Little Lost Leon: Chapter Seven

CHAPTER SEVEN

It was now time for Alfred to focus his attention on the more intricate items Shire produced.  Although, it was arguable that they did not have his undivided attention.  For he invited Miranda to participate in the design process for wagons, stagecoaches, carriages and fine furniture.

No, Alfred was not just being nice.  For he had observed how detail-oriented she was, and just how much she had to contribute was soon clearly evident to all.

Miranda was instrumental in Shire developing a line of scaled-down replicas of many Shire products marketed as children’s toys, and Alfred considered it a stroke of pure marketing genius to offer larger replicas of wagons, carriages and stagecoaches to schools and hospitals at no charge to carry small children around their campuses.  Yes, it was all Miranda’s idea, and Alfred was not the only one who considered it to be pure genius.

Edgar quickly became enthusiastic about the scaled-down replicas, and he suggested providing Welsh ponies to pull the ones going to schools and hospitals for transportation.  “The Welsh would be better than Shetlands,” Edgar contended.  “For they generally have a much better temperament, and it would not be good for a Shire Shetland to take a bite out of a small child who tarried too close when one was in a bad mood!”

Edgar was not just enthusiastic over Miranda’s scaled-down replicas.  For he kept pestering Alfred about when he was going to make an honest woman out of her.  Alfred did his best to ignore him, but when Graham joined in on the harassment, Alfred had to concede to being out-gunned.

Ah, but Alfred had a proverbial ace up his sleeve with time needing to be spent on getting Blue Valley Academy up and running as soon as possible, and Miranda was well in his corner about that.  For she dreamed of being taught creative writing by actual writers and publishers, and there were many other subjects that piqued her curiosity—with not the least of these being fashion design and history.

Nonetheless, Miranda allocated plenty of time for more personal and romantic activities with Alfred—much to the delight of Edgar, Graham and her parents.  Alfred often accused them of conspiring against him, and none of them denied it.

Alfred was just kidding, of course, but he was genuinely concerned about not living up to expectations.  He had no doubts about Miranda, but he had plenty of doubts about not being able to make her as happy as she made him.

The proverbial final straw that broke the back of Alfred’s hesitation came when Miranda stomped into Alfred’s study in the main house at Rainbow’s End one evening and told him in no uncertain terms, “If you don’t actually ask me to marry you soon, I am going to start screaming, and everyone in the county is going to hear it!”

Alfred went down on one knee right then and there, and he went over to formally ask Miranda’s father for permission to marry his daughter the very next day.  Kenneth could not resist torturing Alfred a little, though.  For he answered Alfred’s plea with, “Well, I will need to talk it over with her mother,” but he could not keep a straight face with Alfred looking like he wanted to crawl under the rug.  By the way, Miranda and her mother were eavesdropping from the kitchen, and they both rushed into where Alfred was feeling like he was slowly dying an agonizing death to give him a big hug and smack Kenneth for being so mean.

There was a little of that sort of meanness to Alfred, as well.  When Edgar lit into him again the next day at Shire about when he was going to ask Miranda to marry him, Alfred told him with a perfectly straight face that she had turned him down with a laugh.  Alfred almost broke when he saw how disappointed Edgar looked, but he kept it up until Graham looked him square in the eyes.

Alfred thought Edgar was going to hit him when he found out that he had been had.  Graham later told Alfred that his future father-in-law had played along and told Edgar that he had never been prouder of his daughter as when she put Alfred in his place.  Edgar vowed to get even, and Alfred had no doubt that he would with plenty to spare.

Alfred had to admit to himself that he should not have been surprised at how meticulous the wedding details were planned.  For Miranda had been dreaming of her wedding since she was a little girl, and she had adjusted the setting to Rainbow’s End the night she had first met him.

It was her mother who told Alfred that last part and swore him to secrecy.  Alfred was very grateful and never betrayed her trust.

Nonetheless, Alfred was still as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs, as folks around those parts would say.  Edgar was well aware of how nervous Alfred was, and he thought his time to get even with Alfred had arrived when he and Graham spent the evening before the day of the wedding with Alfred at the main house.

