Chapter 37
Harper made her way down to the dining room wearing Kyle’s button-up for an air of formality. She needn’t have worried, Lady Bell was wearing the same yoga outfit as earlier. She waved Harper into a seat as she entered. There were only two settings. Harper looked at Lady Bell curiously.
“Nigel isn’t joining us?” she asked.
“Not tonight, I wanted to pick your brain, just the two of us.” Lady Bell smiled gently as she sat adjacent to Harper at the end of the long table. “Did you get a chance to look around?”
Harper nodded. “The rooms in my hallway, the playroom, a nursery, and a very sad bedroom.”
Lady Bell laughed and pointed to an open bottle of red wine that sat to Harper’s left.
“Pour us some of that, will you, dear?” She pushed her wineglass forward and Harper proceeded to fill it.
“That was the nanny’s quarters. It was used clear up until …
I can’t remember, the 1930s? Thank you.” She nodded at her glass.
“I think the plaque said 1942,” Harper said as she poured her own glass.
“Ah yes, that’s right. Those rooms were used for various children over the years.
Still could be, I suppose, but the previous Lady Bell had them restored to their 1700s glory.
” She looked up at a young man wearing a neat white apron as he entered with two salad plates.
“Thank you, Max. Max, have you met Harper?”
Max smiled with perfect white teeth. “I have not, glad to meet you, Harper Hafdóttir.”
Harper returned the smile. “Glad to meet you, Max …”
“Abston. Max Abston. It’s nice to have company, isn’t it, Lady Bell?” he asked courteously.
“That it is,” Lady Bell said with a nod. Max returned the gesture and exited.
“The previous Lady Bell … that was your mother.” Harper stated the obvious mystery in a timid voice as she forked a halved cherry tomato.
“In a manner of speaking,” Lady Bell said ambiguously. “Lineage is a sticky web in Bell Manor.” She paused with her fork halfway to her mouth, regarding Harper. “You sound hesitant, but you needn’t be. I want you to know us.”
Harper nodded, swallowing her bite. “So not your birth mother?” she prodded.
Lady Bell nodded. “Not by blood, but by spirit we are bound. I was born on Bell in 1954, barely, from the stories. My blood mother was about to give birth on board the ferry, which wasn’t nearly as luxurious as it is now.
” She winked and used her knife to pile vegetables onto her fork.
“So I am a native of Bell, my mother was adopted into the community. My mother came to work for the previous Lady Bell as a seamstress. She was incredible, my mother could make you a ball gown from a napkin and some kite thread.” She chuckled as she took a bite and chewed thoughtfully.
Harper sipped her wine. “So you grew up in the manor?”
“I did,” Lady Bell answered. “Ran these grounds and the whole island, caught fish off the dock, fell off the east cliff when I was thirteen.” She laughed at Harper’s look of shock.
“All the way to the sea. There’s no sane reason I should have survived.
But as you have discovered, quite a lot of not-sane things happen on Bell.
” Lady Bell looked out the window at the rain, her expression thoughtful.
“As you explore the grounds, you can thank me for the safety fencing over there. I broke my leg in three places.” She shook off her reverie and puffed herself up with comic bravado. Harper laughed softly.
“May I take your plates?” Max appeared in the doorway.
“Please,” Lady Bell responded. Max quickly cleared the table and disappeared once more.
“So how …?” Harper began, not sure of how to say it.
“Did I come to be sitting here at this grand table? The official Mayor of Bell Island and leader of my people?” Her dark eyes were bright. Harper leaned in without realizing what she was doing.
“Yes, all of that,” Harper said, riveted.
“I will tell you that story, I promise, but that’s a gin in front of the fireplace sort of story.” Lady Bell took a drink of her wine. “Your turn, my mysterious young lady. Quid pro quo.”
Harper nearly did a spit take on her sip of wine. “Like in Silence of the Lambs?” she asked before she realized that Lady Bell might have no idea of the reference.
“Exactly like that, but without all the murder.” Lady Bell grinned. “You get a story, I get a story.”
Harper took a deep breath. “Alright. But you seem to know everything about me already.”
“Not by far, I know facts. I don’t know what came to make those events pass.” Lady Bell looked up as Max reentered pushing a silver cart with two covered plates. “Ah, a reprieve, Miss Harper, dinner has arrived.”
“Seafood stew,” Max said with flourish as he removed the covers and placed the steaming-hot bowls in front of Harper and Lady Bell.
“Kaitlyn knows exactly what I want on a stormy night.” Lady Bell looked at her bowl appreciatively. “Do tell her thank you.” Max nodded and silently exited the room.
Harper took a sip and her senses were immediately flooded; the mixture of spices and broth was overwhelming, and she forgot to breathe for a moment as she enjoyed the sensation.
“It’s extraordinary, isn’t it?” Lady Bell said as she took a bite.
Harper nodded.
“I’ll tell you what, Harper Hafdóttir, I will let you enjoy your stew and your mystery for just a bit longer, but you owe me a story,” Lady Bell said as she raised her wineglass.
Harper raised hers for a gentle clink of glass. “That’s a deal.”
The two women sat eating in comfortable silence as rain pelted down outside the grand windows, and Harper felt her heart breaking free from behind its wall for the first time in years.
Even Carli had been barred access to her innermost self, subject to Harper’s lack of memories or will to try to remember anything of the world she had come from.
But here at this table, in a familiar and strange place, Harper looked at Lady Bell, silver strands of hair framing her wrinkled face, and imagined her mother, transposing her features as they would be now, remembering for the first time since the first apocalypse of her world the freckles that covered her mother’s nose and her slightly crooked teeth, her earrings, gold with colorful, sparkly stones that caught the light.
Harper sucked in her breath as the room threatened to spin.
Lady Bell looked up, curious but silent, letting Harper breathe through the moment.
Harper felt the sting of tears in her eyes.
She hadn’t cried in years. All her tears had been used up by the time she turned fourteen.
Lady Bell paused again, and without a word reached across the table and squeezed her hand.
Outside, the rain fell on Bell Island and darkness wrapped itself around the manor.