RONDA WICKS ELLER

excerpted from

Chapter 27. An Ounce of Prevention

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          ... Adam arrived while Margaret was thus preoccupied and was sitting with Hannah on her return. As such, she was
greeted with, “Alas Annie, do my eyes deceive me or did the Milton smog just clear? No wait, the anomaly is now revealed to be my sunshine. My dear girl has finally graced us with her presence!”
          “Aha, Mr. Bell, how you love to round your sentences!” she replied, as he crossed the room to offer a warm hug and peck on the cheek.
         “You are to call me Adam now, remember? I see you managed to pry your beloved Dixon from Aunt Shaw’s clutches and so I must declare that while I may round my sentences you, my sweet, are doing swell at rounding out your life!” He cast her a cheeky grin and Margaret chuckled, having caught the innuendo regarding Dixon’s girth in his turn of words too. Hannah listened with amusement over how well they volleyed wits.
          “What brings you to Milton Adam, if you don’t mind me asking?” she queried, hoping for an answer to their morning conjectures right off the hop.
          “You could ask me why people have wisdom teeth and I wouldn't mind, although I never could propose a reason for those I feel compelled to admit. Folks certainly don’t exercise better judgment by having them, do they. Aah, but to your question - I have 

business to do with Mattie and my banker.”
          Margaret smiled appreciatively and following another brief exchange she excused herself to sit for writing a letter to Frederick that was well overdue, still attempting to remove Adam’s muse about wisdom teeth from mind. When she finished, she invited him to walk with her and post it. Hannah assured them she was content to read in their absence and Dixon could tend to any needs she encountered, but Mathew arrived while they were out anyway.

          “Adam, did you grow up in Milton or did your family just own properties here?”
          “I was born here but it wasn't the same town it is now.”
          “Where did you live?”
          “You’re walking on part of the Estate right now my dear, and thank you for calling me Adam this time.” He grinned. “All of this was family orchard, green grass and wildflowers. The sky was the bluest of blues and the sweetest scent of fresh blossoms wafted on the spring breeze. I’ll tell you something men aren't inclined to reminisce over but you womenfolk are: I was christened in the church you chose for your wedding; precisely why I knew where it was.”
          “It must cause chagrin to have such grand memories of nature in all its glory when you visit and see what it’s come to.” She opted not to pursue conversation about his christening since his mannerism suggested that was the limit of it anyway.
          “Everything exists in transition and one must bear the alterations or life will leave them behind readily enough. Our trip to Helstone caused greater chagrin for me than this place does. I suspect you thought it was yours alone but I have very fond memories of weekend visits made when you and Fred were small. I wasn't a Fellow then, merely a tutor, bearing less weight of responsibility so Richard and I lay waste to many a day tramping the same fields you found so idyllic. I silently wished I hadn't spent so many of the later years away and for my negligence I now stare at the face of a bookish, sometimes tawdry old man in the mirror." After a brief pause for thought he continued. "Margaret, I don’t consider myself as having grown up in Milton. I was at boarding school from the age of five or six and holidayed at one summer house or another; my father moved to the South from here when I was twelve.” He sighed. “Alas, when the great memory tosser in my mind pops out of his jack-in-the-box intending trouble I wrestle him down mightily and shut that lid tight again, with greater mind to avoid the box’s fidgety clasp during future contemplations. We must live presently.”
          “Yes, I expressed a similar conviction to John during a conversation last night, a realization I also came to after we went to Helstone.”
          “You were having a hard go and I saw clearly that you needed to see how things differed from those stubborn memories of yours. No, it was no easy trip for either of us I daresay. Dreams can be strange creatures and the one I had about being there demanded my attention. I’d have gone alone but was ever so glad to take my favourite young lady with me!” He flashed her a cavalier grin. “Margaret dear, it was hard sending you to London for your grieving period but seeing you in such distress with no womenfolk to comfort you save Miss Dixon left me no recourse. It was best for you to have the pristine calmness of Aunt Shaw’s environment to sort yourself out in.” 
          “I’d have much preferred your company or Dixon’s.” 
          “Aye, but I couldn't stay. It wouldn't have looked right, and I couldn't take you to Oxford where those Fellows and amorous students would get all schmaltzy over you; most particularly not in the state you were in. You needed time away from all the monuments to both parents that surrounded you at Crampton Terrace so leaving you with Dixon while she packed up the house was also inopportune. I don’t suppose you would have preferred staying with the Thorntons at that point in time, eh?” he asked mischievously.
           “Heaven’s no,” she replied with a snicker. “The tension there would have been palpable. If not for Mother’s barely managed civility she might have declared war on me.”
          “Ha ha. I noticed you call her that now and she told me earlier that she likes to hear it. If you are not taming that lioness yourself then she must be doing it for you, but it's a marvel nonetheless. Well then, on the other conversation I must finish by saying that I wished there was a better solution but, however oddly they express it, your aunt and cousin love you deeply and the best choice was made from what the circumstance allowed. I need to mind that jack-in-the-box again now.” He smiled sheepishly.
          “It’s a devilish thing for you is it?” she teased.
          “It’s a pagan and a monk, a philosopher and existentialist, lecturer and organ grinder all in one. Imagine that – a most behemoth monster!” he proclaimed in jest, and they laughed together as she squeezed his arm affectionately.