Who: Lucien and Maggie Swinton What: Talking about the future Where: The Lodge When: 11 December 1888 Ratings/warnings:
It had been a long time since Maggie had eagerly looked forward to the Christmas season, since she’d been a girl really. Once the family had moved back east she’d been increasingly caught up in schooling and preparation for marriage, and then she’d been shipped over to England to find a husband. While Charles had been a dear friend, her first marriage was a pale comparison to what she had now.
Married, mated, and a member of a much larger extended family than she possibly could have imagined just a few years ago she had so much more to look forward to now. And far more responsibilities as well. Responsibilities that included planning the Yule party.
Maggie frowned, gnawing absently on the inkpen in her hand as she considered the guest list. She’d divided the list into three parts. There were family (pack mostly), friends (both hers and Lucien’s), and those whom they really would rather not invite, but formality and politics demanded otherwise. Cassius Corbet definitely fell into the latter category.
With a sigh she added his name (and that of his new bride, the Lady Una) to the list and put the pen down. The invitations would go out in tomorrow’s post.
Upon hearing her sigh, Lucien looked up from his own work -- marking up a tenant’s rights bill that was horrifically convoluted and in desperate need of editing before going up to the floor once more -- and took advantage of the opportunity to set his work aside and make his way over to his wife’s writing-desk.
He kissed her temple. “How goes it, my darling?” He asked.
“The guest list is finished. That was the last of the hard part.” Maggie smiled at her husband's touch. “Everything else is planned out and scheduled, it's just a matter of carrying them out at the appropriate time.”
She’d poured over the budget and materials costs with Betty and Rogers, deciding what to serve for the party and how many guests they could afford to serve it to. While they were by no means poor, she couldn't afford to pretend that money was no object either. In the end she was satisfied that the honor of the family and the pack would be upheld. It wasn't that different from her life with Charles in that regard, she'd been expected to keep an eye on the household budget and do most of the planning for social events they'd hosted. Not that there had been many opportunities for that in the brief time they'd actually been married before he'd died and everything changed.
Dismissing the woolgathering she turned her attention to the man in front of her. “Is that bill still tying you in knots?” He’d been wrestling with it a few days now.
“Oh, naturally,” he said, with a rueful smile. “I suppose I’m over-thinking all the counter-arguments that’ll be made with the additions, and every time I tinker, new loopholes emerge.”
Vampires mostly had tenants -- and those tenants tended to be human; werewolves, by numbers, skewed in the opposite direction -- and the provisions for so-called ‘long-term’ tenants -- the same individual occupying the land for centuries -- would mostly apply to them, so something on the surface that appeared fairly straightforward had no end of fault lines.
Even within his own caucus, consensus was far from guaranteed.
“I keep running square into our particular body skewing far too heavily towards the gentry,” he added, thoughtfully. “Most of the older wolves are quite set in their ways when it comes to their own estates, but I suspect there’ll be some support for extending protections for the elderly and infirm. Or there will be if they know what’s good for them.”
He paused. “...That can hold its peace for another day or two. Tell me what I might do to lend a hand to my wonderful wife, who’s been so admirably managing the holidays while I’ve been fretting over politics.”
“You can spend a little time talking with your wonderful wife.” Maggie replied with a smile. “I’ve barely had a sentence at a time out of you since you started wrestling with that bill. It makes a girl jealous.” She didn’t begrudge him his work, it was necessary after all and it wasn’t as if he neglected her. This particular bill had been difficult for him, was all. “I don’t mind keeping an eye on the household finances, but there are some things only the Alpha can attend to.”
“Well, then, that settles it,” he said, pulling on her hands to help her to her feet, kissing her cheek, and leading her over to a couch. “I shan’t touch it for the rest of the day. We might go round and make some calls this afternoon, if you’re not otherwise occupied. I’ve been meaning to check in on the young Simon and his mother, and the Lewises could most likely do with some looking in, to see how Mary is taking to governess.” The loss of Katherine had required some shuffling, but Mary, one of the household staff, had stepped in.
He looked over at her. “But for the immediate future,” he said, covering her hand in his, “I’m yours to do with as you would. Tell me what’s on your mind, darling?”
He knew she’d had a pell-mell reintroduction to society after two years of mourning and hardly going out of doors let alone doing anything that might be considered running a household, but she’d tackled her enormous responsibilities with zeal. Still, their lives were busy, and while he deeply treasured the time they spent together in the stillness of the evenings and the privacy of their quarters, the running of a household and pack required coordination -- something he was still getting used to.
Maggie allowed herself to be led to the couch and leaned against him once they sat down, sighing at the comfort of his touch. It had been something like being tossed into a lake and forced to sink or swim since she’d married him, but she didn’t regret a second of it. “I’ve been doing my best to learn how the pack works and manage the household, but there’s been so much to see and do and understand. There are days when I wonder if I’m really fitting in or the pack is just humoring me because I’m your mate.” Everyone had been welcoming and kind, with the notable exception of Katherine who’d left the pack because of her. Surely there were others who took exception to the American who hadn’t even been a wolf three years taking their Alpha’s heart and bed?
