"If by my life or death I can protect you, I will. " J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

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Chapter Twenty – Eight

Kit had never before witnessed such a scene than he had on the day of his parents' wedding.

Parents. That word still seemed foreign to him. Taboo even. It was almost as if he feared waking up from the dream that was now his life.

Kit, the orphan boy from London, had a mother, and a father, a sister, a surname, and a home.

But Kit was certain that he would always remember the crowd of well-wishers that had gathered outside the church to witness the nuptials and to bless the happy couple. Cassian had stopped in the village to organise the ceremony with the vicar and the news had obviously spread.

Faith had been a bit of a recluse apparently, hiding away in the house, avoiding the villagers for fear of judgement. Her story was on the front page of every newspaper and on the lips of every gossip, after all, but these people did not seem to mind. Dozens of people waved and cheered as the carriage drove the family to the church, and the smile that spread across Faith's face was like sunshine.

The only smile bigger than Faith's was Cassian's. He was staring at his bride to be with absolute adoration. It had always been obvious, but Kit could see that Cassian truly loved Faith. He wanted everything for her, and Kit knew that his concern extended to himself and to Lucy. Kit knew he was very privileged to have Cassian as a father.

The wedding was beautiful and the happy couple honeymooned at Finn's estate, situated a mile or so from Norwood Cottage.

It was all over in ten days, at which point Kit found himself sitting in a carriage bound for Leicestershire. Gone was Faith's blissfully happy demeanour. Cassian was no longer smiling. Even Lucy seemed on edge, as though she sensed something was wrong.

Faith looked very anxious. She gazed out the window but her hands were shaking nervously. Cassian placed his hand over hers in an attempt to calm her.

Kit had not been entirely informed as to what Faith had experienced during her first marriage. The newspapers did tell and extraordinary tale, and Kit had not felt it right to ask his new mother about her past, especially if he was uncomfortable doing so.

But they were journeying back to what was once Faith's home, in order for Faith to renounce some sort of right. Kit was not exactly sure. The legal terms went over his head a bit.

Kit did not like that Faith was feeling this way. She was too kind and too loving to be feeling anxious. He wanted to comfort her, but he feared saying the wrong thing, and so he said nothing.

"We are nearly there," murmured Cassian. Clearly he had recognised a landmark.

"I know," muttered Faith in reply. Her voice was so weak and her frame was so tense.

Although Kit was unsure of what had happened to Faith, he knew one thing for certain. These people were not nice people.

Kit caught his father's eye just before the carriage took them through the gates of the Runthorpe estate. Cassian gave Kit a reassuring nod. Just that simple gesture helped Kit to relax a little. No matter what was to happen, everything would turn out alright. Cassian would make sure of it.

The carriage pulled to a stop in front of an even larger manor. Kit would have been in awe had he not seen a shiver flow through Faith. She was feeling ill. Cassian rubbed Faith's back reassuringly as the footmen came to open the carriage door and unload the trunks.

"We will not be staying! Leave the trunks," Cassian called out to them. "I would rather sleep in a pig sty than stay here a moment longer than we are required to. Kit, I need you to look after Lucy," Cassian instructed. "Stay out here. We will not be too long."

Kit nodded and watched as Cassian and Faith left the carriage and ascended up to the front door. Faith appeared as though she was holding on to Cassian's arm for dear life as they crossed the threshold.

Whatever it was they needed to do, Kit hoped it was swift.

Kit and Lucy climbed out of the carriage to stretch their legs once the footmen had left them. Mr Green had released the horses and had gone to water the, and so they were left alone.

"Where has Mama gone?" Lucy asked Kit, her little face frowning with worry.

Kit could not provide her with an answer. "She will be back soon," he promised.

Lucy placed her small hand in Kit's as they walked aimlessly in a circle.

"Psst!"

Kit's head swung around toward the source of the noise. He only saw a flash of red before it disappeared around the side of the great house.

"What was that?" asked Lucy curiously.

"I don't know, Goose. Shall we investigate?" Kit knelt down on the ground and encouraged Lucy to climb on his back. Once she was secure, Kit took off running after that flash of red.

Kit weaved in and out of brush as he jogged with Lucy, looking around his surroundings as he searched for the person he had seen. He slowed down when he noticed a horse and cart waiting idly by the side of the wilderness. How odd. What was it doing there?

Kit gently let Lucy to the ground. Just as he was about to approach the horse, Kit about had a coronary as someone grabbed his arm.

Kit was suddenly met with a pair of the bluest eyes he had ever seen. They reminded him of the sky when it was perfectly clear. Her skin was pale and smooth like porcelain, though her cheeks were flushed from running. The red he had seen was her hair. She had lovely, wavy red hair, and lots of it. She wore it down, and it hung around her waist.

She was beautiful. She most beautiful girl Kit had ever seen.

