Neverland's Key
Page 17
Finn had become her father’s ward and apprentice. Papa had enrolled him in Chattingham’s sister school for boys, the Worthington Young Men’s Academy. However, since Finn did not take to formal education after years of running wild in Neverland. Her father, realizing Finn wasn’t doing well and had hired a tutor to catch the boy up on the basics and then made Finn his apprentice. This, more than anything, proved to Rommy that her father had really changed.
Finn, for his part, had showed a surprisingly good head for business. While he was still too young at 15 to step into a main role in her father’s enterprise, Finn had proven to be an apt pupil under her father’s tutelage. He had also taken over a lot of the work Smee had once done as her father’s clerk. Her father had even brought Finn up to several of her fencing matches and allowed them to correspond. Francie teased her unmercifully about him, but she didn’t have much room to talk since she spent half her time mooning over Max.
The four young Lost Boys had been returned to their thankful families. It had been difficult explaining what had happened to the boys. In the end, her father had simply said the boys had been shanghaied by pirates, and he had found them on his travels. As fantastical as that sounded, it was far more believable than the truth.
It had also been a bit of a challenge to come up with a convincing story of why she had disappeared from the school grounds for so long. In the end, her father had donated the funds for a new astronomy observatory and agreed to forget that the school had misplaced his daughter for better than a week.
Miss Cleo, the resident cat, sauntered into the room and leaped into Rommy’s lap. She put her face into the cat’s soft fur and the animal purred.
The door creaked open, and her father walked into the room.
Putting the cat down, Rommy ran across the room and threw her arms around her father. He lifted her off her feet and whirled her in a circle.
“How’s my girl?” he said.
He set her down and kissed her cheek.
“Papa, my tournament dueling match is next week,” said Rommy, shifting from one foot to the other in her excitement. “Will you be able to come? Can you bring Finn, too?”
“Yes, Captain Cavendish,” said a cool voice from the doorway. “We hope you and your ward will be able to join us.” Miss Watson stood at the door with the tea tray.
James Cavendish gave a courtly bow in the teacher’s direction and then walked over to take the tray from her. “Of course,” he said. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Miss Watson smiled. “I know Rommy will be delighted for you to be there.”
Her father winked at the teacher who turned pink. “No, ma’am, the delight is all mine.”
Rommy looked from her father to her favorite teacher and suppressed a giggle.
“Miss Watson, you should join us for our tea,” she said. “You can tell Papa about our writing club.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t want to interrupt, Rommy,” her teacher protested. “This is your time with your father.”
“It’s all right,” said Rommy and looked at her father.
He cleared his throat. “We’d love to have you join us, Miss Watson, and do tell about this writing club.”
Miss Watson perched on the edge of one of the chairs. She placed a small powdered lemon confection on a plate. “Well, we started a writing club this year, and Rommy is our star pupil.” She gave Rommy a brilliant smile. “She has quite the imagination, what with her stories about pirates and fairies and such. She’s come up with some quite fantastical ideas.”
Rommy and her father exchanged glances. She suppressed a grin and looked down at her teacup, and her father coughed into his hand. Then he focused back on her teacher. “You don’t say?”
The two hours passed in a happy blur. Finally, Miss Watson stood up. “Oh dear, I do apologize for taking all of your time,” she said. She looked at Rommy. “I’m afraid it’s almost time to get ready for bed. Why don’t I leave you to say your goodbyes?”
Her father stood and bowed over Miss Watson’s hand, kissing her knuckles. The teacher blushed to the roots of her hair but managed to leave the room with her dignity still intact. Rommy noticed her father watched Miss Watson all the way out of the room and hid her smile.
Papa turned to her and drew her into a hug. She squeezed him back and walked with him toward the door.
“So, you’ll be able to make it next Saturday?” she asked again when they reached the doorway to the parlor.
“I wouldn’t miss it,” he said.
Dropping a kiss on the top of her head, he turned to leave. “I’ll see you soon, my dear.”
Rommy hugged the words to her and waved until Papa disappeared from sight. She and her father were finally home.
Afterward
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About the Author
R.V. Bowman spends her days wrangling middle-school students while secretly trying to instill a love of language without any of them realizing it. By night, she writes fantastical adventures full of magic and heart.
Her love of books began as a child when she would pester anyone within earshot to read her a story. Once she learned to read on her own, her grandmother fed her reading addiction with a steady supply of books. R.V. Bowman lives in Northwest Ohio with her husband, two sons, and a very hairy dog named Kipper.
Read more at R.V. Bowman’s site.