The Sins of the Fathers

Chapter Twenty-Two

Boston

Massachusetts

Mrs Procter arrived in the park under strict discipline. Miss Danvers had her on a very short leash because her sight was dimmed to leave her world a confusion of grey shadows, after the keeper decided that the quiet streets of Beacon Hill might offend her delicate sensibilities somehow. It did not particularly irk Olivia, because she accepted that it was Miss Danvers decision to make. She was totally focussed, as any gentlewoman should be, on pleasing her husband, and Howard Procter did seem to like her under strict discipline. She had spent the night before in her collar, tethered securely to the bedstead, and that had got him very excited indeed, for several hours. In the aftermath of his exertions, he had professed his undying love for her. That left her with a warm glow that no amount of discipline could disperse.

"Good afternoon, Mrs Palmer-Stoddart," Danvers said, just as Olivia felt the jerk on her collar, instructing her to curtsey. She complied without delay, rising only when she felt the next gentle tug. "How are you, Miss Klein?"

"And good afternoon, Mrs Procter...very well, thank you, Miss Danvers...shall we leave the ladies in their usual place?" Miss Klein said after their charges had both offered suitable greetings.

"No...I think we should use the new railings closer to our usual table, Miss Klein? Much easier for us to keep an eye on things and I am told the new facility has mitten clips...quite the thing these days?" Danvers said, before leading Olivia away from the Covid memorial to the new railings. Once there, she was tied very close to the railing, causing her skirts to bunch up against them, and her mittens were clipped, holding them at roughly waist height in front of her body. She had to stand facing the iron railings and had almost no room to move. Grace was tethered opposite her, in similar fashion, so they ended up looking at each other through the iron bars, although Olivia could only make out a grey outline.

"This is so bloody stupid?" Grace hissed when they were alone, just as Olivia's eyes started to return to normal. She blinked at her friend, from behind several layers of lace, getting used to the light.

"Ours is not to reason why..."

"Just because they can?"

"Our duty is to prove our husband's piety...according to Mrs Holden it will be illegal soon in Britain for any supervised woman to be uncollared...even inside...it is said to improve the behaviour and appearance of any lady?" Olivia informed her irritated friend, smiling behind her mantle, remembering Howard's performance. She felt loved, really loved, and if being leashed all the time was the price she had to pay for that love, she was quite prepared to pay it. She had never enjoyed her nights with Alistair Forbes, despite producing eight children with him, but Howard Procter could take her breath away. "And the gentlemen seem to approve?"

"You were with Mrs Holden?"

"For devotions and lunch...three hours of prayers?"

"You poor thing...although we had Pamela Cartwright over, so Mary upped her game to well over an hour?"

"Is Pamela still in disgrace?"

"No...I don't think so...but she is being very strictly kept...like you?"

"Don't you worry about me...Howard wants to be in Mr Bateman's Cabinet?"

"And Mr Bateman demands very conspicuous piety of all of his cohorts?" Grace sighed as she remembered her conversation with Brett about the Presidential favourite.

"He certainly does...Washington will be like Boston soon?" Olivia suggested, not thinking that to be a terrible thing. In all honesty, she was not against Reformism in any way. She was firmly against men like her first husband, who were cruel to their womenfolk, but not against the church or their beliefs. By preference, she would probably have identified as a Catholic if pushed, but she was not allowed a preference. Her second husband, her love, was definitely a Reformist, so she was too.