CHAPTER TWENTY ONE: Tension and Tears

Wilton closed the door quietly behind him; he was glad that the children had readily accepted his explanation of how he had opened it with no key. He carefully watched the children as they explored the dusty room. Although the furniture was covered with heavy sheets, the Italian could still tell clearly that it was a bedroom. Lisa walked over to the fireplace with an intensely curious look on her face. She pulled a dust cloth off the painting to reveal a portrait in oil of an auburn haired beauty dressed in white. The elaborate wooden frame featured exquisitely detailed carvings of intertwining roses. “She’s dressed just as Aunt Megan was at the party last night,” gasped the little girl. Lisa continued to stare intently at the painting, and then Wilton felt a sudden swell of excitement within himself. He realized that she had gone into a trance. He walked softly towards her and turned the little girl to face him. He held up an exquisitely manicured hand to shush Tony who had just opened his mouth to speak.

“Lisa, tell me, what do you see?”

“It’s this room, but all the furniture is uncovered. It’s so beautiful in the firelight.”

“Is there anyone in the room?”

“Yes, there is a man and a woman. The man is pale and blonde. The woman is the one from the portrait. Their clothes are like the ones Jean, Aunt Megan and the others wore at the ball. He’s standing behind her with his arms around her waist. They are talking.”

“What are they saying?”

“She’s telling him to go. That he must leave. It’s wrong for him to be here.”

“What’s he saying?”

“That nothing done for love is ever wrong.”

The door to the room burst open, Ronnie came running in and threw her arms around the startled professor. “Oh, Wilton, it’s terrible. I found Edmund unconscious at the bottom of the basement stairs. Grant called the paramedics and they’ve taken him to the hospital.”

Wilton looked down at the trembling woman in his arms, and asked, “How did you know I was here in the east wing, dear Veronica?”

“I just knew,” she replied, awed by her own answer. She looked over at the children. “What are you two doing here?”

Tony looked guiltily down at the floor. His face reddened as he tried to think of a plausible excuse. Wilton came to his rescue. “I asked the children to accompany me here. I thought it would be more fun to explore this part of the house with their company.”

“How thoughtful of you. I want you two to go ahead. I need to talk to Professor Carandini alone.” As the children left obediently, Ronnie said, “Wilton, I found something.”


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Megan sat at her usual table in The Slaughtered Lamb smoking a Dunhill International cigarette and sipping a Maker’s Mark old fashion. U-2’s Achtung, Baby blared from the speakers - Michael, the landlord, would let her bring in her own music during off hours. The bar was deserted at three in the afternoon on a Monday. She thought about the events of the past few days since the ball - Edmund’s accident Saturday morning, her date with Mitch, and her mother’s departure with the doctor this morning. It had been an exhausting couple of days and there was a tremendous load of work waiting for her at the office. So, Megan felt irresponsible about ditching work this afternoon, but she hadn’t felt like going back after the blowout she had with Jean earlier that day.

“I don’t think that’s any of your business.” Megan said hotly, her brown eyes flashing. The two siblings stood confronting one another in the middle of Jean’s private office.

“ Why shouldn’t I be concerned with my sister dating a man we know nothing about,” retorted Jean, attempting to modulate his voice to match his icy stare.

“What’s this “we” bullshit? Mother knows him perfectly well. He’s her doctor. Obviously she trusts him enough to let him personally supervise her treatment.”

“And what was he supervising with you on Saturday night? You didn’t get home till four in the morning. I am sure everyone in the household must have heard you come in.”

“Why do you care when I get home? I am a little long in the tooth for anyone to be worried about my reputation. Or is that what is really bothering you?”

“What does that mean?”

Megan moved closer to him. Their bodies were almost but not quite touching. Megan lowered her voice and looked him in the eyes. “Is what you really want to know whether or not he fucked me?”

Jean’s face went red, then white. Before he could respond, Megan added, “I think you should be more worried about your precious fiancé and the professor.”

Jean grabbed both Megan’s arms and roughly pulled her even closer. With their bodies touching and their faces only a few inches apart, he replied in a voice husky with emotion. “ I don’t give a shit about what Ronnie and Wilton are doing. What I want to know is what’s happening between you and the good doctor.”

“As he’s left town with Mother, not a lot.”

