Read Third Solstice CALIBRE with cover Online
Authors: Harper
Third Solstice CALIBRE with cover (11 page)
“We took our chances and ran in when there was a crowd around the reception desk. It was probably stupid, but...”
That was the ruckus Gideon had heard in the car park. “Of course it wasn’t. Thank you.”
“Well, I went round to yours this morning to get some food for Isolde, and I saw Tamsie’s presents piled up, and I wasn’t sure if you and Lee would get home today. And it seemed such a shame if she missed her party, so—”
“You brought it here.” Gideon nodded at Wilfred, gestured round the cramped little room made festive by well known faces and the parcels set out on Ma’s bed. “That’s great. Now, we’re all probably gonna get kicked out any second, so I suggest we sit down, grab a cup of coffee, and... What’s the matter, Ma? Why are you all looking so worried?”
A figure stirred in the corner. She was so nearly concealed by the door that Gideon hadn’t spotted her. “It’s me,” she said miserably. “They’re all worried because I’m here.”
Gideon grabbed a breath. “Elowen!”
“Yes. Hi. I would never have come near you all, only Ezekiel texted me that Ma was ill, and Michel and I were on our way to see Uncle Jago for Christmas. And you did invite me to Tamsyn’s party, so—”
“Zeke texted you?”
“Why shouldn’t I?” Zeke interrupted. “It wasn’t a family secret, and if you recall, Gid, Ma was the only one of us who really showed Elowen any compassion, after...”
He faded out, as if realising what kind of wolf he might have invited into the fold. Gideon gave him a look which told him he really wasn’t on safe ground with the whole family-secrets thing at all, and turned to his mother, who was propping herself up vigorously on her pillows. “You all right, Ma?”
“Yes, dear. Elowen, it’s nice to see you. But I have to say, my compassion will be limited this time, depending on the object of your visit.”
From Ma, this was practically a punch in the face. Elowen winced, and it was Gideon’s turn to feel an unwanted sympathy. He thought about the chalk figure on the sunny hill, and the gate swinging wide, and the star-filled smile, and the necessity for all things to grow up, move on, become what they should. “I think,” he said cautiously, “Elowen’s only object is to see that Ma’s okay. And maybe to wish Tamsyn happy birthday.”
“Oh, it is!” Elowen burst out. “That’s all, I swear.”
“How are you, Elowen?”
“I’m fine. Job’s going brilliantly. Michel and I are going to get married next year. Locryn, won’t you even
look
at me?”
Lee had taken Tamsyn back from Zeke. He was standing with his head down, his face buried in the baby’s curls. His hold on her was gentle as ever, but his knuckles were white. Gideon knew that his patience and good nature were almost without limit, but he’d refused even to speak about Elowen since last August, and Gideon had feared that the bonds between brother and sister had been severed.
Maybe he’d secretly hoped so. Shame swept over him. He broke paralysis, strode over and took his husband by the hand. “Lee, it’s all right.”
Lee’s hand was cold. He swallowed audibly. “Is it?”
“Yes. I promise. I won’t let harm come to you or Tamsyn ever again.”
Lee straightened up. A smile like solstice dawn touched his face. He kissed Gideon once: silent, fervent, on the cheek. Tamsyn, who’d shrieked the house down for a whole night and a day the last time her mother had come near her, put out her arms and began to crow. Lee turned to Elowen. “Come and have a hold of her. Look how much she’s grown!”
***
“I’ve just had the strangest call from the estate agent.” Ezekiel returned to his seat by Ma’s bed, putting away his phone. “I thought they’d be closed for Christmas by now, but apparently not.”
Ma looked up from her knitting. She was chafing against her confinement, even though the doctors had promised she could leave before sundown. She’d enjoyed Tamsyn’s party—all the more once Michel Duroy had come to pick Elowen up, kissed the baby wistfully and left—but Gideon had had to persuade her that her granddaughter would freeze to death without the knitted jacket she’d been working on. “Not bad news, I hope.”
“No. Good news and... weird.”
Good news and weird
was about as good as it got around a Tyack-Frayne family solstice. Gideon exchanged a glance with Lee, who was entertaining Tamsyn with her new plush ball. It chimed softly if you held it the right way, which was a big improvement on the porridge song. “Everything all right, Zeke?”
