A/N: mikiss, thank you for the review! I don't know if I agree with your assessment or not, mostly because I've no idea which definition of scrupulous you're referring to, lol.

The rating is about to go up to T for.. well, you'll see. Trust me, I am a relatively mild person and tried to keep it that way, but my muse ran away with me there for a minute. :P

I've broken my little one-drabble-a-year rule and will have two for Ezra's seventh year of life. The reason is because of something I can't tell you till I get to the Author's Note on the bottom, lol.

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"Millie! I didn't expect you for a good three days!" Mr. Candon said in excitement as he helped Maude- currently "Millie"- down from the carriage. Mr. Candon was Maude's fourth husband, or would be very soon. He would also make her a relatively rich woman… he didn't know that yet.

"I simply couldn't wait to return, Terrance, I've missed you so," she gushed, wearing her best imitation loving smile.

"As have I," returned Mr. Candon, although he most undoubtedly wasn't pretending.

"Terrance," Maude said, "I'd like you to meet my son," and she turned back to look at the carriage door, from which Ezra leaned, "Ezra."

Even though "Ezra" was part of her introduction, she said it as more a reprimand than a greeting; and Ezra immediately straightened like a ramrod, adopting the perfect posture which Maude had been working with him on ruthlessly. Maude smiled at him, then at Mr. Candon.

"Nice to meet you, son," said Mr. Candon, with what Maude knew to be false cheerfulness. He had gone tense as soon as the word son came into the conversation.

Ezra nodded politely. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, sir," he said in the most grown-up way he could master at seven years of age.

Maude turned back to her future husband- and future former husband, according to her plan. "He'll be staying with his Uncle Ethan in Maryland, where there is a most reputable boarding school."

Mr. Candon visibly relaxed, apparently happy to know it would just be he and Millie, and no children. "Of course, only the best for our son," he said cheerfully.

Maude nodded brightly, even though that faint-but-there motherly instinct flared up in protest at the words "our son"- no, my son, sir, the voice corrected. Not yours, never will be. You don't even pretend to like him, and you just met him not three minutes ago!

Maude turned to Ezra, and taking advantage of his height standing in the carriage door, she stepped up to him. "Now, Ezra darlin', you remember what we talked about?"

Ezra nodded. "Yes, Mother."

Maude stepped back to look up at the carriage driver. "You make sure he and his luggage get on that train alright, you hear?" she said sharply. Without waiting for a response, she stepped up to her son, ignoring the muted hurt that appeared in the green eyes- which always reminded her of Patrick- everytime she left. "Son, I want you to practice your lessons. You be careful, Ezra. Mind your Uncle Ethan, and answer my letters, and do good in school."

Ezra again nodded. "Yes, Mother." he said resignedly. He hesitated over something.

Maude could see clear as day he wanted to tell her something, and time was of the essence, so she said, "Well, Ezra, go on or don't but make up your mind. We're wasting time."

Ezra took a deep breath and blurted out, "Mother, must I go to Uncle Ethan? Daisy said he killed a servant for dropping a dish, and he's not really my uncle anyway, so why must I call him that?"

Daisy was a cousin of Ezra's, whom he encountered in the home of his Aunt and Uncle Bethany and James. It was through them that Maude had learned of a sort of family friend of theirs, Ethan Steinberg, who could use some help around the shipyard he owned, and would agree to take Ezra in exchange for some help on the weekends, when he was out of school.

"Now, Ezra, surely Daisy exaggerates," Maude said firmly, even though her heart did a little backflip. "You will call him your uncle because I said so."

"But, Mother, he could be a murd-"

"Ezra!" She exclaimed sharply. "You will not disgrace your family or disrespect your elders by saying such things without absolute certainty. Is that clear?"

He nodded mutely, but she knew by the stubbornness in his eyes that all she'd done was ensure he'd not repeat it in her presence.

"Now, Ezra darlin', give your mother a kiss," she said. He complied, just a little stiffly, probably because Mr. Candon was staring at their interaction with such distaste. Hadn't he ever been taught not to gawk? Maude wondered silently, as she wished Ezra a final goodbye and stepped back, the carriage rattling away.

She turned to her mark, the completely uninteresting Mr. Terrance Candon, and plastered on a smile, engaging in the cheerful sort of talk that a future groom and his bride-to-be would be expected to engage in, as they walked to the house, his slaves following behind with the luggage.

Of course, this talk was all an act. No doubt it would have been no matter what thoughts were running through her. This man was a cash dispenser, yes, but have feelings for the man? Certainly not. Feelings for his money, most definitely, but not for him.

She did, however, have feelings for Ezra, far too many for either of their own goods, and now they were acting up. All because of the hearsay of a little cousin called Daisy.

For pete's sake, the child's age didn't even amount to double-digits.

She had to be mistaken.

She had to be.

Didn't she?

Of course she did. Maude Standish was many things, most of which you didn't say in polite company, but she would never throw her own son to the wolves. And since she'd sent Ezra to his uncle, and she wouldn't have sent Ezra to the wolves… then his uncle had to be perfectly fine.

That was that.

And as far as the world was concerned, Ethan and Ezra were related. She had already made up her mind about that. From then on, the two would be uncle and nephew.

Killed a servant? For dropping a dish?

Nonsense. It was all nonsense.

There was a large difference between a servant and a nephew… honorary nephew.

Nonsense. It was the only acceptable answer.

And he'd only be there on the weekends.

She wondered how he'd killed the…. how he'd allegedly killed the…

No! He hadn't done anything. He was a nice, normal man, just like James said he was, and in a few months she'd get Ezra and take him to Chicago and run a con and everything would be back to normal.

She had nothing to worry about, she had a con to focus on, Ezra was safe, and Daisy told tall tales. It was the only acceptable answer.

So why couldn't she accept it?

A/N: The following scenario was inspired by an absolutely lovely character study of Maude, which can be found at a link that I will cleverly insert at the very bottom. Anyway, she said she didn't think Maude would ever have knowingly left her son with someone who would have brought harm to him, as many fanfic writers seem to believe she would. This, of course, made me think: What would happen if she did so unknowingly? How would she fix it?

So, I'll let Maude save the day. :)

Link to that study: valiha. dreamwidth 7603. html#cutid1 (take out all the spaces and paste it into your address bar).