The sight of those tears struck Gwendolyn straight through the heart, and she realized there and then that, if nothing else had come of her time in Newport, she’d had a part in giving the children exactly what they’d always needed—a father who put their needs before anything else, and a father who probably wouldn’t let his children out of his sight for a very long time to come.
Forty
After assuring himself the children were not suffering any ill effects from a day straight out of a nightmare, Walter agreed to allow the twins out of his sight, but only because Ethel and Matilda, in spite of the late hour, wanted to indulge Samuel and Priscilla with a bubble bath, something the twins seemed eager to enjoy.
Smiling as Priscilla skipped out of the room, holding Gwendolyn’s hand, Samuel chattering up a storm beside them, Walter put his arm around Oscar’s shoulders and pulled him close on the settee, pleased and a bit surprised when his son didn’t pull away.
“That was quite the adventure you had today,” Walter began.
Oscar bit his lip. “Are we in trouble because we locked the governesses in the closet and took Bert out without permission? I know that was wrong, but the twins shouldn’t be in trouble. They just went along with my plan to talk to Miss Brinley. It was a rotten plan, and I’m the one who should be punished. I placed Samuel and Priscilla in grave danger.”
Walter gave Oscar a squeeze. “None of you are in trouble, but you really are going to have to stop locking people in closets, although it did come in handy with Hank.”
“But I was careless with the twins,” Oscar said. “I think, at the very least, you should insist I spend every hour over the next few weeks with that tutor Miss Brinley told me you were planning to hire this summer. I bet I could make up my grades by the end of summer.”
“I wouldn’t be opposed to your working with a tutor, but not as a form of punishment.” He caught Oscar’s eye. “Gwendolyn told me why you failed your classes, and got up to mischief that got you expelled, but before you ask, you’re not in trouble for that either. I’m to blame for everything.”
Walter raked a hand through his hair. “Right before I learned you and the twins had been abducted, Gwendolyn had much to say to me, and everything she said was true. I’ve been unforgivably neglectful of you, Priscilla, and Samuel, content to leave you in the care of your grandmothers and hired help after your mother died.”
“I don’t remember much about Mother anymore,” Oscar whispered.
“You were only four when she died, but what you need to remember is that she loved you very much.” He blew out a breath. “I’m sorry I haven’t spoken often about your mother since she left us. I should have realized you’d be curious about her, and I can tell you all I remember, although I’m beginning to believe I didn’t know her nearly as well as I should have, even though I was married to her for a handful of years.”
“That’s because we’re society.”
“And perhaps society has it wrong, Oscar. Perhaps we should, as Gwendolyn has told numerous society members, set our bar a little higher when it comes to marriage.”
“Did you like Mother?”
Walter smiled. “I did like her. She was beautiful, even-tempered, and she loved to dance.” He took a moment to allow his thoughts to drift back to his late wife before he finally nodded. “We never exchanged a cross word between us, and we used to enjoy having our morning coffee together as we read the newspaper. She preferred the social section, while I enjoyed the current events. We would then share what we’d read before we bid each other good day and got on with our various activities, mine being work and hers being her social agenda.”
“Do you miss her?”
“I do,” Walter admitted, realizing in that moment it was nothing less than the truth. He’d spent years burying himself in his business, convincing himself he did so because he felt guilty about Vivian’s death, but the truth was he’d done that burying because he’d been grieving but hadn’t allowed himself to acknowledge or dwell on that.
“Are you still going to try and find a new wife this Season if Miss Brinley doesn’t agree to take up that position?”
“Miss Brinley has been perfectly clear she doesn’t want to marry me, Oscar. But to answer your question, no. I thought providing you and your siblings with a new mother was the only solution available to get you in hand, but it wasn’t a solution at all. What you and the twins need is simply for me to be a father to you, something I didn’t understand, but something I’ll never forget again.”
He caught Oscar’s eye. “I should have been the one to teach you how to ride a bicycle and how to fish, and I should have known that Priscilla and Samuel were lonely at night and wanted someone to tuck them into bed and read them a story. That you, at nine years old, understood what your siblings needed while I, their father, had not the remotest idea they were lacking anything makes me more ashamed than I’ve ever been in my life.”
Oscar gave Walter’s knee an unexpected pat. “A lot of fathers in society don’t spend time with their children, as well as mothers. Governesses are expected to raise us. Besides, you have the family business to run, and that must take up a lot of time.”
“That’s kind of you to say, but it doesn’t make it right. I’ve come to realize that my priorities have been misplaced. Business can no longer be my main concern, not when you and the twins are the most precious things in my life.”
“You think we’re precious?”
The back of Walter’s eyes began to burn, and he blinked to keep tears at bay. “That you even have to ask proves I’ve been an abysmal father, but I intend to make up for that, starting now.” He took Oscar’s hand, pleased beyond measure when his son didn’t pull it away. “I’m going to spend far more time with all of you, until you return to school. I now understand you abandoned it because you had the weight of the world on your remarkably strong yet young shoulders. You won’t need to worry about the twins, because they’re my responsibility. That means you can go about the business of enjoying your studies, your friends, and everything that goes along with simply being a boy. I’m hoping at some point you’ll be able to forgive me, and perhaps come to not dislike me as much.”
“I’m nine. I’m supposed to dislike you at times. My friend Sherman occasionally dislikes his father as well, so I think that just comes with the territory of being a boy.” Oscar rubbed his nose. “I don’t actually dislike you right now.”
Walter smiled. “That’s reassuring to hear, but what brought that about?”
“Lots of things, but one of them was I heard Hank say they were demanding one hundred thousand dollars for our release. You paid it.”
“I would have given them any amount to have you all safely returned to me.”
“Huh” was all Oscar said to that before he suddenly nodded. “I wouldn’t mind going back to school, but would it be alright if I come home on the weekends? Not every weekend, mind you, because sometimes we have fun activities, but enough to where Priss and Samuel won’t miss me.”