Belle rolled to her side and crooked her elbow, putting her head in her hand and looking at her Mom who was lounged the same way as Belle. Then she looked at her Gram who was leaning back against the pillows.
“Does he know about Calvin?” Gram enquired and Belle closed her eyes, hating the idea of thinking of Calvin and Jack in the same thought.
When she opened her eyes again, she answered, “No.”
“You can’t tell him,” Mom said.
“You must tell him,” Gram said at the same time.
Mom turned to Gram and asked, “What?”
At the same time Gram turned to Mom and asked, “What are you thinking?”
“She can’t tell him,” Mom reiterated.
“Why on earth not?” Gram queried.
“Cast your mind back to this afternoon, Mom, when Jack put us both in our place,” Mom demanded. “In case you didn’t get it from that, not to mention about half a dozen other examples I could give you, Jack’s a wee bit protective of Belle. If he learns what Calvin did to her, he’ll go ballistic. He might even spontaneously combust!”
Belle winced at the idea of Jack spontaneously combusting however she had to admit, the very idea of Jack finding out about Calvin made her heart hurt.
Not only his reaction to this knowledge but what he might think of Belle knowing she’d made the choice of Calvin in the first place and let his abuse carry on for as long as it did.
He’d think she was an idiot and worse, a coward for not putting an end to it the minute it started.
“That may be so, Rachel, but it’s clear things are moving full steam ahead with Jack and Belle and he’s got the right to know,” Gram returned.
“Okay, I agree, just not now. We need to wait until after Belle releases the ghost children,” Mom replied.
“What?” Belle asked.
At the same time, Gram asked, “Why?”
Mom turned to Belle and declared, “Obviously, you have to release those children.”
Belle felt her lungs expand and it wasn’t a good feeling.
“Yes, that is obvious but I don’t understand why Jack needs to be kept in the dark about Calvin for her to do it,” Gram retorted before Belle had the chance to speak.
“First, if Jack knows Belle’s history, he’s going to cotton onto the fact that he shares Joshua Bennett’s characteristics just as Belle shares Brenna’s both of them exactly. Once he understands this, do you think Jack, for one instant, would allow Belle to lift even a finger to help those children?” Mom asked.
This was, unfortunately, true.
Who knew what Belle had to do to release Myrtle and Lewis?
It might be dangerous.
Jack would never agree to her doing anything dangerous.
He wouldn’t even let her take a walk on a rain slick coastal path, something she’d done hundreds of times. It was England. It was Cornwall. Rain slick coastal paths were the norm and Belle walked a lot.
“Hmm,” Gram muttered, which was her way of agreeing without actually having to agree.
Mom pressed her advantage and looked at Belle. “You can’t tell him.”
“I think,” Belle said softly. “That something is happening between Jack and me.”
Mom grinned and teased, “You think?”