Chapter 26 #2
Silas stared at the ground, and Aubrey noticed his chin was wobbling dangerously, as if he was about to…
Oh, Lord! Tears welled up in the old man’s eyes and Aubrey stared at him in horror. He had never imagined that he would ever see the Reverend Silas Alexander reveal so much of his true feelings. The only emotion Silas usually showed was anger, so this was quite something.
Aubrey’s mind raced as he tried to think of something comforting to say. ‘There, there, old chap,’ he managed at last. ‘Things can’t be as bad as all that, surely?’
‘She has to go back,’ Silas said, not even attempting to blink away the tears.
He looked up at Aubrey, his face the very picture of misery.
‘Don’t you see that? She doesn’t belong here.
Neither of them do. They’re not like us.
They were taken from this place to somewhere…
Well, who knows what it’s like? One can hope and imagine, but one can’t ever know.
It seems we’re not allowed to know, or why else would their memories be taken from them?
The good Lord wanted them with Him, and that woman – that fiendish woman – has taken them away from Him.
It isn’t right. We must send them back.’
‘The problem with that,’ Aubrey said, ‘is that we don’t know how to send them back.
’ He gazed around him, eyeing the stones with curiosity as he wondered what secrets they held.
They had stood here for thousands of years.
What had they witnessed? ‘If we don’t know how to send them back, we can’t be blamed for them being here, can we? ’
‘But it’s not right, Wyndham!’
‘Silas,’ Aubrey said earnestly, ‘Charlotte doesn’t want to go back. I know that for a fact. I wish it weren’t so, believe me, but she wants to stay in Rowan Vale. Now you tell me that Grace is very happy to be back with you and has expressed no desire to return to wherever she came from.’
‘That doesn’t mean—’
Aubrey held up his hand. ‘Forgive me, Silas, but don’t you think that, if the good Lord really wants them back, He is perfectly capable of taking them back?
Further, do you really think it possible that, had He not wanted them to return here, He would have been unable to prevent them from leaving Him in the first place? ’
Silas stared at him. ‘Well, I…’
‘Precisely.’ Aubrey felt quite pleased with himself. Silas could hardly argue that wasn’t the case, could he? Not without admitting that he didn’t think God was capable of anything.
They sat in silence for a while as they both mulled this over.
Aubrey was surprised to find that his own mood had now dipped considerably.
In trying to convince his friend that the two women belonged here after all, he had inadvertently convinced himself.
Because surely it was true that God had the power to outwit and thwart someone like Madam Mariska?
Which, by following that line of reasoning, meant that Charlotte Davenport was meant to be in Rowan Vale, and that he, Agnes and Florence were stuck with her. Good grief!
‘The thing is,’ Silas said suddenly, his voice suspiciously croaky, ‘I don’t want Grace to know about me.’
‘Know about you?’ Aubrey was baffled. He turned to face the poor, desolate vicar with concern. ‘Know what about you?’
Silas shrugged. ‘I’m not the man I used to be,’ he admitted at last. ‘I’m not the man I was when Grace was alive. I-I haven’t been myself since… Well, since she passed, I suppose. It had never really occurred to me until now how different I am to the man she loved all those years ago.’
He rubbed his forehead and Aubrey stayed quiet, waiting for him to continue.
‘When she finds out what I’ve become, she might…’
Aubrey frowned as the old vicar swallowed hard. ‘Might what, Silas?’ he asked gently.
‘She might not – well, that is to say – ahem. Well, she might not, er, love me any more.’
Aubrey closed his eyes for a moment as he realised how much it had cost Silas to say that to him. He was almost tempted to put his arm around his old friend’s shoulders and hug him tightly, but he knew that it wouldn’t go down well if he did. Silas wasn’t one for physical affection.
Although, he’d certainly held his wife for long enough that night in the library…
‘I think,’ he said slowly, ‘that as long as you’re the way you always were with her, the way you are with the rest of us won’t matter.
She clearly adores you and you adore her, so build on that.
And maybe, as time goes on and you begin to accept that she’s really back in your life and that you have someone who loves you deeply by your side, you’ll start to naturally change your behaviour towards everyone else.
’ He smiled. ‘Love can do the most amazing things, Silas. It can completely transform a man.’
Couldn’t it just. He really needed to go home and tell Agnes that she had nothing whatsoever to fear from Charlotte or anyone else.
‘And losing love can do the same, Wyndham,’ Silas murmured. ‘As I well know.’
Aubrey awkwardly patted him on the arm. ‘But now she’s back,’ he said. ‘Go and tell her how blissfully happy you are to have her home. After all, you are, aren’t you?’
Silas hesitated but then the trace of a smile lit his face. ‘Yes. Yes, I am. Extremely happy.’
‘We are very lucky men,’ Aubrey said, getting to his feet. ‘It’s time we made the most of our great good fortune, don’t you think?’
Silas stood, too. ‘I think you’re right,’ he said quietly. ‘Thank you, Aubrey.’
Aubrey had never thought to hear such humble words coming from the mouth of this old crosspatch.
Charlotte and Grace coming back had been a miracle. Silas’s gratitude was a bigger one.