Grandfather Rupert to the rescue

She went to the door and opened it.

“Please come back,” she said.

In filed her brothers and father. Nicholas gave me a small smile. Paul looked at me suspiciously.

They all stood facing us.

“Father, my brothers,” she began. “Good Master Nicholas came here tonight as an honorable man.

“In the woods it was I, not he, who began the kiss. I was foolish. I let my feelings get out of hand.

“He came here tonight to do the right thing. But he also came to point out to me some problems that could come from my feelings for him.

“One of those things is our difference in ages. Out of the kindness of his heart, he is ready not to hold my youth against me.”

Her brother Nicholas snorted as he struggled to hide a laugh. I could see a twinkle in his eye.

“So I will respect his wishes. I have told him he may call on me until such time we resolve the problems – if that is agreeable to you, Father?”

“I do not know what to say,” Jacob said. “There is, ah, a difference.”

“Yes,” Anna Kristina said. “But as Grandfather Rupert showed, a difference does not doom something that is good.”

The brothers all looked at each other. Jacob nodded his head.

“All right, then,” he sighed. “Master Nicholas, you are welcome to visit as is fitting. But the rules must be observed. That is proper.”

Anna Kristina turned to me.

“I will ask mother if you may join us for dinner tomorrow. I will send word to you.”

“I thank you,” I said to her, and then said to her brothers and father, “I thank you all.”

“I will see you out,” her brother Nicholas said.

At the door I asked him, “What did she mean about Grandfather Rupert?”

“He was a widower,” Nicholas said. “At age 70, he married a 20 year old woman. They had three children, and 25 happy years together. He considered remarrying after she passed away, too.”

He closed the door.

I think I would have liked to know Rupert.