000
"You really should join them," Sophy insisted.
"I don't like fishing," Frederick told her.
"You've never gone fishing," Sophy reminded him, "so you can't know if you like it or not."
"Why do I have to go fishing?" Frederick asked. "Why don't you go, since you seem to like it so much?"
"First of all," Sophy reminded him, "they invited you and not me and secondly, Rick and I have to go into town, we have that appointment remember?"
He remembered, of course he did, Rick and Sophy were trying to adopt a child and they were meeting with several adoptive agencies to put down their name, but also to find out more about their workings - where they got the children from and all the other details. They had actually been on the verge of getting a newborn girl a few years ago, until the biological mother had changed her mind at the last minute. Every one of their friends was always advising them to adopt a child from Botswana or the Philippines, where it was easier apparently but Sophy had told them a number of times that were many children in England who needed parents as well. It was a sensitive subject for Sophy; the tests they had carried out had shown that it was actually her who had the problem, and Frederick was sorry that he hadn't remembered.
"What time did Charles say again?" he asked instead.
"Around nine-ish," Sophy told him, "he said he'd pick you up."
Frederick rubbed his eyes and closed his laptop. "I'll walk to their house," he told Sophy, "it's nearer the lake and the walk will give me the chance to see those gardens you were gushing about and clear my head."
"Good."
"I hope it goes well," he said as he kissed her goodbye.
"It's just a scouting meeting," Sophy told him, "of course it will go well. You, have fun."
000
"I can't believe that was FJ Wentworth," Mary said. "He seems so ordinary."
"You thought he'd be walking on air?" Charles teased his wife.
"Of course not," Mary replied, "I thought he'd at least look rich. He is rich, isn't he?"
"He's worth millions," Charles told her, "but what do you mean, 'he'd look rich'? He doesn't look half bad."
"He was wearing jeans and a T-shirt."
"So was I," Charles said, "in fact most of us were."
"That's my point," Mary said, "he's richer than all of us, he should dress the part."
Charles let that slide he wasn't going to get into another argument with Mary about the habits of rich people.
"What time are you picking him up?" Mary asked her.
"I told them nine," Charles said, "I'll walk over a few minutes after nine."
"What?" Mary was incredulous. "You have to leave early, lest he think you're a lousy timekeeper."
"What does it matter?" Charles asked her, "We're just going fishing down at the lake."
"It matters what people think," Mary told him, "you don't want to be dismissed as unimportant, do you?"
"He wouldn't dismiss me as unimportant," Charles argued, "he didn't strike me as someone who cares about stuff like that."
Mary was about to answer when the doorbell rang. "I'll get it, my dear, it's probably him."
"Mary, it's barely eight o'clock." Charles protested but Mary waved him off and hurried to the door.
"Oh, it's you," she told her sister.
"Good morning Mary," Anne told her, "we're supposed to be going into town today, remember?"
"Oh," Mary touched her forehead, "that was today, wasn't it?"
"Yes it is," Anne replied, "you said that we should leave early to get the best produce."
"I know what I said," Mary told her, "but we can't do it today."
"Why not?" Anne asked; she had changed her whole schedule to fit in Mary's trip.
"Charles invited Frederick to go fishing with him," Mary told her.
"What has that got to with us?" Anne asked her. Charles hadn't been part of the plan.
"I'm going with them," Mary said.
"Why?" Anne was puzzled. "You don't like fishing."
"No I don't," Mary agreed, "but I do want to spend time with my husband, outside the kitchen and our home, that is."
Anne would have rolled her eyes if she thought Mary would even care but she contented herself with staring at her sister.
"Okay, look," Mary said, "after you left the pool last night, we got to talking."
"About what?"
"Fine, fine, Charles thinks that Frederick is interested in Louisa, but I think he's interested in Henrietta." Anne straightened herself against the bookshelf, thanking God that Mary wasn't observant at all. Of course Frederick was interested in one of the Musgrove girls, she'd seen it herself at the pool the evening before, and still she couldn't stop the sunken feeling that was taking over her body. He had said himself that he was looking for wife, and Louisa and Henrietta certainly fit the bill – they were young, good-looking and liked his books.
"Mary, Henrietta is engaged to Chuck," Anne reminded her patiently.
"He's just a youth pastor," Mary said, "and engagements are not set in stone, the can be broken when a better man comes along."
"Really?"
"Okay, that's not what I meant," Mary said, "it's just that I think Frederick would be a much better match for Henrietta."
"And I suppose he has no choice in the matter?"
"Of course he has a choice," Mary replied, "and I think it's Henrietta."
"So our trip to town is off then?" Anne asked.
"We can do it tomorrow," Mary said. "Why don't you join us? It will be fun."
"I don't like fishing either," Anne told her.
"Yes, but it will give you a chance to walk through the woods," Mary said, "you're always saying you never get to do that and you could check out the trails, you know, make sure the Wilsons did their job properly."
Anne shook her head at her sister, Mary was so sneaky; Anne had been talking about going through the trails for a week, but she had never seemed to find the time to do it – something more urgent always came up - trust Mary to use that to her advantage.
"You have no excuse," Mary pressed her point. "You were going into town with me so I know that you have nothing else lined up." Mary's shopping trips always took hours, and it was safer to have no other plans on that day because chances were you would never get anything else done.
"Also, Louisa and Henrietta are coming as well," Mary said, smiling widely, "so we'll get a chance to see who Frederick really likes."
Anne followed her sister to the kitchen where Charles was laying out breakfast. "Good morning Anne," he greeted her; "I see my wife has talked you into joining us."
"You know how she is," Anne said.
"Yes I do," Charles replied. Mary drove him completely mad at times, but somehow he really did love her.
"I'm right here," Mary informed them.
000
"I told you he'd walk over," Mary told Charles triumphantly. They had seen Frederick walk towards their cottage from the kitchen.
"Come in," Charles opened the back door.
"Sorry to barge in like this," Frederick apologised, "you said you'd pick me up, but I fancied a walk so here I am, I hope I'm not too early."
"Nonsense," Charles laughed. "You're in time to join us for breakfast."
Frederick refused the bacon and eggs and asked for a cup of black tea instead.
"We're waiting for my sisters to drag their lazy bones in here and then we'll be off," Charles said.
"They like to fish as well?" Frederick asked. He had imagined that it would a quiet trip with only Charles.
"No, no," Charles said, "but they showed an interest in joining us and I'm all for any activity, especially outdoors, that will get them up before ten."
"I see."
Mary went upstairs to give the nanny some last minutes about little Charles, while Charles went to get Louisa and Henrietta leaving Anne and Frederick in the room alone. Anne busied herself with clearing the table and after that was done she sat back down willing Mary and Charles to return to the kitchen.
"Are you going fishing as well?" Frederick asked her.
"No, I'm going to check the trails in the woods," Anne replied.
"Okay."
"I didn't know that you liked fishing," she said. She couldn't let silence fill the room.
"I don't," he smiled wryly.
"You couldn't say no to Charles," she concluded.
"To Sophy actually," he corrected her. "She says that I need to get out more and meet people."
"I imagine being a writer can be lonely at times," she said.
"Not really," he said, "well, the actual writing maybe lonely but when I'm doing research I meet a lot of people."
"That's good."
Frederick willed himself to come up with things to say, but his mind was surprisingly blank.
"Good morning, Freddie," Louisa sailed into the kitchen. Frederick quickly stood up and took a step back.
"Good morning," he told her.
"Hi, Anne," Louisa said. She walked over to Frederick and looped her arm in his. "Let's go, they'll catch up with us."
000
Thanks Miriam1 for all your help.