"You look strong. Are you strong?" She spoke with such determination.

Kit was taken aback by the tenacity in her voice. "I ... uh ..."

"Great!" The red-haired girl beamed and grabbed his hand. Lucy began chasing after them. She dragged him along the side of the house towards a door that was half open. Kit had not noticed that before. The door was adjacent to the horse and cart. They were some twenty feet apart. "I have been moving this crate covertly through the house for the best part of an hour." She opened the door for Kit, revealing a sturdy looking wooden crate that was sitting in the doorway. She placed her hands on her narrow hips as she stared down at the heavy thing. "I know I will not be able to lift it onto the cart. Please can you help me?"

Something in Kit switched, perhaps it was his sense of heroics, or the need to be overly masculine to impress this beauty before him. He nodded, rolling up his sleeves. "You want this on the cart? No problem. Give me thirty seconds," he boasted. Kit approached the crate and positioned himself in front of it, placing one hand on top, and the other underneath the lip. One, two, three. Kit heaved, and let out a noise of almighty exertion.

But the crate did not budge. And Kit fell on his backside.

Both Lucy and the red-haired girl burst into fits of hysterical laughter.

Kit frowned, embarrassed. "What have you got in there? A hundred books?"

"Probably closer to two hundred," wheezed the girl.

Two hundred books? And the expected him to lift them? Was she insane? Why was she moving two hundred books?

Kit climbed to his feet and rubbed his sore behind. "Shush, Lucy," he hushed, but his young sister neglected the instruction. She continued to laugh as she skipped about the open grounds. "Who are you, anyway?"

When she stopped laughing, the red-haired girl replied, "Olivia. Who are you?"

"My name is Kit Kensington," he replied. "That is my sister, Lucy." He pointed to the laughing, dancing three year old.

Olivia extended her hand to Kit. Kit had only ever thought that men were supposed to kiss girls' hands. Nevertheless, Kit shook Olivia's hand. As he did so, she beamed. "That is how the men do it. A shake. Respect. No spit transferring on to hands."

Kit frowned. "What sort of hands are you shaking?"

"Whenever one of Papa's friends arrives they always kiss my hand. It is revolting. Shake my hand like an equal, if you please."

If Olivia lived here, and her father lived here, then that had to mean that she belonged to the family that Faith seemed to dread so much. But Olivia did not seem so unkind.

Olivia pulled the lid off of the crate and discarded it. "Will you help me take them in piles, then, Kit?" she asked. "I need to take these into the village today." Olivia grabbed a pile and began to tread towards the horse and cart.

Kit quickly followed, seizing a stack of books. He quickly appraised the titles. Science. Philosophy. Languages. These were books of learning. He had managed to read the titles, but he was not so sure of how he would go with the content. His reading was still a little weak.

As Olivia walked, her hair swished from side to side. It really was quite mesmerising to watch. Kit would have continued to watch had Olivia not turned around and caught him. She did not seem offended though. In fact, she blushed.

"What are all these books for?" Kit asked, changing the subject. "Where did they come from?"

"I stole them from Papa's library," replied Olivia. "He will not notice. Papa only reads the Bible anyway. He was a clergyman before inheriting Uncle George's title." Olivia placed her pile in the back of the cart before heading back to the crate.

Kit quickly followed.

"There is a school in the village. School is really a loose description of the place. It is the church, and really the lessons are what should be taught during Sunday school. I went to one, you see. To observe. I was not impressed." Olivia grabbed another stack of books. "I had a governess, Kit. I had an excellent education because my father could afford it. And that makes me wonder," Olivia stopped, "how is that right?" She looked at him with a truly bewildered expression. "How is it right that one's means determines one's level of education?" Olivia continued towards the cart.

"It isn't right," Kit agreed. Olivia could not understand how heartily Kit did agree with her statement.

"Education is a right, and not a privilege." Olivia offloaded her second stack. "Or at least it will be if I have anything to do with it."

"You are determined," Kit observed.

Olivia's blue eyes met Kit's. "Oh, I am." She sighed. "I asked my father for thirty pounds in order to hire a teacher for the village. He refused, naturally. And so I convinced him to take the money out of my dowry. I placed an advertisement for a teacher nearly four weeks ago. She will be here to start on Monday. I knew I could not convince my father to purchase books for the school so what he does not know will not hurt him."

Kit had never before seen such gumption or ambition in a girl. He had never before seen this level of determination, or such a sense of justice. Olivia was extraordinary.

"There are children," Olivia puffed, as she offloaded yet another stack of books, "all over this country, who are illiterate purely because their parents are not rich. I feel as though I am the only one aware of it. My parents do not care. Their friends do not care. Nobody cares, and so nothing will ever change. Somebody has to care. Somebody has to change things."

