"Hush though, and listen. If you're quiet, you can hear their whispers in the water calling to those left behind. Hush and you can hear them lurking, waiting for the day they can make their return." LaTanya McQueen, When the Reckoning Comes
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XVI.
Joe and Ed's father left not long after he had declared his grand plan to secure the future of the Evesham estate. The silence in the room was deafening as the two brothers stared at one another as they tried to make sense of what had just happened.
Joe, however, was more shocked at Ed's acceptance of their father's idea. It was then that he managed to find his tongue. "What on earth?" he gasped.
There was a sadness within Ed's eyes suddenly, and he averted his gaze. This reaction brought Joe off of his bed, and he crossed the room in and instant to stand beside his brother.
"You know Father's position, Joe," he murmured.
"That was not of your making," Joe retorted.
"It is not yours either, no matter how you might blame yourself," Ed countered.
There certainly were times when Joe blamed himself for their family predicament. It was easy to do so when he was told that it was his fault. Why else would he have to go without? Why else would he have to be separated from his brother for so much of their lives?
"There is barely anything left, Joe," Ed emphasised. "You know that Mother's trust was left for my education, and that is the only money that Father does not have access to."
Their mother's dowry had been set aside by their maternal family's solicitor for the education of her eldest son. Ed had been able to attend the best schools because of this forethought. What their mother's family had not considered, however, was the fact that she would bear twins.
"I do not see why you should be punished for Father's gambling. I do not see why Perrie ought to be punished for Father's gambling!"
"Marriage to me would be a punishment, would it?" Ed challenged, looking up at Joe with his eyes narrowing.
Joe sucked in a sharp breath. "That is not what I meant, and you know it." Joe sighed. "Why would you agree to this? In all our life, I have never seen you so quick to succumb to Father's will."
Ed shook his head. "I know that was not what you meant," he agreed. Ed looked entirely torn. Gone completely was the confident young man who had strode in through Ashwood's front door ready to protect Joe. Joe, in turn, felt an overwhelming sense of over-protectiveness himself. "I was having an affair with a woman of low birth in Cambridge and Father found out about it," Ed confessed quietly. "He travelled to Cambridge and confronted me, and he forced me to end it with her. He laid out our family's predicament before me and told me that in order for our estate to survive beyond his generation, I would need to marry, and marry well."
Joe knelt down before Ed as his mouth hung open slightly. "You were engaged in an affair?"
"Is that all you got out of that?" Ed scoffed with a roll of his eyes.
"Did you love her?"
"It doesn't matter," Ed replied dismissively. "I made a deal with Father, and I must honour it. I had not expected him to set his sights on someone so soon, but I could like her if I tried."
"A deal?" Joe repeated, temporarily ignoring the fact that his brother had pondered trying to like Perrie Beresford. "A deal encompasses mutual gain. What do you benefit from this arrangement?"
Ed cupped Joe's face, before he murmured, "I won't inherit a penniless estate." Ed then stood up from the writing desk and took a few steps away from Joe.
"Perrie is not security." Perrie was certainly a lot of things, but she wasn't her monetary value. The idea of Ed pursuing Perrie in this way made Joe's insides twist. His father's words rang inside of his head at other men doing exactly the same thing upon her debut next year. It was wrong, and Joe did not like it at all.
"Are you sweet on her, brother?" Ed asked simply.
"No," Joe rebuffed immediately. "I would rather wed a toad."
Ed pursed his lips for a moment. "If she rejects me, then there is nothing I can do about it. But I will have kept up my end of the bargain." He took a deep breath. "Do not worry about me," he urged. "And do not worry about your Lady Perrie, either. Odds are she will see my face and associate it with you, and she will loathe me, too. The reason I am here is to see my brother again. That is all."
Joe could not escape the feeling that his brother was not telling him everything, but Ed was entirely tight lipped. He was often this way when he was trying to protect Joe.
"You have always protected me from Father. I feel I need to start doing the same thing for you," Joe said quietly after a moment of silence between them.
Ed's face softened.
"Father has not even acknowledged my existence since arriving at Ashwood. Really, you have no reason to protect me. I have every reason to protect you."
