Part Three

He Said

A few days later, Honey’s loneliness caused her and Mart to make a temporary move to the Manor House, where there would always be someone else around. On the first Saturday afternoon they were there, while Honey had a rest, Mart went outside to stretch his legs. He had not gone far when something disturbed him. At the sound of raised voices, he hastened his steps towards the clubhouse. He had wanted a peaceful walk that did not take him too far from the house, but that did not seem to be on the cards. As he got closer, he realised that the combatants were Trixie and Jim.

The news of their break-up had been much talked-about in the days since it became known. He and Honey had debated long and hard on what they should do about it, especially since both parties had been most uncommunicative.

“I don’t want to hear it!” Trixie was yelling. “I don’t believe you. You’re lying to me!”

“I never lied to you,” Jim yelled back, though he seemed to be motivated more by distress than anger. “I never lied.”

“The whole thing was a lie. Get out of my sight. I don’t ever want to see you again, Jim Frayne. Don’t come near me again, do you hear?”

A moment later, Jim turned and ran, moving in the opposite direction to that from which Mart approached. He was soon lost to sight and Mart turned his attention to Trixie, who looked furious.

“What is going on here?” Mart demanded. “Why were you yelling at Jim like that?”

The fury melted away from Trixie’s face until she looked utterly cold. “Haven’t you heard? Jim has been deceiving me, so I dumped him.”

“Yes, actually I had heard something about it,” Mart answered. “I heard that you were being unreasonable with Jim and wouldn’t let him tell his side of the story.”

“He’s already admitted that he can’t tell the whole truth.” She turned away and Mart noticed that the anger was still there, under the surface. “If he can’t be completely truthful, I don’t want to hear any of it.”

Mart shook his head. “That’s not a nice attitude you have there. Have you considered showing some compassion, by any chance?”

“Have you considered butting out?” she countered.

“Why can’t you listen to reason?” he asked her, beginning to lose his temper. “You’re making things very difficult for the rest of us by this animosity towards Jim.”

“I don’t want anything to do with him. He’s had his chance and he’s blown it.” Trixie aimed a scowl in the direction that Jim had taken. “I’ve told him to leave me alone and I want the rest of you to respect that.”

Mart looked at his sister and wondered if he knew her at all. Her actions seemed so far out of character under the circumstances – unless there was something that the rest of the group did not know. He recalled another time when he had sensed something secretive between Trixie and Jim. I wonder if there’s a connection, he mused, narrowing his eyes as he considered the matter. There’ve been a few times in the last couple of years that those two have acted strangely. What are they hiding?

“I don’t have anything more to say on the subject,” Trixie announced, before he had formulated his first question. “I’ve made up my mind and all of you will have to put up with it.”

As she flounced off, he resolved to pin down the impression that he had gotten and to try to solve the mystery of his sister’s unaccountable behaviour.

She Said

Honey was in search of some bedtime reading when she discovered her brother sitting in the library. His posture showed him to be discouraged, but his facial expression could better be described as grim. It went straight to her heart to see him this way.

“Jim?” Honey asked, approaching him with a tentative step. “Is everything okay?”

He looked up with a blank expression, then shrugged. “I’m still here, I guess.”

She sank down next to him and put a consoling hand on his shoulder. “If I’d known this was going to happen,” she told him, “I think I might have done things a little differently.” She rubbed her swollen belly. “I’m sorry that these things are both happening at the same time. It makes it difficult for everyone.”

“Maybe she’ll change her mind.” His wistful tone brought tears to Honey’s eyes.

“Maybe,” she agreed. “But, if she doesn’t, you’ll be okay.”

For the first time in the exchange, their eyes met. Honey recoiled at the pain she saw in her brother’s eyes. “No,” he contradicted softly. “No, I don’t think I will. Not completely. Not ever again.”

A tear spilled down her cheek, but she made no move to wipe it away. “Please don’t talk that way. This little one is going to need Uncle Jim. I didn’t have close relationships with my aunts and uncles, and I want better for my own kids.”

His arm looped around her shoulders and gently drew her into a hug. “I’ll be there for your little one,” he promised, “whether I’m okay or not.”

“But I want you to be okay,” she told him, crying in earnest now. “I don’t want you to be hurt.”

“You can’t stop me being hurt, Hon,” he explained gently. “Being hurt is what makes us real. If you take out all the pain, you take out all the life.”

