Chapter Eighteen
After finding Hallaway on one of the paths that separated two rows of grapevines, Sterling had followed and tried to ask questions, but Hallaway was too intent on studying nearly every bunch of grapes and occasionally taking one to taste before moving on.
“Are they ready?” one of his employees asked.
“Not yet,” Hallaway had answered.
The servant turned around and walked back to the large barn.
“When will they be?” Sterling had asked.
“Soon.”
“How soon? A day? A week?”
Hallaway pulled back and looked at Sterling as if he asked an impossible question to answer.
Gone was the jovial man who had met with him after he first arrived and had suggested they enjoy brandy and wine before discussing business.
Before him was a man, aged from working in the sun, his gray hair in need of a trim and sticking out in different directions as if he hadn’t bothered to brush it that morning.
His brown eyes, intense beyond simple concern, as if Sterling had the audacity to question him.
“I do not know,” he announced. “They will be ready when they are.” Hallaway then turned around, dismissed him and marched down the path at the edge of the vineyard and repeated the same action of examining bunches of grapes and tasting a few.
Sterling studied Hallaway’s expression as he pinched a grape, or bit into one and savored it as if it were already a fine wine.
Sterling would be surprised if Hallaway even remembered that anyone was with him, which was rather concerning since Sterling was his employer and owner of the vineyard.
Never had an employee or servant shown him so little respect.
Was it simply because Sterling had been absent from the estate for so many years that Hallaway had forgotten how one treated an employer?
He had been in charge of Wyndview Farm for nearly eleven years with instructions coming by way of correspondence and not in person.
Sterling was not certain what to make of the man’s disrespect but held his tongue and simply observed while he wondered if Hallaway was simply an eccentric or had forgotten his place.
They were soon joined by William, who also quietly observed his father repeat the same examination and tasting, with his father explaining why the bunch was not yet ready to be cut, minus the dismissive attitude he had shown Sterling.
While father was educating son, he ignored Sterling.
Was Hallaway preparing his son to take over his position when he decided to retire? Caroline had mentioned that he was being trained to be an estate manager. Was it this estate that he was being trained for?
Hallaway was getting on in years and it would be good to know that when Hallaway retired that his son could take over.
“Are these ready?” Sterling asked when they reached the end of the row.
“No,” Hallaway answered and walked away.
He looked at William. “Is he always like this?”
“As we near the harvest, yes. We are used to it.”
Well, he certainly wasn’t, but Sterling just shook his head and followed Hallaway, not certain where he might be going.
In ordinary circumstances Sterling might have sacked Hallaway for his impudence, but he managed a vineyard that produced wine that was coveted by many and helped increase the coffers of Trade Wynd. That was the only reason Sterling allowed him more latitude of behavior than he would anyone else.
It was only after he had followed Hallaway to a small piece of land set aside, that his employee took the time to explain to Sterling that he was grafting different grapevine roots for a better wine, just as Caroline had previously told him, that Sterling finally returned to the house.
He was hot and thirsty. Of course, he was dressed as a gentleman from London when visiting his estate, including a suitcoat and cravat.
Next time, he would dress as the employees in the vineyard, in cooler cotton shirts and trousers without any of the layers he was accustomed to.
He had also been intent on climbing to his chamber and requesting water so that he might wash the sweat from his neck only to pause outside of the parlor where his mother was visiting with Caroline—her companion and housekeeper.
For a moment, he thought of joining them for tea, but he was uncomfortable in his own clothing and wished to change. And so, he simply passed the door.
“Sterling do join us,” his mother called out.
“I will return momentarily,” he promised.
“Please do, because I have an adventure planned for you and me.”
The words reached him as he neared the stairs.
Adventure? What could his mother have in mind this time?
His anger and resentment from the past had diminished since his arrival but that did not mean that he would allow her to manage him.
Sterling also considered ignoring her words and continue to his chamber, but he knew that he would not be able to relax and retraced his steps and returned to the sitting room, but only out of curiosity and concern, and found his mother seated by her favorite window.
Across from her was Caroline, who looked lovely in a light, cotton gown of pale yellow, which was very complementary to her dark hair and eyes.
“What adventure do you have planned?” he asked, hoping that it was a sojourn into town.
“Tomorrow morning, if your ship is available, we will sail to Cape Agulhas.”
He could only stare at her. Shock and surprise mingled with suspicion settled in his mind. Why did she want to venture there now?
“I remember how badly you wanted to visit as a child so that you could have one foot in the Indian Ocean and the other in the Atlantic Ocean, but your father was never able to get away for such a holiday.” She smiled.
“I see no reason why we cannot do so now. It is not as if you have anything to occupy your time until Hallaway has completed the harvest.”
There were some duties that he could attend to, but they were few and he wanted questions answered before he decided to make changes.
“Please, Sterling. I have wanted to go myself, and now we can. You and I, to the one place you begged us to take you as a child.”
His mother had always been spontaneous and he suspected that this was one of those moments.
If she woke up and wanted to go on a picnic, she informed Cook, who packed a basket.
She was not one to plan ahead, at least not until they arrived in England.
There she became dull because Father no longer had time to indulge her whims. But today, apparently, she had awakened and decided to sail to the most southern point on South Africa.
The question that lingered, however, was why? And perhaps, more importantly, why now?
It would also take at least a day and a half or two days to sail to Cape Agulhas and another day and a half or two back, which he remembered being told when he was younger. Did he want to be away from the estate for so long?
