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‘Oh, no! Just when I thought things were going so well...’ Caroline wailed, her hand flying to her mouth.
This didn’t sound good. The two women ignored Joshua’s innocent babble, straining to hear.
‘I needed you. We had a dream, and you turned your back on it.’
‘You had a dream, Jon. It was all about you. It always is.’
A thud sounded from the sitting room as if something had been thrown. Caroline jumped, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks. She must have been dreading this.
Anna stood, putting Joshua into his mother’s arms. ‘I’m going to stop this.’
‘How?’
‘I’ve no idea...’ All she knew was that she had to. For Jamie’s sake. She marched into the sitting room and saw the two of them on their feet, each trying to stare the other down. The book that had been sitting on the coffee table, next to Jon’s chair, was lying upended in the grate.
‘Stop it!’
Jamie flinched at the sound of her voice, taking a step back, but Jon flailed his arms towards his brother.
‘That’s right. Play the injured party, why don’t you...’
‘I said stop it.’ Anna pushed between them, feeling Jamie’s hand on her shoulder, gently trying to move her out of the way. She shook it off, facing Jon. ‘Sit down, Jon.’
‘Why me?’ Jon growled at her and she felt Jamie trying to move her away again.
‘Both of you. Back off and sit down.’
For a moment there was silence. Then Jon turned and sat down. Jamie backed away too, sitting down in a chair on the other side of the fireplace. Anna took a deep breath.
‘You should both be ashamed of yourselves. If you want to shout then you can do it out of earshot of Caroline and the children. Don’t you think they’ve suffered enough?’
Jamie’s face, set in an expression of anger and stress, softened a little. ‘I’m sorry. I’ll go and see if they’re okay—’
‘You aren’t going anywhere, Jamie. I’m not finished with either of you yet. What’s all this about?’
‘He—’ Anna silenced Jon with a wave of her hand.
‘No, Jon. You both need to stop blaming each other and start taking responsibility for your own actions.’
Jon stared at her, clearly not comprehending her meaning. But Jamie knew, she could see it in his face. If he could just lead the way, maybe Jon would follow. Maybe they could turn this into progress.
* * *
Rage. Jon had been baiting him, and he’d lost control of his temper. And then shock when Anna had pushed herself in between him and Jon. Now Jamie felt ashamed of himself for destroying the fragile peace that had been carefully brokered between him and his brother.
But Anna wasn’t going to take shame. She wouldn’t take apologies or excuses, or promises to keep his cool in the future. She wanted more than that, and there was no denying her. It occurred to Jamie that she was very beautiful when angry, but he dismissed the thought. Anna didn’t want to hear that either. She was standing, her arms folded, waiting for someone to say something, and he knew exactly what he had to do.
‘When we were kids...you remember, Jon, how you used to help me with my written work?’
‘I remember.’ Jon glared at him sullenly.
‘I never thought I’d be able to cope with medical school. But you gave me the confidence, you told me that I could do anything.’
‘I meant...’ Jon puffed out a breath. ‘I meant we could do anything. We could write songs and perform them. We were going to take the world by storm...’
‘All right.’ Jon’s voice had started to rise, and Anna shot him a warning look. ‘Were you good?’
‘They were very good.’ Tension still hung heavily in the air, and Caroline’s voice made Jamie jump. She was standing in the doorway, holding Joshua in her arms.