“I still don’t want you to be hurt. I want to make it all better.”

Jim sighed. “Nothing can make it all better, but thank you for wanting that for me.”

“I always want that for you,” she answered. “You’re my full-blooded adopted brother, remember?”

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Yes, I remember. And I’m thankful for that.”

He Said

A glimmer of hope shone for Jim as his quick steps approached the kitchen door of Crabapple Farm. He had received a message, asking him to meet Trixie there, and had hastened to get here, anxious to see whether she had perhaps changed her mind. At the least, he hoped to be able to explain himself a little better. He knocked, then entered, finding Trixie seated at the table, a large box in front of her.

“You wanted to see me?” he asked, his heart sinking. He recognised some of the things which were poking out of the top and it did not bode well. All hope for a reconciliation faded.

“Here,” she said, pushing the box towards him. “These things are yours. Take them and go.”

Without actually looking at him, she stood and walked away.

“But, Trixie,” he called after her, “I gave these to you. Don’t you want them?”

She did not turn, but stopped in the doorway. “It’s over. Take them away from here. I don’t ever want to see you here again.”

This time, Jim did not stop her as she walked away. He peeked into the cardboard box. From what he could tell, every gift he had ever given Trixie was here, from the simplest token of friendship to the engagement ring they had chosen together a few months before. An old-fashioned ring box caught his eye and he opened it to find his great aunt’s ring.

Further searching revealed all the notes he had ever written her and every photograph he knew of that featured the two of them together. He pulled out a framed photograph, which was faced towards the cardboard and found that it contained the only shot from the day of their elopement. As it came free, it revealed the necklace he had bought her the following day, lying in a tangled heap at the bottom of the box.

A wave of grief washed over Jim and tears began to fall. His whole future, his hopes and dreams of a life together with Trixie, had dissolved before his eyes. His head dropped onto his arms as he sank into one of the kitchen chairs.

Minutes passed, but he was unable to motivate himself to move. A kindly hand dropped onto his shoulder and Mrs. Belden’s voice spoke his name, her tone somewhere between concern and dismay.

“I’m sorry,” he gasped, trying to push himself to his feet. “I’ll go. I’m sorry.”

“Wait,” she asked, her hand still resting on his shoulder. “You’re upset, Jim. You can’t leave like this. You’re certainly in no condition to drive anywhere.”

He shook his head, but stopped struggling. “I can’t stay here. She told me to go and not come back.”

“She has no right to say that,” Mrs. Belden pointed out. “This is not her house; you’re welcome here any time you wish – including right now.” She took a seat next to him and patted his hand. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

Once more, he shook his head. “She gave everything back to me,” he explained. “I can’t convince her that I’m telling the truth, so she’s decided she wants nothing to do with me – nothing to remind her that I even exist, either, so it seems. I came here in the hope that she was ready to listen to my side of the story; it looks like I got what I deserved for building false hopes.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Jim.” She put her hand back on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “From what I’ve seen, you had plenty of reason to hope – and I don’t think the time for hoping has passed. She may change her mind yet.”

He shook his head. “She was pretty clear about what she wanted, just now.”

Mrs. Belden shook her head. “She’s afraid, and it’s making her act in ways that she normally wouldn’t. If you can address her fears, you still have a chance with her.”

“How do I do that, when I’m not entirely sure what they are?”

She gave him a sad smile. “I think you’ll have to find the way to that by yourself, Jim. I can’t find it for you.”

He nodded and pulled the box towards himself. “Well, I think I’ll be going now. I’m sorry to have bothered you.”

“It’s not bother, Jim,” Mrs. Belden assured him, giving his arm a squeeze. “It’s no bother at all.”

She Said

Honey grasped the railing of the staircase and held on through the latest contraction. She had been trying to walk down the stairs in a calm manner and find someone to tell her what to do next, but had only gotten half-way before having to pause. The pain faded away and she took a couple of breaths before continuing down the stairs. Reaching the bottom, she looked around, but Manor House seemed unaccountably empty.

The front door opened and Jim entered, carrying a box. His posture and expression told her that something terrible had happened and she hurried to him as fast as her unwieldy figure could manage.

“Jim? Are you okay?” she asked, gently taking his arm.

His only answer was to shake his head.

Honey began to wonder what she should do. She knew that she was in no condition to help her brother, in fact she was in need of some assistance herself. She had not yet decided when the next contraction came. Jim seemed to snap out of whatever trance he had been in and set the box down on a side table, giving her all of his attention.

