Free Dark Journey Home by Cherie Shaw Page B

niece that evening, so as dinnertime was fast approaching,
they all retired to their rooms to wash and change for the evening to come. 
     
    Later as they all sat together at a large table in the
corner of the elegant dining room, Olivia glanced at Logan, who sat across from
her, and found that devilish green-eyed gaze of his upon her.  She flushed and
hurriedly looked away, taking a sip of her tea to busy her fidgeting hands. 
She hadn’t seen Logan for a few days, and the sight of him in his dark gray
suit with the white shirt, almost took her breath away. 
     
    She was glad when the waiter brought steaming bowls of
food, and she could eat, that would give her something to do.
     
    The conversation had been lively and friendly, but
Olivia hadn’t been listening so wasn’t sure of what had been said until her
uncle spoke to her, “Don’t you think that’s a good idea, Ollie?”
     
    She jumped, startled, “Oh I’m sorry, Uncle.  I didn’t
hear what you said.  What was it?”
     
    “I was just saying that now we aren’t in England, so just while we are here in America, I would prefer not to be referred to as ‘Lord’
Beckford.  People in this country just use their given names and don’t
recognize titles, so as the old saying goes, ‘As in Rome, do as the Romans do.’ 
I’ve just asked that everyone refer to me as Claude.  I have never really cared
for that stuffy old title of ‘Lord’, for myself anyway.”  He laughed then.
     
    “I really hadn’t thought of that, Uncle.”  Olivia
answered, “Though I shall continue to call you Uncle anyway.”
     
    “Well,” Logan began, “I can’t even call you ‘sir’, only
Claude?”  Logan joked.
     
    Claude chuckled as he answered, “Well, now a lot of
folks call each other ‘sir’ here I know, and that’s not considered a title
here, just a form of respect.” 
     
    Logan laughed too,
“Well, I used to call my pa ‘sir’, only when I was in trouble, when I was
growing up, that is.”
     
    “And was that often, Mr. Wakefield?”  Olivia asked
before she thought, and almost bit her tongue from embarrassment, when Logan just laughed, and answered, “Actually it was quite often, Miss Worthington, you
really are correct about me.  I was quite a handful to my folks, always the
prankster, though pa always said that I took after him when he was young, and
that I just had ‘growing pains’.  He told me I’d outgrow the trait some day.” 
He looked at Olivia questioningly, “Guess I did.” 
     
    She didn’t take the bait, figuring she’d said enough
for one century, although she did have much more to say, but instead chose to
begin serving herself from the steaming bowls of food that had been set on the
table.  She knew her uncle was enjoying himself, maybe at her discomfort, but she
wasn’t sure of anything right now. 
     
    Olivia busied her hands with helping herself to small
portions from the tasty bowls, and the rest of the group began also, Logan choosing heaping a spoonful of each of the appetizing choices.  He still couldn’t
get enough to eat, and piled his plate high.
     
    Ricardo and Maria were enjoying the meal immensely,
all the while speaking in hushed tones to each other in their beautiful Spanish
language, not realizing that Logan spoke the tongue fluently, and understood
every word that they were saying, but he wouldn’t let on to them at all.  He
was too busy shoveling food into his hungry mouth.  Maybe later on, but not
right at the moment.  Anyway, he soon realized, after listening for awhile as
he ate, that it was none of his business what they were saying.  It was
personal, and even if he couldn’t have understood what they were saying,
Maria’s flushed and smiling face, as Ricardo spoke to her, would have told him
much.  Even in their forties, after so many years together, he could tell that
they were still as young sweethearts, and very much in love, the same as his
parents have always been, and