“I suppose I could,” Hopkins said, settling to his knees and reaching over to snag a bit of jerky, while using his other hand to keep Mollie away from the food. “I do have to deliver a message, though. Lady Rendon wants to speak with you.” His eyes connected with Caspian’s and there was something in them that Caspian didn’t like.
What was wrong? His heart sank. He didn’t want to leave Liliana and Sophia, but his mother had called, and he needed to answer.
On the plus side, he could avoid sharing his food with a goat now.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can be,” he said to both girls, getting to his feet. “Hopkins, take care of the ladies for me.”
“Of course,” Hopkins said, turning to Liliana with a smile. “So why are we having a tea party with a baby goat?”
Caspian made his way into the manor and went up the stairs to his mother’s parlor. He let himself in and sat down across from her.
Why did it feel like she was about to court-martial him?
His mother looked up from her embroidery and pinned him with a stare. “I heard that you’ve been romancing the goat girl.”
Caspian sighed. Of course it was this. No small talk first, just getting right into it? “I have been,” he said. “I think I might be falling for her.”
“You know, my darling, there is nothing I want more than to see you happily married. But I do want you to consider what your life would be like if you give up on finding a lord’s daughter to marry. Can you provide for her? Will you have to find a position in some other lord’s manor? Would you consider staying here and being on the payroll as a guard? Would you be happy not running a manor like we’ve raised you to do? Would she be content with her husband being in a more dangerous profession?”
Caspian let his mother stop asking questions before nodding slowly. “I’ve been thinking about it. Obviously, I’m not going to rush into things. But yes, I do believe I could be a guard, and I do believe she would be worth it. I can’t imagine leaving her to go find another lady and I can’t picture myself with anyone but her.”
He stood and began pacing the room, unable to contain his nervous energy anymore. “You don’t know her, Mother, but I’ve gotten to know her pretty well since I came home, and she’s wonderful. She loves with her whole heart, and she’s so sweet and kind, and even though no one in the manor is overly friendly with her she has made amazing friends in the town and they all talk about how wonderful she is. And she’s so sweet with the goats. You know I don’t even like animals,” he admitted, and his mother laughed. “But I’ve been spending time with them because that’s how to spend time with her and I have to admit, they’re kind of growing on me.”
His mother’s eyes widened. “Really?”
He grinned. “Yeah. I do believe that,” he said slowly, “I could be convinced that goats are not all that bad.”
Lady Rendon laughed. “I suppose your sister would be very happy to hear that. She does think quite highly of her.”
“You asked Liliana about her?” Caspian asked, raising an eyebrow.
His mother colored slightly. “I might have,” she admitted. “I don’t think she realized why, but when I heard that you’d been spending a lot of time with Sophia, I wanted to know more about her.”
“I think you would like her,” he told her with a smile on his face. “She reminds me a lot of you, always looking out for something to do that would help somebody else. And you know, she makes really good butter,” he added with a grin. “It’s the most delicious thing I’ve ever had on bread.”
His mother smiled. “Darling, you know I wish we could set you up with an estate of your own.”
He shook his head. “I know this is how it works. And I’ll be honest—as much as I would love running an estate of my own someday, I can’t see anything but her now.”
Lady Rendon reached out her hand and he walked over and took it. “That makes me happy, Caspian. And you understand you would have to work in someone else’s household for the rest of your life, or start a trade, or do something else?”
“I don’t mind being a guard. I’m good at it,” Caspian said with a grin. “Even if I wish it was a cleaner job.”
His mother laughed. “You’re so funny. You and your brothers got so dirty as children. I don’t know how you turned out to be so concerned about cleanliness.”
Caspian settled back into his chair and shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe it was the time my oldest brother dumped me in a mud puddle, and we had to walk back home for hours. The mud caked onto my skin and dried and I never thought I would be rid of the feeling.”
His mother laughed again. “I suppose that might do it. It makes me happy to think that you’re growing up, even if my heart doesn’t want to think you’re not my little boy anymore.”
“I thought you said I’ll always be your little boy?” he asked, glancing down at the plate of food he’d been carefully avoiding looking at since he walked into the room.
Lady Rendon smiled. “That’s true. And as long as cookies are involved, I believe you’ll always be a little boy. Go ahead, dear, you can eat one.”
Caspian grinned. “You do know the way to my heart, Mother.”
He was reaching to pick up a cookie when he heard a loud gasp from the other side of the door.
The voice sounded familiar, and his heart sank.
