Clearing the Heir, Part 2
This story continues the story presented in Chapters 1 to 4 of Clearing the Heir.
S.R. 1388, Yuletide
Brief synopsis of Part 1:
Just before Yule, Otho, Lotho and Lobelia Sackville-Baggins pay a call to Bag End, armed with papers for Bilbo to sign to officially declare Otho his heir. Lobelia’s intention to stop over at Bag End and take inventory of the smial’s contents over Yuletide is interrupted by the arrival of an urgent message: Paladin Took, travelling through Bywater on his way with his family to Brandy Hall for Yule, has collapsed with a high fever. Would Bilbo, as a bachelor with no young children or other family who’d be put in danger, be willing to offer Paladin and his little family shelter until the good farmer was well enough to travel? (Assuming he did not die of the fever, that is.)
Of course Bilbo generously opens his home to his Tookish cousin’s family and finds himself minding three young lasses whilst Eglantine nurses her husband in Bilbo’s best guest room.
Best of all, Lobelia changes her mind about spending Yule at Bag End in the presence of a potentially deadly fever. She departs, taking Otho and Lotho with her but promising to return soon.
With Eglantine’s diligent care, the local healer’s efforts and Bilbo’s help, Paladin manages to fight off the fever. His recovery is both good and bad news, for Bilbo is quite sure that Lobelia will doubtless descend once again upon Bag End when the Tooks depart, whether they return to Whitwell or go on to Brandy Hall which was their intended destination before the fever struck.
From Chapter the Fourth: In which Bilbo discovers that Young Hobbits are to be Heard as well as Seen, has a Serious Discussion, and finds a Solution to a Problem.
They took tea all together, around the bed where Paladin sat propped up, and a merry occasion it was indeed. Of course, afterwards, Paladin was ready to sleep again, and after a time of story-telling, followed by a light supper, it was time to tuck the little ones into their bed once more. This time Eglantine was happy to do the honours, while Bilbo sat with his recovering cousin.
‘I cannot thank you enough for taking us in,’ Paladin said. ‘I don’t know what we would have done if...’
‘I cautioned your wife about borrowing trouble, earlier,’ Bilbo said. ‘I might say the same to you.’
‘How can I ever repay you?’ the farmer persisted.
‘We can talk about that later,’ Bilbo said. ‘Now tell me what you were doing, driving to Buckland while seriously ill?’
‘I didn’t think it was all that serious,’ Paladin said. ‘I cannot remember the last time I was ill. O aye, I had a headache, like as if one of the ponies had kicked me unawares, but... that was no reason... We always spend Yule at Brandy Hall, always. I promised my sister Ally we would, back when she was due to marry and be taken away to the Wilds of Buckland, away from her home and all her kin and all she loved, save that Brandybuck who’d stolen her heart away. She was in tears, I’ll tell you, the day before the wedding. “I cannot, Dinny, I cannot,” she sobbed. “Then don’t,” I says, for I’m a practical hobbit if naught else. “But I cannot live, not if it’s without him,” she says, and what am I to say to that? Either way, I’m to lose my sister!’
‘So what did you do?’ Bilbo asked.
‘I promised her, I’d visit faithfully every Yuletide and spend a month in the bargain,’ Paladin said. ‘There’s naught to be done on the farm, that time of year. Harvest’s in, and planting’s yet to start, and if I work at it I can have all the harness repaired and the plough oiled and ready to go on my return.’
‘And so you bring a little bit of Tookland with you when you come,’ Bilbo said. He thought of the musical lilt of the Tooks he’d heard in Esmeralda Brandybuck’s voice, and how it grew broader and deeper in the company of her brother, during those Yuletides he’d spent at Brandy Hall. It was true, every time he visited Buckland at Yuletide, Paladin was there with his family. He’d kept his promise.
‘Aye, a little bit o’ Tookland,’ Paladin said. ‘I’ve never missed a year since her wedding, not one.’ His eyes grew sorrowful as he thought of his promise, to be broken for the first time.
‘You might not have to miss this year,’ Bilbo said, patting his hand.
‘Ah, well,’ Paladin said, straightening, and deliberately changed the subject. ‘So, Eglantine told me you had visitors when we arrived.’
Bilbo laughed. ‘The Sackville-Bagginses,’ he affirmed. ‘So you see, you’ve already done me a great service, frightening them away with your threat of fever!’
Paladin chuckled. ‘The Talk is,’ he said, ‘that Lobelia thinks to be claiming Bag End one of these years, rather sooner than later if she has her way. I’ve even heard Talk that she intends to move in to succour you in your declining years. Did she bring a measuring stick with her, to work out where to put all her furniture?’
‘She doesn’t know that I’m planning to rival the Old Took,’ Bilbo said in a conspiratorial tone. ‘Don’t let’s tell her; we’ll let it be a surprise.’
Paladin grinned, but the grin faded. ‘Well I know what it is, not to have an heir,’ he said. ‘We’ve tried for years, my love and I, and all but given it up.’
‘All but?’ Bilbo said.
Paladin shook his head. ‘The last one gave her such trouble,’ he said, ‘the healer warned us off having any more. I don’t know who’ll inherit the farm... perhaps I ought to just let Lalia have it. I’ve managed to scrape together enough each year to pay on our debt, but it’s a hard row to hoe. Fortinbras was always fair, but Lalia...’
‘Have you talked to Ferumbras?’ Bilbo asked delicately.
Paladin snorted. ‘That one don’t wipe his...’ he changed, mid-phrase, but Bilbo hid a grin, knowing what he’d avoided saying, ‘...his nose without her permission.’
‘I didn’t say I don’t have an heir,’ Bilbo said, for an idea had been growing in his mind at the thought of Buckland. Frodo Baggins. He’s already a Baggins, as it were. How much trouble would it be...?
‘As a matter of fact,’ he said, ‘not to change the subject, but I was thinking of going to Brandy Hall myself for Yule this year. Why, Yuletide has barely begun. If we wrapped you up well and laid you in the back of the waggon with a lantern under the blankets to keep you warm, we could leave first thing! I could drive straight through, and we could be to Brandy Hall before they light the Yule Log...’
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