Sterling did want to go, but it was not nearly as pressing as it had been when he was twelve.
His eyes shifted to Caroline. If she were to join them, he might find the holiday more pleasant.
“Would your companion be joining us?”
“Oh, as much as I would like to have Caroline on our holiday, I fear that she cannot be away.”
“Because she is your housekeeper and sometimes gardener,” Sterling clarified.
“Yes, of course. What other reason could there be?” she asked vaguely before she sipped her tea.
Sterling sighed. “I will ride into town tomorrow and speak to the captain,” he promised before he left them to their tea, his stomach churning with suspicion.
He was certain that his mother had something else planned for him, but could not imagine what it might be, and why did he suspect that she was hiding something from him?
It was in her manner and her vague answers.
Or could it be that this was nothing more than a hopeful request and a desire to spend time with her son?
He certainly did not know her well enough to gauge her unspoken intentions since they truly had not spent any time in the company of the other for eleven years. He had changed in that time so she certainly must have as well.
*
When Lady Wyndham announced her plan yesterday, Caroline had grown envious. She had also wanted to visit Cape Agulhas as a child and for the same reasons.
Maybe one day she would be able to take Livia to the southern tip of Africa.
But that would not be now because once Lady Wyndham and her son were away, she could attend to matters that needed her attention before the harvest.
Matters that she put her mind to as she settled behind the desk in the office after Wyndham had ridden away from the farm.
Grapes were not the only harvest they need to concern themselves with, but their other crops as well.
While half of their employees would see to the planting of wheat, followed by the planting of barley, oats, and rye as soon as the grape harvest was complete, the other half would be picking oranges and lemons.
Pomegranates were being picked now, before everyone was required to attend to the grapes.
Yet the household gardens and vegetable fields could not be forgotten either.
Managing each of the groups was a balance in timing and organization that could not be ignored, even if her father didn’t believe they were important any longer. At least William understood and as soon as he was able, he would assist.
Caroline had just finished the schedule that needed to be followed, and concerns that needed to be address when the front door opened and George greeted Lord Wyndham.
“Were you successful in securing passage, Lord Wyndham?”
Caroline quickly dusted the ink on her schedule then slipped the document into the top drawer in hopes that it wasn’t discovered then rose from the desk and walked to the corridor.
As Wyndham had not answered, she was curious as to why and made her way to the sitting room where she expected Lady Wyndham to be because she was rarely anywhere else when not sleeping or dining.
“The captain refuses to sail to Cape Agulhas unless I do not mind the potential loss of a ship and the lives of my crew and family,” he announced.
“That is rather dramatic. He is a captain. Can he not sail a ship? If not, then perhaps you should dismiss him,” Lady Wyndham returned as Caroline entered the sitting room.
“He is an excellent captain,” Wyndham insisted. “He is just not foolish.”
“You do know that ships sail the area nearly daily,” Lady Wyndham reminded him.
Caroline edged further into the sitting room but did not want to draw attention to herself. She needed both mother and son to take this holiday, even if they would only be gone five days.
“Those are captains with experience in sailing through the tumultuous waters caused when the warm Indian Ocean meets the cold currents from the Atlantic Ocean. The captain of my ship is not and as there are already dozens of shipwrecks along the coastline, he did not want to add to that number,” Wyndham explained as he crossed to the sideboard and poured himself a brandy.
“Oh, very well,” Lady Wyndham dismissed with a wave of her hand. “We will simply need to travel by carriage.”
“Carriage!” he cried.
“Yes, or wagon, or horse…” Lady Wyndham frowned. “I am not certain of the terrain from here to there but we will see it done.”
“How long is such a journey?” Caroline asked. She hoped that they would be gone at least a sennight.
Lord Wyndham whipped around to face her. “Mrs. Sutcliffe,” he offered with a nod, as one addressed a servant, before he returned his attention to his mother. “We are not traveling there by carriage, wagon, or horse.”
“Why not?” Lady Wyndham asked innocently.
“It would take a sennight alone to arrive at Cape Agulhas and then another sennight to return. I cannot be away from Wyndview Farm for so long, especially with the harvest so close.”
No doubt that it was because he wanted to have the detailed meeting with his estate manager and then return to England where he’d find his wife and go about begetting an heir and a spare.
Anxiety and discomfort churned in Caroline’s belly.
Why did his intentions bother her so much?
Not that he wanted a meeting with her father, though that was a concern, but that he would be gone.
And that he would be sharing intimacies with the woman he chose to wed.
Intimacies she would no longer experience.
Intimacies that could relieve the aching need that had been awakened with Lord Wyndham’s arrival.
“Why do you want to stay here when there is so much that you could be enjoying?” his mother asked.
“I want to be available for not only the harvest but to meet with Hallaway.”
“Darling, that will not be for a least a sennight,” his mother promised.
“How could you know when your estate manage does not?”
“Do you think the harvest takes only a day?” Lady Wyndham laughed.
“I know that it does not,” he grumbled.
“Therefore, you should take time to explore.” Lady Wyndham’s eyes brightened. “I know. You shall accompany Caroline to Stellenbosch.”
Panic seized Caroline’s heart. She had no intention of traveling to Stellenbosch. There was no reason to. She needed to remain at Wyndview Farm and had hoped that he and his mother would be away, which they were no longer doing.