“Where’s Mart?” he asked, as her breathing returned to normal.

“He went out half an hour ago. He should be back soon, but I don’t know what to do without him. Should I just wait until he gets here? Should I call the hospital and ask?” She leaned her head against Jim’s chest and let him embrace her. “Please, Jim, tell me what to do.”

She felt his arm tighten across her shoulder before he spoke. “How about if you call the hospital and explain what’s going on? Maybe, by the time you’re finished, he’ll be here.”

Honey nodded, feeling relieved that someone else was there for her. She spared a moment to wonder what had happened to Jim and what was in the box, but set those thoughts aside for some other time. Right now, she needed someone to look after her and if that person was going to be Jim, she wanted all of his attention. This other problem could wait.

He Said

Matthew Wheeler beamed at his wife as she held their first grandchild in her arms. She looked nervous, he noted, but held the infant with competence, in spite of her own lack of experience. When Honey was that age, Madeleine had been unconscious and fighting for her own life. It had been weeks before she had even seen her daughter. He was grateful that Honey’s experience of motherhood was very different.

“Do you want to hold him?” Maddie asked, looking up at him with a smile.

He held out his arms and accepted the small bundle. “Let me take a look at you,” he told the boy. “Now, what have we here?”

“Are you ready to share his name with us?” Madeleine asked, looking between the two new parents. “He does have a name, doesn’t he?”

Mart seemed a little nervous and cleared his throat before speaking. “We had some trouble agreeing, but I think we’ve settled on a name.”

“Joshua Douglas,” Honey added, smiling shyly. “We thought about naming him after someone, but couldn’t quite decide who, so we decided to give him a name that was all his own.”

“Are you sure we can’t work Cosmo in there somewhere?” Mart asked, earning himself a light slap. He looked up at his in-laws and hastily explained, “That was a joke, by the way. He wasn’t really ever going to be called Cosmo.”

“I think it’s a lovely name,” Maddie told them, before Mart could dig himself any deeper. “Don’t you think so, Matthew?”

He looked down at the baby and nodded. “I think it will suit him just fine.”

She Said

Honey smiled as she watched her brother cradle her newborn son. The sad, but tender, smile on his face caused her own smile to falter, but she was soon distracted by the way his large fingers caressed a tiny hand. So engrossed he was in the bundle in his arms, he did not seem to notice the door opening. Honey looked up and saw her best friend, a look a surprise and distaste on her face. Trixie stood still for several seconds, apparently shocked into inaction, before turning abruptly and leaving the room.

Jim kept his eyes focussed on the baby in his arms, but after a moment Honey knew that he had seen Trixie and that he was saddened by the incident. A soft sigh escaped his lips. Honey longed to give him some kind of comfort, to say something that would help him, but could find no words. They sat there in silence for some time, before Jim made an excuse, handed the baby back to her and left.

A few tears flowed down her face as she thought about what had just happened. She was still contemplating whether there was anything at all that she could do to help when another visitor arrived. The door opened a short distance and someone peeked through, before throwing the door open and coming inside.

“How are you feeling, Honey?” her best friend asked, as if nothing of importance had happened.

“Terrible,” Honey answered. “Trixie, I want you to do something for me. I want you to go and find Jim and–”

“I’m not speaking to him.” Trixie shook her head. “I’m sorry, Honey, but I can’t.”

“You have to make some kind of peace with him,” she demanded, her voice squeaky with emotion. “It’s tearing him apart!”

“But, Hon,” Trixie wailed, “how can I, after what he did?”

Honey’s eyes filled with tears. “Please, just find a way,” she begged. “I’m not asking you to take him back, just tell him you don’t completely despise him. I think that would be enough.”

Her friend’s shoulders sagged. “I can’t lie to him; his lying to me is what started all this – and I do despise him for that. I’m sorry, Honey. I really don’t want to leave you and Mart in this position, but I can’t see any way to change it.” As Honey began to cry in earnest, she added, quickly, “I’ll think about it, though, okay? Maybe, if I do that, he’ll see it’s really over and let go.”

“I don’t want things to be really over between you,” Honey sobbed.

Trixie’s eyes filled with tears, too. “It’s just how it is. I didn’t want things to end this way, either, but I don’t see any other way.”

