A Taste of Honey (34 page)

Pouring the tea into three cups Mrs. Wellings focused on the task of adding the right amount of milk, honey and sugar to the mix.

“How long ago did you arrive?  I had thought that you would come earlier.”

“We got in late last night, but you'd already gone to bed.”  Motioning to their mother Robin made something of a sour face.  “Things took longer than they should have.”

“A person shouldn't travel when they are as ill as I have been,” Mrs. Wellings snapped back at her daughter.  “Had you been thinking about my health you might have had the wedding closer to home so that I didn't have to travel as far.”

Lifting a cup of tea to her lips Katherine began wondering why she had wanted her mother to come after all.  More than ever before, she seemed short tempered as if some of Robin's old tantrums had somehow leapt into her mother.  “Well I'm happy that you came anyway.  We've been planning a wonderful wedding celebration for today with a large breakfast for all of the guests.”

“Lord Kent could have put on a better wedding of course, but for being commoners I'm sure you've all done a decent job.”

Katherine nearly choked on her tea as she listened to her mother's tone.  “Aren't we all commoners?” she asked her mother.

“You didn't have to be.  Before your sister changed her mind about your marriage she told me that Lord Kent would have taken you.”

“And I would have been miserable as his wife,” Katherine fired back, standing up to her mother for the first time in her life.  “I chose Garrett because I knew that he would make me happy.”

Before she could answer back Robin laid her hand over Mrs. Wellings' hand and gave it a little squeeze.  “None of that, mother.  Today is Katherine's day.  Not yours.”

A shaky smile finally spread across Mrs. Wellings lips before she finished off the last of her tea.  “You're right Robin, we should be happy that at least one of my daughters has found someone suitable to marry.”  With no more praise to give them, Mrs. Wellings turned and left the room.

“I considered telling her that she had to stay home but she wanted to come,” Robin admitted.  “I think she wanted to tell you how displeased she was with you in person.”

“But what took you two so long to get here?”

“I didn't go home right away,” Robin confessed.  “I was looking for some of Victor's past fiancées in London.”

Katherine had been so relieved at hearing that Robin was willing to break the engagement with Victor, that she had not considered the other women who had made the same decision in the past.  “Are you worried about how you'll be treated in society after breaking the engagement?  I heard that all of the other women were able to quickly marry, even if it was to men that might not have been as rich.”

“I wasn't looking into how rich they are or how they found husbands.”  Robin leaned in closely over the tea set.  “I was asking them why they decided not to marry Victor.  My suspicions were true.  All of them had the same answer.  Not long after their engage
ment was publicly announced they
were visited by someone who persuaded them to refuse Victor.”

She set her own tea aside, “Is that who you were talking to in your room?”

“I think so,” Robin admitted.  “He tried to tell me how horrible Victor was and how unhappy I would be if I married him.  At one point he even threatened me if I didn't break the engagement.”

Katherine couldn't imagine someone threatening her sister without finding out that she could bite back in return.  Wondering how the stranger had fared she finally asked “What did you do to him?”

Robin smiled over the china cup's rim before she took another sip.  “Well I decided to try one of your tactics.  I kissed him.”

Katherine laughed at the absurdity of Robin trying to follow her own bad behavior.  “You didn't really, did you?”

“Yes, and I liked it much better than whenever Victor has tried to kiss me.”  Unlike most women, Robin seemed rather proud of her bad behavior.  “Then, after we kissed, he became angry because I told him that I wasn't going to break it off with Victor just because he wanted me to.”

Katherine covered her lips with a lace napkin as she struggled not to laugh.  “I don't understand Robin, why did you want to talk to the other women about him?  You must have assumed that he was the one to help persuade the others.”

Robin nodded her head.  “Yes I'd assumed that already.  I wanted to visit the others because I was trying to see if any of them knew who he was or how to get a hold of him.”

“You want to find him?  Why?”

Not once had Katherine ever seen her sister blush and she wondered if her own face turned bright pink each time too.  “Well, I sort of liked him.  Or at least I'm curious about him.  Maybe saying that I 'like' him is too strong of a word after he called me a hussy.”

That anyone was willing to stand up to Robin's temper was admirable.  The idea that someone had gone so far was shocking.  “Did you tell mother that you want to break your engagement to a very wealthy man so that you can run after some nameless man who called you a hussy?”

“No,” Robin shook her head.  “I had planned to tell her when I got home from visiting the other women, but she was too busy telling me how disappointed she was in you.  She said that my rich fiancé was the only good news she'd had in awhile.”  Both sisters made a face as they considered Victor as the kind of son in law that their mother wanted.  “The only thing I did tell her was that she should be happy for you.”  Finishing off her own tea she added, “Considering how she acted this morning, I don't think that she's decided to take my advice.”

To make up for their lost tea social, Winnie became Katherine's shadow for much of the day, especially once Kent had shown up to wish the newlyweds happiness in their future.

“It's not right that he decided to show up to your wedding, after trying to break you and Garrett apart the way that he did,” Winnie complained as she tried to keep Katherine away from him before the wedding ceremony took place.  It was as if Winnie feared that Kent might still steal her away from Garrett or that talking to him might somehow change the main event of the day.

“Winnie I think you are going too far with this.  Kent was looking for a wife; I was looking for a husband, that's all that there ever was between us.  I don't think that there was any direct intention on his part to try to steal me away from your brother.”  Before Winnie could interrupt Katherine held up her hand to stop her.  “Even if he was trying to do that, there is no way that talking to him now will change my mind nor Garrett's about us getting married.”