“Are you looking forward to tomorrow night, Alfred?”  The big grin on Graham’s face belied the serious way he asked the question.  Edgar had an equally big grin on his face while Alfred looked rather green around his gills.

“I must admit that I am wrestling with a great deal anxiety right now, Graham.  To be quite honest about it, I am rather concerned about disappointing her after the ceremony is over, if you know what I mean.”

“Do not be afraid, Alfred.  I am quite sure you will do just fine, and you are going to have a wonderful night.”

Alfred exhaled deeply before replying.  “I am not so sure.  What if she is not as hungry for me as I am for her?”

Graham just kept on grinning while Edgar looked at Alfred incredulously.  Then he asked with a great deal of exasperation, “Are you kidding us?  The way she looks at you?  I am telling you, my boy, that sweet little kitty you are marrying will undoubtedly turn into a wildcat as soon as you two are alone and the covers get turned down on your bed.  Oh yeah, the fur is about to fly and you are going to like it!  That is, of course, unless you do not really like girls in that way.”

It was Alfred’s turn to sound exasperated when he asked, “What are you talking about, Edgar?”

“Well, they say that boys will be boys and girls will be girls, but there are some boys who want to be girls and only want to cuddle with boys.  Just like there are some girls who want to be boys and only want to cuddle with girls.”

Alfred’s eyes could not have been more wide as he looked at Edgar.  Then he lowered his head before softly replying, “Methinks you may have got out and about a little too much, my friend.”

Graham had just taken another big gulp of some very special reserve hard cider and was in the process of savoring it all of the way down to his gut.  The process was halted, and he only succeeded in swallowing half of it before spewing the rest across the room.  Edgar fell onto the floor and started rolling back and forth sideways while laughing hysterically.

Alfred looked dumbfounded by their reaction and said, “Come on now.  I realize that I used poor grammar, but it was not that funny!”

Graham lost his balance and fell onto the couch he was standing in front of while Edgar started to hiccup uncontrollably.  Alfred maintained his feigned dumbfounded look as he left the room thinking that the next night just might be  very special, indeed.

Alfred was comfortably in the saddle at the crack of dawn.  For he liked feeling the dew in the air as he watched the foals romp on the damp grass of the pasture they had free run of with their mothers.  Moreover, it helped him focus his mind on what he needed to attend to during the day at hand, and this morning was no exception.

By the time Alfred made it back to the stables, the butterflies in his stomach that had made him feel so queasy the day before were gone, and he was very much looking forward to the wedding ceremony scheduled to begin in just six very short hours.  Then would come a reception that would undoubtedly be a celebration talked about for years.  His great anxiety over the night afterward had even turned into great anticipation of it being the first of many such nights with Miranda in the kind of wedded bliss that troubadours sing songs about.

Alfred sat down to eat breakfast with the kitchen staff like he usually did when there were no guests present.  The staff looked very pleased as he wolfed down what was sat before him like he had not eaten in weeks.

“It is good to see you have your appetite, Alfred.  You are going to need all of the fuel you can consume for tonight!”

Alfred just grinned and chuckled to himself at the thought of how Miranda used to eat so daintily the first few times they ate together.  Although, she was soon proving that she could eat him under the table most of the time, and he wondered if she was scarfing down her breakfast about now.

As if she was reading his mind, another cook exclaimed, “My goodness, Miranda can sure put it away!”  It was like a floodgate had swung open.

“Yeah, I just love that girl!”

“I cannot imagine how she keeps such a fabulous figure.”

“Some girls are just born that way, I suppose.  I just know that I ain’t one of them.”

“Me, neither.”

Edward, the head chef, gave Alfred a concerned look, but Alfred just shrugged as he said, “I do not know how she does it, either.”

“I am sorry, sir.  It is a wonder how anything gets done around here with them always carrying on so.”

“Yeah, they do have a tendency to do that, but does it not help make this big ol’ house a home?”

It was making such observations that so endeared Alfred to his house staff.  For they truly came from his heart, and they knew it.

It seemed like the time for the wedding ceremony to begin came before Alfred could blink more than twice.  He did not even think about blinking for the rest of the day.

