A brief summary of what has transpired thus far. (To get a breakdown of the earlier chapters, please see Chapter Links for descriptions)
Orphaned at the age of eight, sixteen-year-old Doris Sloane has spent half her life in a Catholic orphanage, where she was trained to care for young children. Our story begins when she is taken into service at the home of Victoria Shaw, a widow with three daughters: Melinda (ten), Sophia (eleven) and Becky (fourteen). Doris is thoroughly satisfied with this new life, but her orderly world takes an odd turn one night when she is seduced by Mrs. Shaw. Surprising herself, Doris responds eagerly, fully returning the pleasure she has been given.
In the days that follow, Doris and Victoria couple frequently, and Doris becomes skilled in the art of lesbian lovemaking under the tutelage of her mistress. She is deliriously happy, but her joy is tainted by the fact that she is only engaged to serve in the Shaw household until Melinda, the youngest, turns twelve. To complicate things even further, Doris has fallen madly, passionately in love with Victoria, and lacks the courage to tell her so.
One of Doris’ duties as nanny is to give Melinda and Sophia a bath every other day. The girls often invite Doris to join them in the large Japanese-style tub, but she always refuses, believing it isn’t proper. When she mentions this to Mrs. Shaw after a bout of lovemaking, Victoria suggests that Doris do what her youngest daughters want: get naked and bathe with them. Furthermore, she encourages Doris to pay closer attention to the girls’ nudity, to notice how beautiful they are in the altogether.
Doris finds this a bit strange… but that evening, while giving Sophia and Melinda their bath, she takes the time to study them more closely, and is startled to find herself feeling somewhat aroused. The girls notice her interest, and on subsequent evenings, eleven-year-old Sophia begins to tease Doris by flaunting her nakedness. This only fuels this budding desire Doris feels… and very soon, she is masturbating to lewd fantasies of Victoria’s daughters.
One afternoon around this time, while the girls are at school, Doris in asked to join Victoria for a light luncheon in the back yard. There, Victoria offers the girl a permanent home as a member of the family, then tells her, “I love you.”
Doris is overwhelmed by emotion at first… but she joyfully accepts, and they celebrate by undressing and making love.
Then next day, Victoria tells Doris how she first became attracted to women. It began at the age of sixteen, when she was given the service of a personal maid, a lively Irish girl named Nora, who would quickly become young Victoria’s faithful friend and companion. They would become lovers, but it ended disastrously when they were caught in the act. Nora was sent away, and Victoria was left devastated. More than twenty years later, she still mourns the loss of her friend. Doris does what she can to console Victoria.
The next day, Victoria tells of what happened after losing Nora. She was quickly married off to a man named William Shaw, who proved to be a bully and a drunkard. She managed to endure her marriage, gave birth to her three daughters, and ended up taking over her husband’s business as his drinking spiraled out of control. He died a couple of years later, and Victoria was free.
Back in the here and now, Victoria presents Doris with a startling proposition. Wanting her daughters to experience the delights of Sapphic love before they develop romantic attachments to boys, she gets Doris to admit her attraction to the girls, then asks her to pleasure Melinda and Sophia in the bath. Doris is shocked, but also quite eager to do as Victoria wants.
The following night, Doris undresses and joins the two youngest in the tub for the first time, where she caresses both Sophia and Melinda to orgasm, then allows Sophia to fondle her in the same way. Later that night, Doris visits Melinda’s room, where she licks the ten-year-old to another climax. When Victoria is informed the next day, she is well pleased. But her eldest daughter Becky, who isn’t yet privy to her mum’s seductive scheme, is growing suspicious.
Two nights later, Doris and the girls bathe again. This time, though, they agree to postpone their pleasurable games until later, meeting in Sophia’s room for a sleepover. There, Doris teaches her charges the ways of lesbian love. Melinda and Sophia are thrilled with all of it… and in the days after, seem to be spending quite a lot of private time together.
Soon thereafter, the situation with Becky comes to a head, when Victoria’s eldest explodes in anger at the dinner table, accusing Doris of getting up to “vile, wicked things” with her younger sisters in the bath. Victoria and Doris manage to calm her down, finally suggesting Becky join Melinda and Sophia in the tub that very night. Becky hesitantly agrees and, once naked with the others, proves quite willing to let herself be seduced. First Doris pleasures the two youngest, then brings Becky to orgasm in the bath while they watch Sophia and Melinda make love.
