Chapter 22

CHAPTER22

Acouple of gasps arose around the table. Prudence’s gasp sounded more like a yelp, accompanied by the same look of absolute horror.

Gerald smiled at the guests amidst their utter shock at the news. Katherine smiled as well.

Everything was going according to plan until a familiar voice interrupted the moment.

Charlotte had burst out into a loud fit of laughter, nearly knocking Elias off his seat. “I gather this is your little attempt at saving your reputation!”

She chortled as she looked back at Katherine.

Katherine sputtered for a moment, before closing her mouth and falling silent. She found the slightest bit of solace in staring up at Gerald, knowing this was a situation that he was better suited to deal with.

“How ridiculous!” Charlotte scoffed, her laughter jarringly loud around the silent table.

A loud commotion ensued. A commotion that Katherine could only describe as complete chaos. Some laughed with Charlotte, others yelled across the table. Some let out audible gasps amidst the cacophony of voices.

Katherine, however, was at a loss for words. Unmoving. Frozen in place.

Charlotte’s laugter had finally started to die down, Simon having joined her in the action. She took deep breaths as she wiped away tears of laughter.

As Katherine looked up at Gerald once more, she saw the vein in his forehead start to throb, now more prominent than ever. He wasn’t angry, but livid.

“Lady Louton,” he hissed. His entire face had gone red as he leaned over the table, his body angled toward Charlotte.

For a moment, Katherine thought that he might lunge at her.

Instead, the least expected thing had happened.

In the midst of all the chaos, Elias had pushed back his chair, dragging Charlotte up with him. All the noise immediately died down. “Charlotte!” he exclaimed loudly, startling Katherine.

Katherine knew Elias. He was gentle and quiet, keeping mostly to himself. But she couldn’t recognize the man who had jumped up from his chair.

“You had humiliated us both before, and yet you continue to do so! You have embarrassed us greatly by talking like this!” Elias shouted, even more angry than Gerald.

This made Gerald sit back down.

Charlotte yelped as she freed herself from Elias’s grip, her face disgusted as she looked back at him. The entire table watched as the scene unfolded before them.

“You fiend!” she yelled back at Elias.

Beside Katherine, Gerald sat back in his chair and continued to sip on his wine as if nothing had happened.

“I would not have had to speak in such a manner if it were not for you still being in love with the cripple over there!” Charlotte shrieked, her voice more vengeful than hurt. “That is what she is, you stupid man! She is a waste of space, a cripple!”

Katherine felt the room spin around her as her heart squeezed painfully in her chest. She had received several mean comments in her life, but Charlotte had somehow completely destroyed her with her words.

Elias fell silent, retreating into his shell, his cheeks glowing pink in embarrassment as he stared back at his wife. Before he could utter another word, Charlotte slapped him across the cheek.

More gasps rang out in the room, everyone perched on the edge of their seats. Katherine stared down at her lap, trying to steady her breathing amidst the chaos around her.

“You harlot,” Charlotte hissed through gritted her teeth.

Slowly, she started to make her way toward Katherine’s side of the table. Some primitive instinct had caused Katherine to jump up from her seat and back away.

“How dare you turn my husband against me!” Charlotte screamed.

Katherine closed her eyes as she waited for the sting of a slap across the cheek. But when she felt nothing, she opened up her eyes to see Gerald’s towering figure before her. He had stepped in front of her, shielding her against Charlotte’s blows.

“Lord Louton,” he said in a cold tone, “control your wife before I do something I might regret later on.”

Elias stood unmoving next to his seat as he watched his wife continue her tirade, hurling all kinds of nasty words at Katherine, who was standing behind Gerald, feeling smaller than she ever had before.

“Oh, Your Grace, don’t even get me started on you and your poor decisions,” Charlotte taunted. “Your decision to marry her might have been the worst one yet! And the supposed ‘pregnancy’ is an even worse one, for that matter. Your children are all bound to be as deformed as she is! But then again, what else can one expect from a man who had killed his own father!”

A new emotion surged inside Katherine. It was an emotion she had never felt before. An emotion so strong that she was unsure of how to contain it. This emotion? Pure rage.

