They bowed their heads, and Luke offered grace. Gloriana couldn’t keep her mind on the prayer, however. She was almost afraid that Mr. Carson would grab the baby and run while their eyes were closed. She was grateful that Luke kept the prayer short.

The food was served, and as they began to eat, JT shared about school. “A lot of children caught the measles. I was just one of the very first. Half of the people are gone from class. Mr. Nelson sends their schoolwork home to them just like he did with me. I think that’s mean, ’cause when you’re sick, you can’t think about English and history.”

“Perhaps he only wants them to have it for when they do feel better.” Gloriana handed him the butter. “Would you pass this around, please?”

JT did so but wasn’t yet ready to let the topic drop. “I think when you’re sick, you shouldn’t have to do any of that work. If you miss it, you miss it.”

“Yes, but English is especially important to take in steps, JT,” Luke replied. “History might be acceptable to move from era to era, but often you’ll find that, too, has great emphasis placed on the foundation of what passed before.” He took the butter and applied a generous amount to his fish and dinner roll.

“We raised our children to be silent if they joined the adults at the dinner table,” Mr. Carson stated without bothering to meet anyone’s gaze.

“We believe in letting JT speak his mind so long as he’s polite and gives others a chance to talk as well. We enjoy his conversation,” Luke replied. “And we believe it’s a good time to catch up on his interests and activities.”

“Those are topics to share with a nurse or nanny.” This time the older man did meet Luke’s gaze. “There are appropriate and inappropriate ways to raise a child.”

“And you are suggesting our way is inappropriate. Perhaps for the house of a man focused on his own interests, that might well be the case.” Luke turned to JT. “My brother and I all but lived in the nursery. We went for occasional outings with the nanny, but we were carefully kept hidden away, lest we embarrass our parents in front of others. We seldom saw our father.”

“My papa used to do all sorts of things with me,” JT said, smiling. “He taught me how to build and fix things. We were going to paint the house and cottage this year, and he showed me how we were going to do it and how to use a ladder.”

“Perhaps you and I can do the painting together. The house definitely needs our care.”

JT gave an enthusiastic nod. “We can paint the shutters too. Papa wanted to paint them green.”

“Sounds good.”