He Said

To please his wife and satisfy his own feelings on the matter, Mart had been making an effort to keep an eye on Jim. His continued descent into the depths of depression had worried both Mart and Honey to the extent that they were willing to sacrifice some of their meagre time together for his benefit. Mart had practically needed to force Jim to come to visit them that evening and he was not at all sure it had been worth the effort. Conversation had flowed with a minimum of prompting, but it had been shallow and heartless, to Mart’s mind. As his brother-in-law got into his car and drove away, the couple stood and watched.

“There’s something there that I don’t understand,” Mart muttered, as they closed up the house. “The way that he’s acting… the things he won’t talk about… And he says he didn’t lie to her, but if he didn’t that would mean…”

“What?” asked Honey, when he did not finish.

“Nothing,” he replied, with a shake of his head. “I need to think about it a little; figure a few things out.”

Wearily, Honey nodded. “Don’t stay up too late. I think I’ll go to bed, now.”

He smiled and squeezed her shoulder, then gave her a goodnight kiss. “I’ll be along soon. I just need a little time to think.”

By the time he was ready to join her, Mart had decided upon a plan. In the morning, he would call his older brother and they would see whether they could sort out some of this mess.

“What have you done?” Mart demanded of his brother, the instant he heard his voice. “I know you’re keeping something from me – something that Jim knows and is protecting you about. So, spill.”

Brian answered with stony silence and did not utter a single word.

“Do you have any idea of the effect this has had?” Mart continued, regardless. “Jim is a wreck! Trixie is very unhappy.”

“I didn’t cause that,” Brian rebuffed, softly. “And my secret is none of your business.”

“Fine,” Mart replied. “Just remember, though: Trixie’s not the only one with investigative skills in this family. I’ll find out what it is that you’re hiding, whether you want me to or not.”

Brian let out a growl. “I’m warning you not to do that.”

“Or what?” Mart asked. “You’ll tell Moms that I’m picking on you?”

“I can cause a lot more trouble for you than that. We’re not kids any more.”

Mart squeezed his eyes shut, trying to push down the anger he was feeling. “Maybe you should act like an adult, then. Take responsibility for your actions, Brian, before you do some real damage.”

The two brothers shared a long moment of silence before Brian spoke. “I wasn’t the one who did the damage. I have nothing to reproach myself over.”

A click indicated that Brian had put down the receiver.

“That’s what you think,” Mart muttered to the tone. “I’m going to do everything I can to make you see that you have.”

She Said

As she watched her brother’s misery, Honey knew that she had to make one more attempt at convincing Trixie to listen to him. With this in mind, she invited her friend over for an afternoon. She chose her time to bring the matter up carefully, when her friend was calm and they were unlikely to be interrupted, but the attempt seemed to go wrong from the start. Trixie became defensive before Honey had even uttered one sentence and made an attempt to change the subject.

“Please, Trixie, why are you doing this?” Honey found herself asking, with tears running down her cheeks. “I don’t understand.”

“He can’t keep secrets from me,” her best friend snapped. “There is no room in our relationship for that kind of thing. If he can’t deal with that, then it’s better that it’s over. I’m just glad we never–”

Honey swiped away a tear. “You never what?”

Trixie shook her head. “Nothing.”

The answer was as unconvincing as is usual in such circumstances and Honey disregarded it. Instead, she repeated the question, adding, “And don’t say what I think you’re going to say because I know it’s not true.”

“Never had the whole enormous society wedding thing that everyone always expected us to have someday.” Trixie gave her friend a challenging look, as if to dare her to disagree.

“Well, I almost wish you had,” Honey answered. “Then you wouldn’t be treating Jim this way.”

“Wouldn’t I?” Trixie answered.

Her best friend shook her head. “Of course not! You couldn’t be so cruel!”

Trixie averted her eyes. “You’d call that cruel?”

Honey nodded, her eyes filling with fresh tears. “Just think what that would do to him. If you two were married and then you decided you didn’t want to be any more, he wouldn’t go out and find someone else; he’d wait to see if you came back to him – for the rest of his life, if that’s how long it took. Just think how unhappy he would be.”

“He should have thought of that before he lied to me,” Trixie answered, her anger returning.

Honey gave her a curious look, then shook her head. “Well, maybe it really is better this way, but I just wish you would talk to him and let him tell his side of the story. Maybe you could sort something out.”

Trixie shook her head and looked away. “He’s had his chance. I’m not giving him another one.”

