Part Four
She Said
“Well, to what do we owe this pleasure?” Madeleine Wheeler asked of her daughter, with a twinkle of anticipation in her eyes.
Honey had asked both of her parents to meet with her and Mart with a view to sharing their news. She smiled at her mother and glanced at Mart. “Mother and Daddy, Mart and I have some news. We’re going to get married this summer.”
“Oh, my darling, that’s wonderful!” Madeleine exclaimed, kissing each of them in turn. “I’m so excited for you.”
Her father looked shocked. “It’s rather sudden, isn’t it?” he asked, even as he followed his wife’s lead, kissing Honey and shaking hands with Mart.
“Just a little, sir,” Mart answered. Honey thought he looked a little green. “It’s what Honey wants, though, and I just want to make her happy.”
“Good, good,” Matthew answered, in a rather faint voice.
“I hope you’re not going to be disappointed, Mother, but I don’t want a huge society wedding.”
Honey watched carefully for a negative reaction, but did not see one. Instead, her mother smiled.
“Would it surprise you to hear that it’s a relief?” Madeleine Wheeler asked.
Her daughter’s jaw dropped. “But, Mother! I always thought that you – that I – that we… Do you really mean that you don’t mind? That I can have something simple and not have to worry about millions of Daddy’s business associates that I’ve never met before and will never see again?”
“That’s what I’m saying.” The elegant older woman smiled. “Of course, it will take some planning to make it work, but I think we can arrange exactly the kind of ceremony and reception that you want, without putting a single nose out of joint. It will have to be a secret, though.”
“A secret?” Honey stared in surprise. “Why?”
Her mother glanced around the room at the other occupants, all of whom looked equally stunned. “So as not to offend anyone by not inviting them, of course. Firstly, we won’t announce the engagement. Secondly, all of the arrangements will be made as if for a private function of your father’s. Thirdly, after the fact – and after the honeymoon – we can announce the marriage as if it had been an elopement. No press, no business associates, no stuffy old relatives that no one likes – just your own friends and a select few family members. How does that sound?”
“Oh, Mother!” Honey cried, giving her a hug. “That sounds so perfectly perfect that I could cry!”
“Now, don’t do that,” Madeleine answered, giving her a gentle pat on the back. “It will be my pleasure to help you arrange this. We’ll talk about it some more in the morning, but for now I’m sure that you have other people with whom to share your news.”
Honey smiled and hugged both of her parents again. “We do. Thank you so much, Mother.”
He Said
The younger couple had gone on their way, beaming at each other in happiness at the way that the meeting had gone. Matthew Wheeler was not feeling so pleased. In fact, he was feeling upset, put out, annoyed and down-right indignant at the whole idea. He felt that he had hidden his displeasure well enough while the kids were in the room, but now that they were gone, he meant to make his feelings known.
“What have you done, Madeleine?” her husband asked, pulling his wife into a hug. “If you’d held out for the society wedding, we could have had an eighteen-month engagement and spent that time talking her out of it. She’s too young to get married.”
“Don’t be silly, Matthew.” She kissed him gently. “An eighteen-month engagement is absolutely out of the question.”
He looked down at her, scrutinising the serious expression that he suspected of hiding something else. “Why’s that?”
“That would put the wedding in the middle of winter and travelling is often so difficult at that time of year. Summer weddings are much less fraught, though, spring would be my first preference.”
“Two years, then. Four years would be better, still.” He stroked a stray strand of hair back into place. “I could handle a twelve-year engagement, I think. You can still change your mind on requiring the huge wedding.”
Madeleine pushed him backwards until his legs bumped against his desk. “Now, listen here,” she demanded, her hands on his shirt-front. “We’re going to give Honey what she wants, exactly what she wants, as much as it’s in our power to do so. I have an inkling of why she’s chosen this path and I will not have you stand in her way just because the thought of having a married daughter makes you feel old.”