"You have seen the reason Father's mind had been preoccupied. He will turn his attention to you, and when he does, I will be there to block him," Ed said with determination. "I told you that I have come here for you, Joe. Everything I do, I do for you."
Joe could hear the sincerity in his brother's words. He knew that Ed meant every part of it. He knew that their father's attention would eventually turn to him. He knew that his father would look at him and call him a failure, and that he would still have something to offer the world had he not blown himself up and wound up deaf.
But despite all that, what was twisting his stomach more in that moment was Perrie being a part of this plan to restore the Evesham estate. What if Ed was wrong and she did not reject him? What if Perrie accepted Ed?
"She's maddening," Joe murmured. "But she does have a heart." Joe had seen it plain as day. "Don't toy with her."
"I would never," promised Ed as he came to place a hand on Joe's shoulder. "I am proud of what you have done here, Joe. It is clear that this family hold you in high esteem. You have earned their respect as you have always had mine."
***
"Promise not to leave my side when we go into breakfast this morning," Perrie burst into Lily's bedroom without knocking. In doing so, and catching her sister about to head behind her privacy screen, she was reminded of the last time that she had so entered a room, and the state that she had caught its occupant in. She really needed to learn to knock.
Perrie noticed immediately that Lily was not alone as one of the maids was there ready to help her dress.
Lily frowned before disappearing, and shortly afterward she tossed her nightgown over the top of the screen. The housemaid collected the nightgown and put it away, before she moved behind the screen to affix Lily's buttons.
Perrie flitted over to her sister's bed and sat down while she waited for the maid to finish. Two minutes passed and both Lily and the maid walked out from behind the screen. The maid curtseyed to them both before leaving and Lily looked at Perrie expectantly.
"Do you promise?" Perrie prompted.
"Yes, but why?"
"I made a fool of myself in front of Mr Parish," Perrie groaned.
Lily smirked. "Which one?"
Perrie threw her head back on Lily's made bed, no doubt untidying her neat braids. She did not care. "The one I am least likely to murder."
"Mr Edmund," Lily surmised.
"Yes," confirmed Perrie. "What's worse is I think he is actually quite a charming gentleman and he seems ... amused with me, I feel. It only makes my humiliation worse, so I need you to stay by my side so that I do not say or do anything stupid."
"Perrie!" cried Lily. "I am only human. How on earth am I supposed to ensure that you do not say or do anything stupid?"
"Ha ha," sarcastically retorted Perrie. "You are very hilarious, and I will set my sights on you, too, Cecily if you are not careful."
Lily giggled. "Go on then. What did you do to embarrass yourself in front of Mr Edmund? Were you simply being yourself?"
Perrie scrambled to snatch a pillow from underneath her head before she threw it at her younger sister. Lily artfully dodged it, laughing still. "I muddled him and his horrid brother up," she snapped with a moan. "Now do as I bid and protect me!"
Lily was still highly amused as she and Perrie walked downstairs to breakfast. When they entered the dining room, Charlie and Alice were already seated and eating, and their father and the viscount both had their noses buried behind a newspaper. Both Edmund, Ed as Joe called him, and Joe, were also beside each other, helping themselves to the lavish dishes. But the moment the young ladies appeared, the gentlemen all abandoned their breakfast dishes and occupations and rose.
"Ahem," Adam cleared his throat. "Charlie Beresford. You are a young man now. You stand when a lady enters a room."
Charlie's spoon was laden with egg and was practically in his mouth when he dropped it with a clatter and stood up from his chair.
"Good morning, Papa," Perrie and Lily said in unison, before they offered their soft greetings to the other occupants of the dining room.
When Perrie finally came to look at the brothers, she had to concentrate. When she had first walked in and saw them eating their meals, she really had no idea which twin was which. But now that they were looking at her, it was clear. Ed was smiling in a friendly and jovial way. Joe wore an anxious sort of scowl. It was the same expression that he had been wearing the evening before when he had all but disappeared underneath the table.
"Good morning, Lady Perrie," Ed greeted cheerfully, with no semblance of teasing in his tone despite him having ample ammunition to embarrass her. Perhaps he was not like his brother at all.
"Good morning, Mr Parish," Perrie replied, hoping that her voice sounded even and confident, and not nervous and tense. "Mr Parish," she added in Joe's direction.