Later, when Doris turns in, Becky slips into the room, quickly undresses and gets into bed with her. She confesses her love for Doris, then they frantically bring each other off. While relaxing together in the afterglow, Victoria peeks in and, with an approving nod, wishes Becky and Doris a good night.
After that evening, Becky is at peace with the new family arrangement. It enables her to make love often with Doris, who is now enjoying sexual intimacy with the entire family. But Victoria wants more. She intends to accompany Doris the following night, the two of them paying nocturnal visits to the girls so Victoria can see for herself, “what you get up to with my daughters.”
Sure enough, the following evening finds Doris and Victoria visiting twelve-year-old Sophia, then nine-year-old Melinda in their respective bedrooms. Both girls are startled at first by the appearance of Victoria, but are quickly reassured, enough to allow Doris to make love to them while their mother watches. Victoria doesn’t join in the sexual activity, but she gives a deep tongue kiss to each girl before departing. The youngest daughters tucked in for the night, Victoria and Doris make their way to Becky’s room.
The story resumes here. Do enjoy.
I
I gave Becky’s door a brief knock, then pushed it open to peer inside. It was the last of our stops that evening, Victoria and I having already visited and enjoyed both Sophia and Melinda. We had worked ourselves up into such an erotic frenzy that the two of us were now practically drunk with lust.
But the room was unoccupied, the bed as neat and untouched as it’d been that morning when I’d made it up. Ethel, our new housekeeper, had the run of the rest of Shadowglen, but I still insisted on seeing to the girls’ bedrooms, not least because I feared she might discover items of underwear or nightclothes in places where they didn’t belong, suffused with the aroma of our passion.
“Becky’s not here,” I told Victoria.
“Perhaps she went down to the kitchen to get a drink.”
Then realisation dawned on me. Of course. “I know where she is.”
I led Victoria to the end of the corridor. Upon reaching my bedroom door, I turned back to my lover with a knowing smile. She smiled back, her eyes dancing in anticipation.
Turning the knob and entering the room, I found Becky stretched out naked on my bed, propping her chin with a hand. “Oh, at last!” the fourteen-year-old exclaimed, betraying the merest hint of exasperation. “I’ve been waiting ages.”
When Victoria slipped past me into the room, a startled squeak escaped Becky’s lips, and she scrambled to cover her nudity with a pillow.
It tickled me to see how the girls reacted when their mother made her unexpected appearance, even though they knew she was well aware of our sexual games; even approved of them. It occurred to me that even though the definition of Victoria and her daughters’ relationship was beginning to shift in some very interesting ways, that more conventional dynamic between mother and child was not so easily put aside.
“Relax, darling,” Victoria cooed, perching herself on the edge of the bed. She cupped Becky’s face, a thumb tracing the line of her daughter’s jaw. “I’ve come to see exactly what it is you and Doris get up to at night.”
Becky nibbled on her lower lip. “Well, I… I’m not sure that’s appropriate, Mother.”
Victoria raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t it? Surely there’s nothing wrong with a mother taking an interest in her daughter’s activities, is there?” She allowed her hand to glide over the nape of Becky’s neck, across her shoulder and down her torso, narrowly bypassing a breast. “I enjoy these kinds of games too, you know.” Her fingers came to rest on the girl’s hip, permitting Victoria to trace the curve of her bottom.
Becky regarded her mother carefully. She seemed to accept Victoria’s presence, even if uncertain of where it was destined to lead. Often, I had seen them together in the lounge late at night, after Melinda and Sophia had gone to bed, a mother and her first-born cuddled up on the couch, Victoria’s hand stroking the hollow of Becky’s throat or rubbing her belly through her nightgown. Becky always seemed so content on such occasions.
When I think about it now, it seems to me the distinction between physical affection and sexual intimacy is a rather tenuous one, a slight, ethereal thing that might so carelessly be given form and substance. How easy would it be for a mother and daughter to cross that line?
Victoria gave me a small nod, and I knew it was a signal to begin. I climbed onto the bed to nestle behind Becky, then reached round to gently but firmly pull the pillow away from her body. She resisted me for a brief moment, then allowed me to take it. By then, the heady scent of arousal must have been all too apparent to her, both mine and her mother’s. Her own too, I’d no doubt.