There was a loud knock at Jean’s office door, and he let go of his sister, crossed the room and opened the door. The two siblings tried to pull themselves together. Uncle Robert entered and immediately seemed ill at ease. He cleared his throat and said in a slightly strained voice, “Hello, you two, I just wanted to discuss which once of us should visit Edmund in the hospital. After all, he is an employee and the accident occurred at Halstead.”

“I’ll go,” volunteered Megan and headed towards the door, “Maybe if I give him a blow job he won’t sue. I won’t be back this afternoon.” She pushed her way past her appalled uncle and loudly slammed the door shut behind her.

Megan’s remembrances were disrupted by the arrival of Annie. She waved at Megan and slid into the booth on the opposite side of her friend. “I didn’t know you smoked.”

“I don’t.” replied Megan as she took a drag. “Want one?” she asked as she pushed the blue pack across the table to the redheaded maid.

“O.K. but don’t tell Grant. He’d kill me, if he saw me smoking,”

“Drink?”

“Yes, please. If that’s an old fashion I’ll have the same.”

“Hey, Michael,” shouted Megan to the white haired gentleman behind the bar. “Another for me and one for my friend.”

“Let me guess,” said Annie, “bad day?”

“Very. I just saw Edmund at the hospital.”

“How’s Don Juan doing?”

“Alright. He took quite a tumble. He didn’t break anything, but the concussion was bad enough that they want to keep him in the hospital for another 48 hours for observation.”

“Did seeing him really upset you that much, Megan? I am a little surprised that you are here drinking instead of going back to work.”

“No. I just had a stupid fight with Jean at work this morning and didn’t feel like seeing him for a while.”

Annie tried to sound casual as she asked, “What did you fight about?”

Megan shrugged her shoulders noncommittally and said, “Nothing really. I just resented his questions about Mitch and myself when his fiancé is playing the tart with Wilton Carandini.”

Michael set their drinks on the table a bit too hard, and asked Megan, “Professor Wilton Carandini is in Port Legard?”

Annie said teasingly, “Didn’t your mother teach you it was impolite to eavesdrop?”

“I am being serious, girl. Megan, do you mean to say that you know Carandini?”

“Yes, Michael, I am. He’s a distant relation. How do you know him?”

“Well, miss, I knew him from research I did for the roles I played in all those Hammer films.”

“Tell us about it.”

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Megan arrived at home in time for dinner. Wilton dominated the conversation over dinner discussing his current research on the family history. The children, Ronnie and Uncle Robert hung onto every word he spoke. Megan wanted to scream. Jean looked miserable too. The two of them kept catching the other’s eye and then looking away. Megan could tell Jean was desperate to talk to her. She began to feel guilty about the scene earlier today. It seemed like the two of them either connected beautifully or, like earlier, were at each other’s throats. Megan knew there was too much energy flowing between the two of them, but she had no idea of how to stop it. Maybe they could talk in the drawing room over the coffee course.

As dinner came to a close, Robert announced that the children would go to bed, and that the gentlemen would go to the study for brandy and cigars, leaving the ladies the drawing room. Carandini smiled at Jean and said, “Is that a look of disappointment on your face? It must be terrible to be separated from your charming fiancé even for an hour.”

Jean flushed slightly, but graciously replied, “I don’t get to see her nearly as much as I would like. But how can I complain when I have intelligent company as well as Cuban cigars and first rate brandy?”

Megan decided that the best tack to take on what promised to be an awkward hour with Ronnie over coffee was to listen. She asked Ronnie about how the children were settling in, how her research with Carandini was going and lastly, through gritted teeth, how the wedding plans were progressing. This last question actually stopped Ronnie cold. She simply said that everything was on hold till Alexandra came back, and then excused herself for the evening as she had an early day. Megan was grateful for Ronnie’s departure, but curious about her future sister-n-law’s ability to discuss all topics to death except for her upcoming marriage to Jean. She looked at the clock and decided to spend the rest of the evening in her room reading Bleak House.

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A soft knock on the door startled Megan from Esther's plight in Bleak House. She opened the door and Jean stood there, surprisingly sober considering the brandy on top of the rather excellent cabernet at dinner. Of course, Jean had paced himself at dinner despite his boredom with Wilton’s near monologue. His restraint probably explained the absence of his usual sarcastic remarks. He looked up from the ground and into her eyes.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“Can I come in?” asked Jean in a slightly pleading tone.

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want to fight.”

“Neither do I, Megan. I just want to talk to you.”

