Sommersgate House (47 page)

Taking this as
their cue, when Julia arrived back downstairs, the others moved to
leave and Julia gave them all a tight hug good-bye.

“The best
Christmas Sommersgate has had in as long as I’ve known it, lass,”
Mr. Kilpatrick said gruffly and Julia awarded him a bright smile
that made pink tinge his cheeks.

When it was
just family, Julia and Douglas rounded up Lizzie and Willie for
bed, walking them into the hall for goodnight kisses.

Once
Willie finished his fast-as-lightning kiss on Julia’s cheek, he
said quietly, “It was a good day, Auntie Jewel.”

Instantly,
Julia’s throat closed. He sounded so like his father that she
struggled to keep her face straight and the emotion from
showing.

Just like
Gavin would do, Willie noticed how hard she’d worked on the day and
he commented on it.

“You’re a good
man, William Fairfax” she told him, mock gravely putting her hand
on his shoulder, trying to lighten the mood.

“I know,” he
replied with a cheeky grin, which was also pure Gavin and made
Julia’s heart lurch.

Her eyes
caught Douglas’s to see he was watching them, his expression soft
and thoughtful and she was just about to say something, do anything
to dispel the moment when they heard a piercing, blood-curdling
scream.

Not a ghostly
woman’s scream.

A child’s
scream.

Julia’s blood
turned to ice but before she could move to the stairs, Douglas was
there taking them three at a time, leaving Julia, Lizzie and Willie
well behind.

By the time
she skidded to a halt at Ruby’s opened door with Lizzie and Willie
at her heels, Douglas was standing in the middle of the room with
Ruby in his arms, the child’s limbs wrapped around him tightly.

Ruby was
crying uncontrollably and through her sobs, Julia heard her say, “I
was a good girl, Santa came and everything. I thought if I was a
good girl, Mummy and Daddy would come home for Christmas. They said
that Mummy and Daddy went far away where I can’t see them but I’ve
been shouting…” she hiccupped pitifully, “shouting all the time so
they could…” more hiccups, “hear me but they didn’t come back. I
thought for certain on Christmas they’d come back and know exactly
where to find me because I’ve been
shouting and shouting and
shouting!
”

Douglas turned
and looked over Ruby’s shoulder at Julia. The tears Julia wouldn’t
allow herself to shed earlier pricked the backs of her eyes and
then they were there, falling silently down her face.

Julia stood
where she was and reached out blindly to grab Lizzie and Willie’s
hands. Douglas would have to do this alone; she needed to see to
the other two. They moved into her body, pressing themselves to
her, she dropped their hands and wrapped an arm around each as she
heard Lizzie’s soft weeping.

Douglas’s hand
moved slowly on Ruby’s back until her uncontrollable wailing turned
to mere sobs and hiccups and then he said in a soft, gentle voice
filled with pulsating tenderness, “They can hear you Ruby, they can
even see you, they just can’t come back,” he hesitated a
heart-stopping second before saying, “ever.”

At that
announcement, Ruby’s breath hitched and so did Lizzie’s.

Douglas turned
so his back was to Julia and the children in order that Ruby could
see them. He was still cradling her in his arms. “They trusted you
to us, sweetheart, we’re your family now.”

It was then,
Julia’s breath hitched painfully too, the ache in her chest that
she had been enduring for months broke open, searing her soul.

She could take
it no longer and rushed forward, pulling the children with her.
Once she arrived at Douglas’s side, she carefully reached for Ruby.
Without comment, Douglas moved the girl into Julia’s arms and Ruby
slid her body around Julia with such fierceness that it made
Julia’s broken heart shatter into a million more pieces.

“Shh,
Ruby-girl,” she hushed her, absorbing the girl’s wracking sobs into
her body and holding her firmly as she hiccupped wetly into Julia’s
neck. “We’ve got you,” she promised.

After several
long, tense minutes, Ruby finally controlled her emotion and the
little girl asked quietly, “Auntie Jewel?”

“Yes,
baby?”

