“Hey, Jeff. Don’t you think it’s a problem that Nonna’s been getting invited to tea parties all over, but we haven’t hosted a single one at our house?”
“Hmm, come to think of it, you’re right.”
“So I was thinking of having three separate tea parties. That way, we can invite all the young ladies who have had Nonna at their houses for tea.”
“Three parties? Wouldn’t it be easier just to have one big one?”
“You think so? I’ll ask Nonna what she thinks.”
I went ahead and asked her, and she immediately replied, “One big party!”
“You’ve been attending so many events, though. And you’ve even shown up as Elizabeth’s guest at parties when you weren’t directly invited. Can you remember everywhere you’ve been?”
“No, but you can ask Elizabeth. She’ll know. She keeps a really detailed notebook of who was invited to every party and who attended.”
“That’s awfully helpful.”
“Elizabeth’s family is loaded, but they’re really stingy.”
“Stop that, Nonna. It’s not nice to speak that way about a dear friend.”
“Oh, it’s fine. Elizabeth says it herself all the time. She says all the McGreys are stingy and meticulous.”
“…”
Lately, I was beginning to see why Nonna and Elizabeth had hit it off so well.
At first, I’d thought Elizabeth was a haughty young lady who had to be handled carefully, but that wasn’t really the case. She had a good sense of humor and was intelligent enough to view herself, her family, and her position objectively.
Sometimes her brutal honesty could lead to misunderstandings, but I found that endearing.
The next day, Nonna invited Elizabeth over to our house. She arrived carrying a burgundy leather satchel.
“Nonna, I expected nothing less of you! If you need records of tea parties, just ask me, and I’ll have everything you need!”
“I remembered that you wrote down every detail like the names of the guests, the dishes served, and the decorations. I’m counting on you!”
“Leave it to me!” Elizabeth’s cheeks flushed slightly with excitement. She probably wasn’t used to receiving such compliments from Nonna.
Jeffrey happened to be home as well, and he and I took a look at Elizabeth’s notebook, which left us in disbelief.
The notebook was neatly organized into the following entries:
Date and Time (start and end)
Name and age of the host’s daughter or son, and their parents’ titles
Number of guests, tables, and total attendees
Menu
Flowers on display
Names of the guests who attended
Main topics of conversation that day
“This is…,” Jeff started.
“Impressive,” I said, finishing his sentence.
“Mother always laughs and says it’s like I’m writing a research paper.”
“I’ll bet,” Jeff said.
“Elizabeth, when do you have the time to write all this?”
“I do it as soon as I get home from a tea party, Nonna. That way, it’s still fresh in my mind and before I forget any details.”
Jeff had a serious expression on his face.
“What’s wrong, Jeff?”
“Miss Elizabeth, did Nonna attend all of these parties?”
“No, but I marked the ones she did attend with a flower symbol last night.”
“Victoria, it looks like we’ll have to invite nearly thirty people over to our house,” he said.
“Goodness.” I quickly counted all the cute little flower symbols Elizabeth had drawn. There were twenty-eight in total. “This will be quite the gathering, Nonna. I knew you were busy attending tea parties, but I suppose I didn’t realize you’d been to so many! It would be rude not to invite them over to our house.”
“Most of the time, Elizabeth just dragged me along, you know.”
“Oh my. Is that really how you thought of it, Nonna?”
“Elizabeth, do you think I could borrow this notebook while I think of the menu?”
“Sure, go right ahead.”
Nonna and I decided on the menu along with Lady Yolana and Lady Blythe, sent out invitations, and then figured out how we would decorate.
The day had finally come for the party. Master Clark was the first to arrive.
“Thank you for inviting me today, Nonna.”
“You’re very welcome, Master Clark. You’re the first one here!”
“I know. I wanted to be the first,” he said with an easy smile. “This is for you.” He handed Nonna a small box of pastries from a well-known bakery.
“Wow, pastries from this bakery are so popular! I’ve been dying to try these, Master Clark! Thank you!” Nonna exclaimed.
“I remember you saying you wanted them.”
“You remembered that?”
“Of course.”
“Thank you! I’m so happy!” Nonna took both of Master Clark’s hands in hers, then let go of them to grab the box of pastries. “Mom, look! I’ve been wanting to try these!”
“That’s wonderful, Nonna.”
As I spoke, I couldn’t take my eyes off Master Clark’s slightly flushed face. I felt a little sorry for him. Nonna hadn’t held hands with him intentionally—she was just such an innocent girl.
While I made excuses in my mind, more and more carriages arrived.
Young ladies and gentlemen dressed to the nines descended from their carriages, looking around our garden and admiring the estate as they made their way to the front door.
We’d sent out twenty-eight invitations, but just like Nonna had been Miss Elizabeth’s guest at parties, it was expected that our guests would bring along a friend. The total number of attendees ended up being thirty-eight people. It was a very grand tea party.
Nonna had insisted it would be better to have one big gathering, but I knew the staff must’ve been having a tough time.