Megan reluctantly opened the door fully and let him in. The two sat down on the end of her bed, facing the glowing fireplace and talking in low voices.

“I wanted to apologize for cross examining you about Mitch. I know it’s none of my business.”

“It’s ok, Jean,” replied his sister as she took his hand. “I over reacted. I just felt so angry with you.”

“What made you angry?”

“I don’t know. I guess that it bothered me that you were so inquisitive about Mitch when you didn’t even tell me about Ronnie, and you are engaged to her.” Megan pushed back an unruly lock of Jean’s blonde curly hair as she asked, “Why didn’t you tell me you had a fiancé?”

Jean looked down at Megan’s hand in his, and replied softly, “I don’t know why, Megan. I guess I was afraid. We’d finally started talking again after years of silence. I just didn’t want anything to disrupt what was growing between us again.”

“Jean,” asked Megan, her eyes downcast, “what is growing between us?”

“I don’t know, Megan. But…”

“But what?”

“I felt wild at the thought of you with Mitch,” started Jean.

Megan pressed her free hand against Jean’s lips and said, “Stop. Or I’ll tell you how I feel when I see Ronnie sneaking out of your room in the middle of the night,” Megan removed her hand from Jean’s lips, and tenderly kissed him on the mouth. “You should go now.”

“Do you really want me to go?” asked Jean as he stared intensely into Megan’s eyes. She could not make herself break from his gaze.

“No, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to stay.”

Jean pulled Megan close and whispered in her ear, “Don’t you trust me?”

Megan pushed herself out of his arms and off the bed replying, “It’s not you that I don’t trust. It’s me.”

Jean followed her wordlessly to her door. Before she opened it, he brought her hands to his lips and kissed the palm of each one as he said good night. As she shut the door behind Jean, Megan leaned against it and burst into tears.

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Megan tossed and turned as she slept. She dreamed of Halstead long ago. Brigid and Roderick were fighting in their bedroom. They had only been married a short time. Brigid sat at her vanity brushing her raven hair and glaring at her husband.

“It’s ridiculous. I did not mind her sitting between us at the theatre when we were courting. But now we look absurd- a married couple constantly in the company of the husband’s younger sister.”

“What do you want me to do, leave her in this house alone while we go out? She has no companions here at Halstead besides us.”

Brigid angrily threw her brush down on the ornate wooden dresser. “Roderick, she does have friends nearby and enjoys their company. Anyway, I think we need to address the issue of Augusta’s future.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s high time that she marry.”

“But she’s still a child.”

“No, Roderick, she is a young woman. And it is time for us to find her a husband. If you cannot find a suitable match, then I am sure that I can.”

The scene between the two faded, and then Megan saw Brigid and Roderick in the drawing room now. Megan sensed that quite a bit of time had passed since their last conversation. Brigid sat enraptured by the large tome she read. Roderick paced nervously around the room. “Roderick, would you please stop that infernal pacing. It won’t make the carriage arrive any faster. Really, you are like a…”

Augusta bursting through the drawing room door interrupted her sister-in-law’s chastisement of Roderick. Augusta’s husband Jameson Legard followed her. She threw herself into her brother’s arms. Roderick hugged her tight and laughed. Then he pushed her away and took a long look at her, “My God, Goose, you are a woman now, aren’t you?” His voice sounded odd as he said it. He then turned to his handsome brother-in-law and said, “We are delighted that you both have returned and are back to make your home with us here at Halstead. While you were on your grand tour, we had another wing built for your and Augusta’s use.”

Jameson warmly shook Roderick’s hand and thanked him. Brigid got up from the desk, crossed the room to greet Augusta, and kissed the bride’s cheek with genuine affection. “I am glad that you are back, dear. I missed you much more than I had expected.” She then dropped her tone, and while pretending to kiss Augusta’s other cheek whispered to her, “Are you enjoying married life?”

Augusta blushed and nodded. Brigid looked at Jameson and felt pleased with her choice of husband for Augusta. Jameson came from an excellent family, had a fine profession, and was intelligent, charming and attractive. She had been anxious for a good match for Augusta but also wanted the girl to be happy. Of course, she couldn’t really call her a girl anymore. Roderick was right; Augusta had come back from Europe clearly a woman.

At that point, Megan awoke from her dream with a start. She turned on the light on the nightstand next to her, and saw at the foot of her bed a black cat with a white mark on its forehead and a remarkable pair of green eyes.

-A.H.