The Daughters Grimm by Minda Webber

Author:Minda Webber [Minda Webber]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781428505162
Publisher: Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.
Published: 2008-09-17T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Bless the Beastly Little Children

In later years, Rae would always remember two things about her wedding. First: that the brood of seven little Schortzes, with their beady little eyes and grubby little fingers, were scamps one and all, pests pure and simple. The second thing she would remember was that she did not have a wedding night. Though, for the first few days of her marriage, this problem did not bother her a whit. It was only later, when she began to see her husband as virile and handsome, that his lack of interest in his husbandly duties bothered her.

No, on this night—her wedding night—she was praying for a reprieve from her wifely duties as she was seated at the dinner table by one of the footmen. Nodding briskly at her husband, she turned her attention to the room in general. She and Fen were dining by candlelight, as a newly married couple should, but without the intimacy or rapport. The atmosphere was very tense. The whole subject of children remained just out of sight, like a giant fire-breathing dragon watching from the shadows. The abysmal meeting between the children and Rae was not mentioned, but nonetheless the dragon eventually raised its ugly head, by way of a loud banging sound from above.

Rae glanced up and heard a shout of pure glee. Her husband remained silent, even though it sounded as if demented little goblins were breaching the castle walls. Enough was enough. She spoke. “I see your children have not heard of the golden rule.”

Fen lifted his head from his contemplation of his plate. “The golden rule?”

“Children should be seen and not heard.”

Fen didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “That’s not the golden rule!”

“It’s not?” she asked, genuinely surprised.

He shook his head. “Do unto your neighbor as you would have him do unto you.”

“That’s a fine rule, too,” she agreed. “Shall I go make faces at the children as they did to me this afternoon, or make wooden signs, or perhaps a tapestry celebrating the dubious joys of being a stepmother?”

He actually cracked a smile. “It takes time, Rae. This situation is new to us all.”

There wasn’t much she could say to that, so she sourly took a bite of sauerkraut and began to study her surroundings. It was more than obvious her husband was wealthy. The dining area was a very spacious room with a high, vaulted ceiling. Watered silk covered the walls, with delicate tiny floral patterns. Placed about the room were several large paintings, and she noted a Rembrandt, which she knew to be very costly. A Venetian chandelier hung high overhead, with hundreds of etched glass pieces hanging from its center.

The silverware was gold, most probably real. All in all it was a perfectly divine dining room, Rae saw—with one exception. Fen had not ordered for her place to be set next to his own; hence they were separated by a vast expanse of polished cherrywood table, making conversation necessarily loud.

The bleak atmosphere seemed to affect everyone in the room, too.

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