M. Donice Byrd - The Warner Saga

by No Unspoken Promises

  Blake took a deep breath trying to calm down. He knew Meredith was right but he was just so frustrated that no matter how much he tried to be a good parent, the boy knew exactly what to do to anger him. “Do you want to go for a ride – just the three of us?”

  Meredith’s eyes lit up. “Oh yes, please.”

  “Go change and I’ll saddle the horses. Lolly, go get your coat, mittens and hat.”

  “The furry ones?” she asked, her face lighting up.

  “Yes, the furry ones,” Blake said scooping Lolly up and tossing her in the air once before setting her down and sending her on her way.

  Within minutes they were riding to a nearby equestrian park with Lolly sitting in front of Meredith on the big gray horse. Despite the chill in the air, there were many people there riding their horses.

  “Are those fences for jumping?”

  Blake laughed. He loved seeing her excited. He sensed how out of place she felt trying to fit into his world and it was nice to see her excited about something.

  “Of course.”

  “Do you think it’s all right? I wouldn’t want to hurt you-know-who,” Meredith said referring to the baby.

  “Try a couple of the small ones and see how it feels.” Blake said plucking Lolly off Meredith’s horse and setting her in front of him.

  “I think as long as I raise up, my legs will absorb the impact but I don’t think I’ll jump anything larger than a foot or two just to be on the safe side.”

  Blake watched as she started jumping small fences and worked her way to larger ones. “Isn’t your new mother amazing,” he said to Lolly as he unbuttoned his greatcoat and drew her inside to make sure she wasn’t cold.

  “Blake!”

  Two women on horseback trotted up to him. One was the wife of his friend Thaddeus and the other was her sister.

  “Is this your niece that you’re adopting? I heard about your sister. What a tragedy,” Darcie said.

  Blake tried to school his expression. This was Cloris’s doings. She had no doubt concocted a story to explain the children when there had been no cause to do so. Heaven forbid she should just tell people they were adopting two children after their parents were killed.

  “I didn’t know you had a sister,” the sister added.

  “We’ve been estranged.”

  Blake sought out Meredith visually and found her hemmed-in between two men.

  “If you’ll excuse us, ladies, my wife is being accosted by a couple of young bucks.” Blake didn’t wait for them to say anything else but nudged his horse into a quick clip.

  “Go find someone else to bother,” Blake said pulling up directly in front of Meredith’s horse. He grabbed the reins and pulled the horse forward. “She’s married.”

  “Come now, Warner. We were just complementing the young lady’s riding skills.”

  “Oh, that’s how it starts, isn’t it? I practically wrote the book. Next comes all the innuendos about wanting to ride with her and maybe, since there’s two of you, suggestions of riding double – well, not with my wife.”

  “Tell me it isn’t true. Tell me our hero, Blake the Great, hasn’t gone and fallen in love.”

  Blake opened his mouth to say something – to say anything -- but could not find the words. He would not embarrass Meredith by saying he didn’t love her, nor could he say it just to shut up his friends.

  “We’re very happy,” Meredith broke in. “Blake, we probably don’t want to keep Lolly out in the cold too long.”

  “Good day, Robert. Good day, Nate.” Blake said turning his horse.

  “There’s only one word to describe you, Warner. Domesticated.”

  Blake turned in his saddle and grinned widely. “You should try it sometime.”

  “Thanks,” Meredith said surprising him.

  “Thanks? For what?”

  “For rescuing me. I don’t mind admitting they were frightening me a bit the way they flanked me and stopped Viper. Are men here always so aggressive?”

  “They can be,” he admitted knowing that he had probably been that forward more than once when pursuing a young woman.

  “I didn’t know what to say to them. I didn’t want to be rude.”

  “If it happens again try starting by saying your husband is a jealous man. It lets them know you’re married and that will stop most men in their tracks.”

  “I’ll do that – even though I hate to lie like that.”

  “What lie?”

  “About my husband being jealous.”

  “Oh, that lie,” he said smiling at her.

