In The Bounce in the
Captain's Boots, the hero's father is Frederick Hathaway, an ambitious
gentleman you may remember from the first book in the series, where he
was the father, on that occasion, to the heroine.
He would
agree with her, no doubt. Few folk argue with Lady Bramley and he certainly would never dare.
Mr.
Hathaway brought his family from the Norfolk countryside to the busy metropolis
of London some years ago, in hope of improving their social status, as well as
expanding his fortune.
On the
surface it would seem as if everything is going to plan for Mr. Frederick
Hathaway. But, unfortunately for him, his children have not quite followed the
path he'd hoped. His eldest son, Guy, went into the navy as a boy of fourteen,
which completely crushed his hopes for that child. His second son, Edward,
became a curate and moved back to Norfolk, and his eldest, prettiest daughter,
Maria - who, at one time had hoped to marry a viscount - has settled for an
unprepossessing solicitor.
To top it
all off, his second daughter, Georgiana - whose story you may have read in the
first book - married a naval hero who happens to be an eccentric recluse! With
one son-in-law that he has no fancy to exhibit about town and another who
refuses to be shown off, poor Mr. Hathaway is at the end of his tether.
It will be
a while yet before his younger sons are of an age to marry and the children by
his second wife are all under the age of five. He begins to think he will never
live long enough to see his grand plans to fruition. Will none of his children think
of raising the family status when they marry?
In a house
crowded with children from two marriages, with a wife who can barely bring
herself to get out of bed most days and harried servants forever resigning, Frederick
feels his life turning out very differently to the way he'd envisaged.
As for Guy,
his eldest ingrate of a son, what is he doing home again on leave? Was he not
home two years ago? He's come home now with a black eye - more scandal for the
neighbors. Frederick can only hope Captain Guy Hathaway has not come home with
another wife abruptly acquired during a drunken evening in a Spanish port. They
were lucky to get the last one annulled before any further damage was done. But
Guy seems drawn to dangerous women and precarious situations. There is no hope
of him making a respectable marriage now.
* * * *
When
it came to his eldest son, Frederick Hathaway had always maintained the view
that he was better off not knowing anything that went on. Consequently there remained between
father and son a cautious distance. They might as well be two slight
acquaintances that once met at a dinner party and, ever since, felt obliged to
nod to each other when they crossed paths, even though names had been
forgotten.
"How long do you plan to stay in
London?" his father muttered, returning to the brandy decanter, his tone
dreary.
Guy exhaled a sigh. "Oh, only a
week or so. I must report to the ship in the new year and I'll be at sea by
march. Don't worry. I shan't get in anybody's way or embarrass you. Too
much."
"Good. See that you don't. Pity
you can't get yourself a half-way decent, respectable wife, but I suppose we
might as well give up on that idea."
And then, in that moment, as Guy
watched his father turn away yet again, those slumped, weary shoulders bent
over the decanter, he felt the sudden urge to light the fuse of a gunpowder
barrel. He'd always been the mischievous son and on this day, with rain
rattling the windows like battle drums and his father being so ambivalent to
see him, he wanted to wake the whole house, the entire square, out of its
pompous complacency. Give them all something new to talk about.
* * * *
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