“Do you think
the man and his lady can see Mummy and Daddy?”

Julia couldn’t
help herself, her throat emitted a noise of pure grief.

With great
effort, she composed herself. “No, Ruby-girl, your Mummy and Daddy
are in a much nicer place than Sommersgate.”

Ruby’s head
came up and Julia looked into her tear-streaked eyes.

“There’s
someplace nicer than Sommersgate?” she asked as if she couldn’t
imagine it.

Julia
nodded and gave her a tremulous smile. “Much,
much
nicer, honey. And they’re there.”

Ruby studied
her aunt for a moment soberly before she laid her cheek on Julia’s
shoulder and when Julia finally looked at Douglas, Lizzie was
holding on to him like she’d never let him go. Her face was pressed
into his side and his arms were wrapped tightly around her. Julia
watched in fascination as he bent low to kiss Lizzie on the top of
her head.

Willie was
standing to the side but he moved forward.

“Auntie Jewel,
I’ll take care of this now,” her ten year old nephew said, his hand
on Ruby’s back indicating he wanted Julia to put the girl down.

Julia looked
into her brother Gavin’s eyes that just happened to be in an
altogether different being’s face, and, without a word of protest,
she bent down and put Ruby on the floor.

Willie
gathered Ruby to him and then gently moved to Lizzie, taking charge
of her and leading them all to the bed where he sat them down, one,
two, three.

Douglas moved
to Julia and Willie raised his eyes to them.

“I’ll take
care of this now,” he repeated.

His meaning
was clear, or at least it was to Douglas.

Douglas leaned
close to her.

“Julia he
wants us to go,” he murmured.

“I can’t –”
Julia started but Douglas wasn’t listening. He took her hand firmly
and led her out. She resisted but she was no match for Douglas and
now was no time to make a scene.

When they were
out the door, Douglas closed it. Julia turned on him and opened her
mouth to speak but he put his finger to her lips, this tender
action effectively silencing her.

Then he pulled
her vaguely resisting, stiff body into his arms.

“The three of
them need time alone,” he stated over the top of her head. “You
have to respect Will enough to let him take care of it.”

She knew he
was right. She hated it, but she knew he was right.

She nodded
jerkily against his shoulder and pulled out of his arms. Then,
resting her back on the wall next to the door, she slid down to sit
on the floor close by just in case they called out to her.

She didn’t
look at Douglas, she didn’t want him to try to talk her out of her
silent vigil which she would completely refuse to let go.

He didn’t.

He sat next to
her, rested his back against the wall, one leg straight, one knee
bent, he pulled her close to him with an arm around her and forced
her head on his shoulder.

Because she
needed to, needed it more than anything in the world at that
moment, she relaxed against him and her arms stole around his
middle. In return, his other arm curled around her, holding her
close.

They didn’t
speak. She (to her everlasting surprise) didn’t burst into a fresh
round of tears. She just sat in Douglas’s arms for what could have
been minutes or hours. Then, when her body was stiff and
protesting, as if Douglas knew she could take no more, he lithely
surged to his feet and bent over to take her hand and pull her
up.

Together, they
silently opened the door and snuck into the room which was still
lit by Ruby’s pink daisy nightlight.

Lizzie and
Ruby were lying together in Ruby’s bed, tucked up and sleeping.

Willie was
asleep in the chair opposite.

“We have to
make him more comfortable,” Julia whispered to Douglas, the boy’s
position would mean a crick in his neck tomorrow.

“Leave him,”
Douglas ordered.

She opened her
mouth to disagree but saw Douglas shake his head. “He won’t thank
us. Julia, darling, you have to let him to do this.”

She knew he
was right.

And anyway,
he’d called her “darling” in his deep, rich voice. She would have
done anything he said at that point.

She
nodded.

She did,
however, grab a pink throw from the end of Ruby’s bed and very
gently, so as not to disturb him, threw it over Willie’s body.

When they’d
closed the door again, Julia started to go to her rooms but Douglas
caught her hand.

