Chapter Three
I still felt threatened, considering the dinner at the Stapleton house, where Hastings had engrossed my sister's young mind with thoughts of lust. It had been a week since my nightmare of Bonnet, and I was almost ready to forget about it. But not quite. The Faye family was throwing a dinner party at their house, Chippendale, and their numerous friends was invited. My parents, Janet, and I had been invited to the anniversary celebration as well.
The open carriage was pulled by two majestic, grey mares, and coachman led them with his reigns. My family sat amongst each other, I next to my father, and Janet and my mother across from us. My mother looked as beautiful as my young sister tonight, I thought. She wore diamonds on her neck and a silk gown had been sent for her from Paris. Her blonde hair was pulled back and atop her head she wore a red satin bow. Her usually stern and tired eyes were hidden behind make-up, and she looked youthful, but her lips were still set seriously.
I smiled smugly at her, just to cause a problem for my amusement. She wasn't amused though. Edith held her hands together tightly until they began to turn bone white. Why was she always so apprehensive? I asked myself.
"Mother, you look ravishing tonight."
"Thank you Samuel, you are a very handsome boy yourself."
"Darling, you are ravishing," my father retorted suddenly, sounding almost inappropriate. He chuckled to himself, and began to cough.
"Father!" Janet exclaimed, "Are you ill again?"
"No," said the older, German man in his thick accent, "I am going to be fine. I have always been fine," he mumbled to himself.
He was right. He had always been a tough man, even when he had been faced with the adversity of growing up deprived in rural Europe. His father had been a rough, knarled farmer, and his mother a sickly farmer's wife, and had watched all his other siblings die shortly after their tough births. Karl Leopold had always lived a hard life. Even when he had first immigrated from a small village in northern Germany to the growing metropolis of Detroit, he had worked long hours in a factory as he made his way up the ranks to eventually becoming the owner of various factories across southern Michigan.
The carriage pulled up under the portico of the Faye's house, and the coachman, Klaus jumped down from his steering perch and opened the cab down before either of the two doormen could. Klaus smiled to himself as he saw the two uniformed men look at each other puzzled.
My mother and sister stepped daintily out of the carriage, and I followed them, helping my father from his seat and down the small step to ground. He allowed me to assist him to the step, but as I tried to offer him a hand down, he slapped it and slowly but proudly stepped off the carriage.
We walked into the house and were greeted by an excited Misses Faye. She smiled at us, her green eyes gleaming, and I thought she looked almost as lovely as her twin daughters.
"Karl and Edith," she yelled eagerly, much to my serious mother's dismay, she took both of them in her arms for a tight hug. My easy father embraced her kindly, but my mother shrank back and smiled hesitantly.
"Violet, how nice it is to see you again. Your house looks lovely."
"Thank you, my husband just had Chippendale renovated for the turn-of -the-century amenities, which are new for the upcoming year."
"Well aren't you lucky, we just had showers installed in our home, and a heater for the winter months."
Janet and I left our parents in the entry hall with the hostess, and went forth to find our companions. We walked out onto the back porch that faced the bay. The others were seated there, including Bonnet. We took seats among them, I next to Caroline, and Janet sat near Hastings, just as she had at the Stapleton's. Before we were settled among our friends, a servant in the Faye household summoned us into the house for dinner.