“Yes. That young couple who’ve been dithering over the parish house—they’ve signed their contract and marched into Kern Estates, wanting to exchange as soon as possible.”
“Wow.” Gideon had almost forgotten about the sale of his old family home in Dark. There’d been offers, drop-outs and all kinds of drama since Ma had decided to sell the place, all of which he’d left his brother to get on with. “That
is
good news.”
Ma laid down her knitting, eyes sparkling. “Yes, it is. Now I can split the proceeds between you two boys, and you can get out of that tiny flat, Gideon. It isn’t good for Tamsyn Elizabeth not to have a garden.”
“Well—this is something we’ve been meaning to talk to you and Zeke about.” Gideon caught Lee’s affirmative nod. “Lee and I are all right, you know. We’re both working, or we will be once Tamsyn’s in nursery. Zeke’s the one who’s always helped you and Dad out, especially when he got ill, and we thought it would be fairer if you just—”
“Don’t be stupid,” Zeke interrupted him, blushing purple. “Or irresponsible, for that matter. You have a daughter.”
“I know,” Lee said absently. “But you’ll have two sons by July.” He looked up into the astounded silence that followed. “Oh, God. I’m so sorry.”
“Honestly, Lee.” Gideon could barely keep back laughter. Zeke had scrambled to sit beside Eleanor, who was turning pink and white by turns and staring at her belly as if she expected a whole football team to spring out of it. “They might have wanted a surprise. What was the weird part of the news, Zeke?”
“It concerns you two,” Zeke replied, when he recovered the power of speech, “as these things usually do. Kern Estates are handling the sale of the Bowe Farm houses as well. It seems Dev Bowe had a few hours of clarity yesterday, and called his lawyers in. He’s developed a conviction that the old Lowen house on Morgan’s hill should belong to you and Lee.”
“Seriously? Old Jana Ragwen told me that too.”
“Do you remember the place?”
“Sure I do. Lee and I were talking about it the other day. We used to go up there to scrump apples.”
“No, you used to make me carry you up there so
you
could scrump them. It’s very beautiful, as I recall.”
“Yes, with a beautiful price tag. It’s very kind of Dev, but—”
“That’s just the thing. He’s lowered the price to—well, Kern Estates reckon it’s pretty much what you and Lee could afford by way of mortgage if you had half the proceeds of the parish-house sale. He must have worked it all out.”
Gideon took Tamsyn out of Lee’s arms. He jounced her on his hip, imagining her and his husband in the sunlight of the Lowen House orchard. “We couldn’t,” he said slowly, trying and failing to pick up a signal from Lee that this was an impossible dream. “Dev isn’t capable of making that kind of decision, is he?”
“He was capable enough yesterday. His lawyers say he won’t sell it to anyone else. And given that he blew up your old house and tried to murder Lee and your daughter, I think you should give him the chance.”
Ma began to clap her hands in sheer pleasure. Tamsyn caught the infection of joy and applauded too, dropping her ball for Lee to catch. Gideon hadn’t really looked at it until now, and for some reason it captured his attention. The patterns on its velvet weren’t random. It was a little globe, beautifully made, the continents delicately marked on blue plush oceans and seas. Typical of Zeke and Eleanor, a gift like this. Never too soon to begin a child’s education...
Lee’s eyes widened in alarm. The ball had leapt out of his hand. This time Gideon hadn’t felt the slightest inner warning or tug. But he didn’t need to, did he? All he needed was to watch and listen to the person he loved, like anybody else. “Sorry, everyone,” he said, collecting Lee and the baby and the ball into a comprehensive embrace. “Nappy time. You’d better get used to this, Zeke, in time for next July. Come on, Lee—help me get the little blighter changed.”
Tamsyn contained herself as far as the hospital corridor. Then, in an alcove, protected on both sides by her wondering parents, she lifted the world into the warm space between them, tipped it correctly on its axis, and set it to spin.
About the Author
Harper Fox is the author of many critically acclaimed M/M Romance novels, including Stonewall Book Award-nominated
Scrap Metal
and
Brothers Of The Wild North Sea
, Publishers Weekly Best Book 2013. Her novels and novellas are powerfully sensual, with a dynamic of strongly developed characters finding love and a forever future – after an appropriate degree of turmoil. She loves to show the romance implicit in everyday life, and she writes a sharp action scene too.
To find out more about Harper and see updates on her current writing projects, please visit www.harperfox.net
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