“I began to apprentice for a vintner. I know wine. Or I know wine from the Cape Colony. Father had been teaching me about planting, harvest, how to care for the vines before I left for university so I assumed I would do well in that trade.”
“Did you?” Though, he presumed that he did not since William had returned to Wyndview Farm.
“I would have, except I did not like being a merchant of wine and discovered what I really wanted was to make wine like my father so I came home.”
Sterling leaned back in his chair and studied William. “Have you learned anything more since you returned, such as the duties of the estate manager or were you only interested in grapes?”
William’s face colored with embarrassment and he grew uncomfortable.
“To be honest, Lord Wyndham, I had hoped to learn all that I could so that when my father retired that I might be able to take his place as your estate manager.”
William was still young for such a duty, but since he was already learning, and Sterling did not anticipate that Hallaway would retire all that soon, he saw no reason not to consider him. “I will keep that in mind when the time comes.”
“Thank you, Lord Wyndham.”
With that out of the way, Sterling leaned forward. “Since you have been assisting your father, maybe you can answer some questions that I have.”
His eyes grew wide. “Yes, of course.”
An hour later, William walked from his office having answered all of Sterling’s questions. He could easily forgo the meeting with Hallaway, but he did want to have one appointment with Hallaway and that was to instruct him to train William and when the time came, he would evaluate the son as a possible replacement.
The more he thought about it, the more irritated Sterling became. Hallaway was his estate manager, therefore he should have been present for their scheduled meeting. Yes, William had offered a reason for his father’s absence, but Sterling knew when a man was making up an excuse, therefore, Sterling decided to search for Hallway himself, but not on foot. The estate was too large and it would take too much time, so he made his way to the stables.
*
Caroline needed tocheck that oranges were being harvested along with the lemons, as well as what remained of the peaches this late in the year. The pomegranates were ready to be sold, now that they had taken what they needed from the estate, but arrangements had to be made to take the excess fruit to be sold to the ships that stopped to replenish their supplies. They had good luck the past two years and even though there wasn’t much increase in the coffers, it was better than letting it rot because there was too much to be eaten by those who lived on the estate.
Though she supposed that the fruit should be crated and then taken to the Trade Wynd ship that would take Sterling back to England.
Yes, that was where the fruit would go and she would give instructions to one of the groundskeepers.
She would then need to meet with another to make certain that the fields would soon be plowed so that the wheat and oats could be planted and then the barley.
All of this included taking a tour with the groundskeeper who oversaw these areas and who had once reported to her father.
She also needed to meet with the maids who took care of the kitchen gardens, the vegetable gardens and the herb gardens. The days had been hot and without much rain and she needed to make certaineverything was receiving enough water.
The stables were another matter, as well as checking on the chickens, ducks…there was much but Caroline could not make herself leave the house.
Her nerves were on edge because her father and William were meeting with Sterling.
All she could pray was that Sterling accepted her father’s eccentricities of being focused on grapes and that William’s answers to the questions were enough to satisfy Sterling and leave no concerns.
However, if he insisted on his father answering since he was the estate manager, they could all be in trouble and that was what worried her.
Even as early as this morning she begged him to review the reports but he waved away her concern with, “You worry too much, Caro.”
Maybe she did, but she had to worry for both of them since he wasn’t concerned.
She was going to be ill.
In retrospect, she should have just sat down with Sterling and explained and made an argument for her brother to take over her father’s position, beg forgiveness for her deception, and hope that he understood, but it was too late for that now.
Unable to remain in her house, but not willing to stray too far until after the meeting was complete, Caroline made her way to the kitchen where she met with Cook for more meal planning. However, it wasn’t completed because they did not know when Sterling would leave. They would not need as much food, nor as many courses once Sterling was gone so it was difficult to plan.
Caroline next met with the maids to make certain the dusting, sweeping, polishing, and laundry that had been neglected during the grape harvest would soon be completed so that everything was back to a normal schedule.
When she stepped out onto the terrace, she walked toward thegardens that she had intended to weed right after Sterling had arrived but Lady Wyndham had kept her from doing so. But, as she neared it, noting that the weeds were now twice as bad, she remembered the cobra that had stared at her daughter from within. She stopped walking and slowly backed up, then returned home and wrote a note so that she remembered to warn the groundskeeper before he assigned someone to remove the weeds.
