The house was bursting with excitement, and it was all Dowager Duchess Rosalyn doing. She has lots of energy to fill up a manor and still enough left to boss everyone around.
It had only been a few days since the Dowager Duchess arrived, yet she was already set to host a Christmas ball, of which she informed her son and granddaughter about, only yesterday.
Amidst all the noise and chaos, that son and granddaughter were alone in the quiet of the Yellow Drawing room. The son was, as usual, going through the paperwork it took to maintain a big estate like Bedford Manor and its properties.
The granddaughter was doing her schoolwork. She was one of the few noblewomen who went to university. She was finishing up a degree in natural sciences and literature.
Hence, they both worked diligently and alone, each to his and her work.
A voice spoke, and Freya looked up from the science textbook she was reading when she heard her name. Annie was standing at the door. She curtsied to Duke and Lady and then proceeded to speak to Freya,
"Lady Freya, her Grace, the Dowager Duchess, request your presence in the Great Dining Hall."
Freya read between the lines; her grandmother commanded her presence.
"Very well. Tell her; I will be there shortly".
Annie bowed one last time and was gone. The door closed softly behind her.
"Father, are you sure there's nothing you can do about grandma's ridiculous Christmas party? I mean, we never had one before, even when the whole family lived here."
"No. I have learnt it's better to leave your grandmother to her own devices. Besides, I'm sure she has her reasons." Lord Bedford answered.
"Oh yes, one of the reasons being to torment me as much as possible. Other grandmothers dote on their grandchildren, but mine torments me!"
Freya's lamentations earned a chuckle from her father.
"Are you laughing at my plight, father?"
"Freya, stop being silly. Your grandmother dotes on you very much too. I remember she gave you several cavities when you were younger. Why do you think she still carries to this day enough candy in her purse to start a candy store? Or that now, your jewelry boxes are full to the brim with diamonds and rubies she regularly buys for you?"
"Candy and diamonds are not very good examples of a doting grandparent, father. They all are superficial things."
"Your grandmother has always been different from the rest. She dotes on you the only way she knows how, but that does not mean she does not love you all the same."
"Sometimes, though, it does not feel that way," said Freya under her breath.
The Duke sighed.
Freya gathered her things, said goodbye to her father, and embarked on her Great Dining Hall journey.
Lady Rosalyn indeed did love her granddaughter. For when she looked at her, she saw the same wit and determination as her herself. Rosalyn raised Freya from infancy because her mother died in childbirth. She loved her as both a daughter and granddaughter.
It was just that it was not in her nature to express it emotionally, but that was all going to change this Christmas.