“You may think so, but your father and I think you need someone to represent you, speak for you if you’re going to continue playing for the public.”
“And I suppose that someone would be you and Father?”
“Of course! Who better?”
Charles decided to use this as a perfect place to extract his wife. “If you’ll excuse us, we have a couple of appointments and we can’t be late.”
“Mother, we’ve got to go, but understand this: I’m not playing professionally. This was a special request which I accepted. Now if you’ll excuse us.”
Charles led her out to their carriage, leaving his mother-in-law stunned by being snubbed by her own daughter. Or, in her eyes, she was being snubbed.
He sat down next to Cathryn, and as he did, the carriage slowly began to move. “You were brilliant, my dear.”
“I’ve learned through trial and error it’s the only way to keep my mother’s bizarre actions under control.”
He smiled. “You do it so well.”
“Enough of my mother. We’ll have to deal with her antics again tonight. I’m hungry, and you promised lunch.”
“I did, didn’t I? We could either go to the Brown Hotel and eat at their brand-new restaurant or we could go to a chip shop. Arthur introduced me to one.”
“Let’s go to the new restaurant. Although I adore fish and chips, I’m afraid all that grease would be a bit heavy to eat today,” she said.
“The Brown Hotel it is,” he replied. He then knocked twice on the roof, telling the driver where they were to go.
“I’m intrigued at what this new place serves, aren’t you?”
“Yes. I understand it’s become popular in a short period of time,” he said.
“Hmmm. May I ask a question?”
“Of course you can.”
“Are we still leaving the day after tomorrow?”
He nodded. “Yes. Unless you’d like to stay on.”
“No. I just have a couple appointments and will need the carriage.”
“Very well. We can talk about it later. I only have one or two appointments myself. Should be no problem.”
“Thank you.”
He peered out the window at all the people walking in a hurry around him, having always done this at earlier stages of his life. He got through some of his discomfort of riding in a carriage by ignoring everything around him and solely concentrating on the people, strangers all off to an appointment or to visit with a friend.
Charles always wondered why he was odd, different than his two siblings. No matter how he tried to come up with a logical answer, it was something that wasn’t talked about. Looking at all the people outside, he couldn’t be the only one.
“I know that look, Charles. Get out of your head.”
He turned to her, nodding. “I was watching the people, wondering how many more people like me are out there.”
“Well, stop. I’ve told you before you’re unique and no one is like you. You’re one of a kind.”
He patted her hand which had been on his thigh since they’d entered the carriage. “Thank you for reminding me.”
They passed the Brown Hotel. Charles tapped on the roof of the carriage and finally, they came to a halt. He’d been very specific in where they were going. He opened the door and stepped out. “I thought I told you this was where we were going for a meal.”
“You did, it’s just there’s no room in front of the establishment to do that,” the driver said.
