Chapter Fourteen
The night before they left for Oxford it had stormed, and Charles was worried that because of the magnitude of the storm, the roads would be left impassable. Luckily that hadn’t happened, and they were able to leave with the sun shining.
That yellow sphere in the sky changed everyone’s moods, including Cathryn’s. She was humming and looking out the carriage window with great interest. Charles’s mood was lightened because his wife was in a better mood than she had been.
Once he finished his business at Oxford, they would head toward Kent.
“Oh, Charles, this carriage is magnificent. I can’t believe you purchased a carriage for us.”
He had gone and spent the money to have a carriage built for them. It wasn’t that Arthur wouldn’t have let him use one of his, but he felt odd riding around without his brother in a coach that had a ducal seal. It was money well spent.
“I felt it was time to stop using Arthur’s, even though he doesn’t mind, and purchase my own. I’m pleased you like it so much. I will purchase another once we’re settled in our own home.”
“I thought we were going to stay at the manor?”
“We are for the time being,” he replied.
Charles wasn’t ready to divulge to his wife that he had a man looking at some properties that he’d been told about or heard of in conversation.
There was the one in Somerset and one in Gloucestershire.
The latter was the one he was most interested in.
The man he hired was going to see if he could find others.
It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate his brother’s hospitality, but he truly wanted his own home.
Living in the manor did give Cathryn and him an entire wing of the castle, but it wasn’t the same.
Roxanne had suggested they could live in the dowager house, located on the far side of their estate.
It also hadn’t been occupied since Graham’s grandmother’s death but had been kept up as though she still lived there.
She’d taken Cathryn to see it and she had adored it to use her phrasing.
It was another possibility. But still, he wanted something that was their own.
Not that he wasn’t proud of his family and its history, but he hadn’t been part of it the majority of his life and it felt more appropriate and right to have his own home.
Not one that Arthur or the rest of his family gave him.
Cathryn drew him out of his thoughts with her enthusiasm. She could find joy in pretty much everything. He envied her for that.
“Charles! We’re here! We’ve arrived in Oxford.”
He nodded. “Very well. We’ll go to the hotel first, so you can settle in, and I can go on to the university.”
“Are you nervous?”
“No,” he replied without a hint of emotion in his voice.
“I would be.”
The coach pulled up in front of a hotel Charles had chosen for its proximity to shops and other merchants.
It would keep his wife occupied for hours while he went to his appointment.
He stepped out of the carriage and put his hand out to help Cathryn.
She was taken in by all the uniqueness of a university town, looking everywhere except at the task at hand.
Exiting the carriage, she was about to lose her footing, and he firmly took hold of her arm and saved her from what would have been an embarrassing situation.
He accompanied her to their room and freshened up before leaving her to her adventure. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Enjoy your afternoon. Thomas will be close by to take packages and help you if you should need it.”
“Thank you and good luck,” she said, lifting herself on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek.
He nodded and flashed a smile. One thing he never had gotten used to. Conversation that was nothing but a filler for awkward moments like this. Turning, he left the room and went down the stairs to his waiting carriage.
*
He found Dr. Richard White waiting for him outside one of the large rooms used for lectures. He appeared to be older than Charles knew him to be due to the shock of white hair he had. Otherwise, the professor wasn’t much older than him.
The story of what had happened to him and what it all meant to his life fascinated Dr. White since he’d heard Charles speak to a small group of intellectuals on Wight. He had been among those who’d come to hear him. They’d stayed in contact ever since then.
“Good to see you, Charles,” he boomed.
“A pleasure, Dr. White.”
“Richard, please.”
“We’re in public. I meant to show respect to a colleague.”
“Very well. I heard you married. Congratulations are in order.”
“Yes, and thank you.”
“Did you bring her with you?”
“Yes, we’re heading back to Kent in the morning so she’s going to shop and whatever else women do while I am here.”
“Smart man. If you’re ready, we can get started. I think you’ll like this particular group. Very curious, aren’t afraid to ask questions.”
“Yes, I am ready.”
They entered the lecture hall, Charles standing to the side while Dr. White spoke. He gave a brief outline about Charles and how they’d met, and the work Charles did in addition to how hard it had been. The smiles and smirks while he forged ahead with various projects and how he overcame them.
