at his very presence, having no doubt in my mind that today I had done the right thing by becoming Mrs Kane O"Brien.
While the other women, Aggie included, washed the dishes in the stream, Kane and I stepped up to Tessa and Jed"s vardo. As my husband held me close in his arms, me entwining my arms around his strong neck, I looked around at the perfection of the interior of the caravan and could hardly wait for Kane and I to have our own home, for home it would certainly be. As we stood together for some time, our arms around each other, Kane suddenly moved me from him, bending towards me, his mouth seeking mine I knew this was farewell for the time being at least.
All too soon it was time to go, go back to Northcliffe with Aggie and leave all this behind, but if Kane was true to his word, in a couple of weeks we would be together forever. We parted with Kane whispering sweet words of love in my ear and asking me to be patient, but my heart ached at leaving him and I told him so.
"My heart aches, also," was his reply, "but what is a couple of weeks compared to a lifetime?" and I knew his words to be true and I tried to be happy, but as he kissed me farewell, I had an irrational foreboding that our life would not go as Kane and I planned.
Aggie and I left the encampment, turning around every now and then, to see Kane raising his hand in farewell, his beautiful waistcoat standing out above all else together with the thought of his lips on mine.
"Thank you, Aggie," I said to her as we approached the whitewashed cottage.
"I enjoyed it, Miss and I am so pleased I came with you," she told me, "and Miss," she whispered as we approached the side door, "if there is anything I can do for you and Master Kane, please tell me," at which words I squeezed her arm.
I went straight to my bedroom, asking Aggie to plead a headache for me. I"d reluctantly removed the circlet of poppies before I left the encampment and given it to Maddy for she had made it and as I lay on my bed, my head filled with the words Kane and I had spoken that day, it felt as if it was all a beautiful dream and that I was not truly married to Kane, whom I loved with all my being, but I had to cling to the thought that we would soon be together and I would nestle in his arms again.
With these positive thoughts, I fell into a peaceful slumber, only to be awoken by a commotion downstairs. I could hear someone banging at the front door and Aunt Phoebe"s voice calling to Aggie to answer it, but of course, it was Aggie"s afternoon off. I quickly jumped off the bed, tidied my hair and smoothed my skirts then made my way to the hall. Aunt Phoebe was already opening the door as I stepped into the hallway.
"Can I help you?" I heard her say.
"I need to speak with Kate," a voice said and one that I recognised with some alarm, as Maddy"s.
"There"s no Kate here," said Aunt Phoebe with some indignation as she made to close the door, but running towards her, I stopped my Aunt by catching hold of her arm.
"What are you about, Katherine?" my aunt said sharply.
"I think the young woman is asking for me," I told my bemused Aunt.
"She asked for Kate," my Aunt said, "and you are, always have been and always will be, Katherine."
"I know, but some do call me Kate outside of the house," I explained to her and as I spoke, Aunt Phoebe opened the door wider and I could indeed see Maddy standing there, a shawl draped over her head.
"Kate," she said urgently, "you must come."
"Whatever is wrong?" I asked, concern in my voice.
"Your husband has had a fall and he is asking for you," Maddy told me, at which words, as I tried to catch her, Aunt Phoebe fell to a faint on the floor.
Chapter 5.
"Fetch the smelling salts, please," I instructed Aggie, as the girl came into the hallway to see what was amiss. By this time, I had raised Aunt Phoebe"s head onto my lap and I could see she was starting to come around. When Aggie arrived with the smelling salts, I pa.s.sed the bottle to and fro beneath my Aunt"s nose and before many seconds, she raised her head and looked at me.
"What shame have you brought on our house, Katherine?" she half whispered as she struggled to her feet. I realised the front door was still open and Maddy still stood on the doorstep.
"Please come in," I told the young woman.
"You would ask a gypsy into our home, Katherine?" my Aunt said as she got to her feet and made to close the front door in Maddy"s face, but I put a restraining hand on my Aunt"s arm.
"Please, Aunt Phoebe, let the young woman in for she is my sister-in-law," I implored her.
