The Scholar

by Tess Thompson

  Flynn glanced over at Shannon with a look of pure adoration. “When you have this one waiting for you at home, well, I can’t wait to get back to her.”

  Shannon smiled back at him but quickly turned her attention back to her guests. “Sit, please. I have iced tea or lemonade. Which would you prefer, Louisa? Flynn has bottles of beer as well. Somehow my clever husband figured out how to make beer in our basement. I worry the sheriff will come any moment and arrest us both.”

  “That’s not going to happen in Emerson Pass,” I said.

  “A man should be able to make what he wants in his own home,” Flynn said.

  “I’ll have a lemonade, please.” Louisa sat in one of the chairs. I took the one next to her.

  “I’ll bring you a beer,” Flynn said to me before sprinting back toward the house.

  Shannon poured two glasses from the pitcher and handed one to Louisa. “I hope it’s not too sour. I can’t seem to taste things accurately since…” She trailed off and tugged at the front of her apron. “Well, you know.”

  “It’s common for your sense of smell to be a little off,” I said.

  “This whole thing has been tiresome. I’m looking forward to the baby, but this sickness has been terrible.” Shannon flushed. “Oh my, listen to me complaining. I’m sorry.”

  “Nothing to be sorry about,” Louisa said. “I’m glad you’re better.”

  “Thank you. I woke up a few days ago feeling like my usual self.” Shannon shifted slightly to look in my direction. “Theo, I have to thank you again for helping my mother. She’s feeling better today than yesterday.”

  “I checked on her earlier and she said this is the best she’s felt in weeks and weeks.” Mrs. Cassidy’s color had returned. “Nora said she’s been eating.”

  “I took out some chicken soup for her and she gobbled up a whole bowl.” Shannon sat with her own glass of lemonade. “I’m relieved. When I was sick myself, I felt terribly guilty about my little sister having to take the burden of the farm and my mother.”

  “Nora has the farm running well,” I said. “She’s an impressive woman.”

  “Yes, she is. Nora wants to sell the farm. Did she tell you that?” Shannon asked.

  “She mentioned it, yes,” I said.

  Flynn returned with two brown bottles of beer. Where had he gotten the bottles? Maybe I didn’t want to know. I took a tug from mine. The taste was light and very cold, like the German beer we’d had overseas after the war. “This is good. Are you selling it at the bar?”

  A muscle in Flynn’s jaw twitched. “Nah, this is just for me. Why do you ask?”

  “Louisa and I went out there last night. I had no idea our sisters were such frequent visitors. Or that Fiona was singing in front of a roomful of drunks.”

  Flynn raised his chin slightly the way he did when defensive. “They’re safe out there. My men keep a close watch on them.”

  I didn’t want to spoil the evening or make the ladies uncomfortable, so I kept quiet.

  “I cannot believe what those women did to your father,” Shannon said. “After all he did for our community.”

  Louisa didn’t answer other than to mumble a thank-you.

  “Town’s growing,” Flynn said. “Which is good and bad. We can’t control what people do, unfortunately. I hope it gives you comfort knowing how many people he helped through the years.”

  “Yes, it does.”

  “Those awful women don’t understand what that church meant to us,” Shannon said. “Or how much we loved Pastor Lind.”

  “Someone needs to start another church,” Flynn said. “Give people a choice of where to go.”

  “Without a pastor?” Louisa asked.

  “You could find one,” I said. “Papa would help you. After all, he found Pastor Lind.”

  Louisa’s expression brightened. “Perhaps we could.”

  “You’d need a building,” Shannon said. “But wherever three or more are gathered is the church. Isn’t that what it says in the Bible?”

  “Yes,” Louisa said softly. “My father always quoted that saying.”

  “We’ve got the land,” Flynn said. “We could put a little church anywhere. Doesn’t have to be in town.”

  “A church in the countryside would be nice,” Louisa said. “Mother would like that, I think.”

  The sound of a car in the driveway pulled me away from the conversation.

