She was breath taking to be sure, that
Nicholas noticed right away she had sapphire sparkling eyes and the perfect
shade of dark chocolate hair with a flawless and beautiful curl to it. Julia
noticed the perfection in her walk and her beautiful dress that fit perfectly
to her form. Nicholas and Miss James were introduced but at first she didn’t
care two straws for him. She had heard of his reputation, how he was a man
about time and how he flirted and called on multiple girls. Needles to say she
was not attracted to a man of his reputation. But luck was on Nicholas’ side
because he sat next to her at dinner. He tried the classical small talk on her
but it did not work, nothing did.
“Did I do something Miss James to offend
you?” he asked quietly enough that no one but she could hear.
“Do not try to be nice to me. I have heard
of your reputation Mr. Danford and it does not delight me.”
“My reputation?”
“Yes, I have heard you have flirted with
every girl in Boston society.”
“Not every girl, just the pretty one I
would not dare flirting with a girl so stuck up as you.”
“Stuck up?”
“Yes. I was only being polite. I was going
to ask you were you are from though I know the answer is is Hartford, I already
asked your aunt. Who told me you were visiting for the Christmas holiday before
you got settled into school, Miss Cameron’s school for girls. A nice school but
not as good as Miss Dobson’s so I was left wondering why you didn’t go there?”
“I didn’t want to. I wanted to be close to
my aunt and uncle.”
“That
might be the answer you tell your friends but I hardly doubt it. I believe you
didn’t get in. It has a high reputation and not every girl can get in.”
Kathryn
was shocked, no one ever talked like that to her. She was a James one of the
most respected families in Hartford and more than that her mother was an Elliot
a name as old as America its self in wealth.
“As
I have already offended you with my reputation, we are not likely to be friends
you can tell me the truth you didn’t get accepted into Miss Dobson’s school.”
“I
did get in and got an honorable scholarship to go. But I wanted to be close to
my aunt and uncle. They have no children of their own and my uncle’s health is
going downhill I thought it would be nice to be around to help out.”
“You
are very kind.”
“I
doubt you understand family loyalty.”
“Probably
not as well as you do. But I think you judge me too quickly.”
“I
judge you?”
“Yes.”
“What
have you been saying about me, when I don’t even know me? Calling me stuck up,
saying I wasn’t good enough to go to Miss Dobsons.”
“Judgments
yes but how else do you think I could have gotten you to speak to me,” he gave
her a cheeky smile.
Kathryn
couldn’t help but smile herself. After that she lightened up to him. Nicholas
was able to charm her from remembering the nasty reputation he was to have. And
they actually became friendly to each other and that night when Kathryn went to
bed she couldn’t sleep because she couldn’t get Nicholas Danford off her mind.
By
mid-January Nicholas was doing the appropriate courting process by walking
Kathryn home from church and sitting in the parlor with her and her aunt and
uncle. They saw each other at a few dinner parties and every one could tell
Nicholas had changed he didn’t gallivant around anymore and the only woman on
his arm was Kathryn James. They were very pleasing to each other and were the
talk of the town being the most delightful couple. Victoria liked Kathryn very
much and thought she was the best thing for Nicholas.
By Easter
Nicholas and Kathryn were speaking about getting married by the fall. Nicholas
even went down to Hartford to ask Kathryn’s mother, as her father had passed
away when she was a little girl, permission to marry. Her mother agreed but
thought it right that nothing be announced till Kathryn’s older brother Brandon
James approved of the marriage. Kathryn agreed to this as she looked at Brandon
as a father almost. Unfortunately Brandon was in England on business and would
not return to America till the end of May. So while Kathryn wore a little ring
around her neck on a gold chain they kept their engagement quiet.
Brandon
came back from England at the end of May and agreed to the marriage but
Nicholas knew the final step to their engagement would be to get his
Grandmother’s approval. His Grandma Danford held control over the Danford
estate, he knew that the fortune would go to his father that was a given but
rather it went to Nicholas was still up in the air. If Grandma Danford did not
like Kathryn he would lose his inheritance. So Nicholas had to get his Grandma’s
permission.
“Grandma, I
have some news,” Nicholas told Grandma Danford one morning at breakfast.
“News? What
news?”
“I would
like to get engage,” Nicholas lied, he was already engaged but her had to sound
like he wasn’t so she would approve.
“Engaged?”
“Yes to
Kathryn James of Hartford, Connecticut. But she has been living in Boston with
her Aunt and Uncle Elliot while going to Cameron’s School for Girls.”
“I don’t
know the James family personally but I hear they are a fine family of good
wealth and Cameron school has good reputation but not as good as Miss
Dobson’s.”
