A Sower Went Forth (The Craigallan Family Saga Book 1) by Tessa Barclay

Author:Tessa Barclay [Barclay, Tessa]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Tags: historical romance, family saga, Victorian family saga, historical novels, family saga series, historical fiction, victorian romance
Publisher: Wyndham Books (Family Saga)
Published: 2019-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

When Luisa returned to the hotel, Rob was waiting to argue with her again. Morag’s words and attitude had spurred him into renewed effort. In the short time before his wife came into the hotel room he’d had time to think of a plan. ‘Luisa, Cornelius must stay in Boston ‒’

‘But I’ve told you ‒’

‘Whether you agree to stay or not,’ he went on, over-riding her protest. ‘He must stay here under the guardianship of some reliable person ‒’

‘Some person? But who?’

‘We can ask Professor Bell. I believe he could help. If not, we must find someone.’

Luisa was recovering from the shock of his words. Her brain was flashing into activity. She could almost see the name Morag forming on her husband’s lips. Rather than let him speak it, she leapt into action.

‘We could ask Aunt Remegen,’ she suggested.

‘Aunt Remegen?’

‘You remember her. She always comes to everything ‒ she was at our wedding, and Ellen Rose’s christening, and Papa’s funeral. Not Cornelius’s christening ‒ she had colic. But usually she never misses. Aunt Remegen ‒ in the lavender mantle edged with black braid, and the close bonnet. She gave Ellen Rose a silver rattle, remember?’

‘Oh, that one …’ There were always crowds of distant relations at all the gatherings. They came to get a good meal, to cadge a little money, to remind their more affluent cousins and nephews that they still existed.

Aunt Remegen came to his memory as a small, plump figure in ‒ as Luisa had said ‒ several shades of lavender and a worn little bonnet. Her face sagged in kindly creases. He remembered that she had cradled the little Ellen Rose in her arms with soft, vapid affection but had given her up again quickly when offered a glass of negus.

‘She’s very old,’ he said.

‘Not so very. Older than Mama, of course, but she gets about. She always turns up at everything.’

‘So I recall. But she couldn’t look after a little boy, Luisa.’

‘I’m not suggesting she should. You’d have to rent a little house here for her, and provide her with a servant to see to the house and take care of Cornelius. But Aunt Remegen would be the head of the household. She’d jump at the chance, I promise you! Ever since Uncle Remegen died she’s been living in Utica and she hates it.’

‘I don’t know whether I ‒’

‘It’s no use asking Mama,’ Luisa swept on. ‘She wouldn’t entertain the idea. She’s happy with Julius in New York. It’s got to be someone who’s in need of a home, of a little income to make it worth the removal.’

‘She’s a kindly old soul, I seem to recall …’

‘Very kind. That silver rattle for Ellen Rose ‒ she must have had to scrimp and scrape to afford it. She’s not grasping, Rob. She’d be content with a little place and enough to get by on. And then, you see, she’d enjoy bringing Cornelius home for holidays with us, at Christmas and so on. It would give her a new interest in life.

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