Chapter 21
"Uncle Splat, put me down!" Laurie Beth shrieked happily as Remington flew her small body through the air beside him.
"Come get me, Laurie Beth!" Danny shouted as he slid the glass slider open and darted outside, Harry hot on his heels barking playfully.
Remington righted the small child with a hmph. "Go get him! Go get your brother."
Laura turned to Lady Amelia. "I'm so sorry for the intrusion of my sister and her children. I didn't know when we invited you for dinner she was going to stop by."
Lady Amelia reached up and patted Laura's arm. "I wouldn't have traded this evening for the world. It's very quiet in my flat… too quiet most of the time. The sounds of the children playing warms my heart."
Remington brushed a fallen lock of hair off his forehead and scanned the yard. Laurie Beth was chasing Danny who would change direction as soon as she got close. Harry was running circles around them. "I hope the neighbors are okay with the noise. You remember how he was when we first moved in." Remington thumbed at the house to the side of them.
Laura glanced over toward the fence on the side of the yard. "Mr. Johnson's gotten much better. He even greeted Harry yesterday on our walk."
Remington lowered himself onto a chair beside Lady Catherine at the table. "That's good to hear. You have a better rapport with the neighbors than I, anyway."
Laura chuckled, her dimples deep. "If you spent more time getting to know them, you'd have the same relationship."
Remington shook his head. "I'm sorry, Laura, but I have no desire to stand around, cackling like a bunch of hens over the newest lawnmower someone's purchased or the torque of a power tool."
Lady Amelia laughed loudly. "You sound more and more like your mother. She had that 'tell it like it is' attitude too."
Remington tugged on his ear and smiled. "So I've heard from my cousins. I had a nice long chat with Paddy the other day and he was telling me the story of my mother when she was challenged by one of the older boys to climb a tree."
Lady Amelia's eyes lit up. "I know this one. Eddie had to climb up and get her down because her dress got stuck on a branch. She was ready to take the frock off and climb down without it, she was so stubborn."
"Eddie climbed a tree? He always seemed so afraid of heights," Lady Catherine interjected.
"He was. Once he got her dress free, she climbed down, leaving him there. He couldn't figure out how to get down. He had been so focused on getting up to help her, he forgot his senses." Lady Amelia paused as a sad look flashed across her face. "But your mother… she stood at the base of that tree and used every bad word she knew, blaming all the boys around her. It wasn't until the local farmer came by with a ladder to help Eddie down that she stopped."
Remington pressed his lips together and reached over to take Lady Amelia's hand. "What happened next?"
"Keigan found out and beat her for her language, for getting Eddie into the predicament in the first place, and for being her. He never understood she was just a spirited child." Lady Amelia lifted her chin slightly. "That was the last summer we went to Ashford until Eddie was older."
"I'm sorry if we brought up any bad memories. It wasn't my intention," Remington apologized.
"Not at all, but it does bring something to light. Something I should have mentioned earlier. Lady Catherine and I had a long discussion this afternoon at the hotel. She has offered to oversee The Iris House as well as your Foundation," Lady Amelia stated.
"Is that going to be too much on you?" Laura turned to Lady Catherine.
Lady Catherine shook her head. "Not at all. After all, The Iris House will be an extension of the Harry Daniels Foundation. Separate entities, however, tied together by the same ideals and principles. It will be easier this way. I've already made a call to the lawyers and they're drawing up the necessary paperwork."
Frances and Mindy descended the stairs loudly, halting their conversation. "I'm so sorry we were gone for such a long time. I was doing everything I could to get that spill off Mindy's shirt but I think it's going to stain for sure." She peered at the faces around the table. "Did I interrupt something?"
"No, Frances, not at all. Lady Amelia and Remington were just discussing some business," Laura assured her sister. "Mindy, do you want to run out and play with Harry too?"
"Can I?" Mindy's face lit up.
Frances brushed her lips against her daughter's temple. "Go have some fun. We'll need to be going soon. You kids have school tomorrow."
