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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 4195691" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter Two-hundred-ninety-one, “Kate’s Depature”, Mid-to-late-July, 1882 As Kate prepared for the trip to England, she recieved one of her regular letters from her father. Miss Sullivan had begun her work with him, and he was finding her to be incredibly quick of mind, and willing to do everything she could and even some things she really could not. He also found her to be ambitious in the desire to help others. He found they would miss her when she went to have her second surgery. In her return letter, Kate mentioned her upcoming trip as a chaperone, and that she and Conrad would spend a bit of time in New York first. The day before they left she received a wire from her father, saying that the family would travel down to see her before she sails. Before they left town, Kate went to the Barker's and had Stanley take photos of her with Ginnie, and then a portait of her alone. She gave one of them to Conrad, along with a lock of her hair to remember her by while she was away. Kate was excited to get started the day in late July when they boarded the stage to Tombstone. Mr. Tomlinson assured her that there were other watchers in New York City, and he and Shannon stayed there as Kate and Conrad explored the City. They stayed at the Fifth Avenue Hotel again, over Kate's protests that a simpler place would suit their needs. They spent that first night visiting Edwin at the Player's Club, then in their own rooms at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Explaining Kate's condition and the fact that his brother was not responsible took a good deal of that first night with Edwin Booth, but by the end of it he seemed to believe the truth. The next day the Seagram family checked into the Fifth Avenue Hotel as well. It was a bit odd to suddenly have the Seagrams and the Booths together. Almost as if it was a look into the future where Kate and Conrad had married and these two families were one. Mrs. Seagram was quite charmed by Edwin Booth and seemed to enjoy being in the center of a social whirl again. Kate spent a great deal of time with her brothers, especially Henry. She always told her Papa everything, but sometimes she needed a brother. She noticed Conrad spending a lot of time with her father, she imagined trying to gain his approval. All the company made it harder for Kate and Conrad to find time to spend alone. But thankfully Kate's family were on a different floor of the hotel, so they managed to always spend the end of the night quietly talking together. Some nights Conrad stayed late, following the instinct they'd had the first time they stayed here, others he would go back to his room earlier. They were always careful to keep their time together as unnoticed as possible while trying to prepare for the long separation to come. They spent a week in New York, and seemed to always be busy. If they were not spending the evening at the Player’s Club they were at a play, a concert, or the opera. They especially enjoyed the chance to see the newest play from Gilbert and Sullivan, "Patience." Her appearance at the play and other places in the city set the society columns buzzine, but the presence of her family there with her seemed to confuse them. Most society women hid themselves away once such a condition was obvious, but Kate refused to worry about them. Her father assured her that the family would deal with whatever rumors surfaced. It isn’t long after Ruby and Goerge had return to New York when Kate was arriving in New York City to leaving for England, so they the trip down to the City to see her off, arriving two days before Kate’s scheduled departure. Ruby and Kate spent much of the time making preliminary wedding plans for Ruby and shopping for the things needed to make it happen. They also sampled food from the best caterers and bakers in the city, managing to quell even Kate's now enormous appetite. Ruby spent time with Kate going over other wedding details and while the date wasn’t set yet Ruby seems more excited about it than ever and in some ways, in a rush to get it done. Ruby finally got a chance to spend some time with Kate's family, and between Ruby and her mother by the time she left New York Kate had another trunk of clothes to go along with the lovely things Mary Kelley had made her. Kate had never imagined so many people would be on the dock to see them off. Phillip was thrilled to see Shannon O'Hara again and spent most of that morning trying to get her good favor. Kate spent the morning being passed from hand to hand, each person saying a sweet goodbye with good wishes for the trip. The very last was Conrad and the look on his face nearly broke her heart. Everyone else seemed to draw a bit away, giving them the privacy to say goodbye. Despite the public place, Conrad kissed her tenderly and held her for a moment. Afterwards, he spoke a word to Kevin Tomlinson. What she could hear of it seemed to be along the lines of making sure she was safe and wiring him immediately is something should happen. By ten o'clock Kate was standing at the ship's railing with Kevin and Shannon, waving like mad to everyone still on the shore. Kate continued to watch even after the waving stopped. They all had someone to stay with, even Conrad had his brother there. Yet he had stepped forward a bit, almost as if he were considering if he could walk across the widening expanse of water to come with her. She waved one last time and watched until Henry joined him and must have convinced him it was time to leave. Once the group turned and went back down the dock, Kate turned her face to the bow and England.</blockquote>

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