Page 48 of The Pursuit of Lord Kit Cavanaugh

“For you and Ned,” Kit replied. “And there’s one more thing—I think it would be a good idea if, after school each day, Ned came here, to the workshop, to see where you work and what goes on here, then he can walk home with you. That’s not only a suggestion to help Ned understand the work you do. We have another lad working here—Jack Deaver.”

Johnson blinked. “Jack the Lad?”

“Yes, that’s him. I want to get Jack thinking about going to school eventually—he’s bright and will do well, and will end up being able to earn substantially more. My first step’s been to make Jack an apprentice under Mulligan. Perhaps, if Ned comes here and likes what he sees of the work, in time, he might join Jack as an apprentice, and Jack might join Ned at the school.”

When Kit fell silent and looked at Johnson, inviting his response, Johnson, who had been staring as if mesmerized, swallowed and said, “That sounds too good to be true.”

Kit flashed him a smile. “Sometimes, in order to seize the good things in life, you just have to have faith and make a start.” He paused, his eyes on Johnson’s face as, clutching his cap tight, the big man blinked and looked back at him. Then Kit asked, “So what do you say? Come and work here and let’s see what we can manage—for Ned as well as yourself.”

Kit knew he hadn’t entirely assuaged Johnson’s deepest fear and added, “At the end of the day, you know you’re not the sort of father who will stand in the way of his son’s future.”

That set Johnson thinking, then he straightened in the chair, met Kit’s eyes, and nodded. “You’re right. I wasn’t thinking straight.” He drew breath and, raising his chin, said, “I’d be right pleased to come and work here. I know Mulligan and some of the others—I’d fit right in.”

Kit smiled and rose, bringing Johnson to his feet. “So they tell me.” He clapped Johnson on the shoulder, opened the office door, and steered the big man through. “Welcome to the crew of Cavanaugh Yachts.”

Mulligan, together with the other older men, looked across at the sound of footsteps.

Kit grinned and waved at Johnson. “We have a new recruit.” He halted with Johnson as Mulligan came up, dusting off his hands. “I’ll leave you with Mulligan. My secretary, Miss Petty, will be in later this afternoon—Mulligan will help you sign on with her, and then you’ll be one of this motley crew.”

The other men grinned, waved, or nodded in greeting, then continued with their work.

Mulligan nodded to Kit, then said to Johnson, “Come along, Bill. Caps and coats over here.” Mulligan led Johnson off to the rack of pegs the men had fixed along the workshop’s wall. “And then we could use your brawn right now—we’ve a lot of ribs to fix.”

Kit retreated to Wayland’s office, a satisfied glow warming his chest. He’d done something good, something worthwhile—he felt sure Sylvia would agree when he told her of it.

CHAPTER 10

In the afternoon, armed with the excuse of needing to tell Sylvia about Bill Johnson having watched her over recent days as well as the news that Ned would definitely be continuing at the school, Kit left the workshop and headed to Sylvia’s office. On finding the door shut, he turned his steps toward the school.

He found Sylvia there, overseeing the end of the school day.

“Wednesday is Miss Meggs’s day off,” Sylvia explained, even though he hadn’t asked, “so I always come over to help Jellicoe and Cross with getting the tribe away.” Illustrating the need, she raised her voice. “Johnny, you’ve forgotten your scarf.”

One young urchin skidded to a halt in his mad dash for the door and, swinging around, flashed her a grin. “Thank you, miss.” Then he raced back to his desk, grabbed the scarf from the seat where it had languished, and raced to catch up with his friends.

“It’s like a stampede,” Kit said, smiling at the thunder of feet and jostling bodies.

“They’re boys,” Sylvia countered. “They always move like that.”

The last of the herd vanished through the door, leaving Jellicoe and Cross catching their breaths. They waved up the hall at Kit, then retreated to their desks along the side wall, presumably to neaten their lesson sheets and get ready for the next day.

After returning their salutes, Kit swung to face Sylvia. “Speaking of boys, did you know one of those attending here—Ned Johnson—is living with his aunt while his father looks for work?”

Sylvia nodded. “It’s a rather sad case. Ned’s been quieter since he had to go and stay with his aunt—I think he misses his father.”

Kit realized he hadn’t thought of Ned feeling any other way; he blew out a short breath. “Well, that’s a relief, because I spent an hour this afternoon engineering a way for his father—Bill Johnson—to be able to rent a home in a few weeks and so have Ned live with him again.”

“You have?” Delight filled Sylvia’s eyes, her reaction even more of a fillip to his soul than Kit had hoped it would be.

Drinking in her expression, he slid his hands into his pockets and nodded. “Johnson came to ask me to intercede with you to get the school to stop teaching Ned.” As Cross and Jellicoe, alerted by Sylvia’s reaction, drew closer and settled to listen, Kit explained Bill Johnson’s fear that education would lead to Ned disowning him. “It seemed the situation with Ned living with his sister-in-law had exacerbated Johnson’s understandable anxiety. He has no book learning of any sort himself.”

Cross nodded sagely. “We run into that attitude more often than you might think.” He tipped his head at Sylvia. “Sylvia usually prevails, but we’ve lost a few along the way.”

“Sadly, that’s true,” Sylvia confirmed. “Mr. Johnson’s belief isn’t uncommon.”

“So how did you convince Johnson to leave Ned at school?” Jellicoe asked. “Whatever you did, we can only applaud—Ned is one of those pupils we would least like to lose.”

With Cross and Sylvia nodding in agreement, Kit felt even more vindicated in his meddling. “The long and the short of it is that I made a deal with Johnson—he’s already started working for Cavanaugh Yachts, and in return for him allowing Ned to continue at the school, in two weeks’ time, I’ll stand guarantor for Johnson’s income so he can rent a place of his own. He’s currently living in a hostel, which is why Ned’s with his aunt.”