He Said

When Mart had heard his wife recount her latest conversation with Trixie, he was filled with a conviction that it was his job to confront her, to try to get her to see reason. His thoughts on the topic had taken a disturbing turn lately and he was becoming increasingly uncomfortable about the things he had deduced. So, when he found himself alone with her one day, he took the opportunity with both hands.

“I need to talk to you, Trixie,” he told her, coming straight to the point. “I’ve noticed one or two things that I’m not comfortable with and I think it’s time we discussed them.”

“Not you, too,” she grumbled. “I’m not changing my mind, okay? It’s over and done with and there’s nothing more to say.”

“I know there’s more to this; I know you’re not telling the whole truth,” Mart accused. “Don’t lie to me, Trixie. You’re hiding something and I think I even know what it is.”

“It’s not any of your business,” she countered, turning away. “Leave me alone.”

Her brother took her by the arm and forced her to face him. “I think it is my business. You’re my sister and Jim is my friend, my brother-in-law. What you’re doing to him affects me – and all of the Bob-Whites and our families.”

“I’m not doing anything to him.”

He let out an exasperated breath. “Not doing anything to him? Are you insane? You’re killing him.”

She shook her head. “Don’t be so melodramatic. Jim will be just fine.” She muttered something else that Mart could not catch.

“What was that?” he asked.

“Nothing.”

He rolled his eyes. “Well, if you’re going to be like that, I won’t tell you my theory about what happened in Kentucky – or, would that more properly be, in Tennessee?”

At Trixie’s wide-eyed stare and the breath that she caught, Mart knew that his shot had hit home.

“Why would anything have happened in Tennessee?” Trixie asked, her composure regained. “The Bob-Whites didn’t go there.”

“I think that you went there – with Jim.” He watched his sister, seeing the blood drain from her face. “I think that you and he deliberately misled the rest of us, that you went together over the state border and that while you were there, you did something really, amazingly stupid.”

She shook her head, her expression miserable, but she did not speak.

“Do you know what I think you did there, Trixie?” he asked.

“You think we drove too fast and got caught speeding?” she suggested.

He raised an eyebrow at that weak attempt at diverting him. “No, I think you two eloped. And I think that puts a whole new spin on what’s happening between the two of you right now, doesn’t it?”

“You can’t tell anyone this theory,” she demanded, turning in an instant from white to red. “Spreading this around will only make things worse.”

Mart narrowed his eyes at her. “What if I told you that it wasn’t just a theory? What if I told you I had proof?”

Her temper flared. “If you had proof, you would show it to me. You don’t have proof. There is no proof. Now, what do I have to do to convince you to drop this and never mention it again?”

“Give Jim another chance.”

Trixie shook her head so hard that her curls bounced. “No! I can’t do that. You don’t know what he’s done.”

Mart grimaced. “As far as I can tell, you don’t know what he’s done, either. There’s definitely more to this than meets the eye, Trixie. Please, don’t punish him for something that’s not his fault.”

“How do you know it’s not his fault?” she demanded. “There are things that have happened… things I’ve seen that can’t easily be explained away. He lied to me. Do you have any idea what that means? Why should he lie? He never lies, not even by omission.”

“Are you sure?” he asked. “I know it must look bad, but are you really sure that he lied to you?”

She sighed. “He didn’t tell me where he was going. He let me believe that he was somewhere other than where he really was. Doesn’t that count as lying? And if he let me believe something that wasn’t true about where he was, doesn’t it follow that he might have let me believe something that wasn’t true about what he was doing there?”

Mart shrugged. “Brian is somehow involved in this. I don’t know exactly what role he played, but he’s keeping something from us. I think Jim knows what it is and is covering for him. Do you really want it on your conscience to judge Jim for something which is potentially Brian’s fault?”

“It’s my conscience,” she retorted, without giving the matter due consideration.

“You’re not even listening,” Mart accused. “I’m going to stop wasting my breath talking to you. If you don’t want to be helped, that’s your problem.”

“I don’t want to be helped.” She ground the words out between her teeth. “I am fine. Leave me alone.”

“I will.” Just as he was leaving, he turned back to her for a moment. “I think you’ll regret this, though, Trixie, and I’m afraid that it will be a very bitter regret when it comes.”

“That’s my problem, not yours!” she yelled at his retreating back, but Mart did not stop to reply.

Continue to part four.