Re: Wainright Manor: Iris M/Manning T/Misha B/Damian W
It wasn’t the young men that set Iris out of sorts, but the type of formal atmosphere that she hadn’t had to deal with in what seemed like a very long time. But still close enough that it held its control over her still. As upbringings so often did. It meant that she didn’t necessarily notice the economy of Damian's conversation, nor the specificity of his reply. It wasn’t until the heavy weight of Manning’s foot rested against her ankle that she was able to draw a breath into lungs that weren’t quite so tight. Thank goodness for a fiancé with long legs.
She hadn’t given thought to either of them looking her up, and there were things out there to find. Some news stories about her family and their troubles, her name in conjunction with a man accused of horrible things, talk of her character that was far from flattering. And then nothing until a tiny blurb in the local paper, naming her the baker at Crust and Crumb a few years back, and two birth announcements from recent years. There was nothing (official) out there connecting her name with Damian’s grandfather; nothing that indicated him as TJ’s birth father.
His memory invaded her mind when the food was brought out, however. A study of the dishes showed them to be different than what she was served during her time with “Gray”, but there were scents familiar enough to take her back to dry-heat days and a language she never learned. Her fingers reached almost automatically for the flatbread as well, knowing it to be a vital start to their plates, but her hand hesitated in the air before she could claim a piece.