Page 36 of Avoiding the Merry Viscount
“Here I am,” he said, pouring himself another glass.
She eyed him curiously. “Papa needs us all right away.”
“I’m in no mood.” He would far rather continue to wallow in his misery and then think of some way to convince Lydia that they would have a wonderful life together, and he’d be the best husband she could ever ask for. Surely there was nothing his father could want that was more important than that.
“Well, that does not signify,” Diana replied, appearing that her patience was fading. “Papa said it was urgent, and for me to fetch you now.”
Hell and Damnation.Elias groaned in defeat. “Very well. We shall see what he is about.”
He begrudgingly followed his sister to their father’s study and saw that Jenny and Grace sat on the settee and his father sat across from them in a wing-backed chair. Diana closed the door behind them and then strode over to their sisters and sat on the settee with them, leaving Elias to take the empty chair near his father.
They all stared at their father, waiting for him to speak. Elias might have nudged his father along, but he was so lost in thought over Lydia, that he didn’t much care at that moment.
Elias noticed that there was a bundle of packages on the table beside his father, then glanced at him and saw that his eyes were red as if he’d been crying.
“Father,” Elias said softly.
The elder Lord Snowdon opened his mouth to speak and then closed it again.
“What is it, Father?” Elias asked, then glanced at Diana, who shrugged and then refocused her concerned gaze on their father.
“I…I had asked the servants to bring down some things of your mother’s. I thought with Diana out in society now that she might like to have some of her mother’s things if she should wed.”
They sat in silence, waiting for what he would say next, allowing him a few moments to draw several breaths.
“And they found these among her things. When I had them packed up, I didn’t go through anything, as I was far too devastated. But she had these gifts for each of us for Christmas that year. Before she…” His voice faltered at the last word, and Elias reached over and squeezed his father’s arm.
Their father drew another long breath and glanced at each of hischildren, looking at Elias last. “I thought we should open them together in private, and I didn’t wish to make you all wait until tomorrow.”
The elder Lord Snowdon picked up each package and handed it to its owner until they each held a parcel in their hands. Elias’s chest heaved, already knowing that there would be a note and uncertain if he could handle reading the words of his mother just before she passed, but knowing that he had longed for the very thing from her for the last twelve years.
“Grace, you go first, sweetheart,” their father said.
She gently tore at the packaging and then opened the box, pulling out a white blanket with hand stitched pink floral edging. Grace ran her fingers over the embroidery, knowing as the rest of them did that their mother had stitched it for her. She pulled out the note and read it to herself, crying harder at each word before she clutched the letter and blanket to her chest.
Jenny already had tears streaming down her cheeks when she opened hers. She pulled out a similar blanket, but with a different stitching, and done in blue. Elias recalled that from an early age, Jenny’s favorite color had always been blue. After Jenny read her note, she buried her face in her hands, and Diana rubbed her back while fighting back her own sobs.
By the time Diana began opening hers, they were all overcome with emotion. Diana showed them a set of handkerchiefs that had been stitched with an elaborate floral design. And by the time Diana had finished reading her note, she had given up every effort to control her sobs and the three sisters were clutching each other on the settee.
Their father looked to Elias with ruddy cheeks and nodded, urging him to open his. Elias drew a deep breath and opened the package. It was also a set of handkerchiefs, but stitched with his initials and their family crest. He held them up to his face, tears forming in the corners of his eyes from the recognition of his mother’s scent. The mix oflavender and vanilla that he hadn’t smelled since that day before he left with his friends to the hunting cabin.
Taking a fortifying breath, he pulled the letter from his parcel and read it to himself.
Elias,
You are one of the five greatest loves of my life. I am beyond proud of the young man you are becoming and know that you are going to grow into one of the most respected lords of the peerage. As you continue to go off and learn the things that it takes to be a man in our society and fulfill your duties to the title, I hope you always remain my sweet, earnest boy with a heart full of love and laughter. Don’t miss out on the other joys that make life worth living, as those are far greater than titles and money. If you need any proof of that, just look at our family and the love your papa and I have for you and your sisters.
Happy Christmas, my sweet boy,
Mama
Elias couldn’t hold back the tears and emotion that he had choked down for far too many years, and allowed himself to weep. He always had to be the strong one. The one who eased everyone else’s pain, and he hadn’t realized how much he’d needed to hear from his mother. For her to call him her sweet boy. For her to tell him she’s proud of him.
But would she still be proud of him if she could see the man he had become? Would she tell him he was a fool for running away from love with the only woman he had cared for? Truth was, he loved Lydia. He just couldn’t bring himself to admit it. If his mother were alive, she’d have already told him fifty reasons why he was being a fool, and then she would push his hair back out of his face and call him her “sweet boy,” and he’d take her advice as he always had. She had never steered him wrong.
Gaining control over his emotions, he glanced at his father, who had opened his package and was reading his letter. A pair of handkerchiefs sat on the arm of the chair and the paper shook in his hands as he read. Suddenly, he let out a small chuckle, and it shocked them all.
Once his father finished reading, he folded the letter and placed it in his breast coat pocket and rose from his seat. “Come here, my girls,” he said. They all jumped up and ran to him, wrapping their arms around him where they could find a place.
