The Unknowing Heiress

Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

Christmas Eve dinner was an extravagant affair at the Lavelle Plantation. Before Maggie was an enormous glazed ham, a roasted turkey and a suckling pig. The image of the pig was a little frightening for Maggie. Their cook usually ordered portions of the animal as opposed to the entire pig. Accompanying the meat was all sorts of delicious smelling trimmings, including roasted vegetables and boiled potatoes, herbed stuffing and gravy.

There was another kind of company at the table as well, an undesired kind. Max had indeed invited Janna Sunderland to join them for dinner. The sat next to each other, chatting comfortably while sampling the various dishes.

Maggie was disinterested in her dinner, losing her appetite every time their fingers brushed together. She often seemed to make excuses to touch him and he her.

She was glad that Zachary was engaged in conversation with Isaac and Joanna as otherwise he would have noticed her glowering at Janna.

“So, Miss Maggie, tell me, how does this evening differ to how you celebrate the holiday in England?” Janna asked curiously, taking a sip from her wine.

The table quietened to listen to Maggie’s response. Maggie took a moment to calm herself for if she spoke straight away she would have most definitely growled. “We do not eat on Christmas Eve,” she murmured. “My Aunt Bess cooks for us on Christmas Day.”

“Is she your aunt as well, Max?” Janna asked him.

“Bess is my step mother’s sister-in-law,” he replied, “so I do not know what she is in relation to me, but we call her ‘Aunt Bess’ all the same.”

“Don’t you keep a cook?” Joanna asked Maggie accusingly. “I was under impression that your adoptive family were aristocrats.”

“Aunt Bess likes to give the servants the day off on Christmas. She does not think it is right for them to be cooking and serving us on Christmas Day. While we are aristocrats, my aunt being a duchess, we are raised to be humble, gracious and compassionate.” Maggie emphasised the fact that she was a part of the aristocratic family. She was quickly growing tired of the Lavelles referring to her family as being merely ‘adoptive’.

“I think that’s lovely,” Janna interjected.

“As do I,” Zachary agreed. “Your aunt sounds like a very classy lady.”

Maggie was happy that both she and Max could exchange a subtle amused expression. Bess could be very classy in public, but behind closed doors she was boisterous, argumentative, and at times incredibly humorous.

“I love that you both have such a large family. I am very envious. I have only a half-brother who is ten years my senior and our age difference meant that we did not grow up together,” said Janna.

Maggie deduced that she was the daughter of her father’s second wife. “I am eight years older than my nearest sibling,” replied Maggie. She didn’t really want to engage in conversation with the woman but it was polite.

“My half-sister, Grace, is twelve years younger than me,” added Max, “but my elder sister is only three years my senior.”

“Well I envy all of you,” Zachary announced, “for I have no siblings.”

Maggie noticed Joanna’s face fall a little. Maggie remembered a story that Isaac had told her in England. Joanna’s sister and Zachary’s mother had died of consumption when he was eleven and his father had passed away before he was born. Seeing that emotion on Joanna’s face reminded Maggie that she was not all bad. She’d experienced loss, too.