Chapter 5 #2
“A plan?” Clermont peeked up at him with cautious hope.
“I will attend your brother’s funeral in your stead,” he said. “I will take whatever reply you wish to send to your sister, and I will return with whatever answer she might give.”
“You would do that for me?”
“I will,” Howard said with a nod. “And when I return, you and I will sit down and discuss this matter. We will come up with a way to help you overcome this fear and embrace the outside world once more.”
Clermont shook his head and pulled away from Howard. “It will not work. The fear has become too great in me. There is too much risk that I will fall apart with people watching, which would only make things worse.”
He had a point, but it was not one Howard wished to entertain for long. He rubbed Clermont’s back again and said, “You leave things to me. I will devise a solution.”
Clermont stared at him dubiously, but at last he said, “Alright. I agree.”
Giles returned with tea shortly after that.
The two of them drank it while speaking of kinder, quieter things, like Clermont’s memories of his sister and the happier days of their childhood.
Howard learned that he and Yvette were twins and that they had been very close indeed through all of their lives, up until Yvette was courted by and married Phillip Cavanaugh five years ago and had immediately begun a family.
Yvette had a set of twins as well, but Clermont had not seen them since they were newborn.
By the time Howard had Clermont settled at his usual table in the dining room and had returned to his own rooms to dress more appropriately for a funeral, he was determined that Clermont must be reunited with his family in time for Christmas.
How to accomplish that was another thing entirely, though.
Yvette’s letter did not mention the name of the church where Clermont’s brother’s funeral was to take place, but Clermont knew his family’s parish, so it was not difficult to find.
By the time Howard arrived, the service was already halfway over.
Unsurprisingly, the church was sparsely filled and there was not so much an air of sadness over the few people in attendance as a feeling of grim acceptance.
Once the service ended, Howard was instantly noticed. The few mourners seemed surprised that someone they did not know had arrived. Most merely nodded to him before going on their way, however.
Mrs. Yvette Cavanaugh was not difficult to find among those who were left.
For one, she truly was Clermont’s twin. Her face had all the same features of her brother, only softer and more feminine.
She was of the same height with the same blue eyes.
The thing that distinguished her from the others loitering around the church, loath to step out into what had turned into a rather blustery December day, was the fact that she held a small infant in her arms and had two others in a pram.
The gentleman who stood beside her, who could only have been Mr. Cavanaugh, carried a boy of about four.
Howard smiled before he could stop himself, given the occasion. He instantly imagined Clermont doting on his young nieces and nephews. Mrs. Cavanaugh certainly looked as though she could use someone to help keep her young ones occupied.
“Good day, madam,” Howard greeted the small family, hat in hand.
“Good day?” Mrs. Cavanaugh looked confusedly up at him.
“I am a friend of your brother’s, Mr. Yves Clermont,” Howard introduced himself. “Mr. Howard Bradford.”
“Oh!” Mrs. Cavanaugh instantly brightened. “Has Yves come?” she asked, looking around Howard to see if she could spot him.
“Alas, I am afraid not,” Howard said. He took a moment to nod to Mr. Cavanaugh and to shake his hand after the man shuffled his son to his other arm. “Could we perhaps sit somewhere to speak?” he then asked.
“Yes, yes, of course,” Mrs. Cavanaugh said.
A few minutes of fuss and confusion followed as children were passed around, a maid was called forward to take the youngest baby, and Mr. Cavanaugh took his children to the back of the church, where the vicar seemed to be in conversation with a stony-faced woman who must have been Guillaume’s widow.
Once that was taken care of, Howard gestured for Mrs. Cavanaugh to sit in one of the front pews with him.
“Yves did not come,” Mrs. Cavanaugh stated the obvious to begin the conversation.
“No,” Howard said, deporting himself as gently as he could.
He might have had a reputation as a silver-haired rake among certain circles, but he was equally capable of presenting himself as the kindly older man whom others could confide in and rely on.
“He did try, but I am afraid he was unable to.”
Mrs. Cavanaugh nodded with sad understanding. “He has some sort of sickness of the mind that will not allow him to leave the place where he is safe,” she said. “Our brother ruined him that way with his threats and taunting.”
“That is what I, too, have been given to understand,” Howard said.
“You say he did try?” Mrs. Cavanaugh smiled tentatively.
“He did.” Howard would leave out the details of Clermont’s reaction to his efforts.
“He wanted me to tell you that he loves you and cares about you and your family deeply. He misses you terribly and says he will do whatever is necessary to ensure that your late brother’s wife and his children are provided for. ”
“Thank you,” Mrs. Cavanaugh said, reaching for Howard’s hands. “That is so very kind of him when Yves has received nothing but ill treatment from our family.”
“He has many wonderful things to say about you,” Howard told her.
Mrs. Cavanaugh lowered her head. “I did not do enough for him. Guillame truly was a tyrant. He made Yves afraid of his own shadow. I only ever wanted my brother to be happy. I do not care whom he loves, I only want him to love and be loved.”
Howard’s heart instantly warmed to the young woman as if she were his sister as well.
She was deeply understanding in a way that many women were not.
Then again, most women of his acquaintance did not know the particulars of what his sort got up to in their private time.
It did not seem to matter, however. Women were far more accepting of difference when it came to love than men were.
“I am certain you did everything you were capable of doing,” he said, patting Mrs. Cavanaugh’s hands in his.
“I should like to do more,” Mrs. Cavanaugh said. “I should very much like it if Yves could join Phillip and I and our family for Christmas.”
Howard’s eyebrows lifted at the idea. It was a splendid one, as far as he was concerned. What could be better than reuniting two siblings who adored each other but who had been kept apart at Christmastime?
“I think that would be lovely,” he said. “I shall do whatever I can on my part to ensure your brother joins you and yours for the blessed day.”
“We have a grand Christmas feast at midday,” Mrs. Cavanaugh went on, glowing with hope and possibility.
“Phillip has been so fortunate with his business endeavors this year. We’ve already invited Charlotte, that is, Guillame’s widow, and their children.
They will be staying the night with us. Nothing would make us happier or be quite as lovely a Christmas gift than to have Yves with us, too. ”
“Then I shall make every effort under the sun to bring your brother to you for the holidays,” Howard said.
“You must also come, Mr. Bradford,” Mrs. Cavanaugh said.
Howard was touched at the invitation. “You barely know me, madame.”
“But you are a friend of my brother’s,” she said. “One who, it seems, cares a great deal about him. You must be a part of the family as well.”
Her words were simple, but they ignited something in Howard that he believed was long dormant.
He had not cared one way or another about being part of a family for ages.
His own family was mostly dead and gone, and they had never much cared for him at any rate.
But now, the prospect of having a sister as lovely as Mrs. Cavanaugh and children for him to entertain with silly jokes and tricks was a surprisingly appealing prospect.
“I will do my best,” he said, squeezing her hands and standing. “I will do what I can to bolster your brother’s courage and help him overcome his worries to be with you all on Christmas.”
“Thank you, Mr. Bradford,” Mrs. Cavanaugh said, standing with him and giving him a smile that spurred him to want to move mountains for the woman.
He wanted to move mountains for Clermont. He wanted to do whatever it took to help his angel heal from the wounds his cruel brother had inflicted. But he knew enough about life and pain to know it would not be easy.