It was. In the courtyard, a cavalcade of two carriages with outriders drew up.
Hearing the commotion as she crossed the front hall on her way back to Richard's side, Catriona went out onto the front porch to investigate.
The scene in the courtyard was bewildering-as if a houseparty from London had lost its way and turned up at the manor. Coachboys, outriders, grooms and maids rushed hither and yon, opening carriage doors and setting steps in place, tugging at the straps that secured bags and trunks to the backs and tops of the carriages. A tall, exceedingly elegant gentleman stepped down from the second carriage; he cast a swift glance about the teeming courtyard-his gaze halted, and lingered, on her, before returning to the scene of chaos about the first carriage. Despite his fairer coloring-brown hair, not black-Catriona felt certain the gentleman was another Cynster.
Just as she felt certain the small, dark-and-silver-haired lady he helped down from the first carriage was the Dowager Duchess of St. Ives-Helena, Richard's stepmother. With the brisk energy of a whirlwind, the Dowager waved the elegant gentleman back to his own carriage, where a second lady was waiting to descend. Behind the Dowager, two young ladies, their lowered hoods revealing a wealth of golden curls, were gaily piling out of the first carriage. Claiming the arm of one of her grooms, the Dowager made straight for the front porch, her cloak billowing about her.
She came up the front steps with the force of a military charge. "My dear!"
Catriona only just had time to brace herself; flinging her arms wide, the Dowager enveloped her in a warm embrace.
"Now you may tell me he is better-he is better, is he not? But of course, he is! You would not otherwise be standing here so calmly, welcoming a garrulous old woman!" Green eyes twinkling, the Dowager hugged her again, then released her; holding both her hands wide, she stepped back and, with every evidence of shrewd consideration, quickly looked her over.
"Oh, yes!" Looking up, the Dowager caught Catriona's eye. "You will do very well for him, I think." She smiled, brilliantly. "And you will not let him down-you will always be there for him, yes?" For one instant, green and hazel eyes held, and touched, then the Dowager beamed. With Gallic exuberance, she kissed Catriona on both cheeks. "Welcome to the family, my dear."
Touched to the heart by the profound love that shone from the Dowager's eyes, Catriona blinked rapidly. "Thank you ma'am."
"Helena," the Dowager firmly declared. "I am Helena to both my sons' wives. But tell me-Devil and Honoria have arrived, have they not? And how is Richard-is he eating!? Has he risen!? Has-"
"Aunt Helena, you're liable to give poor Catriona a very strange notion of the family."
Turning, Catriona beheld the elegant gentleman with a graceful lady on his arm. They both smiled warmly; he bowed. "Vane Cynster, my dear-and I assure you we don't all rattle on so."
"I am not 'rattling on', " Helena declared. "I am merely exercising the right of any mother to learn of her son's health."
"But he isn't about to die, is he?" The question came from one of the blonde beauties, now lined up behind the Dowager.
"Surely not Richard?" The second young lady fixed Catriona with huge blue eyes. "But you're a healer aren't you? You'd save him."
There was an element of absolute confidence in that last, uttered with a nod that touched Catriona anew.
The graceful lady sighed and touched the Dowager's arm "Perhaps, Helena, if we move inside-I rather think there's another snow shower coming."
Catriona stepped back and gestured the Dowager in, as the Dowager swept majestically across the threshold, the graceful lady touched Catriona's arm and met her glance with a smile.
"I'm Patience, my dear. Recently married to Vane, another of the family's reprobates. And these are Amanda and Amelia-and"-she paused to draw breath and met Catriona's eye-"I'll explain how it all happened later."
They followed the Dowager in; the scene in the hall quickly achieved the same degree of chaos that had held sway in the courtyard. Boxes and trunks were ferried in and piled in corners under Henderson's dour direction. Mrs. Broom looked as stunned as Catriona felt; wide eyed, the housekeeper struggled to take in her instructions, then rushed off, calling to maids and footmen to open up and air rooms for the latest guests.
A cacophony unlike anything the serene manor had known rose in the hall as the two young ladies checked which bandbox was whose and where the Dowager's shawl had gone; Vane and both coachmen were in earnest discussion with Irons over where to stable the extra horses. The Dowager had discovered McArdle and was inquiring after his stiff limbs as if she'd known him all his life-and he was responding as if she had. Rushing maids and footmen stopped now here, now there, to put a question, then dashed off about their duties.
Catriona stood just inside the front doors and took it all in, let it wash over her. The noise, the boisterousness, the enormous well of energy that swelled within her hall; it was an immensely powerful force. It was there in the swift, neat movements of the Dowager, in the set of her head as she tilted it the better to consider McArdle's replies. There in the crisp directions Vane Cynster issued, in the innate grace, redolent of harnessed power, with which he moved. There in the glow that lit the young ladies' faces and invested their bodies with a taut grace reminiscent of fawns about to spring into flight.
Coming to stand beside her, Patience looked over the hall. "The Cynsters are here-what more need be said?" But she was smiling. She turned to Catriona. "I do apologize for descending on you like this, but as you were going to have to cope with Helena come what may, it's probably just as well the rest of us are here to help you."
The clear affection in Patience's tone, in her eyes, as they returned to the Dowager, stripped her comments of any implied criticism.
"Perhaps," Catriona murmured, "I'd better take her up to see Richard."
Patience nodded. "Do. It'll set her mind at rest. Don't worry about the rest of us." She smiled at Catriona. "If you don't mind, I'll speak directly to your housekeeper if there's any problem-I rather think you must have enough on your plate."
Catriona returned her smile. "Please do." Looking back at the Dowager, she drew in a deep breath. "It's possible I may be rather busy for a while."
With that, she stepped boldly into the fray and fetched up by the Dowager's side. "Helena, if you wish, I'll take you to see Richard-I'm sure he'll be anxious to see you."
The Dowager shot her a shrewd glance. "No, no, ma petite-it is I who am anxious to see him. He"-with a Gallic gesture, she dismissed all males-"is but a man. He does not understand these things."
As she took the arm Helena offered, Catriona saw two blonde heads lift; two pairs of blue eyes fastened on them.