"I do not understand any of this," my Aunt said, making for the dining room, "but have your way and come to me with an explanation," she added wearily. Maddy stepped into the hallway and I closed the front door behind her.
"What is wrong with Kane?" I asked her with some urgency.
"He fell from the top of the caravan steps and banged his head as he fell," Maddy told me.
"Is he badly hurt?" were my next words, my heart pounding in my chest.
"He was drunk and probably never felt a thing, but since he came round, he has done nothing but ask for you and was insistent that if I didn"t fetch you, he would come here himself." I was bemused at Maddy"s story, for Kane seemed fine when Aggie and I had left. This thought caused me to think with some alarm, of Aggie and looking around, I could see she had disappeared.
"Why was he drunk?" I asked stupidly.
"Because," said Maddy, "he didn"t want you to leave him."
"But he insisted I did. If it had been my decision, I would have stayed," I said emphatically, and now Aunt Phoebe knew of my betrayal of her trust and as I thought it, unwilling tears trickled down my cheek. Was it a betrayal, I asked myself, just as Aunt Phoebe called to me, "Where are you, Katherine?"
"We must go to her, if you are willing," I told Maddy.
"I shall come to support you, for it won"t be easy," perceived Maddy and I realised, with a sinking heart, she was doubtless right. As we entered the dining room, I could see Aunt Phoebe sitting on the settle, a handkerchief at her nose. I pulled two of the dining chairs out from under the table for Maddy and I to sit on. The whole scene took me back to earlier that day, when Daniel Trevartha had sat on the settle and I wasn"t married to Kane. Had it really only been a few hours ago, I asked myself? I noticed Maddy had removed the shawl from her head and had placed it around her shoulders.
I smiled at her, just as Aunt Phoebe spoke.
"What have you to say for yourself, Katherine?" she asked, her voice strong once more and authoritative.
"I am in love, Aunt," I told her, my voice as strong as hers.
"And what does a young woman of your age, know of love?" Aunt Phoebe said, derisively.
"I know what I feel for Kane," I answered her. "I felt it the instant I looked at him."
"You talk in riddles, child," my Aunt told me, "and because of this instant love, you decided to marry him and not in front of a priest, I"ll be bound, but if you had, the marriage would be illegal, for you would have needed our permission as you are under the age of twenty one."
"No, not in the presence of a priest," I admitted, "but a wedding ceremony nonetheless, as real to me and as sacred, as if I had wed in the village church." By now, I felt my voice rising and realised that I was angry, angry that anyone, including my Aunt, could doubt the love Kane and I had for one another, a love that was as real as the poppies which grew in the meadow.
"So you went against my wishes, as I did not want you to a.s.sociate with this Kane," my Aunt said harshly.
"It"s probably because you told me not to have anything to do with him, that I didn"t tell you," I told her honestly, "for fear of what you would say."
"I"d rather you had told me and I could have put a stop to it, before you married in the wood," my Aunt retorted.
"But I have married him and need to go to him for he is asking for me," I said.
"If you are wed, then why are you still here, Katherine?" My Aunt"s question was a good one and I had no ready answer for it, but Maddy answered for me.
"Kate is here because my brother, Kane, has to negotiate for a caravan of his own."
"So you are to spend the rest of your life living in a caravan and travelling the country in all weathers, after all we have taught you and for all the care we have bestowed upon you, this is how you treat us, your Uncle and I? I could weep, Katherine," my Aunt said, rising to her feet.
"So I can go?" I said, rising to my feet also.
"No, Katherine, you cannot, I forbid it. Now go to your room and until you are over this love, as you call it, you will not be allowed beyond the gate, on your own," Aunt Phoebe said, with the usual authority in her voice, "and be thankful that your Uncle is at Treverrick playing cards, for he need never know, nor anyone else for that matter."
"You cannot do this," I pleaded with my Aunt, hot tears stinging my eyes and threatening to fall, because of all I had envisaged, it had not been this.
