"Have you heard from him, Frodo?" Pippin asked anxiously as soon as his cousin arrived in Tuckborough.
Frodo shook his head. Merry had left the Shire a week ago; after one last, fearful quarrel with his father, he had finally made good on his long-standing threat to return to Gondor. They could only assume that he was on his way there now, and hoped he would reach Minas Tirith safely. It was a very long journey for a hobbit to make alone.
After Merry's departure from Brandy Hall, Frodo had returned home with Sam, intending to rest. The tragic conclusion of the case of Camellia Stillwaters' disappearance had left him feeling depressed and drained of all strength, but when they arrived at Bag End, he found a short note from Pippin waiting for him.
"Please come," Pippin's note had begged. "I need you here while that girl's visiting."
Frodo could not refuse such a plea. He'd immediately taken up his still-packed baggage and set out for Tuckborough against Sam's protests. Sam would have come with him, but didn't want to leave Rosie again so soon after being away from her for nearly a week.
Pippin had been keeping watch from the eastward slopes of the hill under which the Thain's Hall lay, and he came down to meet Frodo on the road and ask his question.
"I'm sorry, Pip. Not a word," Frodo said as they took his pony to the stables. Pippin looked crestfallen, and Frodo added, "If he's gotten as far as Bree and thought to send a message, it would take another week for the letter to reach us."
"I know, but I hoped..."
Frodo put an arm around his cousin, and they walked together to the Thain's Hall. "How are you bearing up?"
"It's been horrible," Pippin answered. "The worst of it is that there's no one I can talk to about Merry. Uncle Addy's kind, but he's been through much the same thing himself and I hate to trouble him, and the girls and Father won't understand. I'm sure Mother's thinking how nicely things have worked out, and that I can't help but accept- well-her now."
"Is she here yet?" asked Frodo. They were both referring to Diamond Took, a distant cousin from the northern branch of the family, the girl Pippin's parents had chosen for him to marry.
"No," said Pippin. "We're expecting her and Aunt Di to arrive tomorrow. Everybody's so eager to see her. I hope she's not too bad."
They went inside. Pippin's mother, Lady Eglantine, met them in the front hall. "Why, Frodo, what a surprise to see you! We weren't expecting you for a visit."
"I asked him to come and stay, Mother," said Pippin. "I hope you don't mind."
"Of course not," said Eglantine. "Frodo is always welcome here, but I wish you would have given us fair warning, Pippin dear, that he was coming. Why don't you show your guest to his room? I'm sure Frodo will want to wash up and change after his journey. Frodo, you may have the same room you slept in on your last visit, when you were here for Melilot's and Everard's wedding."
"The one you shared with Merry," said Pippin.
Eglantine ignored this. "It's ready to accommodate a visitor, and you'll find it most comfortable. We're having tea on the top terrace in half an hour and we'll be very happy if you join us, Frodo."
"Yes, Aunt Eggie, thank you." Frodo accompanied Pippin up the long, sharply slanted tunnel that led to the bedrooms.
"Mother was overjoyed when she heard that Merry had gone," Pippin said once they were out of Eglantine's hearing. "She tries not to look triumphant, but she thinks she'll have it her own way now. I won't put up a fight about marrying this girl anymore."
"And will you?"
"I don't know. Does it matter, now that Merry's gone?" Pippin's eyes misted, and he mumbled something about leaving Frodo to get ready for tea. He went into his own bedroom and shut the door.
Frodo went into the bathroom across the hallway for a quick wash, then into his room to change from his dusty riding clothes. When he came out, Pippin's door was still shut. Frodo returned to the lower level to find Eglantine and Thain Paladin talking together; he just caught Pippin's name being spoken, then the two stopped when they saw him.
Paladin came forward to greet him. "Ah, Frodo, it's good to see you, lad." He clasped Frodo by both shoulders. "I'm glad you've come. Our Pip is in need of his friends. The poor lad came home in tears last week, and wouldn't even tell us what had happened. We thought he'd quarreled with Merry. It wasn't until Doderic came down two days afterwards that we heard the news."
