Page 101 of Provocation
‘Please, call me Martha.’
And then the older woman goes and sits in a chair by the window and stares out into the garden. She doesn't speak again.
Lizzie, however, glances at the doors and then sits down with her legs underneath her on the couch, an impish look on her face.
‘I can’t believe you go to Richmond U!’ she says quietly.
You don’t know the half of it.
‘Tell me all about?—’
A creak sounds from the hallway and, without looking, Lizzie is suddenly sitting with her back straight and both legs out in front of her, her ankles crossed in the picture of a well-brought up debutante.
Joe comes into the room, his eyes falling to his sister first before alighting on me.
‘Marguerite, come with me. I’d love to show you our library.’
Alone. Shit. And it’s clearly not a request.
‘Of course.’
I stand up slowly. Lizzie’s eyes follow me, and her mouth opens as if she’s going to say something, but she glances at her brother and closes it again.
I make my way around the couch, taking a steadying breath as I leave the room and follow Joe down a wide hallway.
He takes me into the library. It’s large with high walls and a massive window overlooking some impressive gardens.
I wince as I suddenly hear a clicking in a slow rhythm.
Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.
My eyes find the metronome on the edge of his desk. It’s black and silver, the needle flicking back and forth.
I take a steadying breath, drawing my hands into fists at my sides hard. They’re already cold and clammy. The pain of my nails digging into my palms grounds me and I try not to listen. But the sound of it affects me on a cellular level. It’s even worse now than it was in John’s office all those weeks ago just after my mom’s funeral.
Joe goes to the desk and half sits on it. ‘Come here.’
My heart pounds hard in my chest. Is he going to produce that cane out of nowhere again and hit me with it? Do something worse?
Somehow putting one foot in front of the other, I do as he says, stopping in front of him a few steps away and staring at the space between his eyes.
‘You’ve done well today,’ he says, ‘and, for that, there won’t need to be a repeat of what you forced me to do last time.’
My jaw ticks, anger and terror at war with each other inside me.
‘But you’re not to speak about yourfewexperiences out there in the world to Lizzie. Understood? She’s a delicate andsheltered girl, much like you are. She’s easily excited and talk of the outside makes her anxious.’
She didn’t seem anxious. She seemed interested. Also I’m not delicate and sheltered. But I don’t say anything.
‘It’s important that you learn this lesson,’ he continues as he straightens, moving around the desk and sitting down.
His eyes move past me, and I hear the door to the library close behind me with a bang that has me jumping and turning quickly.
Marcus is standing behind me, his eyes moving over me boldly.
‘So,’ Joe says, waiting for me to turn back to him.
When I do, he goes into a drawer, and he pulls out a black wooden box. It’s elaborate and elegant. The wood matches the metronome that I’m still trying valiantly to ignore. He puts the box on the desk and turns it to face me with a flourish, his eyes boring into me.
