Chapter 4

They waited outside of the estate for her arrival that Friday evening. All were thrilled

to see her, except one of course, who stood along side his big brother relunctantly,

kicking dirt and sighing at every passing second. Henry gave him a subtle love tap as

the carriage pulled up into the yard.

"Well, what are you waiting for, son?" Arthur began, "Go help her."

"Oh, right." Henry rushed himself over, as the horses were willed to a stop. He

opened the door to the carriage, and there she was, sitting in her baby blue dress, with

flowers in her golden brown hair. She looked lovely and he made sure to tell her so, to

which she thanked him as she hopped out.

"Winifred, this is my maternal grandmother, Julia Ford, and this is my little brother,

Lewis." He introduced, as Julia gave Winnie a warm hug and kiss upon her cheek

without hesitation.

"It's wonderful to have you, dear!"

"Thank you for having me." She diverted her attention to the shy little boy with the

pout upon his face and said, "It's nice to meet you, Lewis. How old are you?"

He was relunctant to answer, but did so anyway in a rather dull tone, "I'm ten."

"I see! You're very tall for your age. You must get that from your father." Arthur

chuckled bashfully at her sentiment, but Lewis remained unamused.

"Shall we head inside than?" Henry offered Winnie his arm, to which she latched on

to as they all headed inside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Supper that night was a bit more lively than the one prior, for Winnie was a natural at

conversation. She had plenty of stories to tell, and she loved to hear the ones that others had to tell as well. Henry couldn't help but admire this new-found quality in

her, for he had always been the opposite of such.

"So, Lewis, do you attend a school house?" He sat across from her in a slump on his

chair, picking apart his food instead of eating it. It was obvious that Lewis was not a

good pretender.

"Lewis, you were asked a question." Henry prompted, to which the young boy spoke

up, "No, I study at home."

"Ah, I see."

"My wife, Miriam, had helped him with his schooling. She...passed away a little while

ago."

Winnie's demeanor dropped as she said, "Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that."

"It's alright. We've made it this far, and we'll keep going. It's what Miriam would've

wanted." He took a sip of his drink, before adding, "Actually, it would be a big help to

us if you could help Lewis with his studies after you and Henry are married, and also

care for him in other ways. The nanny we had for him after Miriam's passing just

didn't work out."

"Of course. I'd love to!" She agreed without hesitation. She knew that she'd have to

be a good wife for Henry, and a good daughter-in-law for Arthur. She wanted to

make sure to pull her weight.

"Isn't that nice of Winifred, hmm, Lewis?"

Lewis shook his head. "It doesn't matter to me. It's not like I have a say in it." His

harsh words earned a scowl and a wave of the finger from his father, but he didn't

care. Winnie could see the figurative wall between her and Henry's kid-brother, and

she knew that she had to find a way to break it down. She'd have to start small

though; be patient and gentle with him. She couldn't imagine how hard it would be

for a little boy to not have his mother around anymore.

"Do you like animals, Lewis? I've lived on a farm my whole life, and we've always had

lots of animals. Maybe, we can all go visit them one day, what do you think?"

"Do you guys kill the animals?"

"Lewis!" Arthur reprimanded him quickly.

"It's alright." Winnie began, and continued, "Some of our animals are raised for the

slaughter, so that my family can live and survive. I know that it's the way that God

designed it, but it always made me sad when I was little too. But, we also have a lot of

animals that are used for other things too, and no matter what, we make sure they live

a good life."

Lewis crossed his arms, and pondered his next move. He couldn't deny that she was

unusually kind to him, even though he knew he was being a brat to her, for he was

doing it on purpose.

"Don't you think a farm girl is too simple for Henry? There's really nothing special

about you, so I don't know why he wouldn't marry someone else." Lewis had stuck

the nail in his own nonexistent coffin, all for the glory of hurting Winnie's feelings so

badly that she would not wish to have such a snotty little boy for a brother. He could

not have expected her gentle response to his words though.

"You're right, Lewis." She said it with a chuckle. "I'm still trying to firgure it out

myself; why your brother would wish to marry a girl like me, but somethings happen

that we don't quite understand and that's okay."

Arthur let Winnie say her piece, before promptly sending Lewis away, while profusely

apologizing to their guest.

Henry leaned over to her, "I'm really sorry. That was inappropriate of him."

"It's okay. He's having a hard time right now. I can't blame him."

He shook his head, "You're really too kind, Winnie."