She continued, undeterred. “And an excellent background, what seems to be a well-educated mind—although perhaps a little opinionated—and not to mention the likelihood of a healthy dowry.”
“So I assume from your delicate but pointed praise that you want me to offer for her?” Garrett stared at his mother, catching her surprise at his blunt words.
She recovered quickly. “You could do worse.”
“I could,” he agreed.
Henrietta sighed. “What do you want, Garrett?”
“I want to not think about marrying, Mama. Not yet.”
“I doubt I need to point out your age, my dear. Nor do I need to point out that it is high time you produced an heir.”
“I am quite aware of my age, and also that I have several more years before the need to breed is upon me.” He gazed from the window, not seeing anything of the passing scenery, but looking inward. “I had hoped that I would reach at least thirty-five before we needed to have this conversation.”
“Good Lord.Sixmore years?”
“Five and a half,” he pouted.
“I might be dead by then,” she shot back. “Without the chance of ever holding a grandchild.”
Garrett rolled his eyes. “Firstly, you have far too many plans and adventures ahead of you to even consider cocking up your toes. And secondly, I’m having difficulty imagining my vibrant Mama dandling a baby on her knee, especially in one of those amazingly expensive gowns from the finest modiste in London. You probably wouldn’t even have time in between engagements and soirées.”
Silence fell for a few moments.
“Well try harder, darling. I want what’s best for you. I want you to have someone special in your life, someone to laugh with, cry with, and love more than anything in the world. And I want you to have a child, at least one, if not more, just for the sheer joy they will bring you and your wife.” She sighed. “Andthe pleasure they will bring me, gowns notwithstanding.”
“Really, Mama?”
She reached out and touched his hand. “Really, Garrett.”
He looked at her, and for once saw the woman who had been robbed of her life partner far too soon. “Are you lonely?”
She relaxed and smiled. “That is a hard question to answer. Not too often. I’ve learned to live alone, darling. To embrace the joys of the family I have left, and to cherish the memories of the family that has gone.” She straightened and met his gaze. “That does not, however, preclude me from desiring a daughter-in-law, and the consequent heir or heirs.”
“Oh.”
“I’d like to hear the laughter of children at Belcaster once more.”
“Better repair the banisters on the first floor then,” Garrett quipped, wanting to lighten her mood if he could.
It worked.
“Oh my goodness yes,” she burst out laughing. “You scared the devil out of Williamson when you shot down the staircase on that dratted thing…”
“He turned white as a sheet, didn’t he?”
“But he caught you. In spite of my scream distracting him a little.”
They both enjoyed the memory for a few moments, Henrietta’s shook her head, and Garrett chuckled as he recalled the utter ecstasy of flying from the second floor to the first on the highly polished wood. How fast it had seemed then, and how foolishly dangerous it seemed now.
He wondered if it would still hold him, but one look at his mother dissuaded him from finding out. Besides, Williamson wouldn’t be able to catch him this time around.
“How about we compromise, Mama? I shall certainly think about the business of marriage, if you promise not to nag me about it, or present a parade of eligible damsels for my consideration?”
Henrietta considered the proposal. “I will agree, under one condition, Garrett.”
“And that would be…?”