  By the tone of his voice, Meredith sensed that he was teasing her. Was he jealous? The thought made her feel warm. To feel jealousy, he'd have to feel something for her.

  “This isn’t the way we came. Where are we going?”

  “I need to buy Pete a new notepad and pencil.”

  “Oh.”

  “There’s a store where I buy my stationery that’s next door to a little bakery. I thought my girls might like a little treat.” Blake gave Lolly a little tickle. “Do you like sweets, Lolly? Oh, I already know the answer to that. Lolly likes butterscotch, don’t you?”

  “I do not! I hate butterscotch. I never want butterscotch again,” Lolly cried, vehemently.

  “Well, you don’t have to have butterscotch again if you don’t like it,” Meredith told her.

  “She must have eaten all the candy I gave her ma and gotten sick on it,” Blake said trying to understand why the mention of the sweet candy upset her.

  “Or maybe she got in trouble for sneaking one.”

  It bothered Blake to think one of the last memories of her parents may have been getting in trouble over sneaking a candy. To a child, it would have seemed monumental but in reality it was just one of those small moments in life that happens to everyone.

  “The bakery doesn’t sell candy. They sell cakes and pies and bread. They have these tiny cakes called petit fours,” Blake said holding his fingers about an inch apart. “Or they have cakes big enough to feed an army and they’ve got lots of different cookies.”

  “Can we get one for Petey, too?”

  “How about we each get one pastry or a cookie that we eat there and a big pie we take home and share with Pete?”

  “Can I share my cookie with Petey?”

  “No, Lolly,” Blake said. “Pete is being punished. But I’ll make you a deal: the next time Pete has a good day, I’ll bring him here for a sweet.”

  “Okay,” she said, her bottom lip pouting out.

  “And if you don’t tell him we had a sweet while we were out, he won’t know.”

  Meredith was extremely surprised the store Blake took them to sold nothing but paper and related products. They must have carried a dozen different colors of stationery and one could even have their initials embossed into or printed on their stationery. The paper was thicker than anything she’d ever seen and Meredith found herself trying to separate pages, thinking she held more than one. They had wax for sealing envelopes and stamps for embossing your initials into the wax. They also sold more ordinary things like ink and an assortment of ink wells from plain to fancy.

  Blake grabbed a handful of small notebooks, and a pair of larger ones for school work, pencils and a pair of pencil sharpeners.

  The clerk looked over the glasses at the end of his nose and greeted Blake warmly.

  “Mr. Smithers, I’d like you to meet my wife, Meredith, and our daughter, Lolly.”

  “Oh, yes, I saw it mentioned in the paper. I’m pleased to meet you, madam.”

  “It’s nice to meet you as well. I love your stationery shop. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  The man’s chest bowed out with pride. “Thank you. Have you come to have Mrs. Warner’s calling cards printed?” he asked looking back and forth between them.

  “Oh, I’m glad you mentioned it. As a matter of fact, we need them for everyone.” Blake remembered how thrilled he had been when he received his first box but doubted Pete
would feel the same.

  “How do you wish your name to read?” Blake asked Meredith. “Mrs. Blake Warner, Mrs. Meredith Warner, Mrs. Meredith Vande Linde-Warner?”

  “Well, definitely not the last one. It sounds like I’m just trying out our marriage until I decide if I like it.”

  Blake smiled at her answer. He liked to hear she now felt the marriage was permanent.

  “I think I would prefer my given name.”

  “As you wish,” Blake said but somewhere inside him, he wished she had chosen Mrs. Blake Warner. “And I suppose we need a couple’s card. Mr. and Mrs. Blake or Blake and Meredith?”

  In the end they decided on Mr. and Mrs. Blake Warner for the couple’s card and Blake and Meredith Warner, Peter and Lorelei for the family card although they knew those would have to be reprinted after the baby was born.

  “Uncle Blake,” Lolly said. “Look what I found.” She reached up and pulled on his hand until they were standing in front of a book about calligraphy. “Petey doesn’t know how to write all the letters the right way. Sometimes he just makes up what he thinks they should look like.”