Before Katherine could think twice, she stepped around Gerald, her hand rising in the air and landing on Charlotte’s cheek, hard. Her fingers stung as she dropped her hand, but nothing had ever felt so good.

Charlotte shrieked loudly as she pressed a palm to her reddened cheek. She looked back up at Katherine, her eyes flashing with the same rage. She opened her mouth to hurl more insults, but before she could do so, Katherine slapped her once again.

This time, Charlotte’s shriek was louder and filled with far more hatred.

“Oh, don’t act as if I hurt you!” Katherine yelled, watching as Charlotte bent over in pain. “I am a cripple, after all!”

She turned to face Gerald, who looked back at her with such shock, rooted to the spot. Katherine grabbed his hand, tugging on it to lead them away from the table.

“We leave this very instant,” she mumbled as she continued to drag Gerald toward the front door.

She didn’t bother to bid the guests a good night, her thoughts in such a shamble that she was surprised that she could stand on her feet. Gerald didn’t say anything but silently followed her.

As they stepped outside, she looked down the front steps, all her emotions crashing down on her. She sank to her knees, no energy left to descend the dozens of stairs before her.

Gerald was quick to catch her from behind, allowing her to fall limply into his arms as he lowered them onto the top step.

Exhausted and emotional, Katherine felt tears start to stream down her face. Just hot tears spilling over each time she blinked.

“It’s all right,” Gerald said softly as he brushed a strand of hair from her face. “It’s all right, Katherine. We will be all right.”

“I find it difficult to believe those words,” Katherine mumbled, her voice cracking. “What a horror of a night.”

“We wait for our carriage here,” Gerald said, his voice soothing. “We wait for our carriage here, and as soon as we get home, we have a good night’s rest.”

“How can one possibly rest in such despair?” Katherine asked as she looked up at him.

Gerald’s eyes grew misty. He was about to respond when he heard the doorknob turn. He turned his head toward the front door.

“Brother!” Simon boomed as he stepped out into the cold evening. He appeared flushed, if not slightly disheveled.

“Away, Simon!” Gerald yelled sternly.

Instead, Simon approached them, slightly out of breath. “Mother just collapsed,” he huffed, his brow furrowed in distress. “I require your assistance urgently!”

Gerald let out a sigh, getting to his feet before he helped Katherine up.

Katherine watched as he rushed back inside, his coat billowing behind him. Then, she found herself standing all alone with Simon.

She turned to descend the stairs, lacking the energy to attempt to have a conversation with Simon. She was tired, exhausted, and overly emotional. And Simon was one of the last people she wanted to see at that moment.

“No!” Simon shouted, nearly causing her to trip before she could even go down the first step.

Katherine turned around, thinking something else had happened. Instead, she saw him looking straight back at her. He was shouting at her.

“Excuse me?” She shook her head tiredly. “I am not in the mood for a quarrel, Lord Simon.”

She hiked up her skirts, once again starting to descend the stairs.

“No! You will listen to me!” Simon shouted.

But as she ignored him, he yanked on her arm, nearly causing her to fall on the porch.

“Ow!” Katherine exclaimed, trying to free her arm from his grasp. “Let go of me this instance, Lord Simon!”

“Listen to me!” Simon hissed, roughly shaking her by the arm.

Katherine felt as if she were in a whirlwind, and once he had stopped shaking her, she stood completely still. Her eyes were wide as she looked back at him.

“Lord Simon, what are you doing?” she asked shakily.

“You have ruined everything,” Simon snapped, his voice bitter and filled with hatred. “Do you hear what I said? You have ruined everything!”

“I am not the one who drinks my life away and then proceeds to steal from my own family!” Katherine yelled back, but then immediately regretted opening her mouth in the first place.

Simon was a fragile bomb, and she might have just set him off.

She waited for him to start berating her, humiliating her for the final time this night. She waited for the words, or perhaps even the blows, with odd patience, knowing there were few escape routes, what with his strong grip on her. Instead, what happened was far worse than she could have imagined.

Using all his strength, Simon shoved her backward.

Before Katherine knew it, she was falling.