Love & Misunderstanding

Chapter Two - Helene's POV

A cool breeze brushed against my face, causing a shiver to run through me as we rode along the road that would take us to the Gilmore Manor. Pulling my shawl tighter around me, I was able to feel warm for but a moment before another gust of wind came and stole it. How I hated the weather in England. It was the autumn season, but you would never guess. To me all of the seasons seemed the same. It always seemed to be raining, and the sun was rarely ever seen. It was highly depressing at times.

I could not help but remember how nice the weather used to be in Germany. Sure, we had a fair amount of rain as well, and the winters were quite harsh, but at least we had sunshine. That was one of the things I missed the most. However, at the same time there were also a few things that I did not miss, so I supposed that I could not complain too much. Part of the problem was that I was naturally cold blooded. Or at least, that was what my mother claimed. It was nearly impossible to warm up my body at times, my feet in particular were almost always cold. Except on the rare occasions that we were blessed with warm weather.

Fortunately for me, the ride from our house to the Gilmore's was not a long one. It only took twenty minutes. Our carriage soon came pulled up in front of the grand, palace-sized building. As soon as it had stopped, Father shifted out of his seat and climbed down to help my mother and I, which was an extremely considerate act on his part. You might say that his body was not in the best shape anymore, due to various reasons. One of them being his arthritis. However, helping us in and out of the carriage was one thing that he forced himself to do. I could only assume that he did not want to feel entirely useless.

I began look about the grounds of the estate, admiring the immensity of splendor. There was no other garden in all of Europe that could compare with the Gilmore's. At least that was what I had heard from a friend. In the center of a large, winding shrub maze, there was an enormous stone fountain decorated with intricate designs. There were flowers of almost every kind and color, but for some reason there always seemed to be an abundance of roses, which were always the main focus according to the gardeners, who were always scurrying about them whenever I visited.

"Come along, Helene," my mother called, snapping me away from my own observations.

"Yes, Mama," I replied, rushing to catch up with her.

Whenever I visited this place, I could not help but get easily distracted by the beauty of everything, and the inside was even worse in that regard. The moment that I stepped through the door, I could not help but do a little spin as I tried to examine every inch of the grand entrance hall. The floors were a beautiful black and white checkered marble, and the wall were a creamy white with gold trim. The dome ceiling, which stood a full two storeys above, was decorated with images of angels descending from the clouds with their little golden harps and silver flutes, and there were so many columns that I could not keep count.

From what I had heard, the house was rumored to have more than twenty bedrooms, two large kitchens, one being on the ground floor, and the other on the second floor, and the largest ballroom in Portsmouth. Of course there were many other impressive rooms in this magnificent house, but most of those were not typically seen by the public.

Unfortunately my observation was once again cut short by the butler who was taking our outdoor garments and accessories. He quickly put them away in the rather large coat room, and began to escort us up the magnificent white marble staircase

"You will find Miss Gilmore in the music room to your right," the butler said once we had reached the top.

"Thank you," I said politely, nodding my head to him before making my way down the seemingly endless corridor of doors, paintings and windows.