Jamie grinned at his wife.He caught sight of servants rolling out tea carts with some relief. He trotted over to Nora and led her to the terrace.
Georgie Mallet, Andrew’s wife, had declared the parents all fools for running around so much at what she mockingly called their “advanced age.” Jamie noticed that hadn’t stopped her from deftly grabbing a stray ball out of the air and lobbing it back to the bowler.
She may have had a point, though. The adult contingent all gladly retreated to chairs while the youngsters on the two teams erupted into an impromptu game of tag.
“It has been too many years since I held a cricket bat,” Jamie moaned, sliding one arm down the sleeve of his coat.“You remembered old skills quickly enough,” Will said, elbowing the other.
“Easy, Will. Every muscle is going to ache tonight,” Jamie replied grinning at this boyhood friend while taking a seat on the terrace.
“We can’t have that! You have papers to sign tonight,” Will retorted.
Jamie saluted him with a glass of lemonade, his gaze serious. “That I do. Later.” It took more time than Jamie had predicted, to pay off his debts to his friends, but it was done. They had come here to celebrate.
A raucous band of boys rushing to the table on which tea had been served put period to further discussion. Artie and Aeneas Mallet, at fifteen the oldest aside from Isabella, tried to line them up in some sort of organized manner, but it proved impossible. Good hearted jostling and laughter disrupted. There was no meanness in any of the boys, much less in Rose Hayden, who at nine considered herself one of the boys to the her father’s affectionate amusement.
Isabella, however, rose with a dramatic sigh. “Ruffians, the lot of them. I shall take my tea in the drawing room,” she pronounced. Her two acolytes followed her lead, noses raised dramatically
Nora sat back down next to Jamie bringing a tray of savories. “Don’t scowl at her. She’s just trying out her wings as a young woman.”
Any response Jamie might have formulated was interrupted by their eldest son.
“Did you seem me run, Papa? They couldn’t put me out!” Robby enthused over the tea sandwiches he had stuffed in his mouth. “Tobias and Henry and I are going to race to see who is fastest.”
“I am fast. I can race.” Robby, Nora and Jamie glanced around trying to find the unexpected voice.
“That’s Katy Mallet,” Tobias said. “She never talks.”
Robby stared at the girl, tiny with white blond hair like her mother, Georgie. They’d been told she was Robby’s age, eleven, but she didn’t look it. She sat at her father’s feet, eyes focused on the pebbles she stacked up over and over humming to herself. AndrewMallet, startled at the sound of his daughter’s words, glanced up from the book he had been reading in the shade of the terrace.
Georgiana mouthed “she spoke” to her husband, who nodded and smiled down at their daughter.
“Does she run?” Robbie asked
“Sometimes, but not with us,” Tobias said.
“She’s an odd one,” Henry, Richard’s second son, inserted.
“Don’t be a pain Henry. Katy is just Katy,” Tobias said with a shrug. “Let’s go down to the bridle path to race.”
“Can I Papa?” Robby asked.
“May I and yes. But first, where is Bear?” Nora responded, inquiring about their youngest.
“Sitting with Geordie Hayden talking about knights and dragons.” Robby made a face.
“Why do you call him Bear?” Henry asked as they trotted away. “I thought his name was Barnabas.”
Jamie watched them walk away, Rose following in their wake, with a smile. “It does my heart good to see Robby joining in the company of friends,” Jamie said. “He has really taken to Tobias, Will’s boy.”
“They’re of an age,” Nora murmured. She gazed at him directly. “Richard’s Henry, as well. I know what you’re thinking, and, after today, I may not fight you on it.”
The issue of schooling had come up more than once, but this wasn’t the place.
“What is the current score?” Andrew Mallet glanced at his friends. His old injuries flared periodically, making cricket beyond him.
Jamie, Will, and the older boys all gave different answers and began to squabble about score keeping, disputed calls, and other nonsense.
Andrew chuckled. “I see I’m going to have to serve as judge next time.”