"I know that he's terribly distressed," Eglantine added in a sympathetic murmur, "but I believe that Merry's going away may truly be for the best. When Pippin recovers from his present disappointment, he'll see that this... relationship wasn't right. I've no objection to Merry Brandybuck as a friend for Pippin, but it shouldn't become more than that. These overwrought emotions over another boy are absurd. It's time that Pippin leaves such childish games behind. A nice, suitable, well-brought-up girl will help him to understand that."
Frodo had doubts about this, but he wasn't going to argue the point.
When Pippin emerged from his room, pink-eyed but composed, they went out of one of the back doors of the Hall and up to the flagstone terrace which lay atop the hill, surrounded by flower beds, and screened by bushes and decorative trees; between the greenery, the front lawn of the Hall and the lush gardens behind could be glimpsed, as well as vistas of the hills and valleys around Tuckborough. On sunny, summer afternoons such as this, the Tooks often had tea here to enjoy the fine weather and the view.
Pippin's sisters, Pim and Peri, and their cousin Ferdi were already on the terrace, and greeted Frodo with exclamations of happy surprise. When the Tooks from the next smial in the same hill, who were on their own half-circle patio farther down the hillside, saw that the Thain and his Lady had come out, they climbed the slope to join them and welcome the visitor before they went to get tea. In rapid succession, Frodo was greeted by Adelard Took, his daughters Ada and Flora, his elder son Reginard and daughter-in-law, Pippin's eldest sister, Pearl, as well as Ferdi's parents, Ferdinand and Floribunda Took, who lived in the smial on the other side of the Hall.
Frodo's cousin Melilot, who was married to Adelard's younger son, threw her arms around him. "Frodo, how wonderful! It's been ages since I've seen you."
Frodo returned the hug. "It's good to see you cheerful again, Melly. Are you and Ev happy?"
"Deliriously. Oh, it was a bit rough at first, with the scandal over the Clovers and poor Evvy feeling as if it were all his fault, but we seem to be doing very well now. Evvy," she turned to her husband, who was lingering a few feet away, "come and say hello to Frodo."
"Hullo, Frodo," said Everard, but did not join them. He looked rather sulky and made Frodo conscious that he and Melly still had their arms around each other.
"He isn't still upset that I proposed to you and you almost accepted, is he?" Frodo murmured to his cousin.
"I'm sure he hasn't forgotten it. I wouldn't let him," rejoined Melly. "It makes him more appreciative of his good fortune. Oh, but you haven't heard Dodi's news yet! Dodi-!"
Doderic Brandybuck, who was coming up the hill slowly, hand in hand with Adelard's youngest daughter Isalda, looked up at Melly's call and smiled. "Why, Frodo, what brings you here?" he said as they came closer. "You're not expecting another murder, are you?"
"Not this time, I hope," Frodo replied. "I've had quite enough of murder and death."
"I don't blame you after that awful business in Budgeford... although who can say how Aunt Eggie might react if Pip isn't nice to this girl he's supposed to marry?" said Dodi.
"I hope he won't be rude to her," said Isalda. "From all we've heard, Diamond Took is a shy, sensitive child, and it's really not her fault that Aunt Eggie and Aunt Di have arranged this match. Not everyone has the luck to be able to make their own choice in marriage." As she spoke, she hooked her arm around Dodi's.
"What's your news, Dodi?" Frodo asked as if he hadn't guessed it already. Since Dodi had been courting Isalda, he'd spent more time in Tuckborough than he had in Buckland.
Dodi's smile grew more foolish. "You must congratulate us, Frodo! I've asked Isalda for her hand, and she's accepted."
"That is marvelous!" Frodo offered his congratulations, hugged Dodi, and gave Isalda a kiss on the cheek. "But what about Uncle Saradoc?" he asked Dodi after Isalda had gone to join her sisters at the tea-table; Melly stayed with them. "Didn't he object?" Saradoc, Master of Brandy Hall and Merry's father, had decreed only last week that he did not want his young nephews to marry before his son; it was one of the reasons Merry had finally decided to leave.
Dodi shook his head. "Uncle Saradoc didn't let out a peep when I said I was coming here, and why. He's too stunned to put up a fuss about anything. I don't think he really believed Merry would go off like that--though I would have said it was only to be expected. He wasn't going to give in to his father over something so important to him."
