Kay's Story pt 10 - The Mültmanns

It was a wonder how quickly Elianna had built a routine into her easy on the ship that suited her so well.  She rose early to make it to the first breakfast serving.  It was a lovely quiet time in the dining hall then, and Elianna could read her Bible while stirring a little brown sugar into her porridge. 

            When the volume alerted Elianna to an increase of people, she gathered her things and transferred herself to the starboard parlour.  Here she enjoyed at least an hour of uninterrupted Latin studying.  David would be very proud of her progress.

            Before lunch Elianna took a walk about the ship.  By how the kiddies were up and at ‘em and by the time she came back around to the starboard side, she’d have been accosted by at least one group of adorable wee ones.  Today’s events held a jacks tournament before Meagan succeeded in pulling Elianna away for a few rounds of cat’s cradle. 

            Lunch was generally comprised of a light meal and brief but delightful time with the Middletons.  Elianna dazzled the girls with stories of Violet and Rosemary’s antics, wildlife, and other outdoor adventures.  Growing up in the city, the girls swooned over every mention of wild, waist-high buttercups and rope-swinging into the pond.  Even Victor, John and Susanna’s son, was soon tugging on Elianna’s sleeve for another Bible story, for Elianna told of Noah, Joshua, David, and Elijah as if she’d known them all herself.

            “I want to thank you, Elianna, for being so patient with the children.  They adore you,” Susanna told her one day after the kids had been excused to go play out on the deck. 

            Elianna smiled and looked into her lap.  “Oh, my pleasure, Susanna.  I adore them!”

            “I don’t know how John and I could’ve kept them from going stir-crazy on this ship if not for your stories and games.  Are you certain you’re committed to this governess position on Scotland’s shores?  Would you not reconsider the charm of London’s busy streets?”

            Elianna smiled again with a sigh.  She would’ve gladly endured city bustle instead of Sylvia’s general gratingness.  “I wish I could, Susanna.  But this is something I must do, if not for the integrity of my commitment then just for me personally.”

            Susanna gave her a reassuring hand squeeze.  She’d heard about Sylvia and her scheming, hypocritical ways over the past weak.  “Well you’ll have us just across the island if you need a break or get lonesome.  Think about coming at Christmas.  John and I won’t have to get the children any presents at all if we produce you, perhaps with a bow on top of your pretty little head.

            “Now, Elianna,” Susanna changed subjects, “tell me what you think of the Mültmanns.”  Susanna looked at her sideways with a little glint in her warm brown eyes.

            Elianna dawdled a few moments, using the time it took to refold her napkin to try to conceive a diplomatic response.

            “Well,” she began, “I don’t feel I know Ferdinand very well at all.  The couple of suppers we’ve shared together with you, he hasn’t said many words.” 

            “That’s fair, I suppose,” Susanna responded, looking out over the guests at different tables throughout the hall.  “No, he doesn’t seem to say much when Jasna’s around at least.  It’s not that she stole all the conversationalist genes in the family; it’s more to humour her, or to refrain from talking over her.  I don’t know where he gets it from.  His father and mother are very different.”

            “How is it that you each other?”

            “Oh, why John is Mr. Mültmann’s chief of staff.  He’s worked for him for twenty years—since they first emigrated from Germany.  Mr. Mültmann is the most personable man, and he is a good man, a smart man.  Good to his staff.  That tells a lot of his character.  The good runs through Ferdinand, too.  I only asked because it would seem that Ferdinand has been commissioned by his father to see about expanding the business; possibly build another factory in Scotland.  He’ll be around your neck of the woods shortly.  I thought it would be nice for your to know somebody.”

            Wonderful, Elianna thought.  She would have to cater to his airs indefinitely and endure the terrible lurchings of her stomach into the area of her throat whenever she caught a glance of his unapologetically masculine physiognomy and inappropriately broad shoulders. 

            Elianna caught herself.  God, she silently prayed, please forgive me.  Please change my attitude.  Might I seek ways to point him to Your beauty and grace as You’ve seen fit for us to meet and be strangers together in a new place.

            “What else can you tell me about him then, that I might be able to better befriend him?”  Elianna asked.

            “Not that much I’m afraid, dear.  He went to boarding school as a child and then to Oxford.  What was it that he studied?  Ancient languages perhaps.  Yes, that sounds about right.  He did some translation work along with his master’s studies but is now settling in to take over for his father.”

            “Does his family know God?”

            “If they do, they must think that they’d better keep in a secret.”

            “Hmm.” Elianna furrowed her brow.

            “You’ll be a good influence on him surely.”

            Elianna shook her head slightly.  “I can try.”

            “Just shine like you do when you’re with Meagan and the lot and you’ll do swimmingly!”  Susanna folded up her own napkin, rubbed Elianna’s back briefly, and departed to inquire over the sate of her “lot.”

            Elianna ambled slowly out to the deck, wrapping her purple shall around her as the sea air whipped about in pleasant lilts and trills.  The scent she inhaled deeply, closing her eyes and feeling the afternoon sun kiss her closed lids.  Her heart warmed as she thought of God’s kindness to her in the Middletons.  Their friendship had certainly eased the frantic discomfort Elianna had felt at the beginning over leaving her parents.  But with the thought of her dear, strong father and hardworking, wise mother, Elianna became conscious of the miles that were increasing between them each day she was at sea.  She thought of their conversation that day in the kitchen—what her mother had said about George.  What she wouldn’t give for a glimpse of his crooked grin right about now to set her at ease.  She though of his unusually quiet behavior on the way to the port and remembered the letter he handed her.  She had put it in the pocket of her green skirt….  She patted her full skirts, feeling if it was still there.  The folded envelope she drew out of her right pocket.  She grinned at the familiar scrawl across the front: “Lianna.” 

            Unable to hold back her merriment, Elianna jumped back and forth from one foot to the other, praising God in her heart for the timely reminder of George’s letter.  She broke the seal on the envelope and drew out the single page of boyish scrawl.