The Sins of the Fathers

Chapter Twelve

The Rosen Estate

Sanibel Island

Florida

"Is that really necessary, Miss Smart? She is in an enclosed garden?" Brianna demanded of Helena Montague's keeper, intercepting her as she headed back into the house, leaving Mrs Montague tethered to the porch.

"If I ever have to leave my charges unsupervised, even for just a few moments, they must be restricted, Mrs Palmer?" Miss Smart replied, sounding rather surprised that her conduct was being questioned by anyone, let alone someone like Mrs Palmer.

"I was sitting right there...on the porch...you could have left her with me...and is there really any need to exercise her on a leash in an enclosed garden?" Brianna persisted, having reached the end of her own tether with her house guests. She felt that her own behaviour had been respectful towards the Montagues. She had chosen to dress appropriately, in her own home, so as not to cause any offence, but they had not made any effort to meet her anywhere near halfway. Brianna had invited Helena to sit on the porch with her in the afternoons, as she was the only female company Mrs Montague had, but the keeper had only allowed that to happen twice, whilst keeping her mistress under very strict discipline, which Brianna was starting to find offensive.

"Every need, Mrs Palmer...Mrs Montague is a Daughter of Eve, in an alien environment which she finds distressing at times...and it would not be appropriate to leave her in the care of a gentlewoman such as yourself, Ma'am." Miss Smart responded sourly, looking Brianna up and down as she spoke. She was obviously a licensed keeper, dressed in the grey uniform of her profession, and Brianna found her sheer presence in her house quite repugnant, if she was honest with herself. She remembered her own keepers from her time in Meadvale, and seeing Miss Smart with Helena brought back far too many very bad memories. And being described as a gentlewoman was insulting in the extreme. Many pious Bostonians aspired to that social status, as pseudo-Daughters of Eve, but she certainly did not. Her relationship with God and the Church of Christ the Reformer was understandably complicated, even in her own often addled mind, and Miss Smart certainly had no right to judge her.

"Mrs Montague is our guest...I have made every effort to make her welcome, and I will not have someone like you looking down your nose at me, Miss Smart!" She snapped, staring angrily at the keeper.

"I do not think we are guests here, Mrs Palmer...and it is hard for any good Christian to see someone like you openly rejecting God's love, Ma'am...and sadly being allowed to do so...you should really be standing next to Mrs Montague, waiting to be exercised...you are in sore need of discipline, Mrs Palmer!" Miss Smart retorted, before turning on her heel and hurrying inside the house. Brianna considered following her, to continue the argument, but thought better of it. Instead, she returned to her adoptive father's favourite seat, sweeping the skirts of her cream and pale blue gown beneath her, fuming inside. Helena was tethered about five yards away, standing perfectly still, surely sweltering beneath her heavy cloak as spring turned to summer.

"Do you feel better for that, Bree?" Gideon Palmer said, stepping out of the office carrying two glasses of wine.

"Aren't you supposed to be interrogating Montague? I would quite like to get them out of here, sooner rather than later?" She replied, accepting her glass and drinking with a sigh of pleasure, slowly calming down.

"Break time...we are resuming in a few minutes?" Palmer told her, taking a seat on Sharon Rosen's bench, as he always did when he was talking to Jacob. "Sharon would not have let her get away with that last comment...there would have been blood all over the walls?"

"I don't have Mom's temper...or her way with words?"

"Go put on a short skirt and a tee shirt, just to wind her up?"