Katrina, The Beginning (15 page)

Sarah, of course, had
everything well in hand. Snacks and Crimson were laid out so we
could keep our strength up. Kate needed that, but of course thanks
to Quinn, I was fine. I’d have to think more about the matter of
his feeding me again later. While she ate and drank greedily, we
told the girls Mother might be staying and that she and Father
seemed very happy to see each other. I informed Kate there had been
no other women in Father’s life since they left, as far as I knew.
She told us although there had been many suitors, Mother had also
remained single. The girls insisted on telling Kate what a hero I
was, and how we would all be training together from now on, at
least until the envoy returned from the Americas. We had forgotten
she didn’t know anything about that either, so we were quick to
explain the situation, and added we all hoped to be included in the
colonization. She seemed very excited at that idea, adding she
intended to go wherever I went.

“Now to the important
things,” El had a devilish smile on her lips. “Did Quinn or Thomas
tell you the news about the ball tonight?”

“Yes, isn’t it enchanting?
I’ll have to thank Father,” I was happy that father had agreed to
this.

“You are in for a treat
Katherine. All the brothers are gorgeous. Letta and I haven’t
decided on which of them we like best, but those two are smitten
with Thomas and Quinn,” Rosa, pointed to El and me.

“Please, call me Kate, and
I saw for myself, before we came up here, how much Kat and Quinn
meant to each other.”

“She told them if the
others were anything like them, she couldn’t wait to meet the
rest.”

Letta laughed. “She fits
right in already.”

“They’re calling us double
trouble,” Kate laughed along.

“If you ask me, they have
no idea, yet, how true that’s going to be,” Rosa joined
in.

“Do you want to move in
with us?” El asked, excited she had thought of it.

“There’s an empty room. Oh,
please say yes! It’ll give your parents some time to be alone, and
we’ll make sure you both get time with them,” Letta was excited at
the prospect.

“How about it?” I asked,
turning to Kate.

“I think it would be
delightful. Thank you so much for making me feel so welcome. You
don’t know how afraid I was, no one would accept me - including Kat
and Father.” As she spoke her eyes filled with tears.

“Stop, you’ll make us all
cry,” Letta gave her a hug.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Kate’s gown was a sexy
off-the-shoulder, blood-red silk taffeta, complemented by matching
slippers. It showed a generous amount of cleavage, as did all of
our gowns, our motto being: “Don’t hide your blessings.” We had
Sarah put Kate’s hair up in a style similar to ours. Rubies and
diamonds at her neck and ears completed her outfit. We all had on
the gowns we had agreed on days before, and with Kate’s hair
finished, we had to admit, if there were any five girls more
fetching than us, well, there couldn’t be anyone more fetching than
the five of us.

“Stunning,” Sarah
confirmed. “Jaws will be dropping, that’s for sure, and I bet the
brothers are going to have to fight off a lot of competitors
tonight. You’d better go, girls; it’s time for you to meet your
fathers, so they can escort you to dinner. Does everyone have a
handkerchief?”

“Yes,” we all chimed,
pulling them out and waving them in the air.

“Just checking. Put them
back up your sleeves and be off. Go, go on,” she shooed us out the
door. The girls went to find their fathers, and Katherine and I
went to find ours.

Cedrik had joined Thomas to
be our Watchers until we were delivered to dinner. Then they would
be off duty.

“Cedrik,” I said, “this is
my sister Katherine.”

“A pleasure to meet you,
Katherine.”

“Likewise, but please call
me Kate.”

Father was pacing when we
arrived. Gunter was joined by Avery, who was to be Mother’s new
Watcher. We introduced him to Katherine and entered the
apartment.

“How many more brothers are
there?” Kate asked.

“Two, not a bad one in the
bunch,” I laughed.

Father smiled. “You two
look stunning, absolutely stunning. Will the two of you please see
if you can rush your mother along? It’s getting late.”

“No need Fredrik, I’m
ready,” we heard her say as she came into the room.

Now it was our turn to
gasp. Her hair was up in ringlets; her dress was the color of a
blush pearl, with hand-sewn iridescent crystals edging the
sweetheart neckline. Sleeves, puffed at the shoulders, ended
slightly past her wrist, also edged in the same crystal detail. The
dress was corseted in the back and featured a full pleated skirt
that flowed to the floor.

“I don’t have words,
Elizabeth; there aren’t any that could do you justice,” Father was
actually flushing.

“You’re so beautiful,
Mother, really,” I was awed.

“As always,” added
Kate.

“You girls are ravishing.
The young men don’t stand a chance, nor do any girls who try to
compete with you,” It was obvious how proud Mother was.

“I’m just the luckiest man
on earth,” sighed Father.

Smiling, he offered his arm
to Mother and we left for dinner. As we crossed the courtyard, we
could see all the others making their way to the dining room as
well, the beautifully gowned women and dapper gentlemen talking and
laughing as they entered the hall.

Dinner was wonderful.
Candlelight danced across the walls like fairies fluttering in
mid-air. Everyone looked splendid, and with all the business of the
council now complete, the mood was light and happy. Much to my
surprise Mother was welcomed graciously, and several times I
noticed the adoring looks being exchanged between Father and her.
The significance of those looks so excited me, I could hardly sit
still.

Finally Father rose, and
invited everyone to the ballroom, which was across the hall and
down the stairs. We led the way, with Father and Mother gliding
down the stairway arm in arm; we followed, wishing they would
hurry. As we continued down, my eye caught sight of a very handsome
group of gentlemen standing around the foot of the stairs, three on
one side and three on the other. Having never seen the Voss
brothers dressed in tie and tails before, I was stunned at how
handsome they all were. There was not a man alive, here or anywhere
else, that was a match for any one of our escorts. And of course I
had my eye on one of them in particular.

