Page 52 of Winterset

Oliver

The last time I’d stood in this study, it had belonged to Father. Not much had changed. The only difference I noticed was that a painting of Hannah now hung on the wall instead of Mother’s.

“It’s strange for me too.” Damon closed the door and sat, not in the chair behind the desk but in the one beside me.

His choice made me feel slightly off-center. I’d imagined that he would take the place of Father. But he hadn’t. He’d chosen, as he’d said in his letters, to be my brother. First and forever? The possibility felt real.

“You have no idea how long I have hoped to sit here with you and have a conversation,” he said.

“I do, actually. You laid out your feelings in painstaking detail in your letters. You quite lack brevity, brother.”

I’d hoped to tease away the tension, but Damon’s gaze remained steady, intent. “You read my letters?” he said, his voice quiet.

“Not until this week, after Kate left,” I admitted.

He smiled slightly, but it was sad.

I looked down at my hands, ashamed. “I wish I would have read them a long time ago,” I said. “But it was probably better that I didn’t. You would not have liked what I would have written before now.”

Damon rubbed his forehead. “Anything would have been better than your deafening silence.”

I shook my head. “I’ve been immature and full of self-pity and spite for a long time, Damon. I hated you for two years.”

“You hated me much longer than that.” Damon frowned.

“It’s true,” I said. “I did hate you, but only because you hated me.”

“I have never hated you, Ollie.” Damon held my gaze.

“Then why did you act like it?”

“I distanced myself from you because I wanted to protect you.”

“Protect me from what?”

“Father.” Damon worked his jaw as if chewing over words he did not want to say. “Do you remember that day at the pianoforte?” he asked.

I looked down at my hands, remembering the bite of Father’s riding crop coming down on my knuckles.

“I see that you do,” Damon said. “Do you know why he did it?”

“To punish me for not practicing.”

“No. He did that to you to punish me , Ollie.”

I squinted at him, trying to make sense of his words.

“At first, Father’s favorite method of making me do what he wanted was whipping me.

” He avoided eye contact. “But I got too good at bearing it. He quickly discovered that a more effective method of making me submissive was to hurt you instead. Father saw how much I loved you, and he used it against me. The only way I knew how to protect you was to distance myself from you.”

As I viewed my childhood from this new angle, I was horrified.

“It was around that time that I went away to school,” Damon said.

“There I learned what the rest of my life would be like, how I was more Father’s heir than my own person.

” Damon breathed. “And I was angry, Ollie. I was so angry all the time. About everything. When you came up to me in the schoolyard crying, I was worried word would get back to Father, and then he would somehow make you pay. That is why I gave you the cut direct.”

“I really believed you hated me,” I said.

Damon shook his head. “I hated Father. I hated being his heir. I hated myself. But not you, Ollie. Never you. And I am so sorry that I made you believe that. I’m sorry for how Father treated you because of me, for abandoning you when you needed a brother most.”

“I’m sorry too,” I said. “For everything you suffered. I didn’t know. I never saw how hard Father was on you or the weight you carried being the heir. I ... might have judged you too harshly.”

“Might have?” Damon raised a teasing brow at me.

Knowing the truth of his actions, I could now see that I had been a harsh judge.

But even so, it was difficult to reconcile what I had lived with this revelation.

Damon had not hated me, no matter how much it had felt like it at the time.

“I have wanted and yearned for brotherly affection most of my life. Still, it will take me some time to fully be able to see you in this new light. Not as my adversary but as my protector. More than anything, though, I do wish for us to be reconciled.”

“Do you mean it?” Damon asked.

“I do.”

He closed his eyes as if savoring my words. “So do I, Ollie.” Standing, he pulled me up into a hug. He held me tightly, dispelling the distance that had existed between us for far too long.

But another matter still weighed heavily on my mind.

“I need your help,” I said, stepping back.

“Anything,” Damon said.

“I need your help selling Winterset so I might marry Kate.”

Damon stared at me for a long moment, then threw back his head and laughed.

I scowled at him.

“I’m sorry.” He struggled to regain his composure.

