“Good morning.” He then looked around. “I had not realized that there were so many that worked outside the house.”
“Every servant in your household, with the exception of Cook, the butler, and those too old, are cutting grapes. You will likely not see a maid or a footman or a stable hand until the harvest is complete. We need everyone to get it done in a timely manner.”
“Then who sees to the rest of the estate?” he asked with a frown.
“There are a few who will tend the animals and the rest of the crops and vegetable and herb gardens, but only so much as to make certain all is well and then they join us. Periodically servants will go to the stables, see that the chickens are still in their coop, check on the livestock, and then return here. Not everything is completely abandoned, they just do not receive as much attention.”
“Do you have one of those that I could use?” he gestured to her vine knife.
Caroline arched an eyebrow. “You want to cut clusters of grapes.”
“It is my vineyard. Should I not also participate?”
“That is why owners have servants,” she reminded him. She had expected him only to supervise.
“Do you have another or do I need to ask someone else?”
She pulled her spare knife from her apron pocket and handed it to him.
He studied the curved blade then squatted beside Caroline. “Show me.”
“Very well, Lord Wyndham.” She then lifted a bunch of grapes, cut the stem, then gently dropped the bunch into the basket beside her. It was already half full. “It is that simple.”
“It appears so, but I am certain it is more difficult than it appears.”
She chuckled and returned to cutting the grapes, certain that by the time they reached the end of the row his back would ache and possibly the hand that gripped the knife would be cramping. In fact, she was certain of it because she had experienced it herself every year since her return and she had begun helping with the harvest.
“Thank you,” he said a moment later, after he cut another bunch and dropped it into the basket.
“For what?” she asked.
“For making me realize where my anger came from and that I was being an arse.” He chuckled. “I even apologized to my mother. You are good for me, Caroline.”
Her heart stilled for a moment, but his words did not mean that he thought of her other than as a friend and lover.
“Nobody calls me to task as you do. Nobody argues with me, except maybe my brothers. Everyone else accepts my decisions, and behavior, without argument.”
“Few people would quarrel with an earl,” she said. “I tend to forget that you are one.” He had become Sterling, a gentleman that she enjoyed being with.
“Maybe if the title was stripped away, I would find out what people actually thought of me.”
“Or simply, what they thought, much like your relations treated you while we were in Stellenbosch,” she said. “They would feel freer to offer an opinion.”
“No doubt I would be greatly humbled.” He chuckled.
“A little humbling is not a bad thing, Lord Wyndham.”
When he lifted a bunch to cut, she noticed that the grapes were not as ripe as the others. “Not that one.” Then explained why theywould be left for now.
“I should not have assumed that all grapes would be fully ripe at the same time.” He chuckled. “Afterall, not all apples fall from a tree on the same day.”
She appreciated that he listened and when uncertain, asked. He wanted to learn and he allowed her to teach.
She would not have imagined the arrogant earl who had first arrived would have listened to anyone, not with the way he had demanded to see her father.
He had changed.
But so had she. The worry and tension that often accompanied her had lessened. Maybe it was because she had taken time away and enjoyed his company. But she also knew that once the harvest was done, she would have to return her attention to the other needs at Wyndview Farm, and she would likely welcome the work as it would serve as a distraction from what she would lose when Sterling sailed away.