“I don't care; the two of you shouldn't be alone together.” In the end, Winnie relented and allowed Katherine a short conversation with Kent where they could end things a little more formally than they had when Katherine had shown up at the bachelor house for Garrett and found Kent horribly drunk.  Katherine wished him well as best as she could.  “And you are always welcome at our home,” she assured him.

“Perhaps you should have consulted Winnie before you offered that invitation,” Kent said, laughing at the frowning face the peeked around the door at him every now and then.

“Well you shouldn't have picked on her so much when you were children,” Katherine lectured.

Kent's eyes sparked darkly as he noticed Winnie once more.  “Is that what she told you?” he asked, sounding amused.

The small wedding ceremony took place in the family chapel, a tiny building that was often too small to be functional for many events and had become mostly a prayer room for Mrs. Brentley to spend her time in.

Winnie's input on how to decorate the small space without making it feel cluttered proved to be perfect.  Wildflowers from one of their fields had been brought in that morning to decorate the usually barren room.  Morning glories, myrtle, and pink azaleas were crafted into several arrangements, including a bridal bouquet.  While tying the flowers together Robin asked Winnie to fill her hair with a few that had been left over and she even commented on how much she had missed the simple flowers instead of always wearing roses.

Their wedding was only attended by their famili
es and a couple of the Brentley
s
’
local friends.  To some, including Mrs. Wellings, it would have been considered a sad affair without formal music and only a few people in attendance, but for Katherine it was the perfect, quiet wedding out in the country that she had always wanted.  Fitted with a pale blue dress and one penny in her shoe for good luck, Katherine entered the small chapel to start the next part of her life.

Her eyes drifted to Garrett during the ceremony, even though she should have been paying more attention to the pastor.  She relaxed as he smiled back at her; both of them filled with thoughts of their future together, the children that they would have, and the life that they would share.  She knew that nothing mattered except being together with someone that she loved.

Most of their planning had focused on the late morning breakfast to mark the joyous occasion.  While not prepared by the best French chefs, the fair was rich and delicious; filled with heavy cream sauces, delicate wines and tender vegetable and meat dishes.

“Your mother and sister seemed to enjoy themselves today,” Garrett commented as he smoothed back a lock of her hair that had fallen loose during the day.

“I think they did.  If given some time, my mother might even warm to the idea of you,” Katherine agreed as she managed a weak smile.

“Good,” Garrett said as he swung her up into his arms and began carrying her to the bedroom that she would now inhabit as mistress of the house.  Looking down at her face, he worried that she still looked so tired from a day filled with traditions and guests.  “We don't have to do anything tonight,” he told her.  “Let me just get you ready for bed and I'll let you be.  We have many nights ahead of us for the rest of it.”

Trying to stifle a yawn Katherine shook her head.  “No I'm ready, I want to,” she insisted.

“You would have been more convincing without the yawn,” he told her, as he pushed open the bedroom door and set her down on the large bed.

“Will you at least stay with me tonight?” she asked, not wanting to sleep alone on the first night of her marriage.

Pulling her small foot up to rest on his bent knee Garrett began taking off her shoes and carefully rolling down her stockings.  “Yes, I'll stay here with you tonight,” he promised.

Garrett slowly and gently undressed her, rubbing each sore spot and tense muscle that he found along the way.  Katherine purred beneath his touch as it calmed her frayed nerves.

“I think I've found something more relaxing than a walk,” she told him as he began untying the laces at the back of her dress and rubbing at her stiff shoulders.

“Well that's a good thing,” Garrett said as he pulled the dress down off of her body along with the corset until she stood in only a thin cotton chemise and undergarments.  “I prefer this much more than just a walk around the same old garden pathways.”

“You don't think that this will ever get as routine as garden paths?”  Katherine asked teasing the bulge in his pants with the tips of her toes as she sat on the bed in front of him again.

“You haven't had enough experiences,” he explained as he pulled her up and into his arms.  “There are many different ways to do what we did and I will make it my goal in life that you never consider what we do as boring and routine as your walks with Winnie.”

Katherine looked at him truly puzzled.  “What do you mean that there are more ways?  I thought we've done everything by now.  That doesn't mean that I'm still a virgin, right?” She couldn't imagine that he might have missed something as every part of her had been examined, stroked and licked.

Laughing gently, Garrett removed the remaining layers of her clothing until she stood naked before him.  “No, don't worry about that, I've made sure that you are completely ruined.  Your virginity is a thing of the past.  I just mean that there are other positions to try, different forms of foreplay for us to enjoy.”

“Like what?”  Katherine asked as he slowly began pushing her further and further from the bed.

When her back connected with the wall he pushed her just a little farther so that she was pinned tightly between him and the barrier.  “This is one way,” he whispered in her ear and lifted her until she was at the right height, pushing himself against her naked body to show her how well they could fit together in such a position.

Katherine moaned at the different and exciting feelings that it caused.  She wrapped her legs and arms around Garrett as he licked at her neck and bit at her bared breasts.  “Too bad you're too tired to try something like this tonight,” he added before taking one of her nipples into his hot mouth and sucking hungrily.

“I don't feel very tired right now,” Katherine cooed as she held his head close to her.  “I'd be very willing to try something like this tonight.”

“But there are other things I'd like to show you too,” Garrett said as he released her, letting her slowly slide down his body until her feet touched the ground.

Grasping his jacket, Katherine began pulling it off of his shoulders.  “Yes, but let's start with that one,” she insisted as she continued to remove his clothing.