Without another word, Mindy ran toward the door but was taken by surprise when Remington leapt from his seat and snatched her off her feet. "Uncle Splat!" she giggled.
"Gotcha!" Remington laughed before placing her back on her feet. He watched as she flashed a grin at him before running outside.
"You're so good with all the children," Lady Catherine observed. "However, I am curious… Uncle Splat?"
Remington pressed his lips together in a tight line before he responded, "Laurie Beth and I had an unfortunate accident with a mud puddle in Ireland last summer."
"You should have seen it! Remington was so brave and he saved Laurie Beth from not only getting hurt but from ruining her dress," Frances interjected.
"At the expense of my own wardrobe, I might add," he huffed.
Laura smiled at her husband. "It wasn't that bad."
"That bad, Laura? I had to soak my shirt for hours to get the stain out. The stain covered most of my back and the sleeves. Not to mention my trousers," Remington groused.
Frances patted his shoulder and said, "Well, I'm so thankful you weren't hurt."
Remington looked up at his sister-in-law. "Only my pride, Frances. After all, Remington Steele never shows up wrinkled and there I was, with a potential client standing before us, covered in mud. It's something I hope never to repeat."
Laura coughed and whispered under her breath, "Now you know how I felt." She coughed again and louder she added, "Excuse me. I have a tickle in my throat. Allergies, I think."
Remington lifted an eyebrow in her direction. "Are you sure it's not from the fish we had for dinner? I picked it up from our friend, Jose, down at the docks. You remember him…"
Under the table, Laura swiftly side-kicked his ankle. Remington bit his lip to stop from groaning. Oblivious to their antics, Frances moved toward the sliding door. "I should probably collect the children. They have school tomorrow and Donald should be home soon. This night class he's been teaching at USC is so inconvenient."
"Donald is teaching a night class?" Remington questioned as he rubbed his ankle with his other foot.
"Yes, on Oral Histology. He says it's important because it provides a strong foundation in oral biology. Most of his students have day jobs and are taking his class at night to start their path into dentistry. And because it's a pre-doctoral class, he's getting paid more. With the kids getting more involved in things here in California, every little bit helps." Frances stopped rambling and covered her mouth for a moment. "I'm sorry, you don't want to hear all about our finances." She stepped closer to the open sliding door and called out, "Come on, children. It's time to go. Bring Harry in."
"Do we have to?" Danny whined.
"It's a school night. Let's go," Frances commanded sharply.
"Fine," Danny grumbled. He reached down and caught Harry's collar. "Let's go, boy. We gotta go home now."
The three children returned to the house with Harry. After a series of hugs and cheek kisses, Remington ruffled Danny's hair with his hand. "Cheer up, mate. Remember, we're heading to the track this weekend."
"The track?" Laura and Frances questioned simultaneously.
"To play polo. I promised the lad that once his riding instructor signed off on his skills, I would bring him down to the track to play polo with some of the older kids," Remington clarified.
"Uncle Splat even told me he'd drop twenty bucks if I bumped someone," Danny boasted.
Remington moved behind the boy, and with a nervous grin, he tried to cover his mouth.
"Did you tell Aunt Laura about the hired assassin?" Danny continued.
Laura lifted an eyebrow sharply.
"It's a figure of speech, Laura. There's a particular player on this team that plays professionally. I was hoping he could give Danny some pointers, nothing more." He bent close to Danny's ear and whispered, "Zip it up, or we'll both be in the doghouse. Your mother may think twice about letting us go."
Danny's eyes widened for a second before he reached for his mother's hand. "Come on, Mom. I bet Dad's going to be hungry, and we want to get home before he does so you can heat up those leftovers for him." He tugged her toward the door while giving Remington a subtle thumbs up behind his back.
"We'll see you all this weekend. Drive safe," Laura called out just before Laurie Beth slammed the front door.
"One of these days, she'll figure out how to close it softly," Remington stated. He turned back to Lady Catherine and Lady Amelia. "More tea anyone?"