"I can do this, for I am your guardian and you are under the age of twenty one and I have a duty to save you from this foolishness, for that is all it is. Now go to your room and I shall show this young woman out, so she can take the news to her brother, that you are to have nothing more to do with him," at which words, Aunt Phoebe took hold of my arm and steered me out of the room and towards the staircase. "And if your brother," Aunt Phoebe said, addressing poor Maddy, "should attempt to come here, he will be shown no kindness. Tell him to stay away from Katherine and Northcliffe House."
Back in my room, I flung myself on the bed and sobbed. A short while later, I heard a key being turned in the lock. Swiftly, I got off my bed and ran to the door. Turning the doork.n.o.b, I shook the door, but to no avail, I was locked in, probably for the night. There was nothing to do but try and get some sleep and devise a plan for tomorrow. I got ready for bed, thinking all the while of Kane and the loving words he had spoken to me only this afternoon and before I fell into a restless slumber, I vowed to see Kane on the morrow, but next morning came and I realised it would not be as easy as I thought, to slip away.
On reaching the kitchen for breakfast and taking my place at the table, Aunt Phoebe said, "You and I are to walk to the village this morning, Katherine." My heart sank at her words.
"Very well, Aunt, after I have fed the chickens," I agreed amenably.
"You are to no longer feed the chickens," Uncle Zac told me, "for your Aunt has some notion you should be pursuing more feminine pastimes."
"But I love that job," I said aghast and looked at Aggie, but she gave nothing away although her eyes were on me all the time.
"No," said Aunt Phoebe. "We need to groom you for marriage, hopefully, to a Trevartha. Daniel is, no doubt, keen on you and your Uncle and I would ask that you walk out with him, as he requested yesterday." These words were like a dagger in my heart and Aunt Phoebe was very calm about everything this morning and I grasped that she had had all night to work out a plan to keep me away from my beloved Kane. I made to object to this but stopped, thinking that maybe, to go along with my Aunt, would in the long run, give me a better chance of escape, a better chance of freedom and being with Kane.
"Very well," I told my Aunt, "I will walk out with Daniel, but I can"t promise that anything will come of it."
"Give it time, child," she told me, looking me in the eye, "for time is needed for love to blossom, isn"t it, Zachariah?"
"You know about these things, my dear," said my poor Uncle, "for love is women"s work." At these words, Aunt Phoebe looked at him with a look like thunder.
"I want you to stay in the kitchen with Aggie while I get changed," my Aunt instructed me as she got to her feet, "and then we will go to your room and decide what you are to wear. Come Zac, for you are to feed the hens." I was thankful when they were gone, for I needed to speak to Aggie.
"Do you see what my Aunt is doing to me?" I whispered to her.
"I do, Miss Katherine and my heart goes out to you, but what can be done? The Mistress asked me this morning, if I knew of what you were up to yesterday," the young woman said, with worry in her voice.
"Don"t worry, Aggie, I shall say nothing of your involvement, as I promised you," I told her, "but I need you to go to Kane and tell him I love him and he must wait until I can free myself from Aunt Phoebe."
"I will go, Miss, when you are all out and I"ve done my jobs around the house," Aggie agreed, "for I can see how much you and Kane love each other. Would that I could find someone to love me," she added, dreamily.
"Thank you, Aggie," I said ecstatic at the thought that Aggie was my link to Kane, who was, no matter what Aunt Phoebe would have me believe, my husband.
"I knew you would see sense," said Aunt Phoebe, as we looked through my wardrobe for a suitable gown to wear.
"Please don"t lock me in again, Aunt," I pleaded, "for I promise I will not leave the house at night."
"Your promises mean little to me anymore, young woman," at which words, I felt a pang of guilt, "but I will not lock the door this night if I am sure I can trust you. We will do some sewing this evening, and start to st.i.tch you a nightgown towards your trousseau, for I have a bale of white lawn cotton, which will be perfect. You will not retire early to bed, but go when I do and I shall come in and say goodnight at no given time." Her words served to make me realise how seriously my Aunt viewed this predicament I had caused for her and also served to make me aware that there would be no easy escape from Northcliffe House without a chaperone. I felt a spark of joy at this thought, for surely, in a day or two, my Aunt would trust me to walk with Aggie to Monks Cove. Yes, I would work towards this plan. As much as I disliked deceiving my Aunt and Uncle, my love for Kane was more important than anything I had ever had in my life.