I let my hand wander over Becky’s arse, cupping and massaging her cheeks while Victoria continued to stroke the contours of her daughter’s hips. Soon Becky’s eyes were glazed with pleasure, her breathing increasingly laboured. Could she separate my touches from those of her mother? Did it matter to her whose hand invoked those feelings? Pleasure was pleasure. What need was there to question its source?
Victoria reached out to cup one of her daughter’s small breasts, lightly rolling the stiffening nipple between thumb and forefinger.
“Should… should you be d-doing that, Mother?” Becky stammered, though I noticed she made no effort to push Victoria’s hand away.
“I’d like to, very much,” Victoria crooned. “Unless you want me to stop. Do you?”
Becky chewed on her lower lip again, then slowly shook her head.
Sliding a hand beneath Becky’s arse cheeks, I found the hot, moist nest of her sex, easing a fingertip between her folds, then sliding it back and forth.
Victoria pulled her gown open at the waist to allow her breasts to spill free, then cupped one in her hand. “Will you do something for me, Rebecca?”
Becky was gawping at her mother’s bare chest. “Y-yes?”
“Suck my nipple.”
“Oh… should I?” Becky murmured through trembling lips.
Victoria gave a slow nod. “It’s not as if you haven’t done it before. I have such fond memories of you girls nursing from me. Help Mummy feel good again, won’t you please?”
Becky hesitantly took the proffered nipple between her lips. Victoria gave a blissful sigh, then continued toying with her daughter’s breasts. Roused to action by this display of incestuous passion, I slipped a finger into Becky’s sex, and she responded with a muffled moan.
“Use your tongue, too, sweetheart,” Victoria instructed her eldest. “Swirl it round the nipple… oh, my stars, yes. That feels lovely.”
We continued in this fashion for a while, Becky suckling her mother; Victoria fondling her daughter’s breasts while I worked a finger in and out of the fourteen-year-old’s cunt.
Just when I thought Becky was on the verge of climax, Victoria withdrew her nipple from the girl’s mouth and rose to her feet. Becky looked almost bereft, and for a moment she reminded me of a newly weaned babe denied the teat.
“This bed is simply not fit for purpose,” Victoria declared, her gown falling completely open. I couldn’t fail to notice how Becky’s eyes were drawn to the thatch of dark curls between her mother’s thighs. “I think we should retire to my room for the evening. There’ll be much more room to play in there.”
And so the three of us crept along the hallway, Becky naked as the day she was born.
As we ushered her into Victoria’s bedroom, Becky looked from me to her mother, arms folded across her chest as if shielding herself.
Victoria kissed her upon the shoulder, then gently pulled her arms away. “Relax, sweetheart. You didn’t seem so shy about your body when Doris and I discovered you in her room.”
“Well, I didn’t know you were going to be there, Mother,” Becky replied in gentle haughtiness. “Besides, I seem to be the only one completely without clothes.”
“We shall have to do something about that then, shan’t we?” Victoria cooed. “Why don’t you lie down on my bed? Just as you were when we found you.”
Climbing onto Victoria’s double bed, Becky stretched out upon its sage and gold bedspread, nestled amongst the cushions and pillows. She was careful to keep her legs together, a downy tuft of hair barely concealing the crease of her sex.
Under normal circumstances – if life at Shadowglen could ever be considered normal again – I would have been across the floor and on that bed in a flash, my tongue delving into Becky’s mouth. But Victoria approached me from behind, her fingers drawing up my nightdress. I raised my arms and let her pull the thin garment over my head.
Becky regarded my nakedness with a shy smile, the tip of a finger caught between her lips. When Victoria reached round to cup my breasts, brushing her palms over the stiffened nipples, Becky idly toyed with one of her own.
I pressed back against Victoria, sweeping my hair to one side to leave the nape of the neck exposed. My mistress kissed me there, lingering a while, then took my earlobe between her teeth in a playful nip. One of her arms encircled my waist, bracing me there while her free hand found its way between my legs.
Again, Becky imitated her mother, hand delving into that adorable tuft of pubic down to seek out her clitoris.
“Open your legs for us, darling,” Victoria told her, but Becky shook her head, perhaps still wrestling with a lingering hint of timidity.
Without much warning, my first orgasm of the evening burst free, the intensity of it shaking me like a rag doll. I frantically ground myself against Victoria’s fingers, and when she drew them away they were slick with my spend. She held them up for her daughter to inspect, then smeared the viscous fluid over my nipples.
Slapping my arse, she nudged me towards the bed. “Go and enjoy yourself with Rebecca while I undress.”
