Page 48 of A Deal with the Broken Duke
Was this never going to stop? Was this going to follow her for the rest of her life? Certainly it would for the rest of the time she spent in Harry’s company. She could hardly bear the thought of it.
“What was that he used to call you?” Daniel asked.
Juliet didn’t answer.
“Oh, that’s right. Chipmunk,” Daniel continued. “Because of how chubby your cheeks were. He used to say you looked just like a little chipmunk.”
And suddenly, Juliet had had more than she could stand.
“Why do you need to bring that up?” she snapped. “Do you really think I want to hear about that again, after all these years? I’m trying to put it behind me, Daniel!”
Matilda—usually Juliet’s most ardent supporter—was staring at her, mouth agape.
She’s surprised to see me speak up for myself on this because I never do.
But Juliet didn’t want to take it anymore. She felt exhausted from letting people say these things to her, from being reminded of the casual cruelty that had dominated her past.
Daniel was staring at her as if he had never seen her before in his life. “What’s the matter?” he asked.
“Why would I want to listen to comments from my childhood about what an unbearably ugly little girl I was?”
Horrifyingly, Juliet felt tears coming to her eyes, and she couldn’t seem to stop them. She was just grateful that this breakdown was happening now when Harry wasn’t there to witness it. She couldn’t have borne it if this had happened in front of him.
“It was only a joke,” Daniel protested. “It was something Harry said because he thought it was funny.”
“It’s not funny,” Matilda hissed. “It’s never been funny. I don’t know why you allowed him to say things like that to her when we were children, Daniel. I used to hate you for that.”
Juliet shook her head. “We didn’t hate you.”
“Sometimes I did,” Matilda went on. “He was our older brother, Juliet. He was supposed to defend us, not allow his best friend to mock us. He should never have acted the way he did back then.”
“But it was all in good fun,” Daniel said again. It was clear that he’d had no idea any of this had been as upsetting as it was.
“Fun for who?” Juliet asked him. “Who’d you think was enjoying those jokes, Daniel? Who did Harry think was enjoying them? Did either of you think it was fun for me to have an older gentleman making fun of the way I looked every time he saw me? Youknewhow much I struggled as a child. You knew how much it hurt me to think that everyone around me thought I was ugly. How could you let those jokes continue?”
“But…” Daniel looked honestly taken aback. “But it wasn’t like that, Juliet. Harry didn’t say those things because he thought you were ugly.”
“You just said that he called me a chipmunk because of my chubby cheeks!”
“But not because they wereugly. Maybe he thought you were a little funny looking. Youwerea little funny looking. But you must know that I’d never have let him call my sister ugly. Absolutely not. He never said that to me, and I feel sure he never said it to you either. He was saying it with affection, and I always thought that was understood between the two of you.”
There was a moment of quiet.
Then, with some doubt creeping into his voice, Daniel asked, “He didn’t ever say that, did he?”
“No,” Juliet replied. “He didn’t say that.”
“He didn’t have to say that,” Matilda interjected, just as fiery as ever. “He doesn’t have to say the word ‘ugly’ in order to be hurtful, Daniel, and he did hurt her. Do you know how many times I found her crying after an interaction with Harry? Don’t try to excuse the things he said to her now. You can’t do it, and you should know that. You should have known it at the time. You were our brother. I don’t care if you think she shouldn’t have been upset by these comments. I don’t care if you thought they were harmless or funny. Juliet was hurt by them. You should have cared.”
“I didn’t know all this,” Daniel murmured.
“Well, you should have known. I knew. Why didn’t you know? You knew the way Harry talked to her. Why didn’t you ever think to check with her, to find out whether that was okay, whether she thought those jokes were funny? You should have asked her.”
“It’s all right,” Juliet attempted to calm her sister. “You don’t need to do this, Matilda.”
“Yes, I do. It’s time he heard it, Juliet. All these years, and he’s never known. All these years, those comments have continued because Daniel thought it was just a joke. Because he didn’t think there was any reason to say anything or to try to put a stop to it.”
“I don’t want him to put a stop to it now,” Juliet said quickly. “I don’t want him to do anything.”
