Page 36 of One Last Regret

“Exactly,” he says after a moment. “It won’t let itself get destroyed. It finds a part of you that’s weak enough to let it through, and it works its way into your head. That’s how it protects itself. That’s also how it spreads.”

A knock on the kitchen door causes us both to jump. A moment later, Dr. Yarrow pokes his head around the corner and smiles at me. “Are you ready, Miss Wilcox?”

I look at Etienne, but he’s already standing. “She’s all yours, Doctor.” He turns to me and says, “Thank you for talking to me.”

Then he leaves me alone to wonder anew what mess I’ve gotten myself into and how much danger I’ll face trying to climb out it.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

I offer Dr. Yarrow some tea, which he gratefully accepts. When I serve it to him, he sighs with contentment. “That’s quite good. A skill you retained from the old country?”

“Actually, I spent most of my life in Boston,” I reply. “My father moved the family across the Atlantic when I was eleven years old.”

“Ah. I see. Well, it must be instinct then.”

He smiles, and the look is so disarming that it… Well, disarms me.

“How are the children?” I ask.

“They’re not well.”

The bluntness of his response discourages me. My lips tremble, and I ask, “How unwell?”

“Not severely, not at the moment. I’m worried about them, however. Gabriel has withdrawn very deeply into his shell, and to make up for his lack of emotional access, he’s adopting, or attempting to adopt a personality that reminds him of his grandfather. Amelia is completely avoiding her own grief and focusing all of her attention on her brother so she doesn’t have to confront her own sorrow.”

I sigh. “I was afraid of that.”

“Of Gabriel’s withdrawal or Amelia’s avoidance?”

“Of both. Of the two of them not being able to process grief. Their… I don’t wish to speak out of turn.”

“Oh, you are covered under the laws of doctor-patient confidentiality,” he assures me.

“I’m not your patient, though.”

He smiles again. “For today’s purposes, you are.”

My next argument would be that he just shared confidential information about the children with me, but after all, I’m theirguardian, so I really should be kept in the loop about anything that affects their health.

“Very well. What I was going to say is that their father and grandmother don’t seem to have overcome their own grief regarding Marcel’s loss.”

“Oh, hardly. They refuse to speak to me, so I can’t tell you anything that would breach confidentiality, but it appears as obvious to you as it is to me that they’ve both chosen their own coping mechanisms. Interestingly enough, it is Etienne who chooses avoidance and Josephine who chooses withdrawal even though personality wise, Josephine is most like Amelia and Etienne is most like Gabriel. But I wanted to talk about the children.”

He sips his tea and asks, “How are you feeling, Miss Mary?”

I blink. “This is a question about the children?”

“You’re their caretaker. My first impression is that you’re the most stable influence in their lives right now. So I am interested in ensuring that you receive any care you might need.”

I blink. “Well… I’m not happy with the situation here. The children are deeply disturbed. They saw a man die in front of them. We’realldeeply disturbed.”

He leans forward slightly. “How areyou, Mary?”

I hesitate for a moment. His eyes are still kindly, but I can sense the shrewdness behind the kindness now. I swallow before replying, “I’m…” I look past him to the parlor where the cursed composition sits mocking me. “I’m afraid.”

“Of what?”

“Of losing.”

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