1895 - sean & kaycee

seven

A few days later Sean had started working.

After quick morning breakfast, he got a carriage to work and left Kaycee. Having new maids coming in and out throughout the previous days helped the pairs boredom ease, but now sitting in the large house with no-one to talk to was taking its toll on the girl. Admittedly, he had only left a few hours earlier, and she knew that it was ridiculous, but she remained spiritless. Not being one for large parties or gatherings of any kind, meant she had nothing to plan, and therefore nothing to do.

Sitting in their living room, much like she had done the day Bailey had come over, she began to organise. They had the pictures of their family arranged above the fireplace, some old some new. Ranging from their first pictures their families had ever taken up to the ones taken at their wedding the previous week. She took them all down and slowly began placing them the way she wanted them done. Sean's family on one side, hers on the other, meeting in the middle with the picture of the just two of them from the wedding.

Standing back, she smiled, proud of her small achievement of the day, when she heard a knock on the door. Instantly, she went to open it, a small part of her hoping Sean had to come back much earlier than was originally planned. Unfortunately, it was not the boy. None the less she was excited to see her newfound princess friend standing before her.

"Good morning Bailey, its good to see you. Sean's not here at the moment but you can come in if-"

"Caitlin, I'm not here for my cousin."

"Oh, then what are you here for?" she asked curiously

"For you silly." The younger laughed. "I wanted to invite you out to town with my friends and me. I didn't think you would be busy-"

"Oh, no I'm not. Just surprised to see you here. Of course, I'll come, just allow me to grab my coat and tell maid Agnes. One second." Kaycee said, a large smile her face as she grabbed her jacket and dashed away to the kitchens.

"Agnes?" she called, pulling her arms through the sleeves.

"Ah, Caitlin. What can I do for you today dear?"

"Nothing. Princess Bailey invited me to lunch. Would you tell Sean- I mean Charles where I am if he gets back before I do?" She said, doing up the top buttons.

"Of course I will." the elder said "be on your way"

"Thank you, Agnes. I'll see you later."

Kaycee turned and walked to the door, seeing Bailey on the path looking at their gardens. The two found their way to the carriage the princess had arrived in, sitting down as Bailey motioned to their coachman.

"My friends are going to meet us there. They don't know you're coming but I'm sure they'll love you."

"That's kind of you Bailey."

"Its nothing Caitlin. I was with them the day after your wedding and told them all about it, so I'm sure they'll have many questions about being a wife and all."

"I'm not sure a week of experience been a wife is enough to answer any questions."

"Well, you don't have to answer them, but you could always lie."

"Lying is bad."

"How are they to know its lying," the two laughed.

The two sat and discussed the not-so-interesting events of the past few days for the rest of the journey. The coachman opened the door for the pair, helping Bailey out first before lending Kaycee a hand out of the carriage. Instantly, the girl was entranced by the front of the cafe. The building was white, the cafe name wrote in big gold letters above the door.

Kaycee on one hand was not surprised, Bailey, being the princess, was bound to eat only at the most pristine places but the didn't stop her from having to muffle a gasp at the extravagance.

The entrance was much the same, the two were greeted, Bailey bowed at and their jackets were taken, then they were led to the table where a group of girls sat.

"Good morning ladies," Bailey said taking a seat, gesturing to the one beside her for Kaycee. "This is Caitlin Lew, the one who married Charles."

"Is nice to meet you, Caitlin. I'm Taylor, Taylor Hatala." a girl said.

"It's nice to meet you too."

"This is Tahani Anderson, Jenna Alvarez and Taylor Hatala."

"How do you do?" she asked shyly

"You were in church on Sunday, with Charles, right?" the girl named Jenna asked.

"I was. I'm sorry, I don't remember seeing any of you there." Kaycee replied as a lady came with her tea. "Thank you."

"Oh no, I was a few rows behind the two of you. I left quickly, but I noticed you, its nice to see a new face. Tell us about yourself then Caitlin."

"I grew up in Maysworth, it's not far from here. My father owns the finance business."