Joe's brown eyes flicked to Perrie's and he bowed his head, but said nothing.
"How are you this morning, my lady?" Ed continued on pleasantly.
He seemed determined to be friendly, and were Ed his brother, Perrie would have been suspicious, but he was not. Perhaps he was really just a good gentleman, and he had forgiven Perrie her ridiculous faux pas, both down at the pond and in the library.
"Fine, thank you," Perrie breathed. "I hope you slept well."
"I can assure you that the accommodations here are far greater than I am used to at school." Ed smiled.
"I think the beds at Mrs Liscombe's, the school Lily and I went to, were made of rocks." Perrie returned Ed's smile and began to butter some bread.
"It must be a conspiracy then. The more uncomfortable a bed, the less time one spends sleeping, and the more time one will spend in the library studying."
Perrie laughed, before she added, "Though we were not studying anything particularly important at Mrs Liscombe's. Unless the history of the milk cow is a subject that you partake in."
Lily subtly nudged Perrie with her elbow as Ed frowned.
"Milk cow?"
"Oh, er, is farming not an area of interest for Cambridge scholars?" Perrie fumbled through her lie.
"I suppose there was occasion to study agriculture," Ed replied thoughtfully. "I am pleased to hear the ladies' schools are offering a similar sort of curriculum."
Perrie supposed that the closest thing to agriculture that the girls at Mrs Liscombe's school was how to identify a gentleman who owned extensive land. How frivolous and ridiculous that was.
"Now that we speak of land, I should very much like to see the grounds of Ashwood House. I have seen only a little. Are you a good horsewoman, my lady? Would you be so kind as to by my tour guide? We could put a small party together," Ed suggested.
Ed's face was so kind and cheerful, that Perrie wondered if Joe would look this way if he ever smiled nicely. That was a stupid thought. Of course, he would. They were identical. Joe ought to smile more. By the evidence on Ed's face, Joe would have had a nice smile if he bothered to sit up straight. Why did he insist on sitting like that?
Joe looked so dreadfully uncomfortable and Perrie didn't understand why. His brother was there, and he seemed so personable and lovely despite how ridiculous Perrie had been, and Perrie was certain that Ed loved Joe very much. Why was he so on edge? He was not himself at all, and Perrie never thought she would have missed Joe's smirks and snide remarks, but she did. She missed their normal.
"My lady?" prompted Ed.
Perrie's head snapped back to Ed, and she realised that she had just been staring at Joe. Her cheeks warmed as she fumbled through a, "Why yes, of course. What a lovely idea."
"What's a lovely idea?" Adam asked from the head of the table.
"Perrie is going to take Mr Parish on a tour of the grounds on horseback, Papa," Lily reported. "May I go?"
Adam had lowered his newspaper and appeared to ponder the idea. "Yes, Lily. You may go," he allowed. "Mr Parish, Joe," he clarified, when Ed first looked up. Joe turned at the sound of his name. "You will go as well."
----
Hope you enjoyed it!!
Keep your theories coming. They're hilarious and they make me cackle as you REALLY TRY YOUR BEST to be as twisted as I am. But really, you should all be glad that you don't suffer form my evil tendencies.
I hope one day when you re-read this book and you see all the things I've planted along the way, long after they've been revealed, you go "GOSH LAURA IS SO EVIL, SHE GOT US SO GOOD!!!!" hehehehehe
Alright, this is the last chapter before I go back to work. I need a couple of earlier nights to get back in the swing of things. Next chapter will be Saturday night, our usual time, and every Saturday from then on. I do apologise! But ya girl's gotta educate some kids.
10 weeks until school holidays and I'll get two weeks off and I'm already counting down hahaha
But I've loved spending this much time with you all these holidays! I saw a comment the other day where someone said that my author's notes were the only ones she read, and I love that!! I know they're long, but I love talking to you guys.
I like to think that you guys come for the historical romance and you stay for the super cool, slightly evil gal at the end of each page hehe.
But anyways, I've loved waking up each morning to hundreds of comments of you guys fully immersed in my characters and loving them as much as I do. Even though I put them through the ringer, I do love them and I try and make up for it in the end :P
Alrighty, bed time. Night everyone! Vote and comment xxx