There was a knock at the door and George peeked in, saying, “We have finished our conversation, and your mother wants you to join the family.”
They went to the sitting room where the whole family was gathered. Mama patted the chair next to her for Jenny to sit beside her.
Papa said, “Son, what think you about this offer?”
Robert’s face lit up as he said, “Oh, sir, I want it like it were the whole world.”
“But it would mean travelin’ the country and being away from home. Would that suit?”
“Most ever so.”
He turned to his wife, “What say you, Mama? Can you let your young’un fly the nest?”
“But he could still live at home while he is learning.”
“We might need to get him a horse for traveling to and from Pemberton,” Papa said. “It be too far to walk morn and even.”
“Papa, I would walk on my hands to be able to do this.”
The family laughed.
“And Sally, would you be able to step up and shoulder your brother’s work in the shop?”
She nodded and said, “I should like that. Might I be in charge of the shop?”
“Not yet, but one day soon,” Mama said, patting her daughter’s head.
Robert turned to George and asked, “When can I start?”
“Then it is agreed?” George asked the family. They all nodded. “Then I shall tell Thomas, and we will get back to you with an answer to that as soon as possible.”
Chapter 30
Lady Prunella, her mother, and sister, Cordelia, were due that afternoon, and Thomas was hard at work overseeing the laying out of the race track. The work was coming along nicely, and they expected the course to be finished in just over six weeks to two months.
The markers of the track’s dimensions had been successfully staked, and Thomas rode his horse around the circumference to get a sense of what racing a horse there would feel like. He saw no impediments and decided to let the men carry on working, as he headed back to the house to prepare for his guests’ arrival.
George had planned to meet with Jenny’s brother later this afternoon after their work at the bakery was completed for the day, and Thomas hoped he would get a report about whether they had a jockey right after.
Thomas went to his rooms, cleaned up, and changed into clothes suitable for receiving honored guests. But by the time he had finished, they had not yet arrived, so he decided to visit his Grandmamma, who he saw was out in her garden pulling up plants that had been killed by a hard freeze.
“We have gardeners who can do that, Grandmamma. Why are you out here like a farmer?”
She laughed. “Because I enjoy it, my darling. Getting one’s hands dirty keeps one rooted in the land. We must never get so far above ourselves that we lose knowing where we came from.”
“I never came from a turnip patch, although Nanny often told me I did when I was being naughty,” Thomas teased her.
She stood and surveyed the work she had done. “I am getting there. Putting the garden to bed for the winter is both sad and joyous. Sad to see it end for the season and joyous knowing it will be reborn in the spring.”
“The Alderman’s should be arriving at any moment. Might you not want to prepare to meet them?”
“What? They might be offended if they shake hands with a scruffy old parsnip like me?” She chuckled, picked up her basket of garden tools, and went with Thomas back to the house.
Just after Grandmamma began climbing the stairs to return to her chambers, Thomas heard a coach pulling up in front of the house.
“It must be them. Come down when you are ready to meet them. We shall be in the drawing room.”
Grandmamma waved her hand in acknowledgement and disappeared.
