“I need advice.”
“From me particularly?” He raised his eyebrows.
“Any sort of advice,” she went on. “But yes. From you.”
“Should I consider myself flattered?” He teased. He seemed to be in a good mood tonight.
“You can be, if you like. I suppose there is no one else in this house I can trust or speak to regarding this,” she admitted.
“Then I am right to feel flattered,” he chuckled and then took a seat in front of her. “What are you overthinking now?”
“It’s not so much overthinking as…” she sighed. “I need to know what to do with Augusta. She is being… well, she eavesdropped on our conversation earlier and demanded to know why I wanted to send her away. She seemed rather hurt about it.”
“I can understand that,” he said. “She hates being told what to do, and I suppose she looks at you as being a motherly figure. So she has more expectations from you.”
Charity took a while to answer.
“I don’t know. I can barely manage myself,” she sighed. “Let alone be a mother figure to her. I constantly worry that I am letting her down in some way.”
“You are doing the best job that you can,” he said. “Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
“It’s easier said than done,” Charity admitted. “Besides, I just…I need you to teach me how to handle her when she gets difficult. I don’t have all the answers for her, and she can get very argumentative.”
“Yes. You both have that in common.”
Charity shot him a look, to which he only smirked.
“Come on now. Don’t take it so seriously,” he said.
“Tell me how to convey my message to her without her getting mad or upset at me?” She sighed. “I feel like I am at my wits' end here, and our relationship has never before been this strained.”
“Your relationship is evolving,” he said to her. “It’s normal to have some growing pains. Besides, you must also not be so hard on Augusta. I can understand that she is being difficult, but these are also extraordinary circumstances. Not only does she have a deranged uncle, but she is also going through the grief of losing both her parents, not even a year ago. That sort of thing can take a toll on a person.”
Charity paused to ponder what he had said.
She had never really looked at the situation from a grief perspective before.
In fact, she had not given herself the same grace either, let alone her sisters.
“I suppose so. She was closer to our parents than I was.”
“Still. Grief is grief,” he said as though it were a fact. “I’m sure you’re grieving in your own way.”
Charity bit down on her lip.
“Yes, I suppose I’m grieving a love that I never experienced,” she noted.
Duncan looked at her in surprise.
“Sorry. I suppose that was too macabre.”
“No, no. Macabre is alright with me,” he said. “It would be alarming if you were overly positive about everything.”
“I suppose I would know how to handle her better if I had grown up with her,” Charity sighed. “Perhaps then she would learn to understand my decisions instead of challenging me on them.”
“There is still time to do that,” he said. “And there is no rush. You both can grow in that direction.”
Once again, Duncan’s advice surprised her. He was more hopeful than she had imagined him to be.