After dinner that evening, I was anxious to see Aggie alone and fervently prayed my Uncle and Aunt would leave us, if only for a moment. As she served dinner, Aggie kept looking at me and smiling encouragingly, which led me to believe she had met with some success at the encampment, which made me long, even more, to know. As Aunt Phoebe rose from the table, I said quickly, "May I help Aggie with the dishes please Aunt?"
"You may, for half an hour, while I arrange things for our sewing. It will, at the very least, keep you occupied," she agreed and I felt myself tremble with antic.i.p.ation. When alone, I had no need to ask Aggie, she was bursting to tell me.
"I"ve got a note for you, Miss Katherine, from Kane himself."
"And how is he after his fall?" I asked anxiously.
"He has a b.u.mp on his forehead, but nothing more," Aggie told me.
"The note, please, Aggie, for I shall burst if I do not see it."
Aggie fumbled in her pocket, retrieving the message from Kane and saying, "Should anyone come in Miss, hand it back to me the moment you hear the rattle of the door."
"I will, I will," I agreed and as Aggie pressed the paper in my hand, I realised I was trembling. Going over to the window, I unfolded the piece of white paper and read.
Dear wife, I shall return for you soon as promised. Be comforted by thoughts of the b.u.t.terfly dance and dream of only me, as I shall dream of you.
Your Husband, Kane.
I re-read the words several times, tears dropping from my cheek to my lips, feeling like the gentle touch of Kane"s kiss.
"We must hurry or your Aunt will return," Aggie coaxed me and re-folding the precious piece of paper, I handed it reluctantly, back to her.
"Please place it under my pillow when you have a chance, will you Aggie?" I asked her.
"Yes Miss, I will for you," she agreed.
"And Aggie, I"m hoping, no praying, that my Aunt will allow me to walk with you in a couple of days, to Monks Cove," I told her.
"Let us hope so, Miss," she replied, squeezing my hand.
A couple of days pa.s.sed, days filled with walking with Aunt Phoebe to the village and taking afternoon tea with various genteel ladies and in the evenings, st.i.tching my new nightgown. My Aunt did not lock my bedroom door again and I did not betray her trust by slipping out of the house in the moonlight, but on the third day, at breakfast, I had to broach the subject of walking with Aggie.
"I have a desire to walk to Monks Cove Aunt, for I miss my daily visit to the beach," I said quietly.
"You know I cannot allow it," said Aunt Phoebe, firmly.
"But surely, if I walked with Aggie as a chaperone, you would have no objection," I coaxed, after which, there was a pause and I could see my Aunt was unsure as to what answer to give and then she said.
"I don"t see why not, if you have Aggie with you," she agreed. Such was my joy at her answer I got to my feet and kissed my Aunt on the cheek.
"Thank you," I told her, suddenly feeling free once more.
"You won"t mind, will you, Aggie?"
"No, Miss," the girl said, "we shall go when I have tidied up."
Back in my room, I practically danced with delight at the thought of my forthcoming walk with Aggie, at the same time feeling the pang of guilt. But no, I said to myself, feel no guilt, you are being held like a prisoner, when all you want is to be with the man you love. I prepared myself carefully for the walk, nothing too elaborate so as to prevent my Aunt from having any suspicions. I dressed in a pale pink gown of cotton, which near the hem boasted a panel all around, of small white daisies with sprigs of pale green leaves. The elbow length sleeves were decorated in the same fashion near the edge. Looking in the mirror, I could see, thankfully, that I wasn"t overdressed and thought I would wear my small straw bonnet to keep the sun from my cheeks, which caused me to think of Tessa and the lovely straw hat she had lent me on a day, which seemed so long ago now. I tied my hair back into a knot at the nape of my neck and I was ready. Before leaving my room, I hid the note from Kane in the keepsake box, under the small silver hand mirror, praying it would not be found. Stepping into the hall, I placed the straw bonnet on my head, just as Aunt Phoebe came from the kitchen.