Chapter Eleven #2
Drake pulled his watch from his pocket to check the time. The train was scheduled to leave in precisely two minutes, but the number of passengers still filing through the boarding door indicated there might be a slight delay. That wasn’t overly concerning, he was merely ready to return to normalcy.
A young woman with two children, a young boy and the other a baby, sat down in the seat across from him. The boy, with his arms crossed and lips pursed, glared at the woman.
‘You promised!’
The woman sighed softly and touched the boy’s shoulder. ‘I know I did, but there wasn’t time.’
The boy squirmed away from her touch, fitting himself deeper in the corner of the seat with his arms still tightly crossed. ‘I just wanted to see the elephant.’
‘I know,’ she said, while lifting the baby over her shoulder and patting its back. ‘You did see him twice and will be able to tell your father all about him. Now, please be good. Julia is fussy this morning.’
The boy glared at her with an angry set of brown eyes, before he turned to the window.
Drake noticed a single tear on the boy’s freckled cheek, and his compassion got the best of him. With a nod at the woman, he asked, ‘What’s your son’s name?’
‘Joey,’ she replied. ‘I’m sorry if he’s disturbing you.’
‘Not at all,’ Drake replied, before asking the boy, ‘So, Joey, you met Hugo?’
The boy eyed him cautiously, before he nodded.
‘Do you know why his name is Hugo?’ Drake asked.
The boy shook his head.
‘It’s because he’s huge,’ Drake said.
Eyes brightening, the boy asked, ‘It is?’
‘Yes.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘Because I named him,’ Drake replied.
The boy looked skeptical.
‘I did,’ Drake said. ‘The people I bought him from called him the huge one, and I decided he needed a real name. Then, I hauled him across the ocean on my ship. Brought him to the zoo.’
‘You did?’
‘I did.’ From there the conversation flowed with questions and answers about Hugo, the zoo, sailing, and other topics that lasted until the train stopped and the small family prepared to depart. As Drake bid Joey farewell, the woman thanked him for making their trip so enjoyable.
‘It was my pleasure,’ he replied. It had turned out that the woman and children had been in London visiting her parents and were now on their way back to home.
Helping Joey get through the disappointment of not seeing Hugo again had made the time pass quickly, and the boy was now extremely excited to tell his father much more about the huge elephant.
Drake smiled and gave the boy a final wave as they exited the train. He could imagine the youngster telling his father all about his adventure. He could imagine the father’s delight in seeing his family again after their absence. All these visions sent his thoughts back to himself.
Perhaps getting married and having children wasn’t such a bad thing to want. Perhaps there was more to it than he’d considered.
No. He’d never wondered about such things before, because he’d known who he was and what he wanted. It was time he remembered that again.
About the same time that he’d decided to be happy—back when he was about ten years old or so—he’d also determined that he’d never have children, because he’d never want them to be orphaned like him.
As he grew up, that theory had resonated stronger within him.
Although Archibald had been a pain in his side, he’d been lucky to have Uncle Donald and Aunt Ella, but he’d still known that he was a burden to them.
They’d had their own family, yet had lovingly opened their home to him.
They had never complained, but he remembered when his aunt died, the way members of her family had whispered about the burden she’d taken upon herself, raising someone else’s child.
Drake had been thirteen, and shortly thereafter, convinced Uncle Donald to let him start sailing.
He hadn’t wanted to be a burden and, like when he’d decided to be happy, he had sworn he never would be one again.
Nothing had changed. There was no reason to question his decisions now.
Nodding to himself, he looked out the window as the train departed the station, rolling forward, onward to Bristol and his new ship. Where once again, he’d feel the sea calling to him.
Meridith spent most of the morning penning thank-you notes to the zoology and park boards, for agreeing to her suggestion of letting the boys work for them.
She’d considered penning one to Drake, too, but chose not to because it reminded her too much of what Alena had said about writing to Peter. She knew that Alena meant a person should fully complete their thoughts or actions, and she wasn’t sure she could do that right now.
Drake’s visit the night before had been unique.
For one, she had never invited anyone over for dinner before.
Actually, she’d never wanted to invite someone over before.
And yet she had wanted to invite Drake. Furthermore, last night had been the first time in a very long time that she’d felt like she belonged.
She wasn’t just the little sister who was living here.
Instead, she’d been an integral part of the entire evening.
The conversations and laughter, just everything about it had been wonderful.
Afterwards, while lying in bed, it had occurred to her that such evenings could happen in the future.
Regularly, if Peter agreed to partner with Drake in his shipping company.
Why she hadn’t thought about that before last night was beyond her. Peter often invited business associates to dinner, just as he invited them to garden parties—the very place Meridith had first met Drake.