Where Ivy Dares to Grow by Marielle Thompson

Author:Marielle Thompson [Thompson, Marielle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2023-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Nell’s kindness should not surprise me so, but it does. Patient smiles and playful words from the mouth of a Page are still so unexpected. They are distinct to the welcoming nature of Theo and Nell, yet so at odds with the Pages of my time. The woman made no cutting remarks in response to my odd manner of speech, raised no brows at my vaguely passed over recollections of origin. She merely inquired and beamed back, no matter the response, sending little knowing looks to her brother each time the man smiled at me. Something he did too often, painting my cheeks in a constant state of pink.

In only an hour over tea, Nell has established herself as the compatriot I wish still walked the halls in the Langdon of my reality. Though perhaps this Langdon, this time, is just as deserving of the title. It is the same home in two timelines, with me equally bound to both for reasons yet undiscovered. I want to discover them and yet am afraid to, in equal measure.

“Do you care to play, Miss Read?” Nell asks, eyes upon the piano that no longer hides broken in the corner, but sits in the center of the room, awaiting its turn to be a vocal participant.

“Oh, I haven’t in a long time, not since I was a girl. And not well, at that.”

“No bother.” Nell stands, smile and outstretched elbow welcoming me to follow. “We shall play a tune together. My brother has never had much ear for music, truth be told. So I’m certain he will not mind however well we choose to play.”

Theo laughs, the sound light. The weight that I’ve come to know as part of him is now lifted by the smoothing of the waves between his beloved sister and himself. Perhaps this is the kind of closeness that can be born, the confidence that can form, having just one person to believe you. I wish I had had someone like Nell in my life. I wonder how things, how I, would be different if my own family had been willing to be that for me. But I had only Jack to turn to with the shadows of my mind and the oddities of this estate, and he had dismissed them both.

“I have been blessed with sisters that play exceptionally well, as they do all things. I have been spoiled by it to develop an exceeding taste for music, ear for the art or no.”

Nell throws her head back in a laugh, the formality of the room already dwindled, despite my presence.

“No man with ears would dare call Iris’s playing anything above passable.”

“Do not thwart your sister of her other, many talents,” Theo admonishes, but he cannot help laughing along.

“Of course,” Nell concedes, lacing her arm through mine and guiding us toward the wide bench of the piano.

“Miss Read has certainly shown herself to be an impressive woman in all matters to which I have borne witness. I have no doubt that she will dazzle in this regard, as well.

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