“I am most certainly not old,” he objected. “I don’t feel old. Do I feel old to you?”
She glanced down at where her hands still rested and moved them downwards in a way that he found quite seductive. “No, you don’t. You feel just as good as ever.”
“Good to hear it,” he replied, becoming rather distracted from the point of the conversation. “But I still don’t see why we have to do it this way. I’d rather they waited.”
All of a sudden, she was walking away from him, shrugging her shoulders. “Well, maybe you would like to wait, too.”
“Maddie,” he warned. “That’s not nice.”
“Isn’t it?” She turned and looked at him, her eyes giving an invitation. “Well, maybe you’d like to reconsider your position.”
He smiled, seeing the deliberate humour in her words. “Let’s reconsider our positions together – upstairs – and we can talk about this some more tomorrow, when I’ve gotten over the shock.”
“What a good strategist you are, Matthew.” She smiled at him and walked to the door. “I like the way your mind is working.”
Matthew smiled and followed her out. He was still not pleased with his daughter, but every dark cloud has a silver lining, after all, and he was the kind of man to always seize the day.
She Said
After a long day at work, the last thing that Diana wanted was to see the creepy man who hung around the apartment she shared. As she entered, her heart sank to see him, leaning against the same wall where he always seemed to be standing, even though she had found out that he did not live there. She gave him a tight smile and hurried into her own room. In spite of seeing him practically every day for the last week – or, perhaps, because of that – he was still making her feel uncomfortable. She could not quite put her finger on why that was the case. He did not leer at her, or make remarks of any kind. In fact, he barely spoke at all.
The door closed behind her and she leaned against it, eyes closed and her head resting against the wood. She was still in that posture when a knock sounded, right next to her head.
“Are you home, Di?” a female voice enquired.
“Yes,” she answered, turning around and opening the door. “Oh, hi, Allie.”
The friend who had arranged for her to stay there was standing just outside. Di caught her by the arm and pulled her into the room.
“I just wanted to see how you were settling in,” Allie explained.
Di screwed up her nose. “Everything is fine, except for that creepy man who keeps hanging around. Who is he, by the way?”
Her friend shook her head. “What man? You mean the one who was leaning against the wall out there? I have no idea. I’ve never seen him before in my life.”
“He always seems to be here, even though, apparently, he doesn’t live here. He watches me when I’m in the same room as him. If someone else is there at the same time, he doesn’t seem to watch them, but watches me instead.” She paused, blushing a little. “It might just be that he likes me, but somehow I don’t think that’s it. It gives me the creeps!”
Allie shivered. “What are you going to do about it?”
“I don’t know!” Di wailed. “I don’t know whether to say something, or just keep quiet and avoid him. I don’t know if I should tell someone, or ask someone for help. What do you think I should do?”
“I think I’d get a male friend to come over and see if he could get rid of him,” the other girl answered, after a pause. “I don’t think you should confront him. After all, he might be just, you know, admiring the scenery; he might be here for some reason completely unconnected to you and then you’d just make it more uncomfortable if you said something.”
Di frowned. “Well, it’s a good idea, but I’m not sure who I’d get. I was kind of keeping it mostly a secret that I’m here – I don’t think my parents would approve of this, if they knew.”
Allie shrugged. “My parents don’t approve, either, but that never stops me. Well, anyway, I think I’ll be going, now. I’m glad you’re all settled in.”
Di smiled and said goodbye, staying in her room as the other girl went out through the apartment. When she was gone, Di sighed and leaned against the door once more. She had a decision to make and she was not sure which path to choose.
He Said
Brian frowned as he walked along the path to the clubhouse. Several hours ago, he had received a phone call from Dan telling him of an emergency meeting of the Bob-Whites. He had tried to plead more important things to do, but his friend had been quietly insistent. The bad feeling that had followed him since he last spoke to Trixie was growing as he went inside and nodded to his sister and her boyfriend, who were the only ones already there.