Kit placed a hand on Olivia's shoulder, stopping her as they reached the cart. Kit saw her cheeks redden again. "I am glad you care," he said sincerely. "I ..." Kit willed himself to not be embarrassed. "I could not read until recently," he confessed. "I am still learning." Olivia's face softened. "I was an orphan, you see. I had the Sunday school kind of education. Real school was not for the likes of me. I honestly hate to imagine where I might have ended up had my father not found me, taken me in, and taught me to read." Kit knew that he would have stayed at the workhouse, stayed and worked, or died from exhaustion or injury.

"I am glad for you," Olivia said softly. "That is truly wonderful. I hope there can be many more like you that benefit from education."

"Please do not take offense, but I find you very odd," Kit remarked. He meant that as a sincere compliment.

Olivia grinned. "Why? Because I concern myself with things more meaningful than dress fabrics and perfumes?"

"Yes," replied Kit honestly.

Olivia shrugged her shoulders. "I read a book a while ago. It was right about the time I learned that everything my father had would go to a distant cousin upon his death. My sole purpose in life is to marry well." Olivia rolled her eyes. "But I read a book written by a French woman, on the rights of women, or at least how it should be. It inspired a sense of justice in me, I feel. Not just for women, but for all people who are seen as less than because of their sex or their income. I will do it, you know."

"Do what?"

"I will change the world. I know I am only one person, and a girl at that, but I want to leave the world in a better state than what it was when I entered it."

Just listening to her conviction told Kit that Olivia would indeed change the world. She would do great things. Kit had begun to feel a sense of justice within himself. He considered himself fortunate. Did he owe it to the people now less fortunate than him to help? Yes, he believed he did.

"I think you are extraordinary," stated Kit.

Just as Kit spoke the words, he heard his name being called from around the front of the house. It was Cassian. They were leaving. Lucy heard Cassian's voice as well. She had been playing in the grass, and was now climbing to her feet.

"That's my father. I have to go," Kit said regretfully.

Olivia, who was standing up on the wheel of the cart after unloading yet another stack of books, did something that Kit did not expect. Using her free hand, she seized his collar and pulled Kit towards her. Olivia then closed her eyes and pressed her lips to Kit's.

Kit was so surprised that he was certain the kiss was awful for Olivia. He could barely comprehend the fact that he was sharing his first kiss with the prettiest girl he had ever seen, or the fact that she had been the one to initiate it.

Just as Kit started to feel confident in moving his lips with Olivia's, she pulled away. Her cheeks were crimson, and he adored it. Kit had meant to say something along the lines of, "Thank you" but instead he mumbled something like, "Girls should not go around kissing boys."

Olivia jumped off of the wheel and placed her hands on her hips. "Well, Kit, I am not in the habit of doing what people expect me to do."

Kit could only smile. He was certain he had the biggest, dopiest grin on his face. Olivia was one of a kind. He could see her as someone that could become very special to him one day. "Can I write to you?" he asked just as he heard his name being called again.

Olivia nodded. "I would like that."

Kit beamed as he ran over and scooped Lucy up. "Goodbye!" he called over his shoulder. "Good luck!"

"Thank you!" Olivia shouted back. "I look forward to your letter!"

Kit ran back along the side of the house and came out into the driveway where his parents were waiting for them both. The horses were harnessed and ready to go. Kit could already see that Faith was inside the carriage and Cassian looked none too pleased.

Kit attempted to wipe the gleeful grin off of his face. He felt guilty for displeasing Cassian. He did not want to disappoint him.

"Where were you?" Cassian demanded to know. "I told you to wait here."

"Lucy and I were stretching our legs," Kit brushed over to the truth. He helped Lucy into the carriage before climbing in himself, followed by Cassian. The door closed and Kit heard Mr Green move the horses on.

"Well," Cassian announced. "It is all over. Faith, we no longer have to have anything to do with that family again. We will never meet them, speak of them, or think of them. Our lives start afresh."

Kit's felt his heart fall in his chest as he heard Cassian all but forbid him from contacting Olivia.

"Good," replied Faith softly. She rested her head on Cassian's shoulder. "I want to forget this part of my life. The Pendletons are forgotten."

Kit watched out the window as he saw that flash of red at the side of the house. Olivia was watching them drive away.

There was something about Olivia that was just so inviting. She was unlike any person Kit had ever met. She was good and kind. She cared for people. She was brave and she was selfless. She reminded him a lot of Cassian, actually.

Not to mention that Kit would be dreaming about that kiss from the prettiest girl in the world for the next year.

But Kit could see the relief that was now etched all over Faith's face. She wanted to leave them behind her. Cassian wanted that for Faith. To bring any one of the Pendletons back into their lives would hurt his new mother and Kit did not want to do that.

Kit needed to choose, and his loyalty would always remain with his family. Kit needed to forget Olivia, too.