Kate squeezed my hand and
whispered, “Easy Kat, you can’t kiss him right here.”

Finally we reached the
bottom of the stairs. When Quinn smiled at me and offered his arm,
I thought I would melt.

“You’re gorgeous
Kat.”

“You’re pretty gorgeous
yourself,” I replied to him.

Cedrik escorted Kate over
to sit down and we followed. Thomas would be spending the evening
with El, of course; the other girls were working at keeping Avery,
Simon, and Gregor guessing, but they could have any of girls
attending tonight. We danced the night away. I wasn’t surprised our
Watchers knew how to dance, since while I was growing up they had
taken turns teaching me. But I didn’t care about the rest of them;
I could have spent the rest of my days in Quinn’s arms, looking
into his beautiful blue eyes.

“Would you like to go out
to the veranda?” he asked softly.

“I’d love to.”

“I would
follow him anywhere,”
I thought. It was a perfect spring
night, with crisp air and a clear sky filled with thousands of
twinkling stars. We walked to the edge of the building, our arms
around each other’s waists. I leaned my head on his shoulder and
sighed; the night had been perfect and I didn’t want it to
end.

“So how are you coping with
all the sudden changes in your life?” he asked as he ran his finger
down my neck and across my bare shoulder, sending chills down my
spine.

“Well it’s been only a day,
but I think it’s going to be fine. I’m sure we’ll have times where
we won’t be happy with one another - all families have such days -
but after the initial shock wore off and Father explained what had
happened, I couldn’t be upset. I vowed to find a way to make this
work, and look at the two them – they seem so happy. Looking back,
it seems for all these years he must have been terribly lonesome;
he must have missed her desperately. I know if you went
away—”

“Shhh,” he touched my lips
with his finger. Then slowly, he bent down and kissed me. I didn’t
want that kiss ever to end, but when it did he whispered, “I’m not
going anywhere.”

Kate called out, “Hey, you
two,”

She was arm in arm with
Gregor this time, and they were followed by El and Thomas, Rosa and
Simon, and Letta and Avery. Cedrik was still inside, basking in the
attentions of several young ladies, we were told.

“Look at all of us! I went
from having no sisters to having four; and I will have to say, my
brothers have never looked so good.”

Just then Cedrik came
around the corner with a waiter in tow. The waiter was carefully
carrying a tray full of Champagne glasses filled almost to the top.
We each took one.

“To what shall we toast?”
Cedrik asked.

“To us,” I raised my glass.
“The family I always wanted.”

“Hear, hear!” they all
joined in as we clicked our glasses together.

Later, when we’d left the
ball, the laughter rang out as we cavorted across the square in a
group. Earlier in the evening we informed our parents, Katherine
would be moving in with us and had her with us as we made our way
back to our quarters. Quinn and I entered the courtyard first, and
when we turned we laughed to see that the procession of brothers
and sisters seemed to go on for blocks.

“What’s so funny?” El
asked.

“It’s just we look a little
like a parade,” I turned and pointed

When she turned to see what
I meant, she laughed too. We lingered for a moment while the rest
paraded, on seemingly at this moment, in a more serious mood now
the evening was at its end. I wanted to sneak Quinn into my room,
but knew that was a bad idea…wasn’t it? Yes, it was, I
decided.

“I had a wonderful time,
even though these suits are really uncomfortable.” Quinn pulled at
his collar.

“Oh? And these dresses
aren’t?” I indicated my corseted waist.

“At least you’re somewhat
used to it.”

“Well, you wouldn’t know
it, but all of you had every lady in attendance tonight
drooling.”

“And you, my dear, are so
funny. You can’t be totally unaware men can’t take their eyes off
you, not just tonight, but wherever you go? You never seem to
notice?”

“Well, I don’t know about
that. All I care about is how you look at me, and where you
look.”

“Just look?” he
laughed.

“You’re right. I want far
more from you than a look.”

We kissed again. I wanted
so much more, but there would be plenty of time, I
thought.

“Break it up, you two,”
Thomas said, “We all have to be up early to train, and everyone has
to work especially hard to impress your fathers.”

“Yes, sir,” I gave him a
mock salute.

“I’m serious, and you’d
better be, too,” he said, his brow furrowed in a deep
frown.

“Oh, Thomas, you know how
serious I am with my training, and you can expect the same from
everyone else. I think we’ve found out this past week how important
training is. We have to be able to act on instinct at any moment.
They all assured me they want to do just that, and I wouldn’t have
asked Father to let them stay if I didn’t believe them.”

“True. How about your
sister? Do you have any idea if she has any experience with
weapons, riding or any kind of self defense?”

“No, but I’ll ask her when
I get back. She is my twin after all, and if nothing else, you can
bet she’s a fast learner. Did you send someone for her trunks,
Thomas?”

“Sarah was way ahead of
you, as usual. Katherine’s all settled in, including additional
supplies Sarah thought she might need.”

“I don’t know why I even
open my mouth. Sarah always seems to read my mind.”

“Well, let’s get you back
so you can get some rest,” Quinn gave me a squeeze. “You must be
ready right after sunrise.”

“Very well,” I
pouted.

Quinn walked me to my door,
gave me a quick kiss, opened the door, and wished me
goodnight.

From inside we heard a
chorus of four voices, crooning, “Goodnight, Quinn.”

I leaned against the door
for a moment and sighed, “That was great.”

Everyone in
agreement.

“You were right Kat,
there’s not a bad one in the bunch. Those brothers are amazing,”
Kate said.

“Absolutely delicious,” El
made a show of licking her lips while  looking straight at me.
“You know what I mean, right Kat?”