Miranda was the very definition of stunning in her shimming white satin wedding gown that was trimmed in scarlet and gold.  It was loosely brought together in the back with a scarlet and gold ribbon in a crisscross pattern.  A wide scarlet and gold sash gathered in the waist to accent that fabulous figure the ladies in the kitchen were going on about, and quite literally, no one could take their eyes off of her—certainly not Alfred.

Their wedding night was better than either Alfred or Miranda dared to dream.  It was indeed an auspicious start to a marriage that was surely made in Heaven, and neither one wanted the rapture to end.

If anything, Alfred and Miranda’s marriage just kept becoming better and better.  For they were truly like two peas in a pod, and they both looked forward to their working honeymoon in Europe.

Aside from seeing all of the recommended sights and sampling plenty of  the local cuisine, Alfred and Miranda met with many high-level officials in several countries to determine where the best locations for Shire regional offices would be.  A lot of that had to do with what all would be required to do business in a particular country and specific areas within each country.  Both Alfred and Miranda wanted Shire to be welcomed—not seen as an invading horde bound and determined to plant their flag.

Alfred marveled at how easily Miranda mingled with everyone from heads of state to keepers of small shops.  He knew that he had his charms, but Miranda was putting him to shame without even trying.

It was not just in regards to Shire business interests that Miranda was proving to be an invaluable partner to Alfred.  For she had several tenured professors of some of the most highly respected universities in Europe literally begging for a position at Blue Valley Academy.

Arguably. the highlight of their honeymoon trip came when a waiter in a small restaurant outside of Athens slipped Alfred a note asking him and Miranda to quietly use the back stairs to come up to an apartment above the restaurant to meet with someone.  The note did not say just who, and the newlyweds were most intrigued.

Alfred and Miranda threw caution to the wind, and they were delighted that they did.  For waiting on them in the apartment was a renowned Russian writer wanting a position at Blue Valley Academy.  He explained that his clandestine approach was on account of him being very tired of his celebrated status, and he thought that he might not be so celebrated if he taught at Blue Valley Academy under an assumed name.

Alfred and Miranda readily agreed to the Russian’s terms, and they never regretted their decision.  For he taught creative writing with every bit of the passion he had poured into his famous novels, and he had a delightful sense of humor, which was clearly evident when he would tear into one of his own books as if it was written by someone else.

No, the Russian did not remain unrecognized, but his true identity remained hidden.  For the fellow professors who recognized who he really was respected his desire to leave celebrity behind.

Alfred and Miranda could not have been more pleased,  For they had sought to recruit good people—not just great educators.

Amazingly, the Russian’s true identity continued to remain a secret.  Considering the fact that Blue Valley Academy had some of the finest minds in known existence, Alfred and Miranda did not know whether to be delighted or disturbed.

Their confusion was, of course, just in jest.  Nonetheless, it encouraged thought on what other great mysteries of the universe may lie hidden well within plain sight.

Alfred could recall his mother saying something about all that was hidden in the shadows would be brought out into the light someday.  He and his inquisitive wife hoped Blue Valley Academy, which will be referred to as being BVA from here on, would play a big role in that.

With both possessing voracious appetites for knowledge, Alfred and Miranda took as much advantage of what BVA had to offer as they possibly could.  Alfred focused more of his attention on subjects with direct connections to Shire products and projects while Miranda branched out a little more to include fine arts, music, literature and fashion design.  Nonetheless, they both dove headfirst into painting and architecture, as well as cultural studies, which could be argued as being essential to Shire continuing to thrive.

Miranda displayed a particular talent for linguistics, and she was known to address the house staff at the main house in French at times.  Miranda was also known to curse at Alfred in Russian and German—much to the delight of all within earshot.  She did not tell Alfred that she had learned much of that sort of German from Graham, whose mother was born in Munich.  With Graham’s father being a true Scot, it was no wonder that he would teach her such things.

Alfred could read the proverbial writing on the wall heralding the end of the horse and wagon age soon coming in favor of horsepower coming from internal combustion engines.  Furthermore, he could see where Shire could be part of the revolution by providing parts for cars and trucks—if not manufacturing entire vehicles.  After all, much of what they were already producing could be simply changed.