  “That’s Josephine and Phillip,” Shannon said. “They were able to come last minute.”

  I got up, excited to greet my oldest sister and her husband. They came around the side of the house instead of going in through the house. My sister and brother saw each other all the time, I realized. While I’d been away, Flynn and Phillip had become close. A twinge of jealousy reared its ugly head. I squashed it down and greeted my sister and brother-in-law with enthusiasm.

  That was dimmed somewhat when my sister whispered in my ear. “Flynn and I want to talk to you after dinner. Alone.”

  ***

  After dinner, Flynn, Josephine, and I walked down a dirt path toward his horse pasture. Like the foliage around the cottage, the entire area of land was lush and fertile. My brother seemed to have a gift to make everything grow and reproduce. The meadow was a glorious sea of wildflowers and natural grasses. His love of horses was evident in the mare and colt who grazed behind the fenced pin.

  “How’s life as a country doctor?” Flynn said.

  “Good. Nothing too out of the ordinary.”

  “You bored yet?” Flynn asked. “Wondering if you should have stayed and become a surgeon?”

  “Not a minute.” I stuffed my hands in the pockets of my trousers. The evening was warm. I’d left my jacket back at the house. “This is what I wanted.”

  “What you expected, then?” Josephine asked.

  “Pretty much.” I squinted into the pink sunset. “There are more babies’ births than I expected even though Dr. Neal warned me that was a big part of the job out here.” We were at the pasture by then and stopped outside the gate. “Listen, I wanted to talk to you about Cymbeline.” I shared with them what had happened with the men. “She scares me. Papa and Mama seemed unconcerned, which I don’t understand.”

  Flynn sighed as he leaned against a post. “To be honest, I don’t think they know what to do with her. We all expected her to come around to the idea of Viktor, but instead she frets about how restless she is. I thought she’d be happier when Poppy offered her a job, but I don’t know.”

  My brother’s obvious worry made me feel a little better. At least I wasn’t the only who’d noticed that she seemed to be in trouble. “What do you think, Jo?”

  “I think she should marry Viktor and stop acting like a little fool.”

  “Never one to hold back, huh, Jo?” Flynn teased. “But I agree.” His gaze turned toward the southern mountain as if the answers were written in the trees. “I know that restlessness Cymbeline has—it’s in conjunction with a love for this place but also wondering if there is more out there.”

  I nodded. “When we were kids, I always thought it would be me who left for good. You and Cym always loved it here so much. You were both ferocious in your love for this place.”

  “I still feel that way,” Flynn said. “But also, you and I went away and saw parts of the world.”

  “Fighting a war. I’m not sure that’s the kind of adventure Cym wants.”

  Josephine made an impatient click with her tongue. “She told me she would have gone and become a nurse during the war if she could have. The girl has no idea what the world is like. It’s not so great out there.”

  “Wouldn’t that have turned Papa old before his time?” I shook my head, thinking about how much havoc that would have wreaked upon our family. Flynn and I were bad enough.

  “We’re not going to solve Cymbeline’s problems by fighting with her,” Flynn said. “She’s like me—has to figure it all out on her own.”

  “She said she’s waiting for her adventure t
o call,” I said. “I have no idea what that means.”

  “Love is the greatest adventure of all.” Flynn plucked a blade of the long yellow grass that grew inside the fence.

  “Isn’t it, though?” Jo said. “I wish Cym could see that her adventure is right here.”

  Josephine brushed a bit of pollen from the arm of my shirt. “Let’s talk about you now.”

  I braced myself, knowing what was coming. “What about me?”

  “What is happening with Louisa?” Josephine asked. “Rumor in town is that you’ve been out together every night this week.”

  “What is happening? We’re getting married. Not sure of a date yet, but sometime this year.”

  “Married? Did you just say married?” Flynn asked.

  “Yes, he said married,” Jo answered as if it hadn’t been a rhetorical question. Her face turned red and her hair seemed to pop out of her neatly stacked bun like a cat we used to have that spontaneously shed balls of fur when scared or angry. “You’ve been home a week. You barely know her.”

