by Beth Byers
Georgette had suggested to Katherine that they should stand against the woman. The rising feeling of guilt was not one that Georgette enjoyed. She stretched her neck as she considered what she’d said. She should be kinder than that, Georgette thought. Lizette might be negative and she might be playing games with her family, but surely any woman deserved to feel safe in her own home, among her own family?
Georgette paused when she heard a rustle in the trees and she clucked to her dogs, ordering in a whisper, “Quiet.”
There was a snap of a branch and Georgette’s heart leapt. She stepped back, bending to grab Susan’s collar. Susan, of all Georgette’s dogs, was the liveliest. Another branch snapped and Georgette grasped Susan’s mouth, holding her jaw shut, but the dog’s tail was wagging frantically.
A low curse followed, and Georgette stood. “Joseph?”
He stepped forward. “I thought I saw something.”
Susan tugged away and darted for Joseph, and Georgette followed. He held a piece of paper clenched in his hand, but it was his face that had Georgette concerned.
“Are you all right?”
His answer was a dark curse.
“Joseph!” Georgette reached out and touched his wrist lightly. “Are you all right?”
“No.” He shoved the paper at Georgette and then repeated. “No. Not at all.”
He pushed past Georgette and headed to his cottage. Georgette considered following to make sure he made it home, but she knew he didn’t want her around. If he’d wanted her, he’d have stayed. He’d have walked her home. He’d have told her the problem.
Slowly Georgette uncrumpled the paper and read. Her stomach dropped as she did. It read:
Cons of Marrying Joseph
I’ll disappoint my parents.
I’ll be alone often.
His work is dangerous, and I may be widowed early.
He snuffles when he falls asleep on the train.
He’s angry with my parents. Rightfully.
Georgette winced. Her mind was making a division that made her highly uncomfortable. Marian was Georgette’s first true friend. That couldn’t change. She considered the pain that would be caused if Marian and Joseph fell apart. He lived in the village and spent nearly every meal with Georgette and Charles. She pressed her finger between her eyebrows against the rising headache.
Joseph was important to Georgette, and he was her family. That wouldn’t ever change. Charles, Joseph, and Robert were a unit who had accepted Georgette and given her a place to belong. They all shared the same name. They would share the same holidays. Regardless of Marian, their children would live and grow together. They were choosing each other every day.
Georgette leaned against a tree as she realized that Marian would have another family if she left Joseph. She would have a husband and children that belonged to another and along with that—whoever that man was—he wouldn't want Marian in the pocket of the Aaron family. No man would want their wife spending her days among the family of a man she had once loved.
Georgette rubbed the back of her neck as the calculation came to an end, and she realized that there was only one way this would end. With Marian and Georgette not as close as before. They wouldn’t stop being friends, but Georgette wouldn’t be able to walk out her back garden and down the path to Marian’s house. The Christmas celebrations the two had planned would never happen. The days of raising their children together would never come.
Marian was necessary to Georgette in a way that made her feel…human. For so long she’d been a ghost. Georgette knew this wasn’t about her, though. She needed to process all of this…this…selfishness and decide how to react.
Georgette let the tears fall, waited until the heat left her face and then read the list again.
Cons of Marrying Joseph
I’ll disappoint my parents.
I’ll be alone often.
His work is dangerous, and I may be widowed early.
He snuffles when he falls asleep on the train.
He’s angry with my parents. Rightfully.
She turned over the page and saw the other title. The Pros of Marrying Joseph. The fact that nothing was written there? Georgette read the list again and again. Then she noticed the rightfully. You know, Georgette thought, Marian had never once quibbled when the two friends were together that she did love Joseph. Not once.
Had she been lying? Georgette imagined those days, thought back to them and then she shook her head. There was no way that Marian had been lying. She did love Joseph. And if she did—what if this list wasn’t complete? What if Marian was just working things out in her head? If she was trying to process dealing with her parents, Marian needed to know that Joseph had seen and been hurt by the list she had written.
Georgette knew the power of words like these, and she hated seeing them apply in Marian’s life in the opposite way of how they’d applied in Georgette’s. Georgette still remembered the simple list Charles had written. She’d memorized it, considered it, and it had been enough to assuage her fears and help her to marry him. Her list had read:
-Convince Georgette I love her.
-Convince Georgette to marry me.
-Convince Georgette to find a house for us.
-Find a house with:
-an office so I can work from home at least half the time
-an office for Georgette so she can write dozens more books
-room for children
-room for too many books and more to come
-a garden for smoking pipes in
-a village that has an excellent pub
-create a happily ever after?
-convince Georgette to share her troubles
-convince Georgette to find a village that will work for Joseph and Marian as well
Georgette closed her eyes, having accepted different possible futures and knew the one she would fight for, and then she hurried down the path and towards her home all the while swearing to herself that if it wasn’t too late to meddle, she was going to meddle hard, fast, and repeatedly.
