His father had changed so much once they moved to England. Allof them had, but one thing that his mother had said that still bothered him about his mother wanting to return to England.I wrote and asked if I should or even could.He never responded to any of my letters.
Why hadn’t Father written her back?
In that instant, he remembered. When the post arrived, his father tossed any letter from her into the waste receptacle. He did not even bother to read them. Sterling knew this for certain because he had looked, but because they had been written to his father, he did not read them either.
How could he have forgotten? No wonder she hadn’t come home. She was waiting for permission or to be asked but his father never read her damn letters to know that she wanted to come home.
When you have erred, the mistake is yours and you must make the proper correction on your own, without consultation, so that you learn and so that it is not repeated in the future.
He could still hear the voice in his father’s head when Sterling had failed to plan properly.
His father had waited for her to make that proper correction, without consulting him. No doubt, she was to have taken the next ship available next ship. As she had not, again she had failed.
Sterling wasn’t even certain that his mother had been aware that was one of his father’s rules because he had instructed his sons to make them better and responsible men.
Bloody hell!
His father was more at fault than his mother. Far more at fault. He hated that he may have been wrong about his mother for nearly eleven years. Then again, she still hadn’t come home. Despite her reasons, some of the blame still lay with her.
*
Caroline startled awaketo a room bright with sunshine.
How could she have slept so late? Yes, she had not gotten to sleepuntil sometime around three in the morning, partly because she had worked so late and partly because she had been thinking about Wyndham’s chest, abdomen, and imagined what had been shielded by his trousers as a longing and ache that she had not experienced in years made it difficult for her to fall asleep quickly. Still, she always woke with the sun. Always! But by the amount of light flooding her room from a side window, she was certain that the sun had risen hours ago.
“Are you sick?”
She turned her head to find Livia standing by her bed. “No, darling. Why do you ask?”
“Because you are still in bed.”
Her daughter was already dressed, her hair brushed and there was a bit of jam in the corner of her mouth.
“Where is Beatrix?” Caroline asked as she pulled herself from the bed.
“She is still drinking her tea and told me not to disturb you.”
Caroline chuckled. “Then why did you?”
“Because I was afraid you were sick.”
“I was up very late, that is all,” Caroline assured her daughter. “Are Grandpapa and William still at the breakfast table.”
“No. They have already gone to the fields.”
She truly had slept late if they were already gone and now her entire day would be off schedule. “Return to Beatrix and I will be along shortly.”
Livia skipped out of the room and closed the door behind her.
That morning, Caroline did not take time at her toilet but rushed it. She brushed and pulled her hair back and knotted it at the back of her head then chose a simple, light gown to wear. One that was also durable and already stained because her work today would likely leave her dirty. She just hoped that she did not encounter Wyndham. Not that it should matter. She was the daughter of a servant and her appearance should not even be noticed.
She then hurried to the small dining room where her family shared their meals, and her heart sank. The documents that she had brought back early that morning and set on the table so that her father and brother could review them did not even appear disturbed. She had told them how important it was that they were familiar with the information within those documents before their meeting with Wyndham, which was to take place later that morning.
When she glanced at the clock her panic increased, likely because she was already suffering from some anxiety from having slept late.
“I will return shortly and will break my fast then. If someone returns for the hamper of food, please set aside some bread and butter for me,” Caroline instructed Beatrix before she marched from the house and once again had a horse saddled and rode out to the fields lined with grapevines.
“Why are you out here?” she demanded of William once she found him.