“We might have to wait for a few minutes,” Jim explained, when they had exchanged greetings. “Everyone’s coming, but some of them might be a little late.”
One by one, the rest of the group trickled in, greeting each other with curious looks as they waited for everyone to arrive. When that had happened, the meeting was called to order and Trixie – who seemed to have an inkling of what was going on – gave Mart the floor.
“We called this emergency meeting,” Mart explained, “because Honey and I have some important – but, at the moment, secret – news that we would like to share with you all. We’ve decided to get married.”
For a few moments, they were overwhelmed by mingled cries of astonishment and congratulations. Jim pounded on the table for silence and received it, of a kind. He asked, “Can we please speak one at a time?”
“Me first!” Trixie put in, almost before he had finished speaking. “As co-president of the club, I just want to offer our congratulations, on behalf of everyone.”
“Hear, hear!” cried Diana, while Brian scowled at his sister. “I can’t wait for the first Bob-White wedding. And then, maybe, you can have the first Bob-White baby!”
If Brian had had a drink, he would have spat it. As it was, he spluttered and excused himself for a minute, staggering outside. The others looked after him in concern, but Jim drew their attention back to the matter under discussion and for that, Brian was grateful. He closed the door after himself and leaned against it for just a moment, trying to regain his equilibrium. This must be the thing that Trixie had hinted at; right now, he wished that her hints had been broader, so he could have prepared himself better. Rubbing a hand across his face, he pushed off to walk up and down for a few minutes. He knew that he needed to get his emotions under control before he faced the others again.
With each slow step, he took a breath either in or out, concentrating on the sensation. He put every other thought out of his mind until he felt calm enough to step back inside. He opened the clubhouse door, seeing that all of the others turned to look at him as he did. There was a mixture of expressions on their faces, but the ones that cut him most were those that included pity. He took his seat once more without a word.
Brian soon discovered that the meeting was drawing to a close. He kept his silence as the others added their final congratulations, gave each other messages and began separating into smaller groups. They all went outside and Brian heaved a sigh of relief.
“Are you all right?” Jim whispered to him as they walked away from the clubhouse.
“No, but I don’t want to talk about it,” Brian replied, quickening his pace.
To his relief, Jim took the hint and did not try to keep up. His whole mind set on keeping away from everyone, Brian did not notice where he was going until he was already past Crabapple Farm and having to make a choice on whether to continue on to Ten Acres, or to turn off to another destination. The loft of the old barn at Ten Acres seemed as good a place as any to work off his bad mood, so he chose to go there.
In the quiet of that half-secret place, he sank into a chair and closed his eyes. The thing that he had dreaded would happen in the distant future was happening now and there was little he could do to stop it. He knew, in his heart, that if he could stop it, he would not. It was not a pleasant thought.
She Said
“Peter, I’m worried.” Helen set down the needlepoint that she had been trying to work on without success and turned to her husband. “I’m sure that Brian is going to take this badly.”
Peter sighed and closed his newspaper. “Probably,” he agreed. “There’s not much that we can do about it, though. We’ll just be there to pick up the pieces when they’ve finished their fight.”
“I hope it doesn’t come to that.” She frowned. “I don’t want our boys coming to blows.”
Her husband shook his head. “I meant a fight, as in an argument. I doubt that it will be a physical fight. Now, if it was Mart and Bobby competing for the same girl…”
“I’m glad that that is unlikely to ever happen! I don’t even want to think of what would happen in that situation.”
“No,” he answered. “And I don’t think we should speculate too much on what will happen tonight. They might surprise you. They might act in a manner that’s more mature than you expect.”
Helen sighed. “Brian is keeping too many secrets from us and from his friends. It’s not good for him. I feel as if he grew up too fast when he was younger, but that he isn’t as mature as he likes to make out. We shouldn’t have given him quite so much responsibility when he was little.”