Chapter 12
JOSEPH AARON
He wasn’t going to think about it. He wasn’t going to deal with it. He was going to tell the Lynds they were done and then he was going to go back to London. He didn’t have rooms there anymore, but that was what family was for. Robert had rooms and Joseph had a key.
Joseph drove to the Lynd house. By the time he’d exited the vehicle both of the Lynd brothers were standing just outside the door. Arms crossed over chests, eyes in challenge. Joseph didn’t bother to smile.
“The case is closed.”
“What did you decide?” Mitchell tilted his head. “Did you find a tramp?”
The question infuriated him. He had no doubt that the assaulter came from within the Lynd family and they knew it. Would they have let another poor fellow take the punishment for what they had done?
Joseph glanced between the brothers and was instantly sure that Mitchell was the older one. He thought that Mitchell might have taken over the role from his brother John despite the other being eldest.
“No,” Joseph said bluntly. “You all know who did it. You’ve decided to work together. Lizette has ruined her credibility. At this point, it’s a family matter. Try to leave the officials out of your next round of squabbles and avoid knocking someone bloody.”
Neither of the brothers replied. There was a round of shouting from the inside and they met Joseph’s gaze, snapping their mouths shut.
“Do I need to go in there?”
“The ladies have been hurling insults. No need to worry. A Lynd woman is a high-strung woman. A little noise is our normal.” The smooth, lying smile that Mitchell gave Joseph was irritating to them both.
Joseph shook his head, not pretending to believe them. He looked at the house, caught sight of Katherine, felt better about leaving, and then paused to examine both of the black sedans.
“You were seen,” he said.
He didn’t elaborate and the
y didn’t reply. He returned to his auto, purchased for its size to be a family auto, and scowled deeply.
“Family—” Joseph cursed and left.
Robert’s home didn’t have a place to keep Joseph’s auto, and he usually left it in the village and took the train to London. With another curse, he drove to his cottage. When he stopped the auto, Charles and Robert stepped out of his house. They both had their arms crossed over their chests, unintentionally mirroring the Lynd brothers. It was guaranteed to make Joseph’s face hurt.
“Why are you here?”
“Georgette said you were upset.”
“Did she tell you why?”
“She said you read something that bothered you, and she doesn’t think you have the full picture.”
The only reply appropriate was another dark curse.
Robert whistled low and then said, “So we brought Charles’s whiskey, Eunice’s chocolate cake, and a bag full of fish and chips.”
Joseph bit back the urge to curse again as it was becoming a bad habit, but when all his uncle and brother did was step back and lead the way inside, he followed. He lit a cigarette as he passed the door to his house and a moment later, Charles pressed an already poured glass of whiskey into his hand.
Family wasn’t so bad, Joseph thought, when they turned on the wireless and leaned back to smoke and drink with you in the silence.
After an hour or two, Joseph growled, “Georgette. She can’t know what Marian is really thinking.”
Charles chuckled, which annoyed Joseph.
“No one can know what a woman is thinking. They’re all an impassable, untranslatable abyss that leaves you feeling stupid.”
“Georgette doesn’t seem like that,” Robert said.
“Georgette writes her current thoughts and worries into her books,” Charles said. “If you pay attention, she gives you glimpses.”
“Glimpses?” Robert muttered. “If that’s what you can get from Georgette—Joseph and I have no hope.”
Joseph smothered his reaction with a long drink from his glass. Hope? What was that? He sucked in a long drag from his cigarette. Life was better before he was in love. Loving Marian had added sunshine to his life, it was true, until her parents had stopped swallowing their objections. What was so wrong about him, Joseph didn’t know.
Charles didn’t leave until well after sundown. And Robert didn’t leave at all. When he woke the next morning, Robert was sitting at the table, drinking coffee. He’d made bacon and eggs and when Joseph walked into the kitchen, Robert tossed his brother a bottle of aspirin and gestured to the greasy meal.
GEORGETTE DOROTHY AARON
The next morning before they dressed for church, Georgette asked Marian without a preamble, “Is there something wrong with being happy?”
Marian looked up from the window seat.
“Is there some reason you’re torturing the man you love because of the whims of your parents in turning against him?”
“I—”
Georgette, however, wasn’t finished. “I love you, Marian. I want you to be happy. I can’t understand why you don’t seem to want that as well.”
“I do,” Marian argued. “But I also want a relationship with my parents.”
Georgette bit back a screech of rage. Not at Marian, but that the idea that parents could have a wonderful daughter with a good man who loved her and was trying to do right by her and still ruin that for her.
“Joseph saw your list.”
Marian gasped.
“He looked fairly broken.”
“It wasn’t complete. I was only trying to sort out all the voices in my head. That isn’t what I think or feel.” Marian’s voice trembled and her hands were shaking. “Georgette—I’ve ruined everything.”
Georgette shook her head and reached out to take Marian’s hands. “Have you hurt him?” Georgette nodded. “Of course you have. But have you ruined everything? I don’t think so. I suspect that what you need is a heart-to-heart. We’re having a family dinner. Take him for a walk after. Tell him everything. All of your worries and what he means to you. But Marian—”
She looked up, hands still shaking.
