‘Did you hear the news old chap?’, Harry Edgewater’s comrade, Mr Alabaster Debonair, clapped his back in his usual welcome.
He gave him a curious look, an eye brow raised as encouragement for him to continue his news.
‘There shall be a fight for your right to the chair’, he carelessly fibbled, sitting upon a chair across from him, chewing on his nail, as Harry waited patiently for him to continue his tale.
‘There is to be a fight for who will inherit your title of heir or heiress of Edgwater my good man’, Bas a hidden Frenchmen says slowly as if Harry was dimwitted, still biting his nails, a bad habbit he has never given up, even though Harry has told him a many a times of his horrid etiquette.
‘My brother should have no trouble getting the title and the lands now that I am out of the picture’, Bas laughed half heartedly, realizing that he hadn’t quiet heard him right. Waiting for the machine to start working inside his friends head, turning to the other hand to make quick swift.
‘What.. did you say..? Heiress..?’ He asked dumbfoundly, Bas’ amusement still unfolding, like a dimwitted fool he could act sometimes, but Harry knew better, he has known the man for the better part of two years.
‘Who could possibly be fighting my brother for the title? There is no one else who would dare go against my father for title’
‘Looks like there is now. Apparently the Earl had dalliances before he married your mother, an Opera singer’
‘It is well known that my late grandfather forced my father to give up his first love, she had not a penny nor a title to her name. And therefore their betrothal would not bring forth a more.. how do they say..
‘Well as they say old chap.. the rich get richer and the poor get poorer..’ Bas and his plain truths, never holds back when he has something to say. Harry supposed, thats what he loved abour Dear ole Bas, and it helped them become fast friends in such a lonely world.
‘Without a title to her name nor money behind her, it would not have been an agreeable match indeed’, they both nodded their head in agreement, throwing back their drinks as one does.
The entitled and their proprieties worth. A many a times they have had, in their drunken chats, making fun of the world around them and of the life he had left behind.
‘I thought it to be be abit odd, when my father took down his fathers potrait after he had died, and I had often wonder why he did such a thing. I suppose that is the answer. My father and mother didn’t have the best of marriages..’
‘Yes.. yes ole Chap, don’t bore me with such details again.. I am not drunk enough for such a tirade..’ he closes his eyes for a more dramatic effect, Bas the ole coup, but I wholeheartedly agree with his point.
‘We shall fix that then, shall we?‘ Both men tapped glasses and called the maiden to bring forth more beer.
‘If you please kind Lady’ Harry winked at the maiden, receiving a giggle as she ran off to refill their drinks.
‘Always the flirt Harry’, Bas wasn’t complaining, if it brought them a quicker service and free drinks. He would encourage the flirtation wholeheartedly.
A few jugs and pints later, after a round of laughs and banter took place. More serious talks settled in, and two men began a plan to set forth for London and Edgewater.
Quiet a while later, as Harry ponders by his lonesome self, climbing the stairs to his cheap loft next to the tavern. Entering his room, with a bang of his door, stumbles his way to his bed, thoughts running wild in his mind.
I have a sister.. a sister.. who was fighting for her right as the future Heiress of Edgewater.
It was mind boggling to know all of this.. and for the first time in almost two years, he felt he had made the right choice to give away his birth right.
If his sister had been born a male, he was sure it would have gone to her anyway. So really, it was more her birth right than his. He didn’t really have any claim to it, just because he was born the right gender.
He thought awhile about the struggles she must have faced, with just her mother as the bread winner, a commoner all of these years.
He was sure she was not that much older than he, being the first born and all. She would probably be a couple of seasons older than he.
He hopes that she has had a great life before moving to Edgewater, surely their father did not know of her existence? He would not let her live in such a state?
He remembers his father’s drunken rambles when he was a young boy, talking about lost love and the life he should have had.
He remembers his father looking upon him, eyes glistening with tears, hand to hair as he put him to bed, thanking the stars to have a boy such as he.
He was besotted to know that now that his sister has been found, she would earn her rightful place as direct bloodline and her birth right to the title he had easily given away.
He would neither want, need or contest his sister nor his brother if his mother had her ways. She would do their forefather proud more than he would ever do. He would assist her if need be.
He was perfectly happy to let her take the reins and take charge of the Edgewater family. It would give him such relief and breathe to do so.
Though he knew if his mother found the news of his faking his death, she would fight tooth and nail to get him back into the fold and he knew he couldn’t let it be. He didn’t want it, nor has he ever had the desire of it.
Harry thinks about what Annabelle would think of him now, knowing what he had done to the family as well as to her? Would she think bad of him and think he wanted to shame her? He hopes she will listen to his explanation and they could resume their friendship as it was before, for they have known each other for such a fair amount of time. He cannot remember a childhood memory without her, Ernest, Theresa or his brother.
They both knew they couldn’t love one another as a man would love a woman, it was deep love and affection for someone they had grown up with since they had been children. And that was all it would ever be. A marriage of love affection and friendship
His thoughts turned to his beloved younger brother Teddy. How he loved his brother with all his heart and breathe, knowing farewell his death would have impacted a whole lot onto him.
For without him, Harry knew Ted would be struggling to fit in, no longer able to hide under a shadow as big as his, which he was fine to follow so rightly close. He would have struggled at each social event, he was very slow on his feet, easily stumbled upon his words, jumbles his thoughts without some much needed guidance.
He thought it unfair that nobody but he, had taught him how to behave in society. His father was too busy with business affairs and taking him under his wing, to pay mind to a boy who wasn’t his. Not that his father was an unkind man, he just didn’t see the need to entrust such a feat upon a boy who didn’t need his out right attention, such as an heir as Harry.
He felt bad for his brother at times, not having a proper father figure to teach him the ways of a man, and a mother likes theirs, who spent her days gossiping with the other ladies to pay mind to the youngest son. Lady Grandmother didn’t pay mind to him either, not really seeing Ted as her own, so like everyone else, left him to his governess to teach him all he had to know.
Up until my ‘death‘, he had always looked up to me, being his prompt in every conversation and situation that befell us. Always fine to sit idle, while I took leadership.
He wondered if it was his right to come back into the fold? After his dear sister marries and becomes the Countess of Edgewater.. was he allowed to come back perfectly happy?
He supposed he will know the answer when he returns to the fold..