Chapter 19
Ashrill scream pierced the silence.
Jonathan jumped to his feet. He had been balancing ledgers in his study, and, predictably, the task was so dull that he had been having trouble focusing on it. His mind had begun to wander—but now that shriek had brought him back to himself, back to the present moment.
It was high-pitched. Feminine.
Violet!
He ran from the study, down the hall to the foyer, where he found Williams pulling open the door.
Jonathan pushed past the butler and ran out first, his heart hammering madly.
What could have happened to make her scream like that?
Had she hurt herself? Was there someone on the property threatening her?
His hands balled into fists at the notion—if anyone had dared to put a hand on her…
He heard a sound in the distance. Not a scream this time, though definitely still her voice—it was more of a soft groan. He followed it around to the side of the house, where the garden sat—and froze, startled and momentarily horrified at the sight that greeted him.
She was there. She was drenched in red—it dripped from her hair, it soaked her clothes. And he was sure, for a horrible moment, that what he was looking at must be blood.
Violet wiped a hand across her face and gave it a rough shake, sending droplets of red spattering onto the grass.
The color was wrong for blood, Jonathan realized, and his breathing began to steady. It was too bright. Blood in this amount would be darker. But what was he looking at? He frowned. “What happened to you?”
“It’s tomato juice.” She held up a hand as if he would be able to tell from a closer inspection. “There was a string on the ground, and when I stepped on it, a bucket of tomato juice fell off that hedge.”
“It had to be Noah,” Jonathan realized, looking at the bucket that was now lying on the ground at Violet’s feet.
Now that she had explained all this, he saw how foolish he had been to think of blood at all.
The air smelled of tomatoes. Of course, that was what it was.
“The staff mentioned he liked to play practical jokes. He must have left this here for someone to stumble into.”
A shiver ran through Violet.
She was cold, Jonathan thought. He shrugged out of his jacket, walked over to her side, and moved to drape it over her shoulders.
She stepped back quickly. “Don’t put that on me.”
“Why not?”
“Are you actually asking? I’ll get tomato juice all over it, Jonathan. It will be ruined. It’s a nice jacket.”
He shook his head. “Stop,” he said firmly. “I can always get another jacket. And you’re cold.” He moved to put the jacket on her again, and this time she stood still and allowed it to happen.
When he’d finished, he carefully adjusted the collar to lie flat on her, his fingers lingering against the side of her neck.
His heart rate had not quite subsided—it had frightened him more than he’d realized it would to see her like that, and to think that she had been seriously hurt.
He pulled the sleeve of his shirt over the heel of his hand and used it to wipe the tomato juice from her face.
She froze at first, awkward under his touch, and then seemed to decide that it was all right.
She tipped her head back a little to give better access, and for the first time, Jonathan noticed the subtleties of her features.
The roundness in her cheeks, soft as he moved his thumb over them.
The narrowness of her nose. The way her jaw came to a point at her chin.
It was a lovely picture. It occurred to him that he’d like to draw her, and then he recalled that he didn’t know how to draw.
He stepped back, suddenly awkward, lowering his hand and clearing his throat. “That, er, that’s better.”
“Thank you,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry to have disturbed you. I shouldn’t have shouted that way. I was just surprised by what happened.”
“Don’t blame yourself,” he told her. “I’m sure I would have yelled too, if it had happened to me.” He sighed, moved to a garden bench, and took a seat. “I think we’re going to need to have a talk with him.”
“With Noah?”
“He can’t be allowed to do things like this,” Jonathan said. “When they told me he was a prankster, this wasn’t what I was picturing, somehow. This could have caused serious problems. You could have been hurt.”
“It’s only tomato juice,” Violet said. “It wasn’t going to hurt me at all.”
In response, Jonathan put his foot out and ran it over the stone pathway. His foot skidded on the slick surface. He looked up at her and raised an eyebrow.
“All right,” she allowed. “I suppose it’s possible that I might have slipped…”
“More than possible,” he said. “I would say there was a serious risk of it. You could have fallen and hit your head on these stones.”
“But that didn’t happen,” Violet said, her face going soft.
Jonathan had the feeling that she understood just how worried he was in that moment, that she was trying to comfort him.
That thought made his stomach churn with something that was half guilt and half excitement.
“I didn’t fall,” she went on. “I didn’t get hurt.
And you must realize that Noah never wanted me to come to any harm. ”
“Oh, of course he didn’t,” Jonathan said quickly. “I realize that. He would never want to hurt anybody. He’s a good boy. But this was reckless.”
