Love & Second Chances

Chapter Twenty-Six - Elizabeth's POV

I sighed with contentment as I settled into the sofa in the drawing-room of our rented house. My feet were quite sore from walking all day, so it was a relief to be able to rest them for a while. Although I had to say that the soreness was well worth it. After all, they had become sore while reacquainting with my sister. It was nice getting to spend the day with her. She insisted that we come to their house for tea. The Turner Estate was just as nice as I remembered. I wished that I could say that Mr. Turner's appearance had improved with age, but unfortunately that was far from the truth. I was not entirely sure how it was even possible, but he seemed to have gotten even uglier. He now had warts on his face!

Thankfully, their son James had inherited a lot more from his mother than his father. He was a rather dashing young man, with the Stanford dark brown hair, which I was amazed to see was almost completely straight. My family was well known for having wild curly hair. My parents and brother had it, as did Alice, Caroline, Vincent, and myself. Jonathan was the only other one who had somehow been blessed with easy to maintain hair. Regardless, James was a good looking man, bearing a slight resemblance to my father. I just thanked God that he had not inherited the donkey ears.

Unfortunately, it appeared that his younger sister had not been so lucky. I could not help but feel immense pity towards the poor girl. There was no doubt in my mind that she had been mistreated because of them. As I recalled, her father had been mistreated terribly throughout the entirety of his childhood years.

We intended to stay in Manchester for a few days, returning after making a complete tour of the town, which included a couple of public appearances. It seemed that word had spread that the Governor and his family were visiting. We were invited to dine with the new mayor, Mr. Bennett, tomorrow night, and the day after we were invited to a ball at the Watson's, who had invited us primarily because they knew me. Needless to say, we had a public appearance to make every day. However, that was of no concern to me. Having been married to the former Governor for many years, being in the public's scrutiny had become something that I was accustomed to. I still had to don the mask which hid my true feelings, but at least I was able to be less formal at home.

Vincent and William were currently out at one of the local pubs, leaving their women to watch the children. There were times when I found my son to be a bit too careless. He might claim that it was all an act, but I knew that was not the case. He had never been fond of sitting still, even as a child he would refuse to take any naps. That boy had gone through so many governesses that it was not even funny. He was incredibly charismatic, but he was also irresponsible, and I was sure that my father would have shared the same opinion as me, considering that he had thought that Daniel of all people was a bit irresponsible.

I had to admit that I was reluctant when the idea of visiting Manchester had been brought into the discussion, but after reuniting with my sister, I was glad that I had come. This visit had helped me come to terms with my troublesome past. Alice confirmed my suspicions that Father's unusual grave had been the result of his regret. He had isolated himself from everyone for some time after I left. He then changed his will, making arrangements to have his grave as it now was. It made me sad to hear, but she reassured me that he had been in fairly good spirits when he died. That made me feel a bit better.

Having rested my feet for an adequate amount of time, I rose to my feet, smoothing out the folds in my dress before beginning to step towards the door to help Caroline and Evangeline.

However, before I could do so, the door opened and Caroline entered the room, unaccompanied by anyone at all. I let out a small giggle at the slight irritation on her face.

"I see that you managed to escape from the little mischief-makers," I observed.

She groaned at the mention of them. "How Evangeline manages to put up with that daughter of hers is beyond me! She just threw another tantrum, and only stopped once her governess offered to take all of the children to the kitchen for cookies! Poor Evangeline went to lie down for a spell."