“Do you think they will have a problem taking in a child that is not theirs?”
“No, not at all. They already have three orphans. They seem to have a soft spot for strays as well. Housekeeper and shepherds are some. No, they’ll be just fine with another addition, not that they will have much to do with her, as I am not so sure Geordie will be returning home, at least not for good.”
“You think he is serious about that Ampleford girl?” asked his mother.
“Yup. I think he is very serious about her, though doubt he has had the sense to face it yet. I wasn’t there long enough to get a good sense of their relationship, yet they looked right, if you know what I mean.”
“I do. Like your sister and her man.”
“Exactly, which is why I didn’t just knock him out when he sat too close to her.” He grinned at Mr. Hobbs when the man laughed.
“So you think he will be willing to take on the care of the girl, and that this woman he is with would be willing as well?”
“I can’t speak for them, but my gut says they would be willing. We can get an answer tomorrow. If we get as early a start as possible in the morning, we should reach him in the early to middle afternoon.”
“I will show you to the room you can use, Mr. Hobbs,” James’s mother said as she stood up and moved to his side.
“Are you sure this will be no trouble?”
“No trouble at all. We have a couple of rooms we always rent out in the summer.”
James watched his mother lead the man away, then got up to go and see how Morgan was doing. He cautiously entered the playroom, not wanting to startle the child. He frowned when he did not see her immediately, as he had expected. Finally, he saw her seated on the floor by the bookshelves that held the books for new readers. She held one open on her lap, but was not reading and did not seem to notice that she was no longer alone. Morgan was quietly grieving. Hurting for the child, James went over and sat down next to her. He put his arm around her small shoulders, tugged her close, and kissed her on the top of her head.
“It is hard, Morgan. Best not to hold it in.”
“I’m not. They beat Mama, you know. They beat her bad. And they killed my nana. That was very wrong of them to do such mean things just for a chest with some coins in it. Mama would have given it to them, I bet, but they didn’t even really ask. Just killed Nana and demanded Mama give it to them even as they beat her. I could have helped, you know, except Nana fell on top of the door to the hidey hole she had put me in.”
“Don’t think like that, honey. There was nothing you could have done. You are only a little girl.”
“My nana died on top of the door of the place she put me in.”
“And it kept them away from you, didn’t it?” She nodded and he hugged her. “That’s how you want to remember her, saving you. She would like that.” He looked at the books she had pulled out. “What were you reading?”
She wiped the tears from her cheeks and carefully showed him the books. James did his best to keep her talking and smiling a little as she told him about each book. He hid his sorrow from her, not wanting to stir up her own.
His mother soon came in and took over the job of keeping the child company and James went back to the table. Mr, Hobbs had returned and was sipping a cup of coffee as he looked through some papers. James got himself some coffee and joined the man.
“These are the papers concerning her inheritance,” Mr. Hobbs said.
“Why so many for what you said is a small inheritance?”
“There are requests about what might be done with things and what choices there might be for the child if Mr. MacEnroy cannot take her.”
“I really do not think you will have any trouble with that. Hope the instructions about what she gets are not too complicated though. I don’t know for certain, but Geordie may want to return to his home and family in the Ozarks.”
“That would make things much trickier. Unless, does he have a lawyer out there?”
“I believe his family has one. Some fellow from Harvard.”
“Then something could be arranged. I have done such things before, communicated with a distant lawyer over an estate.”
“Calling it an estate makes it sound like a big inheritance,” James muttered.
“It really isn’t. There is enough money in the accounts to help in supporting Morgan, but not much more than that. A few stocks and bonds from the grandmother. As I said, the biggest part of it is the house in Boston. She is too young to make a decision about that.”
“Well, Geordie can decide for her if that is allowed.”
“Oh, it is. He was listed as one of several approved guardians. If he accepts he will have full control over the estate, and complete say in what is to be done with it. Morgan’s mother lived long enough to write that down and sign it plus get it cosigned. She also made sure to tell the child and try to make her understand what it all meant. I am just not sure how much of it Morgan understood since she was very upset and frightened at the time.”
