That rallied Fanny. "Good. Mother will be expecting you."
"Not that home."
"What other home can you have?"
"The one where I find peace." He slipped into his car and slammed the door shut.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Fanny marching toward him as if about to give a piece of her mind, but since he had a much larger piece that had been brewing for twenty-plus years, he immediately put the car in reverse and backed out of the driveway.
Fanny grew smaller and smaller as he raced away. Not that it did much since his phone rang, the car's speakers announcing Fanny as the caller.
It took four times of declining before she finally gave up. Well, if one didn't count the four voicemails she left. And no doubt she was now calling his mother, making up tales of how he was ruining their name and running off with one of the Dashwoods.
At this moment, though, he didn't care. His own sister had ripped a home right out of her relative's grasp simply out of spite. He knew his mother could be that cruel, but to see his own sister do the same thing—it made him want to renounce being a Ferrars and go hide like Elinor's little sister. He was mad enough to even be tempted to ruin Fanny by refusing to cooperate and thus force his mother's hand to fulfill her threat and cut all her children off.
Except that would make him as equally cruel as the people he wanted to lash out at. And perhaps might even make Elinor hate him.
No, it was better that he kept his mouth shut and did what he was told. Even if he was going to hate the rest of his life for it.
Chapter 16
Edward had a plane to catch on Monday, but it wasn't until the afternoon. And despite knowing he was risking the wrath of his family, he headed for Norland to see Elinor one last time.
He made sure to turn his phone off just in case his family decided to spy on his location. Besides, none had bothered to call him yesterday, so either they assumed he was being the obedient son again or they had given up on him. He'd love for it to be the latter, but he knew it was most likely the former.
The traffic that morning seemed more fierce than usual—or perhaps he was too anxious to arrive, but he ended up being later than his normal time. Elinor, no doubt, would already be in her office and he'd miss her cheery greetings to all her employees.
To his shock, however, he spotted her car pulling into her reserved spot. He bounded forward, hoping to surprise her, but stopped when he caught her covering her face and hunch over. He may be too far away to hear anything, but he knew only one thing that could make hunched shoulders shake like that.
She was crying.
He'd seen Fanny cry many times. He'd also witnessed his mother's anguished sobs when the news broke of his father's abrupt death. But he felt as helpless as when he watched Elinor break down in the privacy of her car.
That brave face. That calm demeanor. He'd assumed she was just fine. But like Harv had said, people showed grief differently. And Edward had failed to pick up on her cues.
Wanting to do something, he rushed to her car door. But Elinor had already pushed back her shoulders and seemed to be frantically trying to erase that moment of weakness.
He hesitated, not sure she'd be happy to know he'd witnessed her crying. But he had no time to scamper away. Might as well own up to the moment.
He knocked on the window. That would at least give her some time to compose herself. But the angel immediately smiled up at him and stepped out of the car as if she hadn't cried in over a year.
"Edward! I didn't think you'd be here—"
"The Churchills wanted me around for the transition," was the first thing out of his mouth.
"Oh, yes, of course." She seemed disappointed. Probably because he wasn't being of much use anyway.
Desperate to do something, he began to talk, "And well, I figured you'd like some, uh, support when you told everyone the news." The instant he said it, he latched onto it. "It's never fun doing that stuff alone." A fact he knew all too well. "And I...I didn't want you to face it alone," he ended lamely.
Worse, she stared at him as if he'd spoken a different language. He regretted saying anything at all. He was only making the situation worse.
But she abruptly smiled and it was like she had kissed him. How he wished he could savor this moment.
"Thank you," she said. "That's very kind of you."
He couldn't help smiling back. He was being of use, after all. "I've actually done this a few times. Would you like me to break the news? That way, they can hate me and still love you." That was actually brilliant. Why hadn't he thought of that sooner?
Her smile widened. "How about we do it together?"
That was even better. "I'd like that." He offered his arm so they could walk in together like a team. "Shall we?"
She took his arm and they waltzed into Norland as if they had owned the place for years and Edward relished standing next to her as she gathered her employees like a loving hen. Her little chicks were frightened at first, but when she gave him the floor to explain how the transition would function, they seemed to latch onto him as fiercely as they did with Elinor. It was a heady experience—the first time he'd ever enjoyed having everyone's attention on him. He could easily imagine what life could have been like if he and Elinor ran Norland together.
The ache for this perfect life burned so deep inside, he was sure his heart would burst. But he had to be sensible. They were safer away from him, not with him.
"Thank you," Elinor said once the meeting had finished. "You managed to make them excited for the takeover."
"It makes the transition smoother when no one is grumbling." An ironic statement since his heart hadn't ceased grumbling. "It also reflects nicely on my company's reputation." An even more ironic considering the reputation of his mother.
"Is that why the Churchills required you to be here for the transition?"
He wondered what she'd say if he confessed it was for her. Except his imagination followed up with the eventual scenario of him having to leave anyway, so it didn't matter what she thought of him.
