August 30th, 1894 - Rowle Household

In the aftermath of the sinkhole, it had taken Jack far longer to get to check in on Mrs. Rowle than he would have liked. Her stay at the hospital hadn't been too long, a couple of days at most, after they had been able to magically take care of her injuries. Still, he worried about residual pain or long-term effects, especially with his more physical fix of putting her shoulder back into place.

This was just being a good healer, he told himself. It had nothing to do with the fact that he had found himself enjoying her company and their letter exchanges more than he remembered having done in a long time. Still, he had some flowers from the Potts ladies in hand, a bouquet that apparently said "get well" as best flowers could and some home remedies she could use if she was still feeling some after effects of the pit predicament.

After knocking on the door, the household staff let him in and he was redirected to the sitting room to wait. He felt oddly ill at ease, like he was intruding somehow. It had been a long time since he'd done something like this. Well, actually, he'd never actually paid calls to a lady before. His courtship with Lena had exactly been proper and so now he was wondering if he was breaching decorum somehow. Too late for that, he supposed.

Jack stood as Mrs. Rowle came in and he smile despite himself. "I meant to come by sooner, but the hospital has been busy. I did want to check in and see how you were fairing for myself, however." He said as he held out the bouquet for her.

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Evangeline Rowle c/o Henry Berkwood

  

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Evangeline thought that the best--or possibly worst--way to appreciate home was to be forced out of it for a period of time. Evangeline wouldn't have claimed to particularly lover her home--it had felt too much like a prison once, and though she'd worked hard to make it a happier place over the years, Eva was sure she would not miss it when the day came that she could hand over the reigns of it to Elliott when he was old enough to claim his birthright. But spending time in the sinkhole and then the hospital really rather put the comforts of home into perspective, didn't they? If nothing else, Evangeline had never been so grateful for her own bed.

She was not surprised when she was informed Mr. Collins had arrived--they were friends by now, she liked to think, and such thoughtfulness seemed right from him, but Eva would not have blamed him if she was very low on the priority list. She could only imagine how busy the hospital must be at the moment.

"I can only imagine how busy you must be," Eva said after greeting him. She returned his smile and accepted the flowers with some pleasant surprise. "Oh. Thank you." She'd never received flowers from a gentleman before she realized, somewhat belatedly. Edward certainly hadn't been one for that kind of sentiment--and probably knew his wife wouldn't want that from him, anyway--and well. Elias hadn't had the chance to do that sort of thing. There was irony in there somewhere. Eva carefully set the flowers down as she took her seat. "The shoulder's a bit sore still," she said honestly. "Though much better than it was."

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Set by Bee <3

It felt strange, to be sitting in company, even with Mrs. Rowle, as they had never quite seemed to catch the other at a good time, barring the zoo of course. He thought that she was genuinely surprised by the flowers and now he wondered if it was too much? It was normal for someone who had been in the hospital right? He couldn't just show up empty-handed either. Their conversations had always been enlightening and he had enjoyed their letters, so it shouldn't feel quite this awkward, but then again, Jack supposed he had never really done anything like this when it wasn't with family.

Sitting opposite her, Jack set his bag at his feet and wondered if that was odd. "I think things are tapering off. All of the minor injuries have been tended too and sent home." There were the more serious ones still, but Jack didn't feel it necessary to bring them up at present. "I brought something to help with any residual pain." He added, fishing in his bag for the potion he'd brewed specifically for stiffness or pain. He hoped it would help as he set it on the table with the flowers. "Everything else alright?" He hoped nobody she was close too was badly affected either.

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Though unaware of Mr. Collins' own thinking, it occurred to Eva that this was a bit strange. They had known each other for half a year now, and social calls had not been part of that. Not that she was complaining, of course. She had enjoyed their letters and their conversations--when they didn't involve bodily harm, anyway. Eva supposed strangeness was to be expected for any new experience, and at least this wasn't an unpleasant strangeness.

"I'm glad to hear it," she said. Sometimes it felt like wizarding Britain was cursed with how much horrible luck seemed to befall them all on a regular basis. It was probably better not to think of that, lest you become too paranoid to leave the house, but Eva thought it must be worse for healers than it was for most people. "Thankfully life has otherwise been very quiet," she said. "Nothing out of the ordinary to report, and hopefully it stays that way for a while." Eva chuckled lightly. "And you?" Hopefully there was something to take his mind off all the work he had on his hands, if even for a little while. "Your son is returning to Hogwarts in a couple of days, isn't he? Is he excited?"

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Set by Bee <3

"I think we could all use a little quiet." Jack agreed quietly. The magical community hadn't even gone a full year without a disaster that claimed lives. Last year it was the dragons; his department had gotten the overflow from St. Mungo's and it had been an ordeal. He was hoping they could go for a long while without anything quite so ugly happening again.

At the mention of Emerson, Jack shook himself from those less pleasant thoughts. "Yes, second year. It was nice having him home this summer." Jack realized just how quiet the house was when Emerson was gone off to school. He hadn't quite really figured out what it was until his son had returned from his first term in June. It seemed his first year had gone well though and it was good that Emerson was enjoying school, so Jack hadn't given away just how different everything felt. "How are Elliott and Emilia?" It must have been a good scare for them to have Evangeline in the hospital for a few days.

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"I imagine," Eva said. She had a feeling she was going to miss her children terribly in a couple of years when it was their time to go to Hogwarts. She tried not to think about it too much, but Evangeline was already sure that she was going to be one of those mothers who embarrassed her children, and she wasn't sure that she felt bad about it. Oops. "My own second year was just after the muggle riots," she reminisced. "What is it about summer that seems to attract chaos?" It wasn't the only time of year to do so, of course, but sometimes it felt that way.

"They're well," Eva said, shaking herself out of her reverie. "Happy to have me home, and I'm happy they've been safe at home." She smiled. "It may be the most in sync we've been as a family since they started speaking." Eva chuckled. She worked hard to have a favorable relationship with her children, but she also encouraged individualism in them. Occasionally that didn't work out so well for her, but she was figuring it all out as she went. The best example her parents had left for her was "don't force them to marry an abuser nearly three times their age." The bar was in Hell, which was incidentally where Eva assumed Edward was, too.

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Set by Bee <3