“It’s too late to change that now.” Peter took her hand and squeezed it. “We have no way of knowing if it would have made any difference.”
“True.” She sighed, once more. “I don’t like the waiting. I wish they hadn’t chosen to do this in the clubhouse. I’d like to know right away what the damage is.”
Peter pulled her into an embrace. “We’ll do our waiting together,” he promised. “And maybe, that way, it won’t be quite so bad.”
He Said
As the group began going their separate ways, Jim considered which of his brotherly duties he should tackle first. His best friend had stalked away into the night. Jim thought it prudent to leave Brian be for an hour or so, to allow him to work off some of his anger. Of the other two people he needed to tackle, Jim decided to start with his sister. He followed the newly-engaged pair towards the Manor House and, when they were just near the door, asked her for a word in private.
“Will you wait here for me?” she asked Mart.
“Certainly, my love,” he answered, seating himself on the verandah. “I hope, James, that you will not keep her long?”
“I won’t,” Jim promised, leading his sister inside the house.
They found the library to be empty and entered it, closing the doors behind themselves.
“You can’t talk me out of it, you know,” she told him, without waiting to hear what he wanted to say to her.
He smiled. “What makes you think that’s why we’re here?”
Honey gave a little shrug. “You have that look in your eyes, like you want to tell me what to do and how to stay out of trouble. You look protective. I don’t need you to protect me, Jim. I’ve chosen this for a reason and I know what I’m doing. I’ve talked to Mother about the trouble she had trying to get pregnant and I really don’t want to have that same trouble. This is my insurance – the earlier I start, the greater my chances of success.”
“But Honey,” he asked, gently, “have you really thought about this? You’re not just rushing into it because it seems to solve a problem?”
She sighed. “I really, really want this. I’ve been thinking about it for a year – a whole year, Jim! It’s not something that I came up with last week. It wasn’t until I saw an article on leaving having children until it’s too late that I knew why I’d been thinking what I was thinking, but when I did, I knew that I’d known all along and I was just waiting to get to the place where Mart could know, too. I love him, he loves me, we belong together and I want to have a baby with him. Is that so bad?”
Her brother shook his head. “That’s not bad at all, but I thought it might be my responsibility to make sure. I know that if Trixie and I had announced our engagement like this, her brothers would have interrogated me.”
Honey waved her hand. “Oh, them. They’d interrogate you if they thought you looked at Trixie funny. In fact, I talked Mart out of interrogating you only last week, because he thought the two of you were acting too familiar with each other in a public place.”
Jim gave a kind of strangled laugh. “Thanks for looking out for me. I’ll have to bear that in mind, in future.”
She patted his hand. “I’m glad that you care, Jim. I know what I’m doing, though. I’ve really thought this through and I know exactly what I want.”
“In that case,” he answered, giving her a hug, “I’ll add my congratulations. I’m glad that you’ve thought it through and I’ll be happy to have Mart in the family.”
“Thanks, Jim.” She gave him a kiss on the cheek and turned to leave.
“One more thing,” Jim requested. “Can you give me a few minutes to have a little chat with Mart, please?”
She narrowed her eyes. “You’re not going to interrogate him, are you?”
Jim smiled and shook his head. “You’ve convinced me that he doesn’t need it.”
Honey waved him on his way and Jim went out onto the verandah.
“Can we have a word, Mart?” Jim asked, on finding him right where they had left him.
“It was Honey’s idea, honest,” Mart told him, without waiting to find out what Jim wanted to say. “She had to convince me before I agreed, and I only agreed to the time frame because she was so insistent. If I had a choice I’d have left it five years or so, but she really wants a baby and is afraid she won’t be able to if she leaves it too late and she’s so afraid of having to have IVF that it wasn’t an option.”
“I’m not here to criticise you,” his soon-to-be brother-in-law answered. “And, anyway, she’s just told me all about it.”
Mart visibly relaxed. “You can’t know how much I’ve been dreading facing you over this.”
