Astoria

f o r t y - e i g h t

Meredith made her way downstairs after being dismissed from the Lady Catherine's room. She briefly wondered what Antony had been so upset about, but that question was overshadowed by her overwhelming feelings of gratefulness towards him for not only bringing her family to her, but allowing her to go and see them.

She saw Fulton at the end of the hallway talking to one of the guards. "Fulton?" she questioned as he turned to leave. "Do you know where my family has been taken?"

"To your rooms," he said. "The Princess Isabella is with them."

"Thank you," she said gratefully to him, already on her way down the stairs to the second floor west wing.

She paused outside of the door to Isabella's parlor, hearing voices inside. She smiled to herself as she pushed open the door.

The first person she saw was Jade.

"Mother!" she exclaimed, happily, running to her with open arms. Soon she was hugging her mother, and she could feel tears beginning to form at the corners of her eyes.

"Mer..." said her mother, and Meredith could hear her choking up too.

She closed her eyes and felt at home.

Later, she sat with her sister, Samantha, the youngest girl of the family. "How are you doing lately, Sam?" she asked, giving her sister a fond smile.

Samantha shrugged. "I'm alright...But I'm worried about Nash." She turned worried eyes to her eldest sister. "What happened to him? Mother says he was captured, but she won't tell me where he went or what he's doing."

Meredith put her arm around her sister and pulled her close. "I'm sure he's alright..." she said quietly. "Mother can't tell you where he is; she doesn't know. I...I don't either. But I do know one thing. They're looking for him. They'll find them, you'll see," she added, forcing an optimistic tone into her words.

Samantha smiled. "Is that man, Kade, looking for him?" she asked.

"So you've met Kade?" said Meredith, smiling. "He's very nice, isn't he?" She bent down to whisper into her sister's ear. "He's the Princess Isabella's beau."

"Really?" said Samantha, shyly. "Are they going to get married?"

"I'm not sure," laughed Meredith. "But I think there just might be a good chance."

"What about King Antony?" pressed Samantha. "He's really nice too. Does he have someone to court?"

Meredith sighed inwardly, remembering the letter she had burned just yesterday.

"No," she said. "Not yet. Although I'm sure he will. He certainly enjoyed dancing with the Lady Adelaide at the coronation ball."

Prissy perked up at the mention of a ball. "Did you get to go?" she shouted excitedly from her corner of the room, where she had been brushing her hair before the mirror.

"I did," said Meredith.

"Ooh!" gushed Prissy. "Did you get to dance?"

Meredith closed her eyes briefly, recalling how it felt to dance with Antony. "Not with anyone of consequence," she said aloud.

"I hope that I get to go to a party while I'm here," continued Prissy, standing and pretending to dance around the sitting room. She bumped into a chair and it fell over with a crash.

"Shh!" said Meredith, immediately putting a finger to her lips. "Mother is sleeping!" She cast a worried glance at the door to her own bedroom, where her mother was currently resting after the long journey and the nights of worrying leading up to it.