“Oh, my darling,” Lucien replied, holding her hands in his. “I can only imagine what a whirlwind it’s been for you these last few months. Would it help at all if I told you that there are days I still feel utterly inadequate to my task? And I was born into it.”
He frowned a little. “I’ll admit to being biased, my love, as I think you’re rather wonderful, and I can honestly say that whenever I’ve heard mention, it’s been incredibly complimentary, but then again, I’m hardly the person they’d tell. Perhaps you might talk with Matthew? He tends to have a good read on how things are going, and he’s honest to a fault.” He raised her knuckles to kiss them. “And Maggie, love, it’s also a matter of our changing to fit you, too. And change in our world is slow, but I think in this case, particularly worthwhile.”
Matthew did have that reputation, and Maggie made a mental note to have a talk with Lucien’s Beta and oldest friend. Hopefully this was all in her head and nothing to worry about, but she couldn’t help but have that worry in the back of her mind.
She returned his gesture by bringing their hands up to her lips and kissing his knuckles, then released them and moved to rest her head on his shoulder. “I don’t want you all to change just because of me. There are things I think would be worthwhile, but I want them to happen because the pack thinks they’re worth doing and not just because they think it might make me happy. I’m the one coming from outside, the new American wolf. It’s up to me to learn how everyone does things before I start trying to change you.”
“Fair point,” Lucien replied, slipping his arm around her waist and brushing his lips against her temple. “Still, this world around us is changing, and rapidly, and bringing in a breath of fresh air is good for all of us. It gives us a chance to evolve, to grow stronger, to look ahead and anticipate better what’s to come.”
He smiled. “You are our greatest strength, my darling, and we are all better for having you. Myself included, of course.”
He leaned against her. “What’s the first thing that comes to your mind, in terms of reforms?”
Maggie didn’t reply right away, pondering the question for just a minute. “I think the first thing that comes to mind is bringing the farms into the 19th century. The pack’s farmers still reap by hand, Luce, by hand!” She was still a bit scandalized by the idea. “Mechanical reapers have been around for decades, especially out west and nowdays they’ll bind the sheaves too. If individual farmers can’t afford them, maybe we could buy one and loan it out.”
The only reason she even knew about the more modern designs was due to her father’s railroad business and the need to get grain to market. Modern farming methods and the demand of cities for food meant someone had to ship all that grain to where the mouths needed it. She’d been curious enough to ask questions of her father and his business partners on how things worked, and they in turn had pointed her to where she could get answers.
“It would free up some of the younger pack members to try new things and not be tied down on the farm because they have to help out with the harvest.”
“Matthew and I have been talking about getting him into engines,” he replied, thoughtfully, “training up some of the village lads to help. We might have to get an automobile,” he added, with a smile, “so he could thoroughly take it apart. And yes, it sounds like a worthwhile investment. Let’s make the plunge, and buy it enough in advance so we can have them sort out how it works, and how to fix it if needed.”
Maggie nodded along against his shoulder, thinking. “Automobiles are probably the future.” She scrunched her nose a little at the idea, preferring horses and trains or airships to the motor cars with their noise and stink. “And I wouldn’t be surprised if tractors were practical before much longer too, so the sooner our people are comfortable fixing engines the better.”
“We could look into bringing in electricity too, I hear Mr. Edison’s lightbulbs last hundreds of hours now.” Part of her didn’t want to think of such things, to leave Black Park preserved just as it was, trapped in amber, unchanging. But to do that would be a disservice to her adopted family.
If they didn’t want to be washed away by history they all needed to adjust to the changes coming ever more quickly as the years passed.
“Hm,” Lucien replied, “I’ll admit, I hadn’t considered that. Certainly the London house, and perhaps we might run some here on batteries -- I’ve known of some country houses do so. We might start off with just a few here, though -- the London household is far more used to electric lighting, from seeing it out and about, but there’ll be some hesitancy about it here, I’ve a feeling.” He grinned. “We might have to have a demonstration regarding the current, and what to watch out for, as well as how safe it tends to be. Perhaps your engineering friend could set something up.”
“Biddie?” Maggie thought of the airship executive demonstrating electric current and laughed. “I’m sure I could convince her to do it for me if I bribed her with enough ice cream, for someone like her it would be simple enough. You’re right though, baby steps might be needed at first out here. The science is still very young, almost as young as I am. I don’t want to change things too quickly or change for change’s sake.”
“Altogether too reasonable of you,” he replied, laughing. “Let’s look into having your Biddie talk with our London household, and see what it would take to start wiring the house there,” he replied. “The Lodge can wait for a while yet, and by then, many of the pack will be used to it enough to make it seamless.”
He grinned, then, and leaned over to nuzzle her neck. “And she can have as many ice creams as she wishes,” he added.