“I know but
her uncle is sick and she wanted to be close to her aunt and uncle as they have
no children of their own. But she did get into Miss Dobson’s school.”
“She is a great
girl with a kind heart, very generous of spirit and intelligent with a witty
personality,” Victoria told her mother in law.
“Victoria,
we need to make sure she is of good breeding.”
“You said
Mother Danford you the family to be fine and of good wealth.”
“Yes but
breeding in entirely different Victoria and this family has standards, ones
that we must up hold to keep ones that we must up hold to keep family in good
standing. We would not want to drag our name in the mud,” a look was shot at
Fiona.
“Do not
worry Grandma Danford; Kathryn James will not drag our name through the mud.
The whole family is upstanding. Her Brandon James works at the British
Consulate in Boston and he has just had business in England in Prime Minister.
Her other brother, Caleb James, is in New York becoming a captain of industry.”
“If they
were a well of family why is he becoming a captain of industry?”
“He wants
to prove himself without his family’s wealth,” Nicholas said.
“That’s
actually commendable. Well Nicholas if you want to marry this girl you must
bring her here so I can meet her and approve of her in person.”
“Yes
Grandma.”
The next
day Nicholas and Charles were off to Boston. Charles told his family he had to
get back to Boston, he had been away from the office for a month and he must
get back.
“Mother, do
you not think we should send Laurel to Boston with Uncle Charles to see Ethan,”
Emmy asked the night.
“Heavens
no,” Fiona said surprising Emmy.
“What, but
this way she would see him before fall.”
“Emmy dear
it would be incredibly impetuous to send Laurel off to Boston with no reason.
She has not been invited and as far as I can tell he has not written her. It
would not be considered good manners to send her off to a man who hasn’t even
written.”
“Isn’t that
odd when they were so close to engagement, how can he not write? If I was away
from my love I would write him sheets daily.”
“Emmy,
Laurel is not like you, she is more reserved with her emotion.”
“I know. We
cannot push her; I think we will just have to wait until she is ready to make a
move, and not a moment sooner than that.”
“I guess
she will have to wait till we go see Aunt Iris,” Emmy said with a sigh.
By a
fortnight end Nicholas returned to Pine Haven with Miss James and her brother
Mr. Brandon James. Within an hour everybody could see that she was exactly how
Nicholas, described her genuinely kind, warm hearted and very intelligent. She
quickly passed Grandma Danford’s interrogation being from a family with wealth
as long as Americans history and showing she had proper breeding and would be
fine match for Nicholas. Grandma Danford was pleased that Nicholas had made
such a match on his own and he was not being forced into a marriage of such
good standing, as she had once thought would be the case. Soon all parties fell
easily into conversation. All but Miss James brother Brandon James, he was
stand-off-ish and not in a sweet awkward way that Ethan Foster was but in a
rude awkward way. Emmy thought the way he stood against the wall hardly saying
two words together it was as if he was judging everyone in the room.
That was not the case Brandon James
was not used to this much talking going on at any given moment and did not know
how to interact. Brandon had been from his father’s first marriage but his
mother passed away when he was three trying to give birth to his younger
sister. As his father could not properly tend to business and take care of the
child Brandon was sent to live with his aunt and uncle in England. It wasn’t
until he was twelve that his father had re-married a Miss Elliot that he came
back to America and fully lived in his father’s house. But his heart still
belonged in England which is why he went to Oxford for education and began to
work for the British Ambassador. With the new Mrs. James his father had another
son Caleb and his daughter Kathryn both much younger than him. Caleb and Brandon
never saw eye to eye but Kathryn adored her oldest brother and loved all the
stories of England, it was the closest she got to real royalty. What both his
siblings didn’t know about Brandon was while he was at Oxford he fell in love
but when his father met her, he forbid the marriage. The girl came from no
standing her father worked in a factory and Brandon only met her by chance
while she was visiting her brother who went to Oxford on scholarship and was
studying to become a doctor. It would not do for a James to marry so far
beneath him. For awhile Brandon and she wrote but one day the letters stopped he
wrote her but got no response. When Brandon was finally able to track her where
about down he found her six feet under a head stone; Brandon tried to get in
contact with her brother but heard nothing. After that Brandon only found
delight in his sister. Kathryn was a great harpist and when ever her brother
looked sad she would go over and play a little music on her harp. Kathryn never
knew why Brandon got a sad look on his face but knew her music would cheer him
up. After their father passed away his father passed away Brandon tried to
spend more time at the home of his stepmother but was also very attentive to
business. Kathryn always thought her brother lived too quiet of a life and
wished he would go out to parties when he was invited but parties were too much
for him and he preferred to stay in his own home, minus when work took him to
England.
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