Tolerating a Lord

chapter two

"Why don't you visit us as much?" My father said as he pulled me into a hug.

"And what's this of a ball I'm hearing?" My mother said as she waited to greet me. I hugged her as I replied.

"Charlotte insisted I should for my reputation. Leonardo is returning."

"Oh. Mary told me but I hadn't realised it'd be so soon. What day is he to be home?" She asked. Mary was his mother, and one of my favourite people.

Although her son had practically run away, her husband and she treated me as though I was their daughter and I was forever grateful for their kindness.

"Monday."

"What? That's only two days away!" My youngest sister shouted and I pulled her up onto my hip as I kissed the side of her head.

"Yes it is Lizzy, have you got a dress?" I asked.

"No...Mama will you buy me a dress!" My mother smiled with a nod, before she returned to the living room. I followed her as Lizzy rambled into my ear about her kitten and the new paintings she did.

Lizzy was four - the youngest of us six siblings.

After Janet who was 22, my brother Lucas was 18. Daisy was 14 and Calum was 10.

Lucas was away at a boarding school somewhere in Northern Europe, and Janet had moved to Scotland after her marriage to a Duke. Although I was happy both were happy, the ache of their absence when I entered my childhood home was one that would stay in my heart forever.

"Daisy, where are you?" I called out over the stairs and I heard a shuffle of feet as two shadows fell upon the soft carpet of the stairs.

"Hannah!" The two exclaimed as they ran at me.

I made sure to stable myself as they ran into me grabbing my waist.

I moved back to lower Lizzy to the floor, and hugged back the other two. Sometimes during my youth I'd felt like a mother to them, simply because my mother was too busy running the household and my father was busy with work.

They had grown so much in the time I'd been married and since I'd last seen them.

I smiled at them as I asked them about school.

"I'm learning how to read Shakespeare! Apparently he was some really old poet." Daisy said eagerly.

"Playwright." I corrected her.

"What's the difference?" She asked with furrowed brows.

"He wrote plays. Poets write poems, and poems are a lot shorter."

"Hannah, my language teacher said I'm so fantastic at French, I should teach it when I'm older!" Calum said and I let out a laugh nodding.

"You definitely should." I smiled although I knew if Father heard me suggest such a career to my brother I'd get a right scolding.

My mother took a seat on the sofa and Lizzy rushed onto her lap.

"Be careful with your shoes my dear." She said moving them away from the sofa.

"Are you staying the night?" Daisy asked.

"No." I took a seat. "Ive just come to say hi."

"Father said you're hosting a ball for the Lord. Can I meet him?" Calum asked.

"Of course." I said as my mother tutted at the same time.

"Absolutely not. Balls are hosted at 7. Which so happens to be near your bedtime."

"Mama!" He cried.

"My bedtimes nine! I can meet him." Daisy stuck her tongue out at Calum and my mother instantly scolded her.

"Daisy don't be so ill-mannered. You won't be meeting him either."

"Why not?" She raised a brow and then began the bickering.

I pulled away and got up quietly, walking around the argument rising and to my fathers study.

I knocked once and he muttered a 'Yes?'.

Walking in I saw him, head buried in a book, as papers lay in organised piles across the mahogany desk.

"What are you reading?" I asked sitting on the chair opposite.

He looked up and his face softened.

"A book about the study of the brain." He said and I let out a light laugh.

"The study of the brain?" I raised a brow.

"It's wonderful! I'll let you borrow it after I'm done, it does help understand humans and our nature so much."

"That sounds interesting. Who wrote it?"

"A German gentlemen." He showed me the cover and I hummed. Before I could make a comment he spoke.

"I want to ask about the ball. Does he know it's happening?" Father asked.

He was what my parents referred him to. Despite their strong friendship with his parents, they still held a slight resentment against my husband for leaving and the tiniest hostility against his parents for not doing better to stop him.

I shook my head and he nodded but his eyes held concern.

"Are you sure you want to host it? I know he is very detached from your marriage, there is no reason to host a ball for one who does not care." He advised.

"I know. But I thought I should make an effort to welcome him. Make his stay more enjoyable so he chooses to not leave." The word 'again' floated in the air.

"If he says anything unpleasant, your father is still alive and so is his. James would not hesitate to teach him sense, if you'd ask."

I laughed and shook my head.

"Thank you for the offer but for now I am well. I am excited for the ball. It's been a while since I've hosted something."

"I'm excited to attend. Who's invited?"

And after I told him all his friends were invited,  we fell into a comfortable silence as he nodded and picked up his book again. I grabbed another sat on his desk and it read, Rules and Etiquettes in a Ballroom.

I looked at my dad and he sheepishly smiled at me as I laughed.