The Haunting of Josephine (6 page)

There had been a couple of
occasions
where he had managed an invite amongst the many suitors
vying
for Jo’s affection.
He h
ad; however, managed to fail to notice that she had kept to polite conversation with him and whenever Mr. Kinsley was around she could
n
o
t take her eyes off of him and freely talked with him about anything, even several things that were
n
o
t proper for a lady to talk about with a potential suitor.

Here I am yet again forced to listening
at
windows. Who should I listen to? My dearest Josephine is in with her
u
ncle but he hardly ever opens his office window for fear of the
breeze blowing his papers. I best go around and try and see what her sniveling
a
unt is saying to Mr. Kinsley.

He
skulked around the outside of the house to the windows of the sitting room. He was in luck. True to form
Katherine
had opened the windows just enough that he would be able to hear any conversation. He also lucked out that they were in the sitting room which was the only room in the house with a big flowering bush that was large enough for him to sit in and not be seen even if someone was to come to the window and look directly at it. He could hear Mr. Kinsley pacing back and forth through the room as he waited impatiently.

“Mr. Kinsley, you certainly have made this house come alive today.”

“I am hoping that you are welcome to the change.”
Look at Katherine
pr
een
ing herself like a peacock at Mr. Kinsley’s obvious
flattery. She
should know that he is only being kind to her because he has to in order to get to my sweet Josephine.

“A very welcome change indeed. So
what
are your intentions with my
niece
?”
I guess I have to ha
nd it to her Katherine
is straight forward. I hope there is a chance that
she might find some fault in Mr. Kinsley to break the pledge between him and Josephine.
Though given the size of his bank account I doubt that.

“Katherine
I have always admired your willingness to say what is on your mind
despite
society proprieties. I intend on trying my best to wait patiently through the proper period required by propriety and then I fully intend on asking for Josephine’s hand.”
Anger quickly
r
ose through him
and
he
was starting to have a very difficult time controlling himself. He wanted to hurt someone. To make them feel the pain that he was starting to feel inside. The pain that came from seeing something he so coveted be taken from him.

“Who really cares what society mandates? If you so want Josephine why
do you
not just ask for her hand?
If you really think about it you have already passed the required amount of time to be her suitor before a
proposal
. Who i
s
to say we had
n
o
t talked of it before tonight?” Again the twinkle in
Katherine
’
s eye that could
be
see
n
clearly even from where he sat outraged him.
Why does she have to be such a whore to society? Why does she have to feel the desperate need to marry her niece off to a man that is well to do over one who would cherish her?

“Dear Katherine
,
you would be willing to lie to society on the terms of my courtship to Josephine? And why would that be?”

“I have seen how you are with her. You make her truly happy and I believe that she already loves you enough to last a lifetime together and all that that
entails
.
When two people actually manage to get together and find a love like that so young and so fast; I do
n
o
t believe that society should have the right to force distance
when you should be
embracing
such a rare find.”

“A rare find indeed. This whole family is a rare find. If you do
n
o
t mind I think I will be asking for her hand. Not tonight though. I would not want to ask for her hand when I have nothing in mine to give to her. But soon though.”
I am going to make them all pay for this. Just watch and see. They are going to pay one way or another.

“Is there anything that I can do to help you
in your preparation?” He
watched as Mr. Kinsley smiled fondly at
Katherine
. Mr. Kinsley’s fondness for the entire family outraged
him.
Especially seems how
he was unable to find the same happiness there.

“Not really. I already know what I will give her when I do. I think the only thing that you may be able to do in order to help me is stop planning Josephine’s coming out party. I think that an engagement party may be more fitting.”

“As you wish Mr. Kinsley.”
His heart sank as he
watched as Josephine entered the room and went straight to Mr. Kinsley. Taking both of his hands with a broad smile on her face.

“My Uncle wishes to speak with you again.” Mr. Kinsley gave a stiff bow to both ladies before leaving the room and headed for the office. “Oh Aunt
Katherine
I can
no
t believe that this is all happening.”

“
He makes you happy?”
A
nger continued to rise as he watched Jo shake her head yes to her
a
unt. “You do realize that with a man like Mr. Kinsley that saying yes to an exclusive courtship means that you are already agreeing to marry him?”

“Oh Aunt Katherine,
I would marry him tom
orrow if it were allowed. I canno
t believe that a man like him exists.”

“What do you mean a man
‘
like him
’
?”

“Oh Aunt, he is everything I could have ever possibly wanted in a man and he is everything that you and Uncle
Joseph
wi
shed for me to find. I just canno
t believe that we were able to find someone that fits so perfectly into everything we all wanted.”