“I think, maybe, I do,” Jim replied, almost under his breath.
The other man looked up sharply, but did not comment.
After a few moments, Jim continued, “I just wanted you to know that I support you one hundred percent. I get the feeling that it’s going to be a rough few weeks from now until the wedding and I want you to know that whatever the two of you need, I’ll do my best to provide it. Okay?”
“Thanks, Jim,” Mart answered, touched by the gesture. He gave the other man a strong hug. “That means a lot to me.”
“You’re welcome. Now, you’d better go and see Honey, before she starts suspecting me of interrogating you. I think you’ll find her in the library.”
Mart jumped to his feet and entered the house, leaving Jim to execute the third, and most difficult, part of his plan. Something told him that Brian would still not be in a reasonable state of mind. Something else told him that the barn at Ten Acres would be the most likely place to find his friend. His heart heavy in his chest, Jim set out in that direction. By the time he reached it, he was feeling almost sick with worry as to what he was going to find.
As he ascended the stairs, he was sure to make enough noise to announce his presence. Reaching the top, he found Brian in a restless state, pacing the floor and scowling at the newcomer.
“Can’t I be alone anywhere?” he demanded.
Jim shrugged and sat down on the arm of one of the old sofas. “I thought, maybe, you might need someone to talk to.”
“Well, I don’t.” Brian turned his back, but soon began to pace, once more. “There’s nothing to talk about.”
“Right,” Jim answered. “In that case, there’s nothing to be upset about, either.”
“Upset?” Brian blasted. “Upset doesn’t even begin to cover it. To say that I was upset would be like saying that nuclear bombs are a bit dangerous. I’m not just upset, I’m… mortified, shocked, livid. I want to do something to hurt him, but I know that I can’t.”
“He’s not doing this to hurt you,” Jim pointed out.
“What does that matter?” Brian demanded. “It hurts anyway.”
Jim paused. “Does it really? Or, do you just think it should?”
“Who are you to tell me how I feel?” Brian shouted, a foot from Jim’s face.
Jim took a breath and left the question hanging for a few moments. “How about if you calm down a little,” he suggested, seeing that Brian was rapidly losing control of his temper.
“The hell I won’t!” Brian bellowed. “I’ll do what I damn well want, Jim, and neither you nor anyone else can stop me.”
Jim waited, saying nothing.
“He can’t do this to me. We’re brothers. He won’t.”
Still, Jim waited. He watched as the anger drained away and left something else – something that pained Jim to observe.
“You’re right, though,” Brian said, quietly. “I won’t cause any trouble. I’m just going to fade into the background, just like I never existed.”
Jim did not quite know what to say to that, but made the best attempt that he could. “I don’t think anyone’s asking you to go that far.”
“It’s what I need to do though, isn’t it?” His voice now sounded bitter. “I thought I’d gotten over it, that I didn’t care any more, that it would all go away somehow. Now that this is happening, it’s clear that I was deluding myself.”
“Are you sure?” Jim asked, feeling as if he was dealing with explosives. “Is it that you envy Mart, or that you don’t approve of how he’s handling himself?”
At once, Brian’s anger level went up again. “Approve? How can I approve of what he’s doing? He’s treating her like she’s nothing special.”
“He’s treating her how she wants to be treated,” Jim contradicted. “I know, because I asked. It was Honey’s idea and she had an uphill battle getting Mart to agree. Honey has private reasons of her own for this course of action and she was the instigator.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Brian snapped.
Jim gave a shrug. “Because you need to know and there’s no one else to tell you. I can’t let you destroy the relationship between you and your brother over what my sister convinced him to do.”
“Why do you have to be so reasonable?” Brian grumbled, sinking into a chair. “It’s depressing.”
His friend sat down also. “It’s easier for me to be reasonable because I don’t have so much invested in it. I want her to be happy, but I never imagined that she would be with me.”
