Red Hill Estate. By Lorrie Mae

Prentiss Family. Part 1.

The day was a beautiful spring day, and the members of the Prentiss Family were seated around the table in the kitchen.
The servants were serving the lunchtime meals.
The soup of the day was a thick vegetable broth and the delicious smell wafted through the rooms of the beautiful estate.
The gardens were a beautiful color of the flowers that were starting to peep out of the ground, this is the time of the year when everyone was feeling happy to be alive.
The trees were waving there green plumage back and forth in time with the wind as it sent a breath of fresh air every now and then.
As the family were finished the soup, the servants began clearing the table of the soup dishes and setting the dishes for the Roast that was sending a smell right through the house, it set the stomach to a rumbling sound of each of the family members, they always looked forward to this meal.
Dish after luscious dish was bought in
and placed onto the beautiful table that was the main centerpiece of the room.
The delicious smells that followed the servants as they began carrying in the main meal, roast beef roast lamb, roast potatoes and of course the fresh vegetables out of their own garden.
As the family sat and enjoyed their meal and the enjoyment of being together,  the chattering of the family was hearty and so loud, that they didn't hear the horses arriving in a hurry.

The horses stopped outside of the front entrance of the estate,  and the door of the beautiful carriage opened up and out stepped a elegantly dressed gentleman, he stood looking around and then slowly closed the door to the carriage, and thanking the man who sat high in the drivers seat, he said " Thank you Charles, you can have the rest of the day off, I appreciate all that you have done." 

The coach headed toward the stables, which were situated at the end of the drive, near the beautiful forest that surrounded the back of the estate.

Peter Prentiss loved to come home, he felt very comfortable here, and felt like he didn't have to put on an appearance of a dandy, like some of the other gentlemen he knew. He walked toward the beautiful carved wooden door of the home that he had come home too. He could hear the family all talking and laughing, he stomach started to growl as the smells of the family meal reached his nostrils, he hadn't eaten since he started on his journey early this morning.

He knocked on the door and then opened it to walk inside, everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at the man who had just entered, his youngest sister, Julia jumped up and gave her brother a huge hug, "I'm so glad you have come home, you are looking so well, where have you been, I can't believe that you are here." Peter was swinging his sister around laughing he gently placed her down in front of him and said, "Listen here little bean, I am still your elder brother, I love you all and I am here to stay now, so before your lunch goes cold please sit down and finish, I will join you, as soon as I see mother and father." he gently gave Julia a kiss on the cheek, "We will talk soon sis" and he walked over to where his mother and father sat.
"Hello mother, how are you." he asked as he bent and gave his beloved mother a kiss on her cheek, She looked up at her son and with tears in her eyes she held his hand and said, "I'm so glad that you are home son, I have missed you so much," she patted her son's hand, "We will talk soon mother,"
He moved over to his father, who held his hand up and grabbed ahold of his son's tall figure and held on to him , "I am so glad that you have come home Petey, using his name that he always called him, I have missed you so much."
Peter hugged his father so tight, the familiar smell of his father surrounded him, this is what I have missed and needed, I have done the right thing coming home.

"Sit down everyone and we shall all finish eating and then we can all catch up after, I am starving," he sat down next to his sister Julia and started eating the delicious soup that was placed in front of him, "Do we have a new cook, this is so good," he said. " Yes we have, her name is Isabella, you will like her, when you meet her," his sister said.
"What happened to Mrs. Burrows," Julia turned and said, "She passed away, she was murdered on her way home, and was left on the road just outside of our gates, it was so horrible, we have all been so scared, as they don't known who did it, she was beaten so badly and had her throat broken."
It's been along time now, two years in fact." Everyone was quiet and each one thinking about their friend, and each one had a tear in their eyes.
Peter sat with the family, trying to take in what he had just heard, Mrs. Burrows was the person he had know since he was a tiny boy, she mothered me he kept thinking, all of the times he had sat in the kitchen with her, she made the best cakes and cookies.
"Has anyone been charged with her murder." he said quietly, his father said, "I was talking to a few people in the village about it yesterday, and they said that the local constabulary had been questioning people who had come into town, thinking that it was one of them." "If you will excuse me, I need to have a walk and digest what you have just told me." he stood up and giving a kiss to his sisters and his mother he touched his father on the shoulder as he left and walked out side to begin his walk.