Sebastian Holloway ran away when he was 15 after a terrible fight with his father. Ten years later, a family crisis forces him to finally return home.
(Author is resurrecting this story, much like Seb. Although I am currently in grad school, so apol...
Bas was late coming home from school. He never was late. The boy had trouble making friends his own age, so he usually came home and spent his afternoon with Tom or his grandmother. He never went anywhere else and he never went anywhere without telling her first. She kept telling herself that Tom was gone as well and they were most likely together, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something strange was afoot.
First her mother was uncharacteristically cheerful, when normally she would sulk in her sickroom. She had returned from her work at the apothecary to find her mother sitting on the porch knitting. It had been months since she had felt well enough to do either activity, so Clara's confusion was justified. Then she found Rebekah locked away in her room, refusing to come out. Every time she would ask what was wrong, Rebekah burst into tears and retreated further into her room. But now, with the two boys missing, Clara couldn't help but feel apprehensive about the entire day. Something strange was going on.
Bas and Tom finally came home around supper. They were smiling and laughing and talking about sailing and pirates. Bas ran into the kitchen, where Clara was putting the finishing touches on their supper, and gave her a hug.
"Mama! Mama!" Bas exclaimed. "Guess what we did today?!"
"I don't know, sweetie," Clara reached down and wrapped her arms around her boy. "What did you do today?"
"Me and Tom got to meet a real sailor!" Bas beamed. The boy was obsessed with the ocean and all things nautical, so for him, this was like meeting his hero.
"How'd you do that?" Clara asked, confused. "Did a sailor come to school today?" She hoped that none had. Sailors were infamously unrefined men and the idea of one going to their school had her worried.
"Don't be silly, Mama!" Bas chuckled. "Sailors don't go to school."
"Then how did you meet one?" She asked again, hoping now that there had been a misunderstanding. That perhaps the boy only thought that someone was a sailor and that her son had not gone off visiting strange men.
"Uncle Jasper's got one staying at his house," Bas explained. "He let Tom and me come over after school to ask questions."
"Did he now . . ?"
"The sailor must not be very good, because he said he never fought pirates," Bas shook his head. "And everyone knows that good sailors fight pirates. It's what they do!"
"I'm sure there's more to it than that," Clara smiled and kissed the boy on the head. Then she noticed the spot on his arms that had been rubbed on her dress as he hugged. "Darling, why are you covered in soot?"
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"The sailor had tattoos," Bas explained excitedly. "I wanted to see what I would look like with a tattoo so I drew on my arms with a stick from Uncle Jasper's fireplace."
"Well, you look dirty to me," Clara shook her head, annoyed that Jasper's friend would even put such an unsavory idea in her son's head. "Now, how about you go wash up and tell me the rest of your adventure at supper."
"Alright Mama," Bas smiled as he let go of her and skipped out of the kitchen.
Clara returned to her cooking, but her mind was thinking about what Bas had said. Why would Jasper have a sailor staying at his house? After Seb's death, the man had kept mostly to himself. The few friends he did have were all from Farmington. A new friend showing up with no prior existence seemed concerning. She would have to check in on the man sometime to see what was going on.
* * * * *
Once supper was finished and her boy cleaned up, Clara found herself sitting on the porch. Something was going on with her family, she could feel it instinctively. Dinner had been quiet. No one said a word as they ate. Even Bas, who had been so excited before the meal, had remained silent for most of the meal. As soon as they had finished, each family member had taken off in a different direction without any sort of pleasantry or explanation.
When her father had come home late from work, not a word was spoken to acknowledge his arrival. But at this point, this kind of reaction was not as strange as the silence at dinner. For the last few months, it was like her mother had refused to acknowledge her father. She kept their conversations short and casual, often staying in bed to avoid him. When asked, Mama would refuse to agree that something was going on between them, blaming her cold behavior on her illness. But sickness doesn't cause the contempt that filled her mother's eyes every time she looked at Martin Holloway.
Clara didn't like not knowing what was going with her family. She figured that it had begun when Seb ran away and no one told her for two months, but now if she even thought someone was keeping something from her, it made her anxious. And between her mother's increasingly distant behavior and everyone else acting strange, she couldn't help but feel that she was out of the loop about something. Something had happened today, and not just to one member of the family. Everyone was acting out of character. And although she didn't know what was causing the problem, she did have some kind of clue in Jasper and the mysterious friend he had staying at his house.
