“She is impure, like all the others.”
With a decisive nod, he gets to work. Each slash brings her closer to purity. Tenderly, he releases her from the pain that is womanhood.
* * *
A flurry of activity heralded Eddie’s return. We were just finishing a light lunch when he erupted into the room in his usual tempestuous manner. I rose to greet him, conscious that I had a part to play.
“You look a bit less like shit,” he told me with his mischievous grin. I moved to embrace him, but he held me off. “No, don’t touch me. I shared a train carriage with a relentless pipe smoker, and I stink.”
“Very loverlike,” Cad remarked to no one in particular. Eddie turned swiftly toward him, thunderclouds of anger darkening his face. Cad rose from the table, holding his palms outward to signify peace. They faced each other briefly, and I thought how alike and yet unalike they were. Like a mirror image viewed through slightly tainted glass. Tension hung thick in the air like a fog, before Cad said, “Good to see you again, Ed.” Some of the stiffness left Eddie’s frame and his engaging grin reappeared, dispersing the storm. Cad made a movement, half raising a hand toward his brother, but Eddie made no answering gesture. With a slight, terse nod to his mother, Cad left the room.
“Take your coat off, Eddie, and give Porter your bag,” Lucy said, pouring tea and holding the cup out to him.
Eddie shook his head as Porter scurried forward to take the portmanteau from his grasp. “No, I need to have a bath and change my clothes,” he said, by way of explanation. “Get someone to fetch hot water to my room, will you, Porter?” With his sweetly charming smile that encompassed us all, he followed the stately butler out of the room.
When I saw him later, he looked considerably brighter and appeared refreshed. He caught me up in one of his crushing hugs, and I rested my head against his shoulder gratefully. Other than my memories, he was all I had left of my life in Paris, and even he seemed to be slipping away from me.
“I missed you, Dita,” he murmured against my hair. “I need you close by to keep me sane and make me laugh.” Our friendship was like the ivy that clung to the walls of the old castle, drawing me into its clinging embrace. No sooner had the thought occurred than I dismissed it. Ivy was destructive, wreaking ruin and decay beneath its insidious tendrils. My feelings for Eddie were pure and unambiguous, free from damaging undercurrents. Nevertheless, I felt the weight of my responsibility to him descend once more.
“Can we go somewhere? Spend the rest of the day together, just the two of us?” I asked, lifting my hand to stroke his cheek. He caught hold of it and pressed a kiss into my palm.
“Can’t,” he muttered. His lips twisted. “My father summoned me back here to give an account of my dealings in London. No doubt I will be required to spend most of the day closeted with him and the other son—the clever, dutiful one—listening to their assessment of my competence.” Although he didn’t move, I felt him withdraw from me and I turned my head to see what had attracted his attention. Cad was descending the stairs, having apparently paused on the half landing to straighten his cravat. I wondered how long he had been there, and how much of our conversation he had heard.
In the end, Eddie’s meeting with his father and brother proved to be short and disastrously stormy. Raised voices, with Eddie’s the loudest of all, could be heard emanating from Tynan’s study. This altercation was followed by a loud crash, after which Eddie burst from the room and dashed out of the house without hat or coat. As I grabbed up my cloak ready to follow him, I heard Porter giving instructions to a footman to go and clear up the broken decanter in his lordship’s study.
Eddie dashed along the path toward the cliff’s edge. He was only yards in front of me, but his long strides propelled him along so
With a decisive nod, he gets to work. Each slash brings her closer to purity. Tenderly, he releases her from the pain that is womanhood.
* * *
A flurry of activity heralded Eddie’s return. We were just finishing a light lunch when he erupted into the room in his usual tempestuous manner. I rose to greet him, conscious that I had a part to play.
“You look a bit less like shit,” he told me with his mischievous grin. I moved to embrace him, but he held me off. “No, don’t touch me. I shared a train carriage with a relentless pipe smoker, and I stink.”
“Very loverlike,” Cad remarked to no one in particular. Eddie turned swiftly toward him, thunderclouds of anger darkening his face. Cad rose from the table, holding his palms outward to signify peace. They faced each other briefly, and I thought how alike and yet unalike they were. Like a mirror image viewed through slightly tainted glass. Tension hung thick in the air like a fog, before Cad said, “Good to see you again, Ed.” Some of the stiffness left Eddie’s frame and his engaging grin reappeared, dispersing the storm. Cad made a movement, half raising a hand toward his brother, but Eddie made no answering gesture. With a slight, terse nod to his mother, Cad left the room.
“Take your coat off, Eddie, and give Porter your bag,” Lucy said, pouring tea and holding the cup out to him.
Eddie shook his head as Porter scurried forward to take the portmanteau from his grasp. “No, I need to have a bath and change my clothes,” he said, by way of explanation. “Get someone to fetch hot water to my room, will you, Porter?” With his sweetly charming smile that encompassed us all, he followed the stately butler out of the room.
When I saw him later, he looked considerably brighter and appeared refreshed. He caught me up in one of his crushing hugs, and I rested my head against his shoulder gratefully. Other than my memories, he was all I had left of my life in Paris, and even he seemed to be slipping away from me.
“I missed you, Dita,” he murmured against my hair. “I need you close by to keep me sane and make me laugh.” Our friendship was like the ivy that clung to the walls of the old castle, drawing me into its clinging embrace. No sooner had the thought occurred than I dismissed it. Ivy was destructive, wreaking ruin and decay beneath its insidious tendrils. My feelings for Eddie were pure and unambiguous, free from damaging undercurrents. Nevertheless, I felt the weight of my responsibility to him descend once more.
“Can we go somewhere? Spend the rest of the day together, just the two of us?” I asked, lifting my hand to stroke his cheek. He caught hold of it and pressed a kiss into my palm.
“Can’t,” he muttered. His lips twisted. “My father summoned me back here to give an account of my dealings in London. No doubt I will be required to spend most of the day closeted with him and the other son—the clever, dutiful one—listening to their assessment of my competence.” Although he didn’t move, I felt him withdraw from me and I turned my head to see what had attracted his attention. Cad was descending the stairs, having apparently paused on the half landing to straighten his cravat. I wondered how long he had been there, and how much of our conversation he had heard.
In the end, Eddie’s meeting with his father and brother proved to be short and disastrously stormy. Raised voices, with Eddie’s the loudest of all, could be heard emanating from Tynan’s study. This altercation was followed by a loud crash, after which Eddie burst from the room and dashed out of the house without hat or coat. As I grabbed up my cloak ready to follow him, I heard Porter giving instructions to a footman to go and clear up the broken decanter in his lordship’s study.
Eddie dashed along the path toward the cliff’s edge. He was only yards in front of me, but his long strides propelled him along so
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