“But if you want to hasten the process, shake the bed and let the baby come.”
“Okay!” I placed my hands on my wife’s shoulders and pulled her away from my mother, “That’s enough advice from you for today.” I called over my shoulder as I led my wife out towards the porch.
“Well, I certainly didn’t think about that option for having a kid!”
I chuckled as my wife slipped from my hands and quickly stepped towards the rocking chair. I watched her with a frown as she dropped into the chair with a relaxed groan. I continued to glare at her as she rocked a few times before she finally opened her eyes and saw me.
“What?”
“What do you mean what? You know that that chair is the only reason I keep coming back to this house?”
“What about seeing your poor old mother?”
I raised an eyebrow as I walked towards the railing and leaned against it. “What about this house gives poor to you?”
“So you admit she’s old?”
I mocked her dramatically causing her to laugh. Deciding that watching her in all her glee on the rocking chair was too much punishment, I turned to face the field. It was a sprawling vineyard that had been in the family for generations. Now, however, there were many questions about the progression of the tradition.
“You know, this chair is actually remarkable! I can see why you love coming here for it!” I peered over my shoulder to see her grinning widely at me. Rolling my eyes, I chose to be the bigger person. Taking a deep breath, I turned back towards the fields.
“Wow, I can feel my joints just reset! My aches vanish! It’s like a miracle-” I turned around and rushed her. She tried to push herself from the chair but between her haste and laughter, she couldn’t do much against its rhythmic swaying. Just as she managed to hold onto the armrests and push herself upwards, I was on her. Pulling her arms from the chair, I quickly stooped low and threw her over my shoulder. She did little to struggle, much to overcome by her laughter as I started my march towards a lake that I knew to be particularly cold this time of year.
“That’s the way, boy!” I froze as I heard my mother’s voice. My wife’s laughter slowed to giggles before cutting off entirely as she realised the situation we were caught in once more. “Take her to the bedroom and give me a grandchild. That would make this whole mess blow over much more smoothly.”
I slowly lowered my wife to the ground as I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly. “Mom…”
“I don’t want to hear any of that.” She groaned as she sat in her rocking chair, the sound causing my wife to snort as she jabbed me in my side. There was no way I was getting that rocking chair now that mom had claimed it for herself. “You know what this land means to the family. Just because you went and married a competitor doesn’t mean you can just give up on your responsibilities!”
“We’ve actually merged the companies thanks to our marriage…” I winced as I heard my wife’s response.
“That may be… but you have three brothers, all with children. The only son of mine that seemed to be willing to give me a grandchild had upped and gone!”
I shared a look with my wife. It had been a well-kept secret that my brother was gay… Now that he was gone, besides whoever his partners were, my wife and I were the only other people who knew. A feat we were astounded by even to this day. It almost made these types of comments from my mother a hilarious inside joke between the three of us… well, the two of us now.
“We’re still young. When the time is right-”
“Jeremy was young too!” She blurted out, waving her hand belligerently as she rocked back and forward. “And look where he is now! Him and all of his promises! So, I don’t want promises from you either! I want results. Heaven knows I’m next. Before I go, I need to see that this land is kept within the family! That’s the promise that’s engraved in the very blood you got all the way from before my great granddaddy’s great granddaddy!
I sighed, “Mom.” She stared at me with those same hard eyes that had frightened me many times as a boy. There had been too many stories about the way she got those eyes for me to be afraid any more. “Do you think that I’ve ever done anything that goes against what’s best for the family?”
She huffed for a moment, opening her mouth and closing it a few times. “Well, I know that you’re the one that’s more likely to give me a legitimate child out of the two of you.” I baulked at her words, turning to my wife to see if she heard my mother as well. “What? You’re asking me if I think you won’t give me a grandchild and do right by the family, right? Well, I know that you will… Just as I knew that your brother wasn’t interested in anything to do with giving me a legitimate heir. There’s nothing that goes on in this estate that I don’t know about, boy.”
I stood there dumbfounded and confused as she shuffled on her rocking chair. “Must you make your mother spell it out for you? I want to see a grandchild before I go! This isn’t about the land, okay? It’s the one request I have as your mother… not as the duchess.”
I stared at her solemnly for a few moments. Her cold defences were completely gone…
“We’ll do our best, ma'am.” I turned to my wife who smiled warmly at my mother. She looked back at her with a smile that held a foreign softness to it. She turned to me once again.
“This is all the alcohol and grief speaking. Just as your brother had much to hide, so too did I. Weakness if not permitted in our lineage. It’s why I wanted him to inherit the land. He was much more acquainted with the hardships of hiding himself than you were. You always were so free. How could I take that away from both of my children? I’m tired now, though. I didn’t want to see you change with the position, but maybe this one can help you keep yourself through it all. Maybe… In any case, I would like to be a grandmother the way I wasn’t allowed to be a mother. So, bring me back a child when next you come to visit.”
“What about the land? Won’t you need me to return to claim the title?”
“Take the titles and tend to your wife’s lands until I die. I will manage it in your stead. I’ll make your life as easy as I can for the rest of it. Besides,” she waved me off as I tried to interject. “I’ll need something to do while I’m waiting for the little one.”
I nodded, unsure what to say. Saying goodnight, I left towards the house provided for her beyond the first field.
“Did we just get conned into agreeing to have kids?”
I turned to my wife, her smile belying the weight of the question. “If we were talking about the duchess, I’d agree. But I haven’t met my mother enough to know whether that’s the case or not…”
She wrapped her hands around mine and pulled me closer. “It’s not like we weren’t trying anyway…”
I nodded, though I was completely out of it. My brother was truly a magician. Never in a million