Chapter Two
I stepped into the house hurriedly, already pulling off my bonnet in the process and slammed the door behind me. I heard the warmth and crackle of the family fire in the parlor when the door shut. It was too hot to stay inside during summer. I could hear the rustling of people moving around upstairs.
“Who’s there?” I called out to the wooden ceiling.
Maybe it’s just Judith taking Susan now.
The second parlor was a new addition when Evelyn moved in, a marriage gift in a way. She got to redecorate the whole house, compliments of the new wealth status. The old parlor was loved and used by my mother with her tarnished beautifully silver decorations and lamps with velvet pink lounges and cream white walls. Evelyn was swayed by our—Judith and I—heavy glares when she started to plan the changes of the first parlor. She agreed to not tamper with the room, but ‘requested’ to our three maids to not touch the room, including touching it up and dusting.
Instantly making us dislike her. I hesitantly went up the steps as far as I dared. The thumping and murmuring continued until I called out I was home. A creak of the master bedroom opened in the corner, out of sight from this part on the stairs. I saw a peek of messy raven black hair over half bare shoulders as they turned towards the direction of me.
“Evelyn? Is that you?” I called out; irritated she wouldn’t answer me the first time. What was going on in there? I could here a small giggle.
“Alright, I do not care anymore. Whatever you are doing, I will be here for a moment, I’m going to get dressed and go shopping.” I called out before walking into my room directly opposite to the stairs entrance. The room was an ugly vomit yellow. The only time I got to see vomit was when Evelyn was having her violent morning sickness while pregnant with Abe. She would vomit all over and fall asleep after it and forget about it and make the maids and sometimes I, clean it up. The oldness and ugliness of my room was compliments from Evelyn. Even though she disliked Jude and I, she had a certain grudge against Judith more than me.
But Jude was made up more of Mum that any of us, besides Susan. Our younger sister that had the reddish blonde hair that was wavy like Mum’s and had round dark blue eyes that were wide when she saw something new. Evelyn couldn’t hate her for looking like the last wife but she could to us.
I pulled the door behind me, the sounds slightly muffled once again. I breathed a sigh of relief, the woman was mad about money. So shopping besides herself was difficult to get past her. She was a viper but Pa still won’t get rid of her since she gave him a son and plenty of money from the inheritance and the dowry so we are in a rut. Until she’s dead, we’re stuck with a person that has an evil eye over our shoulders until then.
“Willliam? Where are you brother?” I call out in the empty, if you don’t count horses that nickered at me as I passed, dress rustling on the hay and sawdust floor. When I didn’t get an answer, I found the stable boy that shook his head and pointed towards the closed field outside. Annoyed, I hurried outside, my hands picking up the front of the skirt of my dress as far as I dared. There were only two people riding the horses, a young woman that had chestnut hair like her horse and a white dress on with riding boots that you could see when she leaned over to talk heatedly to the male on the black steed. His hair shone ebony black and brown highlights from the sun, his hardened back bunched as he swung around to face me, his cheeked rosy cheeks dimpled in a smile as his eyes winked in delight. I saw him wave back at me. I took a nervous step back and dropped the front of my well worn silk dress. Evelyn loved to torture us in any way possible, including our dress wear. The only source of Jude’s source of new dresses—that wasn’t an annual once every two months from Eve dearly—was from her gentlemen friends. But I felt that I could never put myself up to having a man buy me clothes.