“Well, I hadn’t been imagining that the last couple of years, either, but it doesn’t seem to help me.” Brian slumped further in his chair, looking distinctly grumpy. “I don’t want to be the one to cause a rift between the Bob-Whites, but how am I supposed to handle this? I don’t get why it should be a secret. It doesn’t seem right.”
Jim considered his answer for a moment. “Honey has to be very careful about what she puts out into the public arena. Mother and Dad have come up with that plan and I think that they know what they’re doing. I was planning on following their advice, for Honey’s sake.”
“Annoyingly reasonable,” Brian muttered, sinking into an ill-tempered silence.
A pause ensued, as Jim thought about what else he could hope to achieve. Deciding that it was enough for now, he dropped his hand onto Brian’s shoulder in a comforting gesture and left him to himself.
She Said
The next time that all three girls were free, Trixie enlisted Honey and Diana’s help to shop for a present for her Aunt Alicia, whose birthday was fast approaching. Her mother assured Trixie that this year heralded a significant age, though she neglected to mention what age that might be. As a result, a better than average present was in order and Trixie had no idea how to choose it without assistance.
As the three walked through the department store that they had chosen, however, Honey broke off her endless chatter on wedding plans and instead became distracted by the section containing baby needs. While her friends were about to walk straight past, Honey wandered off among the racks of tiny clothes.
“Oh, isn’t it sweet?” She held up a pink, frilly baby dress. “I hope it’s not too many years until I get to go buying this sort of thing. It’s just so adorable.”
Trixie looked at her friend as if she had taken leave of her senses. “It looks impossible to put on, you’d have to hand wash it and iron it and, probably, the baby would vomit all over it in the first two minutes and you’d have to change her. And anyway, knowing our family, you’d probably have mostly boys. If you have to look at baby clothes, you should at least look at something practical. Like those rompers.”
Honey glanced in the direction indicated and looked crestfallen. “They’re not anywhere near as adorable.”
“But you can throw them in the washing machine,” Trixie argued. “The one with the cars is cute. Why not something like that?”
“Cars? How can you compare a romper with cars to this beautiful dress? Look – it’s even got little flowers embroidered on it.”
Honey held it up once more, as Trixie screwed up her nose at it. Seeing the situation deteriorating by the minute, Diana gathered up her friends and led them away from the baby department.
“When the time comes, you and I can shop together,” she promised Honey. “We’ll leave Trixie at home and we can find as many cute outfits as you like – but Trixie does have some points there and we’d have to get practical, but adorable, things.”
“I’m not sure there’s any such thing,” Honey sniffed.
Di continued guiding her away. “Yes, there is. My little sisters had some beautiful things when they were little that were easy enough for me to dress them. Don’t you remember, when you were a little girl, how some doll’s dresses were so frustrating to put on? Well, babies aren’t like dolls to dress – they wriggle like crazy. So, any of those difficult things are pretty much impossible to get on.”
“And if there’s anything that babies are good at, it’s vomiting,” Trixie added, harking back to her previous point.
“Not all babies,” Di answered, as Honey began to look alarmed. “You’re just thinking of Bobby, who was awful that way, but my brothers and sisters didn’t vomit anywhere near as much as Bobby did – I don’t think all four of them put together did as much vomiting as he did.”
“Are you having second thoughts about the wedding, yet, Honey?” Trixie asked, laughing. “You look like you might want to vomit yourself.”
Honey shook her head. “Of course I’m not – having second thoughts, I mean; but I’m not going to vomit, either, just in case you were wondering.”
Both of her friends giggled, with Di adding, “You do look a little unwell. Do you think we should change the subject before you do start wanting to vomit?”
“Please,” Honey requested. “I think I’ve had enough of this entire conversation.”
“Then can we get on with buying this present?” Trixie asked. “Because I’m pretty sure that Aunt Alicia doesn’t need any baby clothes.”
The others nodded and went on with their task.
Continue to part five.