We used our spacious great hall, which was large enough to host a ball, and had arranged tables, chairs, and silverware. The inside and outside of our estate were impeccably clean. The head chef had been so overwhelmed with preparations for the past week that I thought I should probably send him a token of appreciation. Or maybe he’d prefer a special bonus.
Nonna made an elegant speech to start the party off, which went swimmingly.
I quietly observed from the shadows as Bertha and our other staff members moved efficiently while maintaining just the right amount of sophistication. Everything went completely smoothly…until the very end.
The incident happened just as I was considering calling the party to a close.
By then, the guests had eaten nearly all the light snacks and sweets on the tables.
A boy raised his voice a bit and said, “Nonna, would you like to go for a ride on horseback with me sometime? You can ride, can’t you?”
“On horseback?” Nonna adored riding, and her eyes began to sparkle. She was about to respond when Elizabeth beat her to it.
“Goodness. Aren’t you aware that Nonna used to be a commoner? Don’t you think your suggestion is a bit inconsiderate?”
“Um, Elizabeth, I—”
“No, Nonna. I can handle this one,” Elizabeth interrupted again, a cool smile on her face.
The boy shrank back, clearly intimidated. “My apologies, Miss Nonna. I wasn’t thinking.”
“No, it’s not that. Actually, I—”
But this time, it wasn’t Elizabeth who interrupted. It was Master Clark. Oh, now things are going to get interesting.
“Sorry, Hendridge, but I’ve already made plans with Nonna to go horseback riding.” His tone of voice was so firm, the room filled with tension.
Master Clark, just because you asked her to go once doesn’t mean she’s booked up solid for horseback riding until the end of the year. She can go as much as she likes, you know, I thought as I anxiously watched over the situation.
Some of the boys standing at the back of the room lowered their heads to stifle their laughter. I heard others whispering amongst themselves, but they were too far for me to make out the conversations, so I had to read their lips.
“There he goes again. Miss Nonna’s guard dog.”
“Poor Hendridge has no clue it’s useless trying to get close to Miss Nonna with him around!”
“Ha. You think that’s bad? Master Clark glared at me just for talking to her at another tea party.”
“He did that to me, too!”
“Why doesn’t he just get betrothed to Miss Nonna already if he’s going to be so uptight about it?”
“Exactly.”
Oh my. Master Clark is carefully laying the groundwork, isn’t he? I thought, my heart pounding.
Nonna was the type of girl who knew what she wanted. No matter how much he plotted, if she wasn’t interested, it wouldn’t happen. That was why Jeffrey and I had decided to watch over things quietly and not get involved.
As I kept my eye on the boys, another one chimed in. I focused on reading his lips.
“Master Clark’s father is the Minister of Foreign Affairs. That means he’ll probably take over for him one day, so we should avoid getting on his bad side.”
“That’s odd. Once I asked him if he wanted to be the next Minister of Foreign Affairs, and he said, ‘Absolutely not.’”
“What? He’s not? What could be a better position than that?”
“Think about it.”
“What’s higher than that…? Wait, are you saying Master Clark wants to be the prime minister?!”
“That’s what I think.”
The group of boys fell silent for a while.
“Well, it’s possible. I heard he speaks the languages of all the neighboring kingdoms. And not just on a conversational level, either—he’s completely fluent! Apparently, he’s impressed even veteran diplomats. Plus, he knows the laws and histories of those kingdoms inside and out, too!”
Silence hung in the air again.
“There aren’t many eighteen-year-olds with that kind of ambition. Who knows. Maybe in thirty years, our prime minister will be Clark Anderson.”
“You really think he’ll keep at it and work hard for thirty years?”
“With his personality? There’s no doubt.”
“It’s not just persistence, either. There’s something else about him.”
“I wouldn’t want to get on his bad side.”
“Me neither.”
Once the tea party ended and all the guests had left, the house became very quiet again.
Now that Jeffrey was back, the three of us sat together, relaxing and chatting.
“Thanks so much, Mom. I had the best time today.”
“I’m glad to hear that, Nonna. By the way, did Master Clark really ask you to go riding with him?”
“Nope, not at all. But I didn’t want to embarrass him in front of everyone by saying that, so I just kept quiet.”
“You’ve really matured, Nonna.”
“Have I? I feel like that’s normal behavior.”
“It’s not. Being able to consider other people’s feelings is how you know you’ve matured.”
“Heh-heh.”
Incidentally, Nonna was very skilled at horseback riding. When we had gone on the run and lived at the farm in Randall, I borrowed a horse from the owner and trained her thoroughly.
Nonna could gallop at full speed, leap over tall obstacles and wide ditches with no problem, and even jump from one horse to another while riding in tandem.
Her skill far surpassed that of the average noble lady, who only knew how to ride gracefully.
I wondered if she would keep those skills a secret from Master Clark until the moment called for it or if she’d reveal it to him.
Either way, good luck, Master Clark. I’m rooting for you.