"Merry's always been wild and adventuresome," agreed Melly. "He's talked so often of how exciting it was out in the Big Folk's world since you came home. It was only a matter of time before he left us again."
"The only surprise was that Pip didn't go with him."
"He might yet," said Melly. "If things here become too unbearable for him, poor lad."
"Anyway, since Merry's- ah- gone-" Dodi cast a wary glance at Pippin, who was sitting on the grass under one of the trees a safe distance away, playing with Reg and Pearl's baby, Peveril, "and we don't know when he'll ever be back, Mother suggested that Ilbie and I ought to settle matters with 'Stella Bolger and Isalda as soon as possible. After all, it's up to one of us to provide the next heir to Brandy Hall now."
What Dodi didn't say, but Frodo knew well, was that if Merry didn't come home, Dodi would become the next Master of the Hall in his place. The Brandybucks must all be thinking of this too, and preparing for that contingency.
"I'm glad it's worked out well for you," Frodo told him. "Merry would be too."
"We're grateful to him for standing up for us... only, I do wish it didn't have to come about this way. Mother thought that since I'm the elder son, Isalda and I ought to wed first. We've settled on October, and Ilbie and Estella can marry in the winter if they don't want to wait 'til next spring. Aunt Esme thought we might have one of the cottages in the lane for our honeymoon. Ivysmial is in the best condition, but Mentha's things are still there. Before you came, I was asking Melly if she wanted to come and take any of her sister's belongings before we had the place cleaned out. You don't mind, do you, Melly?"
"No," said Melilot. "It's got to be done. I haven't been back to Mentha's cottage since that day... you remember, Frodo."
Frodo remembered the day of Mentha's death very well; it had been on his mind of late, during his last investigation.
Flora came over to the trio. "He may be a closer cousin of yours, but you two mustn't keep Frodo to yourselves. Dodi, Isalda's waiting for you." She nodded to indicate her sister, who had piled a plate with enough cakes and sandwiches for two and saved a seat for her betrothed beside her on one of the benches; when Isalda smiled at Dodi, he went to her. "Frodo, Papa wants to talk to you." And, taking Frodo by the arm, Flora brought him over to Adelard.
"I wanted to ask, Frodo: you're here for Pippin's sake, aren't you?" Adelard asked and, when Frodo nodded, "Good. I hope you can help him. Perhaps he'll talk to you. We can all see how distressed the poor lad's been, and now he has to face this meeting." He glanced at Pippin, who was feeding little Peveril bits of scone with jam and cream and, for the moment, seemed as cheerful as the baby. "I've invited him to confide in me, but he won't."
"He didn't want to trouble you, Uncle," Frodo explained. "He sees that his... current problem is too much like your own."
"That was more than forty years ago!" said Adelard. "It doesn't disturb me to speak of it, especially now that it's talked of openly by everyone--even my children, although they seem to have taken it remarkably well. There are no secrets anymore. But, you see, because of that, I believe I understand Pip's situation better than anyone else can. I know just what he must be feeling."
"I'll tell Pippin that." Frodo hesitated, then asked, "How is Mr. Clover, by the way? Have you seen him?"
"I haven't seen him, but I hear that he's a broken hobbit," said Adelard. "He's returned to his home and children, you know. The daughter, Tansy, is looking after him as best she can, but their shop is closed."
"How do they live?"
"Paladin's kept an eye on them. He feels that the Clovers are our responsibility--he wants to make up for what our fathers did to Togold. I'm afraid the younger boy has never recovered from the shock of his brother's death. They say he drinks too much, and gets into all sorts of trouble in Tookbank."
Frodo was about to ask more about the Clover family, when Peri, who was looking out over the landscape before the Hall cried, "Look! There's someone coming!"
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The Wrong Girl by Kathryn Ramage
Story notes: This story takes place in the late summer of 1421 (S.R.), about a week after the end of "Love Letters."
No real slash here, since neither Sam nor Merry is actually in this story, but there is some heavy M/P angst and milder F/S yearnings. No het romance either, so readers may proceed secure in the knowledge that Pippin will engage in no icky girl-kissing.
March 2006
The Frodo Investigates! series