“But do you not find it funny? You have hated me for two years for even trying to remove the entail from Summerhaven so that I might sell the smallest portion in order to marry Hannah, and now you are asking me to help you sell the whole of your inheritance to marry the woman you love.”

“Hilarious,” I said with dry wit.

He shook his head, his smile fading. “Do you have the deed to the property?”

I produced the document from my pocket and handed it to him.

He glanced over it. “Do you have a preferred solicitor, or will my man be sufficient?”

“You aren’t going to try to talk me out of it?” I asked. “Tell me I’m being foolish, as I once told you?”

“I know what it is to love someone as desperately as you do, Ollie. The law stood in my way, but I will not stand in yours.”

His words left me momentarily speechless. It had been so long since we’d had this bond, and I was grateful. “Thank you, Damon.”

“You don’t need to thank me, Ollie. We’re brothers. It is a blessing to finally be able to help you.”

“In that case, I would like to help you. Let’s talk about your refusal to be called Lord Winfield.”

Damon groaned. “Not you too.”

“Explain to me why you refuse to use the title.”

“Father tarnished it. Refusing to use the title he cherished more than you or me seems an excellent way for us to spite the man.”

I rolled my eyes. “If you believe that, then you are an imbecile.”

He blinked in surprise. “You don’t agree?”

I shook my head. “You mustn’t allow him to hold power over you, Damon. You are the Earl of Winfield now. Claim the title, and do something good with it.”

“You sound like Mother and Hannah.” Damon glowered.

“Yes, well. They are wise women.”

“Yes, they are.” Damon smiled. “And so is Kate.”

“She is, Damon. I don’t deserve her, but I will do anything to make her happy.”

“She’s a lucky woman to have you, Ollie.”

We spent several more minutes together, discussing the sale of Winterset and my plans for the future.

I also wanted to be sure Mrs. Owensby and Bexley would be informed of our plans so they would not worry and that their futures were taken care of.

Damon agreed to hire them as servants here at Summerhaven until such time that it was safe for them to join Kate and me in our new life elsewhere.

“Well,” I said. “I must go meet Kate.” It was time to begin the rest of our lives together.

“I am not ready for you to go,” Damon said, pulling me into a hug. “But I am glad for you, brother. Will you write?”

“I will,” I promised. “As soon as I can safely do so. My letters will be devoid of identifying information, so you won’t be able to write me back though.”

He nodded solemnly, and we parted with one last hug.

Damon remained in his study, looking over the deed, and I shut the door behind me and started down the corridor.

As I walked, I smiled.

Damon and I were reconciled. Kate would soon be my wife. My wife .

As soon as I climbed into the carriage, I could take her into my arms, and I would not ever have to let go.

“Excuse me, sir?”

I glanced over my shoulder and saw a masked man walking behind me. “Yes?”

“Do you know where Duchess Montrose might be?” The masked man’s voice sounded vaguely familiar, though I could not place it.

“I don’t. I apologize. She is likely still in the ballroom,” I said as I turned to take my leave.

“That does present a problem,” the man said, stopping me.

“You see, there is somewhere I have to be, but the duchess must have her smelling salts, should she swoon. Would you be so kind as to help me?” He held up a woman’s full silk bag.

Heavens, it looked heavy. What did women carry in those things?

“My apologies, but I, too, am on my way out. I’m sure a footman would be happy to help you.

” I pointed toward the entrance hall, where he might find someone.

I did not wish to be rude, but neither did I wish to keep Kate waiting.

She probably had her things by now and was in the carriage, or she would be soon.

“Please, sir,” he said, begging my assistance.

I supposed it would not take me too long to help him. “I will take the reticule and deliver it to the duchess on my way out.” I wasn’t sure why he could not do that himself, but apparently, he could not. I held out my hand.

The man stepped close, extending the silk reticule to me, but when I reached for it, he drew it back. “First, you must congratulate me,” he said.

“For what, sir?”

“For my upcoming nuptials. Soon, I shall be married to Miss Lockwood,” he said.

Too late, I recognized his voice. Markham.

He swung the reticule at my head, and everything went dark.