49. The Mayor Arrives
'The Gamgees have arrived!' a breathless messenger panted in the doorway to the best parlour.
Merry started up from the easy chair by the fire where he was sipping brandy and regaling Saradoc, Esmeralda, Pippin, and Diamond with stories about the Rohirrim. 'What?' he said. 'It's the First of August!'
'So it is,' Pippin said easily. 'At least you've not lost track of the calendar, even though you've returned a month after your time!'
Until Merry had stood up, Estella had been perched on the arm of his chair, her arms around him, and had until this moment been filling in all the corners of his stories. Now she bounced to her feet and looked up, her eyes bright with mischief. 'Don't tell me!' she said. 'The Mayor has taken to calling unexpectedly!'
'No, my dear, they're invited guests,' Esmeralda said. 'Of course they are!' Strictly speaking, the Gamgees had a standing invitation to Brandy Hall.
As for the current circumstances, upon setting out from Edoras, Merry had sent a message to the Mayor in Hobbiton to notify him of the expected date of his arrival in Buckland. In the intense discussion he'd had with his parents upon his arrival with Estella the previous day, he'd informed them of how he had asked Sam for his aid in the campaign to send Pippin to the Southlands this winter. But, of course, no one who was in on the conspiracy was going to let slip that fact in Pippin's hearing. Merry's feigned surprise was simply one facet of keeping the entire plot a secret from its main object. To add fuel to the fire, he said now, 'Did you invite them, Pippin, to welcome us home?'
'I had no idea, myself, that you'd arrive when you did!' Pippin said, disclaiming all responsibility.
'Well then, it's a mystery,' Merry concluded.
Estella clapped her hands together. 'How I love a good surprise!' she said. 'But are we going to make them stand upon the stones, unwelcomed, ungreeted, as punishment for their temerity to show up unexpected?'
'No, we're going to go and give them a proper welcome for going to the trouble to come all this way!' Pippin said, with his best What's wrong with you people? look.
'I can see why my father made you Steward, cousin,' Merry said. 'You're full of good ideas!'
***
In the courtyard, Sam thumped Merry's back and muttered in his ear, 'When did you arrive?' under the cover of exchanging greetings.
'Yesterday,' Merry murmured, adding, 'Your timing is impeccable – as usual,' before stepping back and beaming at Rose and the children. 'Welcome!' he said. 'Such a nice surprise!'
'Well,' Sam said, 'it was such a wet spring that the good folk of Whitfurrows put off their harvest fest for a week! So as I unexpectedly have an empty spot in the diary for the First of August, and must be in Whitfurrows a week from today, I thought Brandy Hall a fine place to stop for a few days... if you'll have us, o' course.'
'If we'll have you!' Esmeralda cried. 'Why, every time you and your sweet wife and darling children brighten the Hall, I for one am tempted to keep you!'
'Can't have that,' Saradoc said sensibly to his wife. 'No, but needs must we have to share the good Mayor with the rest of the Shire, as is only right.'
'Hah,' Esmeralda said. 'Then let me warn you now, Samwise, that if you ever stop being Mayor, why, I will start a campaign to entice you and your family to become Bucklanders, just as the Oldbucks before you!'
'A tempting thought indeed,' Sam said diplomatically. 'I promise to give it some serious thought... but it's a seven-year term, as you know, so I still have some years remaining.'
'And more than some years, should you stand for election again at the end of your term!' Pippin said, clapping Sam on the shoulder.
'Why would I ever want to do that?' Sam said in honest amazement. 'I only went for Mayor in the first place because Mr Freddy gave me no peace about the matter! ...and he said Mr Frodo was in complete agreement, though how he'd know, with Frodo having been gone for some years by then, I'd no idea at the time.' He wiped at his eyes at the thought of Frodo, compounded by the further thought of Frodo being gone.
'And you believed him!' Pippin said, echoing Sam's amazement.
'In the end, he showed me a letter Mr Frodo had written him, all about it,' Samwise said, blinking back tears. 'If you can believe it, the two of them corresponded about it all, about me! ...and how I should make the best use of my time, once my master was gone...' He gave in to the struggle and pulled out his handkerchief to wipe his streaming eyes.
Before Frodo had known he was sailing, Sam's beloved Master had been anticipating death, as soon as October and the anniversary of the attack on Weathertop. In any event, Frodo had not expected to survive the winter of that year when he'd sailed away on an Elven ship. Though he'd hidden his struggles from Sam and his other cousins, Frodo had confided in Freddy, who had his own health issues as a reminder of his time in the Lockholes.
'Not all tears are evil,' Pippin said gently, accompanying the sentiment with a hug.
'And Elrond said he'd find healing and have a good, long time to enjoy Elvenhome,' Merry said as he wrapped his arms around the other Travellers, using the Shire term rather than the name the Half-elven lord had spoken for that Western Land that lies as far divided from the Shire as the width of the Sea, and perhaps more, considering how a ship must sail the Straight Road to come to its shores.
Sam nodded his bowed head without speaking, shaken by nearly silent sobs. When he raised his head at last, his two friends stepped back to give him space to wipe his eyes, blow his nose and tuck his handkerchief away once more. He nodded his thanks and put on a resolute smile.
'Now then,' Esmeralda said, taking Rose by the arm and having waited for the time to be right, and a little longer into the bargain, just to be safe and allow the Mayor to collect himself. 'Please, let me walk with you to the guest quarters, for I want to hear all about the doings in Hobbiton! And then I'll leave you to freshen up for tea... Teatime is at four o' the clock, as I'm sure you remember.'
'We remember!' Rose said with a laugh, now that her Sam had resumed his usual cheerful mien. 'And o' course we always make sure to leave early enough that we'll arrive before teatime, for tea in Buckland is something to write home about!'
'And has been, ever since the time of old Gorbadoc!' Sam declared, determinedly cheerful once more.
'My illustrious great-grandfather was known to keep a mighty generous table, or so I've been told,' Merry agreed, touching Sam's arm to indicate that he'd accompany Sam towards the Hall even as his mother led the way with Rose, chattering gaily.
Pippin paused to consult with Saradoc, who then turned to follow the others to the Hall. Next, after speaking briefly with the stable hobbits about accommodations for the Gamgees' ponies, Pippin hurried to catch up with the other Travellers, coming up on Sam's other side. The two older hobbits subtly slowed their pace to accommodate the young Steward's strained breathing, but Sam's eyes met Merry's in a lightning glance, and he nodded. He was fully in on the current conspiracy.
***
Author's note:
Fatty Bolger's conspiracy with Frodo to hide Frodo's declining health from Sam in the months and days before he rode to the Grey Havens and sailed with the Elves can be found in A Small and Passing Thing.
***