  He didn’t have the heart to tell Lolly that Pete’s script was not exactly calligraphy but since Pete did have beautiful writing, it would still be a thoughtful gift.

  Blake was torn. He wanted to buy the book for Pete but he was being punished for cursing at him again. He knew it would make Lolly happy as well.

  “Why don’t you buy the book for Pete? It was your idea after all.”

  “But I don’t have any money.”

  “I wasn’t going to say anything but I’m pretty sure I saw a silver dollar in your ear yesterday. Hopefully, it didn’t fall out while you were sleeping.”

  Blake set her on the counter and pushed her hair behind her ear. A moment later he was performing the magic of countless generations of fathers by mysteriously pulling money out of her ear. He lifted her off the counter, and kissed her on the forehead before setting her down.

  “I wonder how that got there. You must have put it in there for safekeeping when you were a baby.”

  Lolly picked up the book and carried it to the man.

  “Is this for you?”

  “It’s for my brother, Petey. Uncle Blake found a dollar in my ear.”

  “He did?” the man said with a laugh. “Well, Petey is going to need a very special pen for his calligraphy and I’m going to throw it in free for you because you are so sweet.”

  Lolly squealed with delight. “Thank you.”

  After they finished at the stationery shop, Blake took them next door to the bakery but Lolly was so excited to show Pete the book and pen that she couldn’t stand still long enough to pick out a sweet. Blake picked out a pastry covered in chocolate for her that she ate in the saddle sitting in front of Meredith. The chocolate was on her face and hands when they arrived home.

  The housekeeper rushed out the door before they had the horses in the stable.

  “Come quick, Mr. Warner. We don’t know what to do. It’s Master Peter. He’s torn up his room. I asked one of the girls to take Master Peter tea and he threw the tray across the room and turned over the bed. The poor girl nearly had an apoplectic fit.”

  The idyllic outing was over and reality came crashing in. Blake handed the housekeeper the pie in his hand and alit from his horse. He helped Lolly and Meredith down before striding towards the house.

  “No, Blake, let me deal with him. I’m either going to need Lolly to interpret for me or paper and pencil.”

  “No, Meredith, this is a man’s job. He’s as big as you and he could hurt you if he had a mind to.”

  Meredith put her hands on his chest. “He’s not going to hurt me. But he can’t see past his rage for you to hear anything you have to say. This time he needs a mother not a father. He needs to be listened to. We’ll worry about his punishment later.”

  “He needs to put that room back in order.”

  “And he will. If anything is broken, he can work it off mucking the stables and grooming the horses. But that little boy in there is screaming out for help and all you want to do is silence him.”

  “I just want him to stop cussing me.”

  “Please, Blake.”

  “I’m going to be outside the door – just in case.”

  32

  Meredith knocked lightly on the door then turned the knob and poked her head inside. “May I come in, Pete?”

  He only stared at her.

  She stepped into the room pushing aside clothing still on the hanger with her foot and closed the door behind her.

  The room was in complete disarray. Clothing from both the bureau and the wardrobe were strewn everywhere. Every drawer lay on the ground. The mattresses were off the bed frame. The slats were scattered everywhere and the bed frame upended.

  My God. Where did the boy get such rage? she wondered.

  Pete sat in the corner, his knees pulled up to his chest, his arms around his legs as though he’d been hugging them. Hugging himself. His face was tear-stained but his expression hard with his lips tightly sealed and his eyes narrowed at her.

  Meredith moved to the corner and joined him on the floor. She set the large notebook and pencil on the floor between them.

  “I’m sorry you’re going through such a rough time. Do you want to tell me about it?”

  Pete shook his head no.

  “Things won’t get better unless you tell us what’s wrong,” Meredith said reaching out and gently touching his arm. “Tell me one thing – big or little – that can make things better.”

  A minute passed before Pete picked up the tablet and pencil. “B says I’m too big to share a room with Lolly but she’s too little to be in a room by herself. How can I proteck her if I’m in a diffrent room?”