“Marrying someone is promising to love, honor, and cherish the man you make your vows to. Those vows don’t include the quibble that you only choose the man if your parents agree. You would be making your own family with Joseph. One where your parents aren’t welcome in the bed, the bank account, or the career choices.”
Marian gasped again because it had been too crass to mention the bed, but Georgette had promised she would do all the meddling that could be meddled.
“Come now,” Georgette ordered. “Church first, then a family dinner. Let’s dress and then go help Eunice.”
It was possible, the goddess Atë thought, that Lizette Lynd could replace Georgette in her affections. Only, of course, for a short time. Lizette Lynd was building a self-caused destruction and she didn’t have the talent and wit that made Georgette so appealing to the goddess. Lizette Lynd was, however, quite a temporary enjoyment, mischievous in the nasty delusional way that could destroy the entire Lynd family.
Seeing Georgette and Lizette together appealed in a way that Atë cackled over.
“Mrs. Lynd,” Georgette said to Lizette, looking beyond her to where Katherine was leaning on Emmanuline’s arm. The brothers, their wives, and the children had already ranged ahead after the church service, except for John Lynd who was trailing quite a ways behind. “What a lovely Sunday. Katherine. Emmanuline,” she added as the two caught up.
“I find it’s lovely to go to the house of God and reflect upon our behavior,” Lizette said grandly. “Our rash and cruel actions.”
Georgette lifted her brows. “I find that forgiveness most easily comes when I am forgiving.”
Georgette was leaning on Charles’s arm and he stifled a laugh, but she could tell he was chuckling behind his mask.
“Are you a righteous woman, Mrs. Aaron?” Lizette Lynd demanded.
“I have much room to grow,” Georgette replied flatly. “And you? What is your state of grace?”
“I am afflicted on all sides. Surrounded by cruelty and avarice. No doubt my soul will be much improved for my suffering.”
Both Katherine and Emmanuline had paled. The old Georgette would have snapped her mouth closed and made an inane comment. The new Georgette—or the one who had finally found her voice—said, “A suffering that you distribute to those around you. I hope that you never come to the end of their mercy and tolerance.”
Charles tugged Georgette away, still trying not to laugh aloud.
Georgette called to Katherine. “You’re the matriarch, Katherine. Kindness is for chumps when you have a demon in your midst.”
Charles’s shout of laughter didn’t silence Georgette as he pulled her away.
“I am so tired of people using their families as their own personal—personal—” She wasn’t quiet while she raged. Lucy, Janey, and Robert stared in shock but they all had growing smiles. “A family of orphans would understand. Isn’t that true?”
“I suppose it takes being an orphan,” Marian said quietly. “It takes losing to appreciate having a family.”
Georgette didn’t argue. None of the people with her would. Lucy, Janey, and Eddie had lost both parents within days of each other from an illness. Robert and Joseph—not that he was with them—had lost their parents in an auto accident. Georgette had lost her father while she was at school and her mother just after she’d left school at a mere eighteen years old. Charles’s parents had died, he’d lost his brother, his sister-in-law, and had been left with boys to see through school and into their careers. A big thriving family like the Lynds? Turning on each other?
It would never happen to her family.
“You’re supposed to treasure family,” she said loudly, hoping the Lynds would hear. “Take care of them. You’re supposed to—damn it!”
“It’s Sunday, Georgette,” Charles said, still grinning. “Yo
u’re going straight to hell now.”
“Charles!” Marian hissed. “Georgette! Language!”
“The vicar heard you!” Lucy hissed. “And Dr. West.”
“Are they laughing or crying?” Robert countered. “If they’re not laughing, they aren’t our sort of people.”
“The doctor is laughing,” Janey said. “He has nice eyes.”
“He looks like a baby.” Robert picked up Janey, setting her on his shoulder.
“Robert! I’m too big!”
“Never,” he replied. “Not ever! I used to be the family baby. Now it is you, darling.”
Once they were away from the Lynds, Georgette calmed down and then gasped. “What is wrong with me? I —I—I shouted at that woman. After church! With everyone looking on.”
“And you were marvelous,” Charles told her and kissed her with everyone looking on.
ROBERT AARON
“What do we do, Eunice?” Robert asked merrily. He took a seat at the kitchen table, Janey at his side. “Georgette is causing a ruckus in the streets. Joseph is refusing to worship.” Robert laughed after that. “Though that might have been because of Charles and me. We did, after all, comfort him with whiskey and tobacco. I made him food, you know. Gave him aspirin, but I’ve noticed men who’ve fallen in love and become family types can’t keep up with young bachelors like myself. Of course, that means I have no idea what we do now.”
“What do you mean what do we do?” Eunice asked dryly. “I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?” Robert demanded. “Eunice, heart of my heart, if you don’t know, how can the rest of us continue?”
“Get a book, curl up, read it,” Eunice told him. “Sundays are for dinners, naps, and reading.”
