Chapter 28
TWENTY-EIGHT
“May I present my sister, Honor,” Geneva said when she led Jesse into the drawing room, where Honor was mooning over a photo of Douglas Fairbanks in last month’s issue of the Picturegoer. “Honor, this is our cousin, Jesseph Bellamy. I met him in the village.”
Honor stared from Geneva to Jesse, her mouth opening in shock.
She looked like she was about to say something but seemed to change her mind.
She closed the magazine and set it aside, then got to her feet and walked towards Jesse.
Her face was set in lines of consternation, and the way she walked, one would think she was wading through a river of treacle.
“It’s an honor to meet you,” Jesse said with a disarming grin. “And please, call me Jesse.”
The play on her name only upset Honor more, and she turned on her heel and stalked away without offering a word of greeting.
“I’m sorry. Please excuse me,” Geneva tossed over her shoulder as she followed her sister.
“Honor, what do you think you’re doing?” she hissed as soon as she found her sister in the library. “You don’t have to roll out the red carpet, but you can at least be civil to the man.”
“No, I can’t,” Honor snapped. “He’s come here to take our home, and he thinks it’s all a great big joke.”
“He was only trying to put you at ease,” Geneva replied.
“Why? Because it worked so easily with you?”
“I can’t talk to you when you’re being unreasonable.”
“You cut your hair,” Honor said accusingly.
“I wanted a change.”
“You could have asked me to come along.” Honor’s eyes filled with tears.
“It wasn’t planned, Honor. Father asked me to collect an item he’d ordered from Mr. Hale. After I was finished with my errand, I walked into the hairdresser’s on a whim.”
Honor shook her head, and tears of rejection spilled down her cheeks. “I feel so alone,” she choked out.
Geneva crossed the space between them and drew Honor into her arms. “You’re not alone, you silly girl. I’m right here. And Jesse doesn’t seem so bad.”
“He’s a monster,” Honor muttered into Geneva’s shoulder.
Geneva didn’t bother to try to convince her otherwise.
Honor was scared and felt threatened by Jesse’s arrival.
Until a few minutes ago, he had been just a name—a bogeyman—but now he was here, and he was all too real.
Geneva knew nothing she said would make a difference.
Honor needed time to accept Jesse’s arrival, and he needed the space to win her goodwill.
And Geneva’s as well. Just because he seemed friendly and charming didn’t mean he was worthy of their trust or would consider their position once everything was his.
“Steady on,” Geneva whispered into Honor’s hair. “We’ll take this one day at a time.”
“We don’t have a lot of days left,” Honor reminded her as she pulled away. “Dr. Miller came while you were out.”
Geneva was instantly alarmed. “What did he say?”
“He said Father should be in hospital.”
“Why? He’s perfectly comfortable right here.”
Honor’s sad gaze sent an arrow of terror straight to Geneva’s heart. “He’s going to need round-the-clock care once things get really bad. And Dennison can’t be trusted to follow Dr. Miller’s instructions. His allegiance is to Father.”
“Surely we’re not there yet,” Geneva said brightly. “We still have time.”
“We don’t,” Honor said with a stubborn shake of the head. “Dr. Miller is sending a nurse. She’s coming tomorrow. She will look after Father until he agrees to go to the hospital. Or…” Honor couldn’t bring herself to finish the sentence, but Geneva knew what she meant.
She nodded. She had known this day would come.
She just hadn’t thought it’d come this soon.
In her mind they had still had a few months, maybe until the spring, but now they would be taking things day by day, and then hour by hour.
Douglas had been right when he’d said he’d run out of time. They all had.
“Then let’s make this Christmas special,” she said. “It’ll be like old times. We’ll get a twelve-foot tree and decorate the house with holly. And you and I can go to Midnight Mass at St. Michael’s.”
“He’ll want to come too,” Honor muttered, clearly referring to Jesse.
“So let him.”
“It’s never going to be just us again, will it?”
Probably not, Geneva wanted to say, but this wasn’t the time for honesty. “It will always be just you and me,” she promised. “The Bellamy girls against the world.”
Honor nodded, but Geneva could see she didn’t believe it.
She was already grieving their father and the life they’d had, and her pain would only become more acute in the coming days.
It wasn’t the bricks and mortar Honor was afraid to lose but what was left of her family, and her perceived place in the world.
If Jesse took Geneva away from her, she’d be on her own, a third wheel for a two-wheel carriage. And she was terrified.