125 Lessons Before Lessons

No one spoke for almost ten minutes and they all stayed the way they were after my revelation, except for Selena, who recovered from her faint and stared at me. When it was time to eat, I waved a hand at the kitchen and sent out a little bit of magic. The door opened and six maids came out with plates of food. Almost as if that was a clue for the Henrietta family to start acting normally, they all slipped right into proper table etiquette and we all started eating.

The meal passed by quickly and there wasn't a lick of conversation. No one tried to say anything, not even to the maids, so I whispered my thanks to each of them as they passed me to go back into the kitchen. They all smiled and nodded and came back with dessert. Everyone ate, also silently, and the empty dessert bowls were removed and I thanked the maids again.

Glasses of wine were delivered next and everyone stared with wide eyes at the red liquid in front of them. I didn't laugh, even though it was pretty funny that the Grand Mage, whom always gave long speeches according to Helena, wouldn't reach for the glass to give the ending toast.

I took the initiative again, like I had the day before, and stood with the glass raised. “To the Henrietta Family's ensured continuation.” I said and took a sip of wine, which they had to respond to. The Grand Mage didn't try to say anything, so I put the glass down. “On behalf of Grand Mage Henrietta, who is a bit speechless at the moment, I thank you all for attending this meal.”

Everyone around the table visibly relaxed, even though I was the one to formally end the meal.

“Dearest, help me to the sitting room.” Mona said and held a hand out to her husband. He took her hand and the two of them left before anyone could think about stopping them.

I walked around the table and took Helena's hand in the same manner as her father took her mother's hand, then led her from the room as well. When we were well away from the room, Helena spoke.

“David, what... what were you thinking?” Helena asked, her voice full of disbelief.

“I was supporting my future wife in her decisions.” I said and her hands gripped mine. “If Marcus continued to believe that he was the sole heir to the family, nothing we could do to him would matter. Your father said he would always intervene on his son's behalf and I can't allow that.”

“But... David, you... you know what it means to...”

“Marcus is the first born son and will inherit the family name; but, unless he gets married and has children before we do, our children will have the advantage in both being first born and being older than his children.” I explained. “Assuming he actually does have children, by the time they are old enough to make a claim, our children will already run everything.”

Helena's eyes seemed to dance with mirth. “David, that... that would make me very happy.” She said and then her face showed concern. “What about your own name? Don't you want to...”

“I'm proud to be David Drake and be named after the marsh where I grew up. That will always be true, no matter what name I change it to.” I said and she leaned close to kiss my cheek. “We just have to make sure that our children are happy to be a Henrietta, without letting it go to their heads.”

“You won't have to worry about that, dearest. There's no way that we will make the same mistakes my parents made.” Helena said, her voice firm. “You need to go to your room to change into casual clothes. Hope is waiting for you to begin your lessons and then I will come over to spend the night.”

“Yes, dearest.” I said and kissed her when we reached her room. She went inside and I went to the guest room to be undressed by my two maids. I was soon dressed in casual clothing and Hope went into the bathroom to get changed into one of the tutor uniforms that she owned. She came back out and led me over to a desk that hadn't been there earlier and on it were several books and some blank paper.

“David, we have a lot to cover in a short amount of time.” Hope said and waved at the chair in front of the desk. “I'm going to start by asking you some basic questions and then I'll start filling in the knowledge you don't know.”

Sara sat on the bed and listened and watched as I was tested quite thoroughly by Hope and she was apparently happy with what I knew, because she congratulated me for picking up so much in the short time that I had since gaining access to learning materials from Diane.

“Now it's time for the learning part.” Hope said and sat down beside me and we really got to work. There was a lot more to math than I thought there was going to be. Once I had the base system down however, which surprisingly was nearly identical to potion ingredient measurements, I blew through the questions and filled several sheets of paper on both sides as if time was going by like a breeze.

“That's amazing.” Sara whispered. “How in the world did you learn so much in the middle of a marsh?”

“Sara.” Hope admonished.

Sara covered her mouth and she nodded as an apology for interrupting.

“Let's move on to general reading terms and then we'll try the generic reading primer first. If you can handle that, we'll move on the the more advanced one.” Hope said and handed the first one to me.

“A what?” I asked.

“A reading primer. It's like a short book that people read to prove that they can read general things, like the names of objects and things like businesses.” Hope said. “The more advanced one covers a lot more specific things and it can be difficult to get through.” She touched my hand. “Don't worry, I'll help you sound out anything that you struggle with.”

Time passed like a flash and I did the general reader primer and most of the advanced one. I struggled a lot with the larger compound words, mostly because I hadn't seen them written out before. I had heard a lot of them and once my brain made that connection, it was so much easier. Both Hope and Sara were impressed by my progress and told me so. Just then, a knock sound came from the door and Sara ran over to open it.

“I'm sorry if I'm interrupting.” Helena said as she peered into the room.

“Not at all, my lady.” Sara said and bowed as she stepped back to let Helena into the room. “My lord just finished the advanced reading primer.”