On shaky legs, I stepped over to the bed and unfurled myself alongside Becky, pressing my breasts into her back. I took the hand that toiled between her legs and brought it to my mouth, sucking each finger in turn, then used my own hand to seek out the source of that sweet nectar. Her cunt was warm and deliciously wet.
“Open your legs, Rebecca,” Victoria repeated while she stood next to the bed, slipping the silvery gown from her body and letting it drop to the floor.
Becky shook her head again as she studied her mother’s form, now bare but for a pair of silk stockings.
Victoria pushed her breasts together in a most provocative way, a breathy sigh escaping her lips. She brought one foot up onto the bed and clamped a hand between her legs, the heady musk of her arousal much stronger now.
“I need to come,” she imparted. “Doris is going to lick your cunny while I pleasure myself, Rebecca. All right?”
Becky hummed her assent.
As instructed, I swapped my hand for my mouth, teasing at the girl’s sex with my tongue. I made sure to position myself so I could watch Victoria masturbate while I licked her daughter.
“Won’t you spread your legs for me, sweetheart?” Victoria implored Becky, drawing apart the folds of her vagina to encourage the same boldness from her daughter. “Let me see that beautiful flower.”
Becky finally relented. She raised her knees up, then slowly inched her legs apart until she was left raw and exposed. Now with more room to work my magic, I lashed my tongue over her cunt, the taste earthy and metallic in my mouth. I brought a thumb to her clit, brushing it back and forth while I ate her.
“Yes…” purred a delighted Victoria. “Just like that. So beautiful… such a pretty pussy.”
My lady fucked herself with two fingers, using a third to attack her clit. Like me, she had no hope of lasting any longer than a few desperate seconds, our illicit sojourns to her daughters’ bedrooms having honed her arousal to a keen edge. Doubled over, she rode out the climax she’d striven so hard to delay, moaning, “Oh… Oh, my goodness…”
Barely skipping a beat, she settled upon the bed and moved behind her daughter, cradling the fourteen-year-old to her breast while I continued to lick her. Becky turned her face to her mother, emitting quiet mewls of satisfaction. When Victoria cupped her eldest girl’s chin and kissed her full on the mouth, I think Becky was too far gone to question the potential right and wrong of the situation she found herself in.
Not merely allowing such an incestuous exchange, Becky embraced it wholly, her tongue emerging to meet Victoria’s. I couldn’t take my eyes away from their passionate exchange. The sight of a naked mother and daughter kissing like lovers was as erotic as anything I’d witnessed thus far. That was about to change.
Victoria gave Becky one last kiss, then raised herself a little higher to offer the girl a nipple. This time Becky took it between her lips without a second thought. While she suckled, Victoria reached down to toy with her daughter’s clit, fingers brushing back and forth.
Becky came in my mouth, her honey oozing over my tongue.
“Kiss me, Doris,” Victoria demanded, and so I sought out her lips with mine, sharing the sweet essence we’d coaxed from her daughter.
Then Victoria had me on my back, her mouth poised between my legs. Her eyes found Becky’s. “Come here, Rebecca. Share Doris with me.”
Becky swept her hair back behind her shoulders, then drew alongside her mother, her cheeks aglow with passion. The two of them shared a smile, their lips joining for another kiss. I slung my knees wide across the bed, a reminder – if any was needed – of where their mouths would be better served.
Victoria’s tongue found me first, then Becky’s. They snaked up and down my slit, kissing each other as often as they did me. I rested on my elbows to watch, the sight every bit as arousing as the act itself. When Victoria scissored two fingers deep inside my cunt, then withdrew them to let her daughter suck them clean, it was all I needed to push me headlong into another climax.
“P-put your fingers back in!” I gasped, and while Victoria slipped back inside me, Becky took my clitoris between her lips. Moments later, the combined efforts of mother and daughter had me squirming upon the bed, mewling in delight.
I watched in a post-orgasmic haze as Victoria settled into the cushions beside me, drawing Becky’s head between her thighs. “Will you taste me now, my sweet?” she asked her daughter. “Would you do that for me?”
Becky regarded her mother’s sex with something resembling both guilt and longing. “I ought not to, ” she murmured, finally meeting Victoria’s gaze. “This really is going too far, Mother. Isn’t it?”
Victoria shook her head with a reassuring smile. “No, dearest. Nothing that feels this good can ever be wrong. Never doubt it, my love.”