"Possibly," was all he said before changing the topic. "Come with me to the office. I want to show you the contract so you can have a better idea of the new terms." It was a rather lame excuse to spend time with her, but it was all he had.
Unfortunately, she didn't seem interested. "You explained them pretty well during the meeting."
Like a forlorn puppy, he tried again, "Well, it's always good to be extra prepared, right? And I could show you some other ideas I came up with."
She smiled as if tempted to pet the sad little puppy that Edward was sure he was acting like. "How about after lunch?"
"Lunch?" That was the worst possible suggestion. He had to abandon this heavenly place after lunch. "It's too early for that. We still have an hour, don't we?" The whine in his voice was evident even in his own ears. He was getting ridiculously desperate. He should just go home before he ended up begging her to ruin her life and let him stay.
"I had planned," Elinor began, "to take an early lunch today."
She'd never done that during the three previous weeks. She must be desperate to flee his company. How ironic. Him wanting her so badly and she desiring the exact opposite.
But her next words stopped his panicked thinking.
"I need to inform the nurses at my father's residential home about the upcoming changes and make sure he'll be taken care of."
He frowned, irritated at himself. Elinor had other things to worry about than him. "You're not taking him with you?"
Her smile was strained as if she was trying to convince herself more than him that everything was okay. "We hope to, but we'll need to check out the residencies over there before we can consider moving him. And he's in a really good place right now. The nurses all know him and, well, John is nearby. He could visit him."
She may have said the last phrase with hope, but Edward got the sense she didn't believe it.
"So, you'll be meeting up with yo
ur mother at this place then?" That would explain her unwillingness to change the time.
But she shook her head. "It will just be me."
The forced happiness in that sentence tore at his heart. She explained how her mother was overwhelmed, but he didn't care about that.
"You'll be alone then?" he asked.
"It's okay," she said with that brave smile of hers. "I've been going alone for over a month now, so it's no big deal."
But all he could think about was her crying alone in her car. "I'll come with you."
Her smile faltered. "It won't be a fun trip. I'll be talking with the nurses a lot and my father...he's not exactly up to holding a conversation."
Edward resisted an ironic laugh. "My mother never holds much of a conversation either so I have some practice in that area."
Her smile lit up as if she wanted to laugh. "Okay, but my father doesn't talk much in general."
"I can work with that, too." He'd work with anything if it meant making her happy. "Shall we?" He waved toward the exit.
She hesitated as if trying to come up with another excuse but he began to walk, hoping she'd follow suit. To his relief, she did and they meandered to their cars where it dawned on him that they had separate cars. Not wanting Elinor to end up alone again, he announced, "Let's take my car."
She stared at him in surprise.
"To save gas," was the best excuse he came up with before steering her to his rental.
When they were seated, he expected her to input the address into the car's GPS, but instead, she directed him the old-fashioned way, telling him when to turn when she saw the street herself. Due to traffic, it took about thirty minutes before they finally pulled into a recently painted parking lot in front of a small, Victorian-like house with a porch lined with pillars like it had once been a part of a fancy house down in the south.
Edward wasn't surprised when all the nurses recognized Elinor as they headed down the hallway, nodding and smiling as if she belonged with them. Despite her own pain, Elinor had a knack of making sure everyone around her was happy. It was one of the reasons he adored her.
And it would probably be a reason why he'd lose her to some handsome guy she'd meet out west, far out of Edward's reach.
The thought depressed him enough that it was difficult to keep a cheerful smile in place, but the smile died anyway once they reached the room of Elinor's father.
Fanny had mentioned the stroke had stricken the man to a shell of what he once was, but to see the incident in person was far more tragic. The father sat hunched over in a wheelchair, staring at a TV but with no indication he saw the movie playing. Age creased his face and his left side sagged as if it wanted to melt off. His left arm lay curled up in his lap, the hand in a tight fist as if he was angry at his state but could do nothing about it. His right arm, meanwhile, sat limply on the wheelchair, its hand not moving.
Elinor stepped into the room like a reverent nun. "Dad?"
The man didn't move or blink. If that had been his father, Edward would have retreated, but Elinor, always so fearless, placed herself directly before her father as if demanding for him to react. Not wanting her to stand alone, Edward joined her and silently begged the man to give what his daughter craved.
It took several moments before the man registered something was blocking the TV. He raised his eyes to his daughter's face.
"Hi, Dad," she said, the love on her face so radiant, Edward wanted to eat it up himself.
But her father only blinked in confusion. "Linda?"
"No, Dad, I'm Elinor."
"Linda is your mother, right?" Edward asked. The two did look similar with their dark hair.
"Yes, he gets confused easily. Maggie's the only one he recognizes most of the time."
Maggie was also significantly shorter. Wondering if that was a factor, Edward dropped to his haunches so his eyes were at the same level as the hunched man.
"Hi, I'm Edward Ferrars."
The man didn't respond. Then again, Edward was a stranger.
"I'm...well, it's complicated, but you can say I'm family."
The man blinked. "I'm family."
That was not a response he expected. He glanced up at Elinor for help.