Helena didn't look surprised as she entered with her maid Jill behind her. “He's been reading mage language pretty well, so that's not a surprise.”

“WHAT?!?” Hope and Sara yelled at the same time.

Helena laughed. “Don't look so shocked. I wasn't going to leave my future husband ignorant of my profession. Even if he never studied to become a mage himself, I would have wanted him to be knowledgeable enough to help me when I ask for his help retrieving books or things only mages use.”

“So, I wasted my time tonight?” Hope asked, her voice dejected.

“Of course not.” Helena said and pat her shoulder. “He didn't do it all perfectly, did he?”

“Well, no... but...”

“Do you have a much better gauge of his skills and abilities now?” Helena asked.

“Yes, I do. I'm sure that I can help him much more effectively with...” Hope paused and smiled. “You're very smart, my lady.”

Helena laughed softly. “Time with my David is never wasted, Hope. It might be long, or filled with silence, or even sometimes contain fear of what might happen... especially when near or on a battlefield. All of his time is precious... and now it's time for bed.”

Hope, Sara, and Jill laughed softly in response.

“Shoo, shoo.” Helena waved for them to leave and the three maids did so. “Change for bed, dearest. I want to hold you in my arms and bask in your love.”

I took off my clothes and let her admire me, then slipped on the bed clothes set out for me. We climbed into bed together and Helena held me tightly for quite some time before she fell asleep. I fell asleep soon after and then it was morning.

Breakfast was with only Mona and Selena again, with both Henrietta males absent, and we chatted about the work on the house and what we would do if the two requested crews actually did show up.

“Don't worry about it. I had my husband cancel the work crew transfer and reinstate the complaints against the work crews from yesterday.” Mona said. “Unfortunately, Helena was right. Even though I own the ship building business at the dock, Marcus has lessened my influence there to a significant degree.”

Helena reached across the table to take her mother's hand. “I hate being right when it hurts the family.”

Mona nodded and gripped her hand briefly before letting it go. “You'll be stuck with the men you have working now and that's it.”

“Good.” I said. “I don't want outsiders learning what I'm teaching them.”

“But, the work...”

“Now that we've got the system down that's even more efficient than what I had in the army, we'll have the mansion done in less than a week.” I said.

Helena nodded agreement, to her sister's and her mother's surprise. “My David can work wonders when he's not restricted by military procedure.” She gave her mother a pointed look. “I hope father does what I asked him to do. Otherwise, we will cancel all of the orders and demand the money back.”

Mona sighed and looked unhappy. “Helena, you can't just arbitrarily decide things like that on your own.”

“Mother, they listened to my brother and cost father a lot of money yesterday and us a lot of time. I have no problems with looking outside the city for new suppliers that would be more than happy to fill our orders promptly and without hassle.” Helena said and kept eating. “If the work crews are any indication, even the lesser nobles would jump at the chance to work on the lands near the capital.”

“They would do it just for the recognition.” Selena said. “Becca would be all over it if given a choice.”

“Becca? Really?” Mona asked, once again surprised. “Would they do something like that?”

“Do what?” I asked.

“Her family is filled with magical artists. Sculptors, painters, musicians, dancers, and anything else related to the arts.” Selena said. “Some do more than one thing, too.”

I looked at Helena. “Didn't you say that you wanted the mansion to be the most noticeable?”

“I don't want it in garish colors.” Helena said. “We'd have to limit them to paintings and sculptures.”

“There's the broken fountain in the gathering area in the front lot, too.” Selena said. “I'm sure they can get it working.”

“I thought we were letting the work crew handle that?” Helena asked.

“I'm sure the Bassingers won't even charge us if you let them make something for it.” Selena said with a wicked smile. “I told you, Becca's family will do a lot for just the recognition.”

Helena glanced at me and I nodded. “All right, Selena. Contact your friend and let her know that they have their chance.”

“Thanks, Helena.” Selena stood up, kissed her mother's cheek, and left the room at a jog.

“So young and already building connections.” Mona said, proudly. “I hope one of the boys at her school takes an interest in her.”

Helena laughed softly. “You're wrong if you think that's stopping her from having a boy pay her a visit.”

“She needs to be interested in someone, just like you were, hmm?” Mona laughed as well. “I hope she settles down a lot quicker than you did.”

“Mother.” Helena's face flushed red.

“I wasn't admonishing you. You were more focused on your career than you were on romances and there's nothing wrong with that.” Mona said. “I was just worried that waiting until you were 28 to find someone was a bit too long to wait and you might not find anyone.”

“Mother!” Helena gasped and blushed.

“What?” Mona looked at her face and saw her glance at me. “You didn't know her age?”

I shook my head.

“I'm glad that it didn't concern you.” Mona said and stood. “You need to get over to the Longshore Estate and get to work if your outrageous claim to have it done in a week is to be believed.”

Helena and I kissed her cheeks on either side to make her smile, then we left to get changed for work.