Before The Snow Falls | Holiday Novella

The Englishman

Hertford, England

1867

"Will, did you know your son has gone a little mad?"

Felix scowled in the direction of his Uncle Leo, who was very audibly whispering in the ear of Felix's father.

"I have not gone mad," Felix mumbled, though he didn't say it very confidently. Because he then stood up, walked to the front entryway of Rosecrest Manor, and checked the platter where the post was deposited... only to find it empty. It really shouldn't have been a surprise, considering that Felix had done the same thing not ten minutes earlier.

Entering the parlor once more, Felix noticed the way Uncle Leo's eyebrows rose into his white-blond hairline. "Is that so?" the older man drawled.

Felix ignored the comment, as well as the way his father's blue eyes followed him across the room curiously. Dropping into the armchair across from both men, Felix grabbed his drink and stared into the amber-colored liquid. He swirled it around the glass, watching as it clung to its sides before dripping slowly back toward the bottom.

"Didn't you ever tell him not to play with his food?" Felix heard Leo's voice chastise again.

"I did," his father's deep timbre replied dryly. "And we talked about not playing around with our liquor, but this isn't precisely what I had been referring to at the time."

Felix took a large swig from his glass, enjoying the way the alcohol burned as it traveled down his throat. Finally, he looked at the two lords sitting side by side. They did not resemble each other in the slightest. His father's hair was curly and dark, with the occasional gray streak peppered in, whereas everything about Uncle Leo's complexion and coloring was pale in comparison. After all, they weren't actually brothers. Just best friends.

But while their physical attributes might be opposite of each other, their expressions were identical as they looked at Felix with concern.

"Is there something you'd like to...talk about, son?" his father asked, one brow rising ever so slightly in time with the question.

"Oh, I think we all know what's on his mind," Leo said, smirking before Felix's father elbowed him in the stomach, and he doubled over dramatically.

Felix frowned. "If we all know, then we needn't speak of it."

"Of course, we don't need to," his father replied. "But would you like to?"

Running his fingers through his hair, Felix sighed. "You know how I sent Nora that letter?"

Both men nodded in reply.

"Well...I sent another one," Felix muttered.

"Oh," his father said in a perfunctory response. Felix could see the slight amusement lurking behind his expression and hated that he was enjoying this. "Well," the older man continued, "had she replied to the first one?"

"Uh, no," Felix said awkwardly. "I sent it before she replied."

The hidden grin on his father's face revealed itself further. Uncle Leo, on the other hand, was not even attempting to conceal his mirth.

"Do not look at me like that," Felix said in reply to their expressions. Finding his glass empty, he went to fill it once more. He would need liquid encouragement to deal with the rejection of Nora and his meddling mentor figures.

"It's just unlike you to care so much about a chit," Leo said, chuckling.

"She's not just a chit," Felix replied with a glare.