“That’s fair to say,” Violet agreed.
“He’s going to need a scolding,” Jonathan said. “He needs to know that this was wrong, and that he can’t do it again. Do you want me to take care of that?”
“No,” Violet said quickly. “It’s best if I do it. I don’t think we should be too overbearing with him. After all, we both agree that he didn’t mean any harm—and you and I both know he’s had a difficult time growing to trust us. I wouldn’t want to damage that now.”
“It’s not going to cement trust if we show him that we’re too afraid to correct him when he does something wrong, though,” Jonathan said firmly.
“And besides, weren’t you the one who was telling me how we needed to be suitable parents to him?
That he needed that kind of guiding presence in his life?
I know how important you think that is.”
“Well, you’re right,” Violet said. “I do think that’s important.” She sighed. “I just worry about pushing him away. It wasn’t easy for him to draw close. I don’t want to ruin things now that they’re actually going well between us.”
“But you won’t,” Jonathan said gently. “Think about what a good mother or father is like. Don’t you think they’re capable of correcting their children without pushing them away?” He hesitated. “Your father wasn’t that way, I know.”
She looked down at her feet and said nothing.
“Is that it?” he asked her. “You don’t like the idea of scolding Noah because you don’t want to be the kind of parent your father was to you?”
“I don’t want Noah to think I’m that sort,” Violet corrected.
“I don’t want him to believe that I would ever turn him out of the house, that I would ever resent him or wish him away.
I don’t want him to think that there’s anything he could do that would make me stop caring for him, because there isn’t. ”
“I understand,” Jonathan said gently.
“But how do I scold him, knowing that’s how I feel about it—and how I worry he’s going to feel?” she asked. “I know I’ll be too mild. I know I need to be stern, to make sure he understands, but how can I do that?”
“You really don’t have to,” Jonathan said.
“I can be the one to do it. It’s important that he receives a talking-to, but I don’t think it matters that much who gives it.
As long as one of us is able to do that, it should be enough.
He just needs to know that he can’t get away with this sort of behavior. ”
She looked at him. “You’re suggesting that you be the disciplinarian.”
He cracked a smile. “I suppose I am. Don’t you think I’m the one of us most suited to the role?”
“Perhaps you are,” she agreed with a small smile. “And yet, how could I delegate the task to you, Jonathan? I have to be able to handle a scolding, because…because what will happen when one day only one of us is here to take care of such things?”
The lighthearted tone dropped out of the conversation all at once, as if a cold breeze had blown in through an open window. Jonathan managed to keep the smile on his face, but it felt brittle and fragile, as if it might blow away in that same wind.
“You want to handle it because you don’t want to depend on me,” he said quietly. “Because you want to look ahead to the day when I won’t be here and you can tend to Noah’s needs on your own.”
“I…” She said nothing, but her silence said everything.
“Even now,” he said. “Even now all you can think about is forcing me out of the house that by rights ought to be mine.”
She looked up again, her eyes flashing. “And you still can’t admit that the proper claim to it is mine!
Every time I think you and I are about to settle this matter, you say something like that, and you make me realize all over again that you can’t be trusted.
That in the end, all you really want is to force me from my only home.
And you’re not offering to discipline Noah because you have any desire to help me, either—I don’t believe that even for a moment.
No, you’re doing it because you want to start being the primary parent to Noah.
You can’t yet force me out of the house, but you want to create evidence in everyone’s mind that I’m not needed.
That even when something like this happens, it’s really for you to take care of rather than for me—even though I am the one he played this prank on.
Well, you can think again, Jonathan. I’m not going to stand back and let you parent Noah in a situation that has nothing to do with you.
I can’t believe you got me to confide in you about my insecurities! ”
He stared at her. “Was this what you were really thinking all the time? Is everything a contest to you? I truly was just trying to help you.”
“Well, I have no need of your help. I will handle this matter on my own, thank you very much.”
She turned and strode up toward the house, still dripping with tomato juice, still wearing Jonathan’s jacket.
For a moment, he just stood there and watched her go.
Then, coming to a quick decision, he set off after her.
All right, so she didn’t require his help—he wouldn’t try to force it on her. But he was going to watch this. He could imagine that it was going to be very entertaining to see her try to correct Noah’s behavior, and he didn’t want to miss the show.
And besides, he thought as he walked several paces behind her, there’s every possibility that she’ll realize she does need my help after all—and, of course, I will give it to her. Because what matters most is not this feud between the two of us—it’s making sure that Noah has everything he needs.