Building internal combustion engines would be something entirely new, of course.  Having world-class engineers and scientists readily accessible just might come in rather handy with that, though.

Speaking of changes, it would not be quite right to say that what happened next changed everything, but it did indeed change a lot.  For Alfred found himself staring right into the eyes of fatherhood.

The sociology and psychology departments at BVA could have made some quite interesting case studies on the sharp contrast between Alfred’s and Miranda’s apprehensions.  For Miranda was as excited as Alfred was worried.

No, it was not that Alfred did not want to become a father—just the opposite, actually.  It was just that Alfred was afraid that there might be a whole lot of his father in him lurking just below the surface.

Okay, Alfred being afraid of that is putting it way too harshly.  For it was more like concern—even great concern, but the way Miranda looked at him told him everything he needed to know about what kind of a father he would be to their child.  That is, at least beside the times she was cursing at him in Russian or German, of course.

Miranda gave birth to a very healthy bouncing baby boy they named, Peter.  Alfred had no idea just how much joy having a son could bring into his life, but this also caused him a great deal of anguish.  For he could not imagine how his own father could treat his own children so cruelly, but having Pete took that off of the proverbial scale.  It was nowhere close to being more than Alfred could handle, though.

Graham was born two years later, and German curse words could be heard echoing down the hallways of the main house again.  For Alfred insisting on calling Graham, RePete.  In the face of Miranda’s German tirades, Alfred would calmly explain that he did not want the old Graham to become confused, but Miranda was having none of it.

While pregnant with their third child two years after Graham was born, Miranda threatened to inflict serious bodily harm on Alfred if he tried to call their third son, RePetedly.  It would not be a far stretch to speculate that Amanda being born next may have saved Alfred a great deal of grief.

Amanda showing up almost really did change everything.  For she made her two older brothers appear to be model children.

No, it was not that Amanda was badly behaved, but she loved playing hide and go seek at a very young age.  The trouble with that was her often failing to let anyone know that she needed to be sought, and there was no way Alfred and Miranda could leave the very big house—let alone work at Shire or BVA, with their daughter missing for hours at a time at all hours of the day and night.

Alfred threatened to put a cowbell she could not cut off around the neck of their precious, precocious daughter, and that suggestion was met with more German curse words.  Quite frankly, there were times when Alfred was not at all sure that Miranda meant them in jest.

Miranda had a very hard time maintaining a straight face when she saw that pitiful look in Alfred’s eyes, but she endeavored to persevere.  For she knew that she would never hear the end of it from her parents, Old Graham and Edgar if she let Alfred get off of the proverbial hook too easily.

Edgar saw no reason to keep a straight face whenever he heard Graham being referred to as Old Graham, and this was especially true when he was in the old man’s presence.  However, Edgar eventually relented and started calling him Chairman Graham after Chairman, quite literally, Graham threatened to have him cleaning horse stalls instead of being the head of Shire’s Equine Subdivision if Edgar did not stop calling him, Old Graham.  Yes, as a matter of fact, Chairman Graham could maintain a straight face better than Miranda ever hoped to.

Chairman Graham was even better at getting even, and the way he came back at Alfred for starting the Old Graham craze was simply genius.  For he waited for a time when he was over at the main house with the entire brood present and announced that he would be bringing by a very special present for each child in a couple of days.  He did this so the children could pester their parents with endless questions about what their presents might be.

No, the children did not disappoint, and Chairman Graham was further rewarded by them going absolutely berserk when he brought over a Saint Bernard puppy for each of them.  Yes, that adds up to three puppies soon to grow up to be a total of well over three-hundred pounds of very big dogs.

Ah, but wait—there's more!  For the most rewarding part to Chairman Graham’s revenge was seeing Alfred slumped down in his easy chair not looking so easy.  One could even go as far as to insist that Alfred looked plumb queasy.

Chairman Graham could not help but pile on a little more by walking past Alfred and whispering, “Who’s the genius now?”  Alfred could not help but let out a soft chuckle in response.

The fullness of Alfred’s life was more than most dare to dream of, but Ruby’s absence left a hole in the whole that refused to shrink.  Moreover, Alfred had no idea that there were two other pieces of the proverbial puzzle still missing.