She turned to
him and started to speak. “Douglas, tonight, I have to –”

“I know,” he
interrupted her and lifted his finger to trace a path from her
temple slowly down then along her jaw to her chin. He watched his
finger as it went and then his eyes shifted to hers. “You did well
today.” His voice was soft with meaning.

She nodded,
not trusting herself to speak, not trusting herself to blurt out
that she loved him. She loved it that he called her “darling” and
loved it that he called Ruby “sweetheart” and loved it that he held
Lizzie tightly in his arms when she needed him.

Most of all,
tonight, she loved it that he knew what Willie needed to do.

While she was
thinking about how much she loved him, she watched him and his eyes
changed, burning with a light she’d never noticed before.

He then did
something that completely took her breath away.

He kissed her
nose.

And if she had
gotten her breath back it would have again been stolen.

Because he
turned on his heel and he left, just as she needed him to do.

She went
immediately to her room, to her phone and called her mother to tell
her about the events of the evening with the children.

And she didn’t
leave out Douglas’s part in it.

Sweet
Anticipation

The next three
weeks found Julia experiencing complete emotional turmoil which she
felt was a little incredible considering she already thought she
was experiencing the height of emotional turmoil.

Clearly,
Douglas realised what Julia had officially termed (in her own mind)
“The Tender Onslaught Strategy (with Vague Tendencies Toward
Arrogance)” was working beautifully so he kept right on using
it.

The press had
taken it into their head that Julia and Douglas were a couple and
they were speculating wildly about her and Douglas leaving the ball
so quickly. Not to mention Douglas was no longer appearing with his
rail-thin, twenty-something starlets and models at every social
gathering imaginable but instead squiring Julia and the children
all over Bristol and Somerset.

Making matters
worse, they all travelled to London to attend Charlie and Oliver’s
Annual New Year’s Bash. Julia didn’t want to go so soon after
Ruby’s outburst but she couldn’t let Charlie down. Sam arranged for
the children to spend the night with her nieces and nephews at her
sister’s house.

Julia took
Veronika, saying she wanted the girl, who had no family close and
no friends to speak of, to have a good time. If she admitted it to
herself, she was really using her young friend as a shield.

Once in
London, she found out Sam (or perhaps Douglas, she wouldn’t put it
passed him) arranged for Veronika to attend a party with her rather
than go with Julia and Douglas to the Forsythes.

This left
Julia and Douglas together, alone.

Luckily,
the New Year’s party was a mad crush and Julia easily lost Douglas.
She made certain she didn’t drink too much; she needed all her
faculties to utilise in her efforts to avoid him. Further, she
didn’t want to do
anything
to let
her guard down.

Christmas
night was still fresh in her memory and she knew she was losing
ground fast. She decided to nurture her irate frustration at the
situation; it was the only thing she had left.

Eventually she
found herself alone with Oliver and she decided to take that
opportunity to pick his brain, subtly of course, about Douglas’s
history. Douglas’s story about his childhood Christmases still had
Julia feeling ill-at-ease. In fact, when she wasn’t avoiding
Douglas, stewing over him or watching the children like hawks
(after the Christmas night disaster), it was all she thought
about.

Oliver knew
him best and Julia felt that, maybe, he could be a font of
information.

After a few
questions, diplomatically worded (she thought), Oliver cut eyes to
her that were not lit with his usual good-natured light.

“What are your
intentions regarding Douglas?” he asked bluntly.

“
I…
well,” she spluttered.
Her
intentions with
Douglas?
She didn’t know what to say, so she said, “I’m just
curious.”

Oliver
surveyed her for a moment which probably lasted about a second but
the intensity of his eyes made it seem like an hour.

“I’m afraid
curiosity isn’t good enough, Julia. If you genuinely cared, I would
tell you, but since you’re just curious…” He let that hang and when
Julia said no more, he excused himself and, for some reason, this
made Julia feel like an absolute heel.

She was caught
in a mad crush of happy, drunken people as the clock struck down to
midnight (and it was never fun to be an unhappy, un-drunken person
in that kind of situation).