April 8th, 1891 — Greengrass Residence, Bartonburg
As far as sons went Audra thought she'd done rather well in raising two sensible, decent young men. They were both intelligent, rather handsome (even if she was quite biased), responsible, kind, and really as virtuous as their names suggested. That was not to say her boys could do no wrong or fall prey to poor judgement from time to time, however. Noble's incident at dinner last month would have made a fine example but Audra was presently unaware of just how self-inflicted it had been.
The trouble with having such good boys was that the sort of behavior other mothers mightn't bat an eyelid at because it was so commonplace was not something that flew under Audra's radar. Her boys did not collapse in a heap in the doorway reeking of alcohol in the dead of night, they were not prone to reckless romantic entanglements with unsuitable ladies, or really recklessness in general. None that they allowed her to know of anyway. So when her eldest son was not home by the time she went to bed the night before it caught her notice. She was sure he hadn't been up to anything she wouldn't approve of - Ford was the most responsible of her boys and at time she felt he was even too responsible. On account of Ford being so thoroughly reliable she'd briefly worried that something terrible had happened to him. Fortunately she'd managed to convince herself that he was probably fine and she could throw herself fully into worrying that he was lying dead, or close to it, in a ditch somewhere if he was still absent come breakfast. In the end there wasn't a whole lot she could do about it in the dead of night if something had happened, she wouldn't even know where to start looking!
To her great relief it seemed he'd turned up sometime between her falling asleep and coming down for breakfast and she wouldn't have to send out a search party after all. "Good morning, Ducky!" She greeted him as she took her seat at the table, the relief she felt upon seeing him there lending itself to the bright, cheerful tone she addressed him with. "Or is it? You must be tired, when did you get in?" She didn't think he looked as though he hadn't been to bed yet which was good but that wasn't to say it wasn't possible. She took her seat at the table. Just because she had no plans to scold him for making her worry didn't mean she wasn't curious.
The trouble with having such good boys was that the sort of behavior other mothers mightn't bat an eyelid at because it was so commonplace was not something that flew under Audra's radar. Her boys did not collapse in a heap in the doorway reeking of alcohol in the dead of night, they were not prone to reckless romantic entanglements with unsuitable ladies, or really recklessness in general. None that they allowed her to know of anyway. So when her eldest son was not home by the time she went to bed the night before it caught her notice. She was sure he hadn't been up to anything she wouldn't approve of - Ford was the most responsible of her boys and at time she felt he was even too responsible. On account of Ford being so thoroughly reliable she'd briefly worried that something terrible had happened to him. Fortunately she'd managed to convince herself that he was probably fine and she could throw herself fully into worrying that he was lying dead, or close to it, in a ditch somewhere if he was still absent come breakfast. In the end there wasn't a whole lot she could do about it in the dead of night if something had happened, she wouldn't even know where to start looking!
To her great relief it seemed he'd turned up sometime between her falling asleep and coming down for breakfast and she wouldn't have to send out a search party after all. "Good morning, Ducky!" She greeted him as she took her seat at the table, the relief she felt upon seeing him there lending itself to the bright, cheerful tone she addressed him with. "Or is it? You must be tired, when did you get in?" She didn't think he looked as though he hadn't been to bed yet which was good but that wasn't to say it wasn't possible. She took her seat at the table. Just because she had no plans to scold him for making her worry didn't mean she wasn't curious.
Fortitude Greengrass
