WUTHERING NIGHTS: A Wuthering Heights Teen Fan Fiction

WUTHERING NIGHTS (chapter twenty-five: Scholarship)

     Katarina realised how different her upbringing had been from her father’s.

      How strange and quiet the heath had become in winter, her father thought, when he first bundled this little girl up and took her for long walks to Kenwood House. As she grew older, and had her own nanny, the family would often go for picnics in the grounds of the heath. Though the gardens of their own house were magnificent, Hunt wanted Katarina to have the normal childhood that had eluded him, or as normal as it was possible for her to have, so he took her exploring. 

   Being in his daughter’s company pleased Edmund Hunt endlessly. He remembered so many dinners with his own father, separated by an expanse of dining room table.  He was never allowed to chatter during meals. He determined to raise Katarina differently. Together they played a game called… What if? From the time Katarina could talk she was encouraged to ask questions: ‘What if the world was coloured pink? What if the grass was blue? What if Mummy hadn’t left?’ This question ended the game. There were some questions Hunt wouldn’t answer.

    As she grew older he worried for her and for himself. His daughter was sweet-natured and generous. She had gifted him further understanding of the world beyond his front door. Katarina made Hunt see life for what it was, rather than in isolation and in relation to his needs and those of his family. He knew he loved her so much he would never be able to say “no” to her and dreaded the day she would ask him for something he could not or did not wish to give her.

    Like the truth.

    The morning Katarina and Hinton decided to drive over to Hampstead High Street, the place, busy with post-Christmas bargain hunters, was busy. Together they sat in the French patisserie and ordered coffee, sandwiches and sweet cakes. Hinton barely ate in her presence and when he did, he picked the chicken off his plate and chewed that first.    

    ‘Do you know why our families don’t speak?’ Katarina asked as she stirred sugar into her latte.

    ‘Age old feud,’ Hinton said. ‘I think Linus knows the whole story. I only know my version of it. I’m sure your father would have a different account of what happened.’

    ‘He wouldn’t be happy if he knew we were all in contact, that’s for sure. But I’m so glad you and Linus and I are friends.’

     ‘Is that what we are?’ Hinton looked at her quickly, wondering for a moment if she would say something more.

       In response, Katarina looked into his eyes as Hinton took her hand. His fingers were pleasantly cool.

       ‘I want to…thank you for helping me so much.’

       Hinton slipped a tiny packet in the saucer of her tea cup. The envelope contained a delicate, gold bracelet with the initials KH carved on the inside. It must have cost Hinton at least a month of the wages he’d earned, working at the pub.

       Katarina smiled as Hinton helped her to fasten the clasp around her wrist. 

      ‘Thank you,’ she said, finishing her toast. Then she did something that surprised him. Katarina leant over and kissed him with her honey lips.

       Hinton’s face flushed red. He wasn’t really sure what to say next. He’d dated girls, lots of them, but he’d never felt for anyone the way he felt for Katarina. He shyly took her hand and kissed it. 

       They had been reading together every day. Heath still got the odd word the wrong way round, but had improved considerably. He was sure the extra study he did with the tutor he’d hired (encouraged by Katarina) had gone a long way to making words much easier for him to read. His world had opened up and he was less afraid of what the future held when she was near. He didn’t want to let go of her fingers.