Chapter 7
Seven
Kendra
Lakefield House
THANKS TO their much-delayed breakfast, Kendra’s family was the last to arrive at Lakefield House.
While her children spilled out of the carriage and ran inside, she lingered a moment to look around. A smile spread on her face as she took in the garlands of ivy draping the stone walls. A large red bow hung over the main door and each window, the swagged ends wound with holly and laurel.
“Violet did a wonderful job,” she said as Trick stepped out beside her. “I love Christmas.”
“I love you,” he whispered in her ear, “and I cannot wait to find out which bedroom we’re assigned.”
She laughed as they followed the girls and the twins inside.
Indoors, the honey-toned paneled entry hall was also asplash with red and green. At its end, where it opened up to the drawing room, Kendra paused to enjoy the splendor.
Once called the great hall, the soft-turquoise-hued chamber was vast enough to hold a harpsichord and several groupings of comfortable furniture.
Winter foliage twined with red ribbon lined the mantel of the massive fireplace.
Beeswax candles sat on the windowsills, waiting to be lit when darkness fell.
Cloth of gold was swagged lavishly up the staircase, held in place at intervals with big red bows.
Her brothers were all gathered there with their wives. “The duchess arrives at last,” Colin called out drolly. “What took you so long?”
Thinking about what took her so long, Kendra felt herself turning red.
Trick laughed and seized the opportunity to kiss her, reaching overhead to pull a berry off the kissing bush that hung over the room’s entrance.
Made of two wooden hoops arranged to make a sphere, it was decked with evergreen, ribbons, and rosy little apples, all surrounding a spring of mistletoe that dangled in its center.
“How long have you been married, dear twin?” her brother Ford teased. “So long that your husband needs mistletoe as an excuse to kiss you?”
“Twenty years,” she shot back. “And we don’t need mistletoe—”
Her words were cut off when she sneezed.
And sneezed again.
“What on earth is going on here?” she asked, pulling a handkerchief from her sleeve and holding it to her nose.
Pressing hard on her upper lip, she barely managed to stop a third sneeze.
“You don’t have a cat in here, do you?” She looked to Violet.
“Tell me you haven’t welcomed a cat into your family.
” Despite her best efforts, another sneeze exploded out of her. “Please.”
“What’s wrong with cats?” Violet wondered.
“Have I never told you that cats make my sister sneeze?” Ford asked.
“No!” Behind her spectacles, Violet’s brown eyes looked horrified. “Why didn’t you?”
“They used to affect me just a little bit.” Kendra’s eyes were beginning to itch. “But lately—”
“How could we let this happen?” Violet exclaimed over Kendra’s fourth sneeze. “I’m so sorry! I fear Rebecca has begun collecting stray cats. Her Aunt Lily heartily approves, but—”
“Rebecca!” Ford interrupted, rising from the couch where he sat beside Violet. He shouted their daughter’s name again up the stairs, then climbed the wooden treads two at a time to fetch her.
“Dear heavens,” Kendra said and sneezed yet again.
“I’m sorry!” Violet repeated.
Kendra sneezed three more times before Ford returned with eleven-year-old Rebecca in tow. With her dark hair and bright blue eyes, she was most definitely her father’s daughter. But the two of them were in clear disagreement.
“I’ll say this one last time,” he told her. “You must keep your cats outdoors for the duration of your Aunt Kendra’s visit.” Leaning over the back of a couch, he snatched up an orange tabby and strode to the entrance hall.
Kendra heard the door open and shut and assumed he’d tossed it outside.
“Find the rest and put them outside, too,” he added as he returned to the drawing room. “How many do you have now?”
“T-ten. But Papa, it’s cold outside!”
“Ten cats?” Kendra blinked her irritated eyes. “Ten cats? Who on earth lives with ten cats?”
Rebecca put her hands on her hips, which were clad in an adorable sapphire-blue gown, an exact miniature of her mother’s. “Aunty Lily has twelve.”
“Or thirteen,” Violet put in. “We’re never quite sure. The number varies.”
The orange tabby reappeared on a windowsill—the one belonging to the only window that had been left slightly open—and let loose a long, sad meow.
It squeezed inside, leapt to the floor, and promptly ran to Rebecca, who swept it up into her arms. “It’s all right, Kitty,” the girl crooned. “It’s too cold out there, I know.”
Kendra sneezed again and blew her nose. Loudly. From upstairs, two more sneezes resounded, one after the other.
“Are some of the children ill?” Amy asked.
“Not ill,” Trick said grimly. “Cats make Cas and Pol sneeze as well.”
“Oh, no,” Violet breathed. “The cats have been all over this house. Where will everyone sleep?”