Becky moistened her lips, then whispered a concession. “I… I suppose.” She extended a hand, lightly toying with the dark curls that adorned Victoria’s mons.
My lady prised her labia apart with two fingers, exposing the juicy pink interior of her cunt. “Lick me, Rebecca. Taste your mother.”
Then Becky’s mouth was there, nuzzling at the warm flesh of Victoria’s sex. She was tentative at first, teasing at the folds, kissing the skin between mound and thigh, but quickly grew bold, her tongue delving deeper, teeth grazing the swell of her mother’s clitoris.
Victoria moaned into my mouth as I leaned across to kiss her. I trailed a hand down between my legs and idly stroked myself, unable to draw my gaze away from this exquisitely lewd spectacle. I’d never considered sharing my mistress before, and never in my wildest dreams would I ever have entertained the notion that her own daughter might become a willing participant. Now the erotic possibilities before us seemed limitless.
“Yes!” Victoria hissed, arching her hips to meet Becky’s face, fingers deeply entwined in the girl’s hair. “I – I’m going to spend in my daughter’s mouth, Doris. What do you think about that, hmm? Does it excite you? Tell me…”
“I think you’re very wicked, miss,” I whispered in her ear, finding that old form of address somehow appropriate in the heat of this lubricious moment. “Having your own daughter put her mouth… there. So very, very wicked.”
And then Mrs. Victoria Shaw was indeed coming in her fourteen-year-old’s mouth, wailing in ecstasy, hips pumping until there was nothing left to push out. Finally, my lady collapsed into the damp sheets, as spent as I’d ever seen her. With what strength remained, she drew Becky close and embraced her tightly, the two of them coming together for one last passionate kiss.
“Thank you, my beautiful girl,” Victoria cooed. “That was so very nice.”
I stretched out alongside Becky, sandwiching the girl between her mother and me, and for a long, lovely while Victoria and I explored her body, only without the urgency that had commanded us earlier. We took our time to taste and tease, rubbing against one another until more orgasms waxed and waned, unfolding as they saw fit.
The midnight hour found us tangled together in deep slumber, wholly satisfied with our labours.
II
The next morning, worn out from our nightly excursions, but buoyed by love and eager to seize the day, we loaded picnic blankets and a hamper into the boot of Victoria’s automobile, along with our bathing suits and Melinda’s bucket and spade. Then we made our way south to Brighton Beach.
Seated in the back, the girls regaled us with childhood songs during our drive. Becky resisted at first, thinking herself much too mature for such silliness. But her sisters’ enthusiasm proved infectious, and soon she had joined the impromptu choir. Victoria and I were in the front with the windows wound down. Her hand rested on my thigh, occasionally straying beneath the hem of the summery dress I wore.
I’d seldom felt as happy and content as I did at that moment. After so many years alone, I’d found a family and a home, a place where I truly belonged. I’d become my own woman; discovered the person I was always destined to be.
And it mattered not that the world refused to accept women like Victoria and myself for who we were. Because we had accepted ourselves, and there was strength in that, strength enough to shield us from the burden of shame and guilt. This new life would be a secret one, but it was no less fulfilling for that.
By the time we reached Brighton a couple of hours later, the day had turned warm and balmy. The seaside town was a popular destination for families, but even on the sunniest of days there were quiet stretches of beach to be found along the coast, away from the throngs of bathers and day trippers.
While Becky and her sisters made a beeline for the ice cream cart further up the beach, Victoria and I laid out our blanket on the sand, then poured glasses of crisp white wine for ourselves and lemonade for the girls.
We stripped down to our bathing suits, my lover wearing a thin cotton shirt over hers, unbuttoned and rolled up at the sleeves. With her long, willowy legs glistening in the sun, and golden hair draped loosely across her shoulders, she might have been a goddess. I could barely restrain myself from claiming her mouth in a lover’s kiss. It irked me, the impossibility of letting the world know this magnificent woman was mine, but there was nothing to be done about it. All we could do was make the best of things as they were.
“It’s nice to get out of the house for a while, isn’t it?” Victoria said. “Shadowglen can be a little oppressive at times.”
Her fingers trailed lightly up and down my arm, and I was suddenly acutely aware that we no longer had the walls of that old house to shield and protect us. I found myself scanning the beach for curious onlookers, but in truth, I don’t think we had much to worry about – it was a more innocent age back then, and the notion that two women might be lovers must surely have been unfathomable to most.