  Meredith wanted to tell him they were both safe inside their home. The doors were locked at night and Blake and she were across the hall. But how could she downplay his concern if murderers came into their home before and killed their family. In Pete’s mind, if it could happen once, it could happen again.

  “I’ll talk to Blake but I’m sure we can put you together in one room. He just thought that you’re at an age where you might prefer privacy. These rooms are all big enough for two beds. At least that way she won’t be kicking you all night. Will that work?”

  He nodded and began writing. “I still want a lantern burning at night. Sometimes the fire burns down and it doesn’t put off ennuf light for me to see. This house makes noises at night and I can’t go back to sleep because I can’t see into the darkness. And I hate the maids coming in here in the morning to stoke the fire. It scares me to have them in here specially if I’m facing away from the fireplace. I can’t move until they leave. I’m twelve years old. I can stoke the fire myself when it gets low.”

  “We’ll have the maids leave enough wood so you can take care of the fire yourself in the morning. And we’ll tell them never to enter your room while you’re sleeping.”

  Pete put his pencil to the page but did not begin to write. Instead, he eyed her over the tablet. After a minute his eyes filled with tears and he began to write. “Tell Blake to stop trying to steal Lolly from me. She’s my sister. She loves me not him. He has you. He doesn’t need her.”

  Meredith’s eyes filled with tears as she read it. “Oh, Pete, he’s not trying to steal her from you. He wants both of you to think of him as your father – not just her but both of you. Lolly will always love you her whole life just like you and she will always love your parents. Loving more than one person doesn’t make us love the first person less.”

  Meredith closed the gap between them and put her arm around him.

  “Nothing could make Blake happier than if you could accept him as your father. He knows he can never replace your real father. But I promise you, he’s a good man.” She put her hand on the back of his head. “I hope when the baby is born, you will be as good a brother to the baby as you are to Lolly.”

  Although they had
not told Lolly about the baby yet, they thought Pete was old enough to know.

  Pete began writing again. “If I tell you something will you keep it a secret? You can’t tell Blake or no one else.”

  Meredith hesitated long enough to think about his request. She had never kept a secret in her life – she never needed to – but she suspected his secrets were big and deep and he needed to tell someone.

  “Yes, Pete, I will hold whatever you tell me in confidence. And unless you’d tell me you want me to share it, I will take it to my grave.”

  As he began to write, Pete sniffled and Meredith noticed his chin dimpling as he tried not to cry.

  “I’m not a good brother. I could have killed him before he killed her mother but I couldn’t get my nerve up.”

  Pete looked straight at Meredith as she read. He turned the tablet back towards himself and added, “I couldn’t pull the trigger.”

  “My God. You haven’t told that to anyone, have you?”

  He kept his head down as he lifted his hands and hesitantly signed, “No.”

  “Pete, I don’t know if I could do it either and I’m eight years older than you.”

  The twelve-year-old began to cry and Meredith couldn’t do anything but hold him. His tears wet the shoulder of her dress as sobs racked his small frame. She patted and rubbed his back the way her parents had when they comforted her.

  “Oh, Pete, no one should have to go through a tragedy like yours. But you’re safe here. You’re safe here with us, I promise. We’ll never let anyone hurt you or Lolly.”

  He cried for several minutes and when he got his emotions under control, he wiped his face on his sleeve and closed the notebook.

  The sun was beginning to set and the room grew dim. Meredith rose to her feet and reached down to help Pete up. He winced and put his hand on his side.

  “Are you hurt? You’re wound isn’t bulging, is it?”

  He gave her the sign of no.

  She looked into his eyes but wasn’t sure he was telling the truth. Meredith embraced him.

  “Thank you for trusting me with your secret.” She pulled away and used her fingertips to brush away some of the tears he’d missed. “Anytime you need someone to talk to, come find me.” He nodded. “Start cleaning up this mess and I’ll go talk to Blake about moving you into Lolly’s room.”