“Those affected by cats will sleep in the cottage, quite obviously,” Ford said. “I must say, I didn’t expect to be nearly this happy we finally renovated that old place.”
Violet nodded. “We must rearrange everyone and have this house scoured clean. Jason, would you and Cait mind moving in here so Kendra and Trick can have your cottage bedchamber?” She turned to Kendra. “Our first arrivals chose the more peaceful rooms, since it’s bound to be chaos in here, but—”
“Of course we’ll move,” Jason interrupted as he rose. “And Griffin and Adam will move in here, too, so their cottage chamber can go to Cas and Pol. I’ll instruct our staff to transfer our things immediately,” he added, striding from the room to see it done.
“Kitty needs to go outside, Rebecca.” Taking the cat from his daughter’s arms, Ford opened the window wider, then tossed the animal back outdoors before slamming the sash down with a resounding bang. “And the rest of them, too. Otherwise there will be nowhere we can all gather together.”
“It’s too cold for my kitties to be outside all day and night!” Pathetic meowing came through the mottled glass, and Rebecca began to cry. “They’ll die! And it will be all your fault!”
Violet rose and went to pat her daughter on the back. “There, there, dear. They cannot stay in here, or Aunty Kendra and Cas and Pol won’t be able to join in our festivities.”
“We can gather in the cottage!” Rebecca more or less bellowed.
“No, we cannot,” Ford returned. “There are”—Kendra could all but see her twin brother’s brain whirl as he calculated—“twenty-one of us who need to gather.” He paused and blinked. “Bloody hell, how did we get to be so many?”
“We all had children,” Violet informed him calmly before turning back to her daughter. “Your kitties don’t have to stay outdoors. You may keep them in the stables, so long as you remember to go feed them and enlist the help of the stableboys to make sure they don’t escape.”
Kendra was sneezing and wheezing now, and two more sneezes resounded from upstairs, nearly in concert.
“But—”
“No buts, Rebecca,” Ford interrupted. “Your mother has proposed a reasonable solution. Go upstairs and ask your cousins to help you find the remaining cats. All of your cousins except Cas and Pol, that is.”
“I’ll let Hilda know she needs to recruit every hand to clean.” Violet followed her daughter upstairs.
As Jason returned, wrapped in a warm cloak, Kendra sneezed yet again.
Amy rose. “Kendra, let’s go to the cottage. You can return when all the cats have been removed and the house has been swept.”
Kendra looked to her husband. “Trick?”
“We men should go cut the Yule Log,” Jason said. “Our belongings are being transferred now. I trust you ladies can oversee moving everyone.”
“Amy, did you bring the plum pudding?” Cait asked.
“Of course,” Colin said. “And speaking of plum pudding, I’m hungry. We’ve been waiting for Kendra for dinner.”
“You and your Chase stomach,” Amy said with a little huff. “It’s barely past noon. Now you’ll wait while the cats are removed so Kendra can join us in the dining room.”
“We’ll choose the Yule Log, then we’ll have dinner, then we’ll light the log,” Ford said. “Which will begin our celebrations.”
“Good plan,” Caithren said as an army of servants began to troop in, armed with buckets, mops, brooms, and rags. “Because God knows we certainly aren’t celebratory now.”
Jason headed toward the entry hall. “Let’s go.”
Kendra looked beseechingly toward Trick, who just shrugged as he followed her brothers outside. She sneezed a particularly pathetic sneeze, hoping he would hear it and feel guilty that he was leaving her to go cut a stupid log.
Never mind that she loved Christmas.
“Come along.” Amy drew her in the opposite direction, through the house.
“I’ll come too,” Cait said, jumping up to follow them. “I want to make sure all my things are moved out.”
The three of them went through a side door and into a courtyard, across which stood the newly renovated “cottage,” which was actually a three-story house built of sturdy stone.
“It’s not that cold out here,” Kendra muttered, still wrapped in her own cloak since she’d never even bothered to sit down. “The blasted cats won’t die. They’re wild animals, for heaven’s sake.”
Shivering in just her gown, Amy chuckled as they crossed the courtyard, each step making crunching sounds on the snow-encrusted grass.
“The cottage turned out lovely. You’re lucky to be sneezing so you can stay here.
Did you know it used to be called the Priest’s House, back when the property was owned by a monastery? ”
“Fascinating,” Kendra said sarcastically.
Amy opened the door and led her into a bright common room. It had a table surrounded by six chairs, plus extra seating that looked plush and comfortable. Everything smelled fresh and new, which should have pleased Kendra—except nothing could please her right now.
“See, they forgot our backgammon set,” Cait exclaimed, gesturing to where it sat on the table. “I knew they’d forget something.”