When his time came, Charles took to the podium, notes in hand as he began to speak. Starting from the beginning, he recounted the day when he was told of his sponsor’s death and what transpired next.
Finding out he had two siblings, he was grateful for that but wondered how much, if anything, they knew about him.
Social situations were complicated for him and what he found out was that he had memories of his early childhood before being sent to Wight.
He had vague recollections of him and his brother playing together and how their sister tried to tag along.
Questions followed, and he was delighted at the thought put into them. They wanted to know what his thoughts were when he found out he had a brother and then finding out his brother was indeed his twin. How isolated he’d really been until he found his brother. Did he have those feelings now?
Professor White interrupted to reveal the books Charles had written and the one he’d just finished. It was a cue for Charles to introduce all of them to his books.
The books, he told them, had come as a way to learn about himself, his reactions to new situations.
Someone asked him if he ever felt as though he were very different from others and how did he cope with others’ reactions.
Finally, the class ended. It had to. Other students were waiting as Dr. White’s class had run over his allotted time. No one seemed to mind.
His head was swirling from all the interest and questions.
As he walked out into the corridor, lingering students approached him, asking questions they needed the answer for.
Dr. White stood to one side and watched.
Charles found himself ready to return and find his wife. He’d been working there for some time.
“Thank you all for the interest. However, if you’ll excuse me, I have other obligations needing my attention.”
Dr. White took him through the hallways to his own office. “I do hope you’ll consider coming again.”
“I would be honored.”
“Perhaps we could see about getting you on staff.”
Shaking his head, Charles replied, “I don’t think that would work. I have little to no background.”
“If you want, I could make some inquiries,” White persisted.
“In the future, perhaps. Right now, I have a lot going on with my latest book and a few other things my brother asked me to look into.”
“I understand. I’ll be in touch about the students’ reactions.”
“I would love to hear what they have to say.”
The two men parted ways and Charles walked to his carriage.
Satisfied by the success of his talk with Professor White’s students, Charles felt he’d overcome a major obstacle.
It hadn’t been the first time speaking to a group, but these students took their studies seriously.
For a moment, he wished he’d had the opportunity to go to university.
Instead, life had dealt him an entirely different set of cards, and he would make the most of that fact.
Arriving at his waiting carriage, Charles made the decision to continue walking for a time. They could follow behind him and when he was tired of walking, he could climb in and ride the rest of the way.
Glancing at a huge clock on the side of a large tower, he noted there was plenty of time for him to meet Cathryn and have tea together.
The afternoon was magnificent. Blue skies prevailed and white puffy clouds dotted the horizon. He finally climbed into the carriage and rode the rest of the way. It was the best way to save time. He would make it back with plenty of time for him and Cathryn to have a nice, leisurely tea.
She must have seen the carriage pull up and stop as she came rushing out of the hotel. “Did you have a nice afternoon?”
“Yes, I did,” she replied. “From the look on your face, I would say you did as well.”
He nodded. “Yes, it was a remarkable group of students.”
“Good.”
“Did you enjoy yourself?”
She nodded. “There are a lot of shops unique to the university.”
He patted her hand, which was tucked in the crook of his arm. “This is one of the oldest universities, so I imagine a lot of places have been here for eons. Handed down from generation to generation.”
“You’re right. I visited a couple like that. It made it a lot more interesting, knowing the patrons of some of the shops were part of a unique group.”
He stopped in the middle of the lobby, knowing the hotel did serve tea in their restaurant in the afternoon and they also would bring it to your room.
“Where would you like to have tea? In the restaurant or in our room?” He really hoped she would choose their room.
He’d been around enough crowds of people for one day, but he would do whatever she chose.
He couldn’t force her to live life completely around his idiosyncrasies.
“Would you mind terribly if we had it in the privacy of our room? I’d like to relax, take off my shoes, and enjoy some quiet. I’m sure you would as well after being around all those young men.”
He gave her a lop-sided grin. “Wait here. I’ll go arrange to have tea sent to our room.”
“I’ll be right here,” she replied.
Walking over to the desk, Charles informed the gentleman behind the desk what he wanted. Today was a good day.