“They found a secret passage,” Blake said, since he could see Magnus clearly and was referring to both boys.
“You lucky you no find ghosts in there,” she said, wagging a finger at Charlie, and went back to the kitchen, and they all laughed after she left. Sybil led Charlie straight to the bathroom to put him in the bath, and Bert chatted with Blake for a minute, then apologized again, as Magnus waited for him meekly.
“That was a very effective trick you managed,” Blake complimented Bert with a grin, and he laughed.
“I don’t do it often, only in emergencies. It’s very tiring and requires a lot of concentration,” he said seriously.
“Could Magnus have gotten out that way?” Blake was fascinated, and Bert shook his head.
“He’s not old enough, I think. He’s never been able to do it, fortunately. That’s all we need, a six-year-old who can walk through walls.” Blake was silent for a minute, thinking about it.
“We missed you,” Blake said. “It’s nice to see you. We were afraid you weren’t coming back,” he admitted.
“We were in Woodside. We never stay down there for long.” Blake wondered when they had sold that house, and who lived there now. It had been their country home a long time ago, and Bert had said it was where they kept their horses. He and Gwyneth were excellent riders and so were their children. He mentioned that Gwyneth rode sidesaddle and Augusta had been a terrific rider in her day, although she no longer rode. “Dinner tomorrow night?” he asked, and Blake nodded with a look of relief. He was so pleased that they’d returned, even if the boys got into mischief together.
“We’d love it,” Blake accepted with pleasure, and Bert waved as he escorted Magnus down the grand staircase, holding him by one ear. Halfway down the stairs, they both disappeared.
Blake wandered into the bathroom where Sybil was scrubbing Charlie in the enormous tub, and he was telling her how scared they had been.
“I don’t want you doing anything like that again,” his father scolded him, “or we won’t let you play with Magnus anymore.”
“I promise,” he said, looking clean and subdued, as Sybil lifted him out of the tub and toweled him off.
“Bert said they were in Woodside all week,” he told Sybil, and she nodded. There had been a few mentions of it in Bettina’s book, but Bettina had said they had sold the property after the crash and brought the horses back to a stable in Marin County, which was more convenient for them to ride whenever they wanted. She hadn’t said much about the house in Woodside, and didn’t seem to remember it well, or care much about it.
They had dinner in their kitchen that night, and Charlie told the others about his big adventure. He said he had been with Magnus, and Andy and Caro were happy to hear they were back.
“They invited us to dinner tomorrow night,” Blake told them, and everyone was pleased. Blake mentioned to Sybil that he had to give a business dinner in a few weeks with some of his new partners. He wanted to ask Bert about it, to make sure that the plan met with their approval too, and didn’t interfere with them. He didn’t intend to give a business dinner with Augusta staring at his associates through her lorgnette, although he assumed that his guests wouldn’t see her, but he and Sybil would. Alicia not being able to see them suggested that no one outside the family would be able to. It appeared to be a privilege reserved only for them.
Bert laughed when he asked him the following night when they dined together for the first time in ten days.
“Of course you can give a dinner! It’s your house!”
“Well, not really. You lived here first, and you still do,” Blake said respectfully with a grin.
“But we can accommodate you whenever you want. We don’t want to interfere with your life,” Bert said kindly. “Just let us know and we’ll go to Woodside for the night. The air will do us good.” It was really as though they were alive. They acted like it, and they looked it to Blake and Sybil and their children. It was the oddest sensation being with them, just like ordinary people, but knowing that they weren’t really there. Blake was learning that they were only visible to family and people they were close to and felt at ease with, and only within the house or the grounds. They weren’t visible even to the Gregorys beyond that. They existed in a very specific, limited dimension, and yet it defied space and time. It was a phenomenon Blake couldn’t explain but accepted. “Just let me know when. I’ll keep my mother-in-law busy.” He smiled at Blake. “What sort of guests?” He was curious about them and the other parts of Blake’s life.
“They’re my associates. What’s referred to as ‘geeks’ nowadays. Men who are experts in technology. It’s a form of communicating using complex formulas. I’m the finance guy. I don’t always understand what they do myself.”
“I’m sure it’s beyond me too,” Bert said. Angus had overheard them discussing a party, and leapt in immediately.
“Happy to play the bagpipes for you, dear boy. It always adds some life to a party,” he said jovially, as Magnus made a horrible face and pretended to plug his ears, and the others laughed. And then Angus turned to Andy and asked if he had applied to the University of Edinburgh, and Andy was serious in response.
“I did. I really like it. I sent in my application about a week ago, right before the deadline. We’ll see how it goes.” He had no idea if he’d get in. And his two friends had applied too.
“Wonderful place,” Angus told him. “I’ve never been so happy in my life as I was there. No women at the school in my day, of course, but they started accepting them twenty-five years ago, in 1892. You’ll have fun.” Andy was stunned when he heard the year and did the math, as Angus continued to reminisce. “I was engaged twice while I was there, to local girls,” he chuckled.
“How many times have you been engaged, Uncle Angus?” his great-nephew Josiah asked him, and Angus thought about it for a minute before he answered.
“Oh, dozens, easily…maybe forty or fifty. I used to get engaged at least once a year. Things have slowed down a little lately,” he said with a look of regret as the others laughed, even his sister.
“You were a menace,” Augusta scolded him. “You nearly killed our poor mother with all your cavorting around and misbehaving and chasing after women. And most of the time, you weren’t engaged,” she reminded him, and Angus looked nostalgic as she said it, which made them laugh more.
“Those were the good days.” And he still had a wicked gleam in his eye whenever he looked at Sybil or her daughter. Sybil had worn a strapless red satin evening gown that night. It was old but pretty, and molded her figure. Caroline had worn a short black cocktail dress that showed off her legs.