  “I’ve known her for most of my life,” I said as calmly and firmly as I could.

  “You do remember her feelings for Flynn?” Josephine asked. “Or have you forgotten how she humiliated you?”

  “She didn’t humiliate me,” I said. “At least not in a public way. We were all young back then. Her feelings for you were nothing but a schoolgirl crush.”

  “Right, as were your feelings for her,” Flynn said. “A youthful fancy.”

  “That you couldn’t possibly still feel, right?” Josephine asked. “You have invented them again, have you?”

  “I have deep feelings for her.” I shuffled my feet. If I could have gotten away with it, I would have run. But it was no use. Flynn had always been faster than I. “I’m not certain my feelings came back or if they never left.”

  Josephine stomped her foot as she uttered the closest to a curse that would ever leave her mouth. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, Theo. This is madness. She’s…she’s…”

  “She’s after your money,” Flynn said.

  “Yes, that,” Jo said.

  “She isn’t,” I said. “She cares for me. Perhaps not to the degree I do her, but it’s there. Her feelings will grow in time.”

  “What evidence do you have that it’s not the money?” Jo asked in her best librarian voice.

  “She’s in financial trouble and is responsible for her mother. Yes, they need me.” I’d been kidding myself that Jo and Flynn wouldn’t be suspicious. “However, that’s not why she’s agreed to marry me.”

  “What did you say?” Flynn asked. “Agreed to marry you? Have you lost your mind?”

  “You’ve been home a week,” Jo said.

  “True,” I said. “But I know what I’m doing.”

  My lackadaisical tone further infuriated my sister. “Why would you do this?”

  “Yes, why would you marry someone you know doesn’t love you?” Flynn asked.

  “Because miracles happen. Look at you, for example.” I lifted my chin to gesture toward Flynn. “Shannon Cassidy changed your bachelor heart into a family man with one toss of those black curls.”

  “You’re hoping she falls in love with you?” Josephine asked. “After the marriage?”

  “Correct. If she’s not already.”

  Josephine placed her hands on her hips. “Do I need to remind you about the man I agreed to marry after only two weeks? How did that turn out?”

  “You got Phillip through that mistake,” I said. “Because of an error in judgment, the man of your dreams came to you.”

  “It’s not at all the same,” Jo said. “Flynn, tell him why. I’m too mad to speak.”

  I almost laughed, as she’d been giving me an earful for at least five minutes now.

  “Right, yes, I can explain,” Flynn said. “It’s not the same because we’ve known Louisa almost all our lives. We know she had feelings for the wrong twin. We know the kind of desperate situation she finds herself in for the second time in her life. She’s going to take the safe, secure route because of it. I don’t blame her. People who’ve experienced that kind of deprivation never want to return to it.”

  “What do you know about deprivation?” I asked.

  “I can imagine.” Flynn tapped his head with his index finger.

  “Barneses do not marry out of practicality,” Jo said, sputtering.

  “Right. We marry for love,” Flynn said. “You should marry a girl willing to follow you to the ends of the earth simply because she’s in love with you. Not because she needs your pocketbook.”

  “Yes, exactly.” Josephine was nodding with such conviction I thought her head might fall off her slender neck.

  “I’m in love with her,” I said. “And I’m betting that she will love me after a time. I’m what she needs, not just financially but emotionally. She’s damaged. Like me.”

  “You’re not damaged.” Josephine blew a wayward strand of hair out of her eyes. “Did she say that about you?”

  “No, of course not,” I said. “If you don’t think I’m damaged, then why are you two always so worried about me?” I looked from my sister to my twin.

  “You’ve been troubled,” Flynn said. “Mostly because of me.”

  “No, that’s not true,” I said. “The war was not your fault.”

  “Enlisting was my idea,” Flynn said.

  “We’ve been over this. You’re not to blame for my reactions to the war. And anyway, I’m much better now.”

