“Discovered what?”
“You, my dear brother, are in love with your wife. Hopelessly, irrevocably, and desperately in love with your wife.”
“What of it?”
“Nothing at all. It just took you longer than I expected to recognize it. What finally gave it away?”
“She left me,” I muttered.
“What?”
“Well, she went to care for her sister during her confinement. But that was after a rather thorough dressing down.”
“Good for her, I had not thought she was capable of it.”
The outside of the dower house was in better condition than I expected from the bridge and pathways. Several windows would need repair, but, from the ground at least, the roof looked to be in passable shape. I tried not to let it give rise to too much hope. There were multiple levels to the house, and I could not see all of them from my vantage.
“Yes, well. I am hopeful that having my mother removed to another building will lessen some of the strain on my marriage,” I said, making for the entry. The door was stiff and swollen with disuse, but it eventually gave way under the pressure of my shoulder.
The inside was… less promising. Underneath the sheets of cobwebs and dust, I imagine the house was once rather fine. My great grandmother clearly cared deeply for it if the wall paperings and sconces were any indication. The furnishings had all been draped with fabric coverings. There was no telling the state of them underneath. The floor was warped and possibly molding in some places. And that was only the entryway.
I sent a silent prayer in hopes that might be the worst of it. We stepped farther inside and heard something skitter away.Mouse not rat, mouse not rat please.
“Your marriage is saved!” Tom cheered in a cynical tone. “She can move in today. The rat can act as a butler.”
“You are unbelievably helpful, has anyone ever told you that? And it is a mouse, not a rat.”
“I tell myself that every day. And that was definitely a rat, a large one by the sound of it. You know Mother will not be pleased to move out here. If you manage to repair it enough.”
“Mother is rarely pleased about anything,” I said, creeping into the drawing room with a wary eye out for the mouse.
“Still, she will not make it easy. And it will likely be costly, aside from repairs, she will want to redecorate to her taste.”
“Yes, and the entirety of her taste is ‘expensive.’”
“The estate cannot afford this, Hugh.”
“My marriage cannot afford for her to remain where she is,” I explained. There was a pitter patter of tiny rodent feet somewhere just out of sight.
“I know you said that you did not want to ask Michael for money, but—”
“No, he has done enough.”
“I know, but, honestly, it will be years before you can move Mother into this place without his assistance. And you know he would give his entire fortune to never have to sit across from her at dinner again. If not the estate, consider just asking about this place.” Tom wandered down the hall ahead of me, unphased by the potential residents we would disturb.
“Then he will ask why the estate could not support the upgrades.”
“I would eat my left boot, mud and all, if he did not at least suspect the estate was in trouble, Hugh. He was here for weeks. And tenants talk to him, servants talk to him. I know he would help if we just asked.”
“I know he would too, but it is not his responsibility. It should never have been his responsibility to begin with.” The kitchen appeared to still be a kitchen? Clearly, I was unqualified to determine whether it was functional. The skittering rat-mouse was still nowhere to be found, but I could feel its beady eyes watching me from somewhere. He was the first to go, and any friends or family he may have stashed about.
“But perhaps he wants it to be? Family helps one another, or at least they should. Mother always ensured he never felt like part of the family, and that we never treated him as though he was. But, Hugh, he is. He did more for us than anyone could have expected. And he did it all without a word. Because we were his family even if we did not treat him as such.”
“Tom…”
“No, Hugh. Listen, he moved here for a reason. He has more than enough money to settle anywhere, but he chose the estate next to ours. He did that for a reason.”
“If I agree to consider it, will you stop talking about it?”
