However, he feigned complete ignorance until they were all seated. At that point, Felicia could not contain herself for a moment longer.
“So, how is your letter?”
“It’s good,” he replied, being deliberately vague. There were moments when he enjoyed being difficult. He elicited the reaction he had been hoping for when Felicia playfully scowled at him. Meanwhile, his aunt and uncle simply looked on with amusement as they ate.
“You know what I mean! What has your mother got to say? How are things in London?”
“Mother didn’t say much about that in her letter.”
“So, it should be easy for you to tell me everything she does say.”
“She… Well, she wants me to go back to London. At least for a while.”
That caught his uncle’s attention. “Oh? So, do you plan to return?”
Walter looked up with surprise at his uncle’s question. “Not if I can help it, Uncle. You need me here, don’t you? More so than ever this year, since you have invested in your own vineyard to avoid having to buy your grapes each year. This will be the first year you will be able to make wine from grapes grown in your own vineyard.”
“Look, I may not know Sylvia well, but I am sure your mother would not have asked you to return home without having a good reason for doing so.”
Walter looked away, trying again to tamp down the slight feeling of guilt he felt about the situation. Felicia seemed to catch the look and asked, “What is it? She has mentioned the reason why she wants you home, hasn’t she?”
“Well…” Walter glanced at his uncle and knew there was no way he could avoid sharing the full contents of the letter. “She says managing my father’s assets is becoming too much for her to manage nowadays, and she would like me to come back and take care of them for her.”
“And you are seriously considering staying here?” his uncle asked incredulously.
Walter thought for a moment, and then nodded. “I am needed more here. You are still building your business and expanding it. The businesses my father left merely need to be maintained.”
“Even maintaining a business can be a lot of work. Sometimes things happen; markets can change in a moment, and rapid changes to the business must be made in response to such things. What did your mother say exactly?”
“Just that she feels she is too old and tending to everything is now too much for her, and she wants me at home to take over. But I am sure she could ask any one of my father’s friends still living in London to help her if she truly needs assistance.”
“Getting someone else, even a close friend, to help is not the same as family. Besides, any friend of your father’s will likely have their own affairs to attend to. And they might prove not to be a true friend, and, well, that could lead to disaster. That is why I was so glad for your help here. True, I will miss having you, but I can manage.”
“Only by hiring someone to help you, which entails the same difficulties you have just pointed out with my mother getting someone else to help her.”
“Perhaps, but I can oversee their work and know what to look for if I am at all suspicious of them. Sylvia might not be able to do that nearly as well. I think she needs you more than I do, especially if she is outright asking for your help. Does she mention any specific problems?”
“No, but—”
“Well, she might feel unable to do so in a letter.”
Walter couldn’t think of a reply, and not for lack of trying. It wasn’t that he was avoiding going home, but after what had happened … well, there were people he would rather not see. A large part of him missed his mother dearly, and he had no difficulty admitting it, even though he was a man of twenty-six.
“Very well, Uncle. I’ll go.”
***
A week later…
Walter was glad the trip to London was finally over as the ship came into dock. Though not prone to seasickness himself, some of the other passengers had had stomachs not quite as strong. It was partially for that reason he waited on deck while they docked.
He had to keep out of the way while the ship set anchor, or they would send him back below again. Being above decks allowed him to be the first to disembark, and he made a beeline for the black lacquered carriage bearing his family’s crest on its doors.
“Hello, Fredrick,” he called to the coachman, while the footman went to get his luggage.
“It is good to see you again, Lord Bartlett,” Fredrick replied as Walter stepped into the carriage.
He nearly fell backwards in surprise to find his mother waiting inside for him. The next moment, he had his arms around her in an embrace, a smile on his face.
“It is so good to see you!” he said as he moved her to arm’s length to look at her more closely.
“It is so good to see you, too, Walter,” she replied as she began to fondly inspect him.
Now Walter was able to get a good look at his mother, he found himself shocked at how much she had aged. True, she had already had a fair amount of gray in her light brown hair two years ago but now there was more gray than brown. And all the new wrinkles and worry lines…
“Well, I am here to stay for a long while,” Walter told her, making the decision right then. The statement made his mother seem to hesitate about something, before she appeared to brush aside whatever thoughts were in her mind to smile back at him, while the carriage started moving.
“And I will gladly keep you here as long as you will stay,” she told him, putting a hand on his cheek, and patting it gently. “I had hoped your ship would dock earlier in the day, but it seems we have just enough time for us to return home and for you to prepare for dinner.”
“And I suppose you are going to insist on it not being a minute late?” he teased, remembering how strict his mother was about having meals on time. Walter settled in beside his mother with an arm around her.
“Now, more than ever. You won’t have any trouble being on time, so long as you don’t waste time or get distracted.”
“To be fair, Mother, that only happened a handful of times when I was a child,” Walter replied. Then he saw the lift of his mother’s eyebrows. “I don’t count those times.”
Sylvia smiled and shook her head at him, as though he was still a naughty child. “Well, enough of all that. Tell me more about your journey here, how you got on in France, and everything else. You did try your best in your letters, but it was not nearly enough. I want all the details.”
“Where shall I start?”
“Hmm. With the basics of your journey. We should have time for that before we arrive at the townhouse.”