  “You found Mother,” Josephine said. “You’ve never been the same since that. Are you attracted to Louisa because she’s a lost soul too?” She clapped her hand over her mouth. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”

  I laughed at the look of horror and remorse in her eyes. “It’s all right. All of this is going to be fine in the end. Yes, Louisa and I have tender souls that have been hurt before. There’s a sadness in her that I understand. Things from her past have made her particularly vulnerable in the world, just as they have for me.” I looked from one to the other once more. “Listen to me, you’re going to have to trust me that I know what I’m doing. I believe in my heart that she and I are fated to be together.”

  “What happened to her that we don’t already know about?” Jo narrowed her eyes. “What are you not telling us?”

  “A man hurt her when she was a child.” I left it at that, knowing my brother and sister would understand what I meant.

  “Oh, no. That’s awful,” Jo said.

  Flynn cursed under his breath.

  “She’s not like other women because of it. I’ll need to treat her carefully and be very patient.”

  “Why would you want that?” Flynn asked. “Sharing a bed is one of the best aspects of married life.”

  “Flynn,” Jo said, obviously mortified at his reference to intimacy between a husband and wife.

  “What? It’s true. At least for Shannon and me.” Flynn looked over at me. “Trust me, you want that part of marriage.”

  “What makes you think this would work?” Jo asked.

  “It’ll sound arrogant if I say it out loud.”

  “Do it,” Flynn said. “Say it.”

  “I think I’m the only man on earth that will bring her out the hole she hides herself in. I’m the only one for her.”

  Flynn removed his hat and scratched his neck. “I hope you’re right about this. I’ll not be able to bear seeing you wreck your life by marrying a woman with so many problems.”

  “Everyone has problems,” I said. “Your wife, for example, came with a financial burden as well. And Phillip, Jo, wasn’t exactly a lord like our father.”

  “No, more a pauper,” Jo said, wistfully. “But the best man in the world. Besides you two and Papa, of course.”

  “Somehow this feels different,” Flynn said.

  “The fact is—it’s not different. My situation is exactly the same. I’m marrying someone without the means that I have, which is just what yo
u two did. I love you both for caring about me. When we were kids, I was always the fragile one. The one everyone was afraid would be like Mother. However, I’ve proven to myself and hopefully to all of you that I’m strong. This marriage to Louisa is what I want. You’re going to have to give your blessing or risk everything that’s between us.”

  Josephine’s eyes filled. “Are you saying it’s her or us?”

  “I’d hope you’d never let it get to that,” I said. “But we both know that a marriage won’t work if the husband or wife doesn’t take a stand for their spouse. This is me taking a stand.”

  Flynn cursed under his breath. “Fine.”

  “Fine what?” I asked.

  “You have my support,” Flynn said.

  “If you get hurt, so help me,” Jo said. “But you have mine too.”

  I held out my arms and my sister hugged me, followed by Flynn shaking my hand.

  “Oh, Theo, I do hope you know what you’re doing,” Josephine said.

  “I do.”

  18

  Louisa

  * * *

  While Theo slipped out for a walk with his siblings, I remained with Shannon and Phillip. We’d returned to the garden for after-dinner coffee and dessert. The sun had set. Twilight brought a welcoming cool breeze. The garden smelled of freshly cut grass. I nibbled at a piece of cherry pie and wished I could be somewhere other than here. I wanted Theo to return to my side. Without him, I was unanchored and unsure. In addition, I had a distinct feeling that they’d gone off to talk about me.

  “Where have the siblings Barnes run off to?” Phillip scooped a spoonful of sugar into his coffee.

  “For one of their talks.” Shannon smiled at me from across the low table. “You’ll grow accustomed to the Barnes way.”

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “They’re all very close,” Phillip said.

  “Overly protective of one another,” Shannon said. “Depending on how you look at it.”

  “In one another’s affairs, too,” Phillip said. “Which means they’ll be in yours, too.”