At that point he
got up and left his bush not wanting to hear anymore. He felt it was now the time to make a plan. He could
n
o
t decide more who he should be mad at and who really deserved to be punished for the wrong he felt had been done to him
. The only thing he knew was that
he did
n
o
t blame Jo for being blinded by society and
that
SOMEONE had to pay.

Chapter 6

The next
few
week
s
felt like a whirlwind to
Jo. It was not more than two days after she started officially courting Mr. Kinsley when he presented her with a beautiful ring. It was the ring that his mother had worn when she was alive.
Her coming out party was now being planned as an engagement party which meant the gown that she had already been measured for was
n
o
t appropriate for the occasion so she had to be re-measured and hearing of her engagement
and to whom she was engaged
the tailor came over carrying ream after ream of fabric for her to look at and feel.

“Bradley, do you always get special treatment from all of the merchants in town?” Jo was doing her best to relax for she had
n
o
t been given very many breaks in her party planning and was finally alone with Mr. Kinsley.

“You will get used to it. Because of my position in this town many of the merchants like to see their wares on me because it increases the
ir
business.
This proves to be a great thing for our town.
It is even better for me because they never try to pull the
wool
over my eyes and only show me their finest things.” Jo thought about what Mr. Kinsley said for a moment.

“Is that why they are treating me so differently now? Not two weeks ago I had a fitting for my coming out dress and the tailor had been trying to pass off some
sub-par
fabric as the best when it clearly was
n
o
t.
Not that I had a problem with the quality of the fabric just his representation of it. Yet
this last time he brought me nothing but the best silks and furs. I was trying to figure out what the change was.”

“You will notice that many people will treat you nicer and probably expect more out of you. I am sorry to say that as my wife you are going to have a very challenging role of dealing with the society rules and how others look upon you.” Jo hesitated in her reply.

“Are you like the society figure head?” This time it was Mr. Kinsley’s turn to take a moment to think before responding.

“I do not know if I am really a figure head but many do look upon me to set the pace of things.
For example with many others it would be a great scandal if someone
were
to suddenly be engaged before being introduced into society and after we have known each other for such a
short
period of time.
With us; however,
it
seems
to be starting a new trend.
”
Jo seemed to be nervous at the thought of having to set the pace in a society when she had never really been part of one.

“Oh dear, have we caused a
scandal
?” Jo was genuinely concerned for she did not want to cause problems for her
a
unt
and u
ncle by being a subject for gossip.

“No, we have not.
In fact
your
a
unt
Katherine
managed to spin the tale of our romance in such a way that many young women are more than likely already praying that they will find a match like you did.” Jo breathed a sigh of relief even though she was still nervous about having to enter into a society that seemed to already know so much about her.
She wondered if it really wouldn’t take all that much for her to adjust to this new way of life a
nd how soon she should expect
to be comfortable in such a setting.

“I am
grateful
for my a
unt. I would not want to
cause
her any problems. Now are you excited for the party?” Mr. Kinsley
chuckled
at Jo’s obvious attempt to change the subject.

“Why yes I am. I cannot wait to introduce the rest of society to my beautiful and intelligent fiancé.”
Mr. Kinsley smiled at Jo in
such a way that she felt her knees go weak and felt as if she could melt into a puddle.

“Oh how you do run on. Would you care to join me to meet with Aunt
Katherine
to go over more details of the party? I am sure that I could use some help with picking out the best and proper things seems how this is all so new to me.” Jo rose from her chair and took the arm that Mr. Kinsley extended to her.
Content t
hey both went in search of Katherine
to plan their decedent party.

“Yes mam, I woul
d love to assist you. Has your a
unt started you on your wifely training?” Jo looked shocked at Mr. Kinsley’s question. “You could
not
possibly think that men do
n
o
t know that you are first trained before marriage on how to run a house and take care of a husband.”

“I honestly had not realized that you would know. After all I thought it was just
some other silly thing that my a
unt had invented to torcher me with seems how she no longer needs to train me in the luring and snaring of a man.” Mr. Kinsley
laughed again; he
loved her sense of humor.

“Trust me it is the norm. It takes a lot to run a house of this size let alone a house as large as mine. It takes some training and practice to get used to it. I am sure that you probably would be able to figure it out on your own because you are smarter than most women preparing for matrimony; however, I also think that it is always a good idea to
listen to someone who has a lot of experience that they can use to share with you so that it can be easier.”

“You are right. I do
n
o
t really mind my lessons. Sometimes I wonder what Aunt
Katherine
is going to do with herself after we are married and she no longer has things she needs to trouble herself with in training me.” Mr. Kinsley thought for a moment.