"He tends to repeat what you say, but, sometimes, if you give him an extra moment..."
The hunched man abruptly hefted his limp right arm up, extending the hand toward Edward. It shook as if it took every ounce of the man's strength to keep it raised so Edward quickly shook it.
The hand dropped, but the man looked directly at Edward as if a fog had lifted in his brain. "Family."
The man may only be a shell, but that word alone told Edward how much this man loved his family.
Edward reached out and squeezed the man's limp hand as if to say he understood. But in the process, he felt something metallic and smooth. A large ruby set in a gold band clasped his ring finger. For a second, Edward stared at it, memories of another ruby ring rising to the surface, of his own father's ring and the promise it would someday be his. And of the blood all over that hand during the car accident as his father reached out to him, his eyes desperate to find Edward's face as if that would somehow make everything better.
But it didn't. And his father died, the ring confiscated and stashed with all the other memorabilia behind the wall of his mother's trust fund.
The rage and despair, tucked deep inside, threatened to spill out so Edward said the first words out of his mouth, "That's a cool ring you have." He turned the hand and noticed there were numbers around the ruby ring. His father's ring lacked those. "A high school ring, I take it?"
"Yes," Elinor answered. "He used to tease us saying he'd give it to one of us, but he didn't want us fighting over it since there was only one. We figured he'd end up donating it to some charity..." her voice lost some of its energy and Edward tensed, knowing if she broke down again, he wouldn't be able to resist wrapping her in his arms. The girl needed comfort and he wasn't going to fail to give it this time.
But she rallied, ruining any need for him. "I guess we'll end up fighting over it in the end," she said with a brave smile. "Or give it to charity."
"Ah," he ducked his head, not wanting her to spot his disappointment. "I see." She probably wouldn't have wanted his comfort anyway. "Well, it's still a cool ring, Mr. Dashwood," he continued just to keep the conversation going. "I can see why you kept it all these years."
Her father stared at him as if something had woken up inside. Then, he hefted his stiff right arm and propelled the fist toward the ring.
Edward watched the movement for a second. "I think he's trying to take it off."
She immediately dropped beside her father, concern on her face. "He can't unclench that hand."
Wanting to ease Elinor's pain, he maneuvered the ring off the man's limp hand and held it up so her father could see it. The man focused on it like a cat before its prey but said nothing."
"Want me to give it to Elinor?" Edward offered. "Or Linda?" He added, remembering the father hadn't known who Elinor was.
He expected the man to repeat one of the names, but instead, he pushed his clenched fist against Edward's arm, moving the ring in Edward's hand toward his chest.
"I think," Elinor began, "he wants you to have it."
He jerked. "What, me?" That was ridiculous. "It doesn't belong to me. It should go to you. Or someone in your family." Anyone but him. He wasn't worthy of such a gift.
But her father pushed the ring toward Edward again, his focused eyes on him. "Family."
Shame fell over Edward. Here he was, trying to help Elinor and yet instead, he was robbing her of a family heirloom.
A warm hand fell on his shoulder. "Just take it for now." Elinor said. "He's getting agitated."
Edward wanted to refuse, but he knew she was right. Sweat had begun to form on the man's creased forehead, his strength ebbing away as he continued to push the ring toward Edward. It would be better to take the ring then to cause the man a heart att
ack in front of Elinor.
"All right." He slipped the ring onto his forefinger and displayed it in front of the man. The father relaxed, slumping back into his wheelchair as if his life was finally complete.
"Family," he muttered, his eyes finding Edward's.
Edward finally understood what was going on. The man wasn't giving him an heirloom. He was giving him a task: to protect his family. To shelter them in a way he no longer could.
Chapter 17
Unfortunately, Elinor's father was trusting the wrong man. Edward was as trapped as the father. He may have the function of his body, but that body couldn't go far outside of the prison bars his mother and Lucy had set up around him.
"I need to talk with the nurses," Elinor announced.
"I'll stay here," Edward found himself saying. He wanted a longer conversation with the broken man, but said out loud, "Have a man-to-man bonding." He glanced around for a chair but noticed the black and white movie on the TV screen. "Hey, this is one of those old Western movies. My grandfather loved those."
Elinor brightened. "Really? My father loved them, too."
"Love," her father abruptly piped up like an objecting attorney. "Love them."
It took Edward a second before he realized what had just happened, then he couldn't help grinning. "I think he just corrected your past tense."
To his joy, Elinor laughed as if all the hardships were melting away. "Yeah, I think he did. Sorry, Dad."
The father, unfortunately, ruined the moment by slipping into whatever caged his mind, his unfocused eyes staring at the TV like a ghost that didn't know what to do with itself anymore.
Edward caught the despair trickling over Elinor's face so he quickly grabbed the nearest chair. "Go on ahead." He propped the chair next to the shell of her father. "I think we have this covered."
His words rallied a brave smile back on her face and then she left, leaving him alone with the hunched man. He fiddled with the ring for a moment, then glanced at the father, but his attention remained on the TV.
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