Page 43 of Whispers of Shadowbrook House

Pearl would have stayed by Maxwell’s side, but Oliver seemed concerned they’d be in the way during the doctor’s examination.

Holding Oliver’s hand, she leaned across the bed and kissed Maxwell’s cheek. “Oliver has been very busy on your behalf. And he’s eager for you to meet his friend. May I invite them to come see you after your visit with the doctor?”

There was no hint of a reply. If Maxwell was awake, he was better at pretending than he’d ever been before.

Oliver tugged her hand gently. They stepped out of the room before he spoke. “Has my uncle been to see Max?”

Pearl shook her head.

Frustrated, Oliver huffed out a breath. “Why does he not look in on him? He acts at one moment as if he cares for the boy, then keeps his distance when Maxwell needs him most.”

Pulling Oliver’s hand close, she wrapped both of hers around his. “Max hasn’t been alone.”

He shook his head. “I didn’t mean to suggest you’d left his side. I know you haven’t.”

“Perhaps Mr. Ravenscroft needs some time by himself to consider all that’s happened. After all, in his solitude he feels most comfortable.”

Oliver gave a dry chuckle. “True enough. When he’s alone he’s happiest.”

Pearl shook her head. She knew Oliver’s assumption was unfair. “I don’t believe he’s happy. But isolation does seem to be his most easy state.”

“How does a person grow satisfied with solitude?” Oliver’s question seemed to hold many more questions inside it, and Pearl had been searching her heart for just such answers.

“I suspect it’s years of habit and practice.”

He shook his head, not necessarily in defiance of what she said, but possibly in sadness. “I hope I never grow so comfortable with it.”

Pearl reached a hand to stroke the side of Oliver’s face. “You won’t. You will always have people around you who love you.”

He looked surprised, his eyes widening. “Do you think so? I don’t feel that way. I live alone. When I was a child here, I spent all my hours on my own.”

Pearl nodded. “More than you wished to, of course. And your family situation has certainly been solitary. But the gentleman you brought from the city has been a friend since your childhood. You will always have his love and support. And you have Maxwell. And Oliver, you have me.”

She watched his face soften with each sentence. And her declaration, which should have cost her some measure of courage, flowed freely and naturally from her like currents moving in the river.

His reply came back to her with similar ease. His words landed on her ears, her skin, and her heart, covering her with warmth. “And you have me, Pearl. For as long as you might wish it, I am yours.”

If their story were in one of Nanette’s novels, the declaration would be accompanied by grand gestures, flowers, birdsong. Pearl thought their quiet reality was preferable. She would have a lovely time convincing her friend that a simple love story was best. She smiled at the thought.

Oliver pressed her hand to his heart. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate hearing you say those words.

But you should realize my life in the city is different than it is when I’m here.

Many more of my hours are solitary than otherwise.

By no choice of my own, I have grown accustomed to being on my own.

It’s my most common state. The difference between me and my uncle is that I don’t like it.

I don’t want it. And I certainly don’t seek it. ”

“I wonder if he enjoys it as much as you think he does.”

She watched Oliver take in her words. It was a step forward for him, she thought, that he didn’t dismiss the thought outright. He was giving his uncle some new consideration.

“I’ve spent time in this house since I was a boy almost as young as Maxwell.

I have seen my uncle more in this visit to Shadowbrook than I did in all the previous years.

My childhood was spent searching for him, glancing around corners, holding my breath and walking silently so I didn’t accidentally come upon him and startle us both. ”

He rubbed his thumb gently along the tips of her fingernails.

“On my latest arrival, I recognized the change in him almost immediately, but I didn’t understand how it came about.

Now, I think I do. I know it’s not a contest, but he clearly responds better to Max than he ever did to me.

Having Maxwell here, having you here has changed everything.

You both know my uncle so much better than I do. ”

Pearl would have listened to Oliver meditate on his feelings for hours, but she knew there was a piece of his uncle’s story he was missing.

“Mr. Ravenscroft has suffered greatly, for all his adult life. The catalog of those he’s lost is long and tragic.

Such losses affect a person, as we both know.

In the face of your own tragedy, you sought for an uncle to share your pain.

He didn’t respond, so you widened your search and found your friends.

Their affection over the years repaired much of the wound in your heart.

But who was there for Mr. Ravenscroft? He lived here in this lonely house without his parents, without his wife and daughter, without his beloved sister, and then, after you left for school, without you. ”

Oliver rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. “He practically drove me away.”

“He wouldn’t have done so if he thought he could provide you what you needed to be happy and successful.

” Pearl was surprised to hear herself speaking the words.

She tried to picture Maxwell’s mother, a young woman living in such a situation.

“Perhaps it was the same for him with his daughter. This could not have been a house where an affectionate young woman could flourish.”

Oliver nodded. “She was gone by the time I arrived, and I never saw her here after.”

She wondered at the pain Maxwell’s mother must have felt as she cut herself off from her father’s home. “He might have pushed her out as well, whether he meant to or not. Likely he struggled to hold her too tightly.”

With a sigh, Oliver said, “I suppose there are many ways to turn love against itself, to allow fear and coldness to curdle what ought to be courageous and warm.”

Pearl looked deeply into Oliver’s eyes, pleased he was beginning to consider his uncle’s pain as thoughtfully as he contemplated his own. “You have a good heart, Oliver. I believe such a thing is a family trait, no matter how deeply its tenderness might be buried.”

Oliver kissed her fingertips once again. “I need to go speak to my uncle, don’t I?”

Pearl pressed his palm flat against her cheek, soaking in the warmth of his touch. “I wouldn’t dream of telling you what to do, but Madame Genevieve would certainly agree you ought to go seek him out.”

They both smiled at the thought. For all Pearl knew, the spiritualist was standing at her bedroom door, ear pressed to the wood, listening to them this very moment, nodding her fluffy head and waving her scarves in agreement.

“I don’t want to leave you here alone.”

Pearl turned her face to press a kiss against Oliver’s palm. She loved the feeling of his skin on hers. “I’m not alone. I’ve got Maxwell. I’ll attend the doctor as he examines Max, and when you come back, you can give us both a report on your visit.”

Oliver rubbed the back of his neck again, a motion Pearl had seen him repeat in times of worry. “Assuming Jenkinson will let me into the room where my uncle is hiding.”

Pearl pulled the letter from Dr. Dunning out of her pocket. “Take this with you. Tell your uncle what you’ve done. Show him the lengths you were willing to go to and that you love Maxwell as much as he does.”

As Oliver took the paper from Pearl’s hand, he clasped her fingers again. “Maybe I’ll speak to him about something else.”

She smiled at him but shook her head. “This is Maxwell’s time. There will be hours and days and years to speak to him of other things. The rest of it can stay between the two of us a bit longer.”

Oliver leaned down and kissed her mouth sweetly. He pressed his lips to her cheek and slid them close to her ear. “Between us and the service staff, you mean. I think we both know Violet couldn’t keep what she saw to herself. We haven’t exactly been discreet.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. “I have nothing to hide, Mr. Waverley. Let them talk. This house could use some happy news.”