The Pond - Part 19

Having spent her morning on the deck watching the New World draw nearer, Izolda retired to her cabin for the actual docking. The trunks were carefully packed, and if some of Katrinka’s nicer clothes had ended up in Izolda’s trunk, well, there was no one to know but Izolda.

The somber black dress she wore was Katrinka’s. Why a bride needed such a dress was beyond her, but it served Izolda’s purposes well. A grey dress would not have conveyed the sentiment as strongly as black, nor would it have made her skin seem as lustrous. Appearance was going to play a large part in her first meeting with Nikolai.

It was important that she get close enough to Nikolai as quickly as possible to transfer another of her powders to him, one much stronger than the one she’d used on the captain. Even so, she knew Nikolai well enough to know that even if she could revive his feelings towards her, he might feel obligated to send her home again until a suitable period of mourning for Katrinka had passed. She could not let that happen.

As she waited for the ship to go through the docking procedures, she paced in the cabin, rehearsing what she would say, and how she would say it. While it was true she had the power to make Nikolai her puppet, that’s not what she wanted.

Back in the old country there had been a spark of attraction, but he had been duty-bound to Katrinka. It had really taken very little to drive a wedge between the two, and to enhance what he’d already felt for Izolda. She wanted him, yes, but as he was, not as some soulless creature.

Nikolai was a strong, ambitious man and he needed a strong woman at his side to help him achieve those ambitions. That woman was her, Izolda. Katrinka had been frivolous and weak. He would have eventually realized his mistake in marrying her, but it would have been far too late.

Finally, finally! There was a knock on her door, the porters come to take the trunks away. Izolda gave herself a final once over in the mirror, then picked up her reticule and followed, joining the line of passengers disembarking the ship

The city of Boston spread out beyond the docks, and Izolda was intimidated, in spite of herself. It was so very different from Russia. The cacophony of voices around her was deafening. Katrinka’s father had hired a tutor to teach his daughter, and by extension Izolda, English. She had been careful not to let either the tutor or Katrinka know how quickly she’d caught on to the new language so as not to rouse the other girl’s jealousy.

Now she was able to understand many words and phrases spoken by the people around her, but everyone talked so fast! It took her a few moments to translate what was being said. For the first time she was grateful for the ship’s captain insisting that the steward accompany her to the inn where there was a room waiting for her.

The fact that the room was in the name of Katrinka Romanovich rankled a bit, but it couldn’t be helped. His duty done, the steward tipped his hat and left. Now all that was left was the waiting. Izolda didn’t mind this waiting. She was a patient soul, especially when it mattered. And Nikolai mattered a great deal to her.