North American Mother

Chapter 3

The years following the meeting with Arthur and Alfred were spent with Francis trying to teach Madeline to be more ladylike. He would catch her kicking off her shoes and trying to remove her dresses in favor of running around in her chemise. When he caught her he would scold her and have her maids redress her properly. It was also during this time that he noticed her lack of growth. Matthieu was growing rapidly, for a nation at least, and had moved on from the dresses that toddlers wore to pants and shorts. Francis had expected Madeline to grow some during this as well but she never did, staying the same regardless of what was happening.

Needless to say Francis was growing frustrated and his boss was pushing for him to find out why she wasn't growing. To say he was reluctant to do so was putting it lightly as the most efficient way to find out what lands a nation represented was to have contact. And while Madeline wasn't exactly too young for such a thing Francis knew that she had not fully reached womanhood. So despite her age being that of consent for marriage he hesitated from fear of hurting her. Eventually though he found he was given no choice as all other attempts to find out where she represented came to naught. He had tried to ask her only to be snubbed or glared at. He had sent colonists and trappers north to see if he could find where she came from. He even began to suspect that she represented the colony at New Orleans in the south since it was an older colony and no representation had been found for it. His results were inconclusive, leaving him the last resort which he was not wanting to do.

The night his decision was made he made sure Matthieu was put down to bed and then made his way to Madeline's room. He had come to the conclusion he would only take this as far as was necessary to find out where her lands were and then he would stop. He hoped he would not need to go very far. Opening the door to Madeline's room he sees her sitting at her vanity brushing and braiding her hair. He wondered why her maids weren't helping her with the chore but brushed it off as a sign in his favor that the women were not there. He stood in her doorway quietly and actually looked at her as something more than the child he had been raising. She was a beautiful young girl, with golden hair that reached well down to her knees. Sitting as she was it brushed the ground easily. Her skin was pale which allowed her brilliant eyes that seemed to swirl with different shades of violet and hazel to stand out. Her full lips were in a perfect cupid's bow and just the shade of a ripened berry making him wonder if they would taste as sweet. Her lack of womanly curves did not detract from her beauty, she had the beginnings of them, enough to show that when she reached adulthood she would be the envy of all others.

Eventually she finished with her hair and turned to stand when she noticed Francis watching her. A light blush came over her cheeks, as she hurried over to her bed.

"Francis, is there something you need?"

She didn't climb into the bed but held tightly to her dressing gown, covering herself from his eyes. Francis wasn't so surprised that she knew how inappropriate his visit at this hour was.

"The king wishes to know why you are not growing like your brother. It has him concerned."

He saw her turn away with a scowl. "Why does it matter? He owns me regardless of my growth."

"And you do not see how this is a strange thing. In the sixty years since I found you and brought you into my home your brother has grown into a healthy young boy, he looks nearly eight. While you have not aged a day since you arrived. With as many colonists coming to the new world regardless of where you are you should have grown some, reached full womanhood even. I can understand that these things can be slow, my own growth was comparatively slow when held against your brothers, but you obviously grew quickly before I even found you but as soon as you came into my house it seems to have stopped. Doesn't this concern you at all."