"Your father, Mr Rice, is quite well known here in Darlington as well," Tahani added, "especially after you marriage to Charles."

"Oh yes, do tell us all about it." Taylor joined, causing Bailey to laugh, their earlier conversation rising in her mind.

"There's not much to tell," Kaycee said

"They're much be something, like the rings."

"You have two, is one an engagement ring?"

"How did he give it to you? What about your necklace."

"Ladies," Bailey warned, "Not so many questions, it's her choice on what she tells you."

"No its alright Bailey. It's one thing I can to talk about." she smiled "This ring was his grandmothers, he gave it to me the day we met or the day our engagement was announced. The other ring is from the wedding, he has one similar and the necklace he got me for my birthday."

"That's sweet. I hope my Josh buy me jewellery for when we get married." Taylor said

"Taylor has a beau. His name is Josh Beauchamp, they're courting." another girl enlightened Kaycee.

"Oh, what' that like?"Kaycee queried

"What do you mean?"Taylor asked "It's normal courting. Like yours with Charles."

"Oh, no. We didn't court. We'll of course we did but not for long and we were apart for the most of it." she explained. Judging by the surprised expression on the girl's faces, it was new news to them.

"Over the last few years, is any girl was interested in courting Charles, he would say that he was 'committed to another girl' so everyone presumed that he was courting, with a girl from another town," Bailey explained, turning towards the others "But that wasn't the case." she finished waiting for Kaycee to finish explaining.

"Our parents arranged our marriage after I was born. He knew about it but I didn't," she said, watching as the others nodded understandingly. "We only met a month before the wedding."

"Oh, well he quite them man. I'm sure he's treating you well." Tahani says, earning a disgusted look from Bailey.

"He's sweet, but now he's working and I'm left with little to do."

"One of us is always around, you could stop by," Taylor said, the other nodding in approval

"Thank you," she said gratefully

"Anytime, "Tahani replied, then began to ramble about the towns latest gossip. Though Kaycee was aware she was out of the loop and didn't understand the stories of the people they were talking about, she was happy to feel like herself with a group of girls. Friends, that she had chosen for herself, and not one her parents had chosen for her.

Once they had finished and had to say their goodbyes, she was sad. It wasn't often that she found herself comfortable enough with new people that she didn't want to run away, and now that she had, leaving seemed wrong. None the less she and Bailey departed from the group of girls and found Bailey's carriage to take them back to her house.

Her smile stayed n her face as she ran up the path towards the front door after saying goodbye to bailey. She opened the front door and hung up her jacket.

"Sean?" she questioned

"Welcome back Kaycee," he said, smirking at the smile on her face. she surprised him by running up and slapping her hands down on his arms, tightly gripping his elbows

"I have friends Sean! bailey, she invited me out and I got to meet everyone. Oh, they're all so nice, we ate lunch and they told me about their families and they said I can go and visit them." she said, slowly dragging her hands down to clasp with his. "Oh, I'm sorry. How was your first day at work?"

"It was...work, good I guess," he said, she frowned at his dismissiveness. "But doesn't matter, I'm glad you get along with the girls. They've been wanting to meet you."

"You told them we have been courting, why?"

"Because we have, technically. You forget I've known about you forever dear Kaycee" he state, pulling them along to the living room.

"I suppose that's true."

"But please do take op their offers. The idea of you sitting at home with nothing to do while I'm at work is already beginning to annoy me"

"I will." she smiled " Its nice to have friends to take to. Without Catherine around its been rather boring at home, but now I'll always have someone to talk to."

"Of course you will," he said, smiling as he looked down at their intertwined hands.

-

alright so this is absolute crap but i will upload again tomorrow (hopefully.) and I'm sooooo sorry for not uploading for two weeks its just school is stressful and it makes me want to cry (and i have).

and yall I'm really sick rn and haven't really read this over properly so I might end up taking it down tomorrow before i post the next chapter and fixing it. idk. 

thanks for all the votes and comments you guys leave, its great. love yall <3