“I’m surprised you didn’t sell up,” I said. “After everything that happened with your husband, I mean.”
“I thought about it,” Victoria admitted. “But running away was never my style. Rather, I took ownership of all the things that tried to destroy me. Why would Shadowglen be any different? It’s my house now, with all the memories that come with it, good and bad.”
“Do you ever think of travelling?” I asked, looking out onto the ocean and whatever lay beyond. “I think I’d like to one day.”
Victoria smiled wistfully. “Yes. That would be nice. When the girls are a little older and can fend for themselves, perhaps you and I will pack our things and see something of the world. How does that sound, my sweet?”
“It’s a promise,” I told her.
“A promise,” Victoria agreed.
The girls returned with ice cream, and having polished off our sweet treats with gusto – Melinda losing a generous dollop of hers down the front of her swimming costume, much to her annoyance, and our amusement – the five of us paddled into the sea. I went as deep as I dared, the water reaching my waist, then lingered in the shallows while the Shaws splashed and swam further out.
“Come on, Doris!” Sophia cried. “It’s not that cold.”
“I… I can’t,” I hollered back.
“Why ever not?” Victoria said.
“Because I c-can’t swim,” I replied, suddenly on the verge of tears.
It seems so ridiculous now, but watching the Shaws frolicking in the water just out of reach, I found myself experiencing a sudden sense of separation, as if something was trying to tell me I didn’t truly belong with them. It was foolish to doubt myself that way of course, but my old insecurities resurfaced from time to time. Like it or not, those fears were part of who I was. They could never be banished completely, but in time I would come to accept and master them.
Then hands were reaching out for me, arms encircling my body, taking the burden of my weight. The ground disappeared beneath my feet, and I felt a moment of pure panic. But my family was there to protect me, keeping me safe from harm. They guided me further out until I was floating on my back, tentatively moving through the water. All the while, Victoria and the girls cheered me on with smiles and shouts of encouragement.
Swimming. I was swimming. Life had done its best to sweep me under, but against all the odds I had prevailed, kept my head above the water. And now I was in full motion, moving through a world that could not keep me down.
III
After our little aquatic drama, we dried ourselves off, changed back into our clothes, then took a leisurely stroll along the beach, where we found a newly opened seafront restaurant called The Regency. Apparently, it had once been the home of Harriet Mellon, the richest woman in Europe in her day, and her favourite dish, freshly caught king prawns in garlic, was served there in her honour. It was my first time trying prawns, and I found them to be the most sublime thing I’d ever tasted. They were a hit with the girls, too, enough that Victoria was obliged to order a second batch.
By the time we arrived back at Shadowglen it was early evening, and we were all exhausted.
There was a car I’d never seen before parked on the forecourt, an expensive looking Rolls Royce. A chauffeur leaned against the polished chassis, cigarette caught between his lips. He snapped to attention, hastily snuffing his smoke, then doffed his cap at us as Victoria brought her own automobile to a stop.
“Whose car is that?” Sophia said.
“They must be awfully posh if they have their own driver,” Melinda mused.
“Do you know who it belongs to, Mother?” Becky asked.
“Yes, I think so,” Victoria replied in uncharacteristically subdued tones. “But I hope I’m wrong.”
I placed a hand on her arm. “Someone you don’t want to see?”
Victoria switched off the engine, then released a big sigh. “Don’t ask.”
We all filed into the house, depositing our sandy shoes on the porch as we went. Approaching the lounge, Victoria steeled herself for whatever waited inside, then pushed open the door.
An elderly man and woman were seated on the couch, dressed in sombre black, as if returning from a funeral. They turned towards us as the girls and I stood behind Victoria, peering into the room.
“The prodigal daughter returns,” the man announced gravely. His hair and bristling moustache were iron-grey, and he gripped an elaborate cane with an ivory handle depicting a stag. “Your housemaid let us in, then made herself scarce without taking our coats or offering us tea. Bloody rude!”
“Goodness, Victoria. Where on earth are the rest of your staff?” the woman chipped in. She sat perched on the edge of the sofa with both hands knotted in her lap, back so straight I doubted even a plumb bob would find fault.
Victoria closed her eyes for a brief moment, then opened them again. “Hello, Mother,” she said wearily. “Hello, Father.”
Coming soon, the grand finale of our little saga: Chapter Fifteen!