Page 43 of Hunted By the Guardian
The words my house had just slipped out. He hadn’t planned to say them. Once he had, they hung in the air, and for a moment, Jonathan was sure that Noah was going to argue. He would snap back that it wasn’t Jonathan’s house, not really, and that therefore Jonathan had no right to make any rules here.
But Noah didn’t say that. He didn’t comment on the phrase at all. He didn’t look up at Jonathan. He barely moved.
“I need you to promise me that this is the end of it,” Jonathan said firmly. “The very last of the pranks. I understand that you’re trying to be funny, Noah, truly I do. But it isn’t funny. You’re causing damage to things people care about, and if you’re not careful, someone might get hurt. It doesn’t matter how clever you think the prank is. Nothing is worth that.”
“I didn’t want anyone to get hurt,” Noah whispered, his eyes welling with tears.
“I know that,” Jonathan told him, more gently now. “Of course you didn’t. And you’re lucky, because nobody was hurt, Noah. But it could have ended differently. What you have now is an opportunity to make a choice. You can choose to stop carrying out these tricks. You can stop now, before any lasting damage is done. Everything that’s been damaged so far can be replaced. You don’t want to accidentally take it too far, though, to cause harm to something—or someone—that can’t be undone. Do you?”
“No,” Noah said quickly. “I don’t want that. I’ll stop. I’m sorry.”
“Well, apologizing to me isn’t what you really need to do,” Jonathan said. “You must apologize to Violet, because she’s the one who was harmed by what you did.”
Noah trembled. “Is she angry at me?”
He really was frightened, Jonathan saw. Violet had been right to worry about this. And the thought occurred to him—she might not be much of a taskmaster or a disciplinarian, but when it came to tenderness and understanding, she was much better than he was.
Noah needs both. He needs someone who can be firm with him when the moment calls for it, yes. But he also needs someone who can be gentle, someone who can anticipate his fears and anxieties. Someone who knows the way things will affect him and can act accordingly. If I had come in here and treated him exactly the way I wanted to, with no input from Violet at all, I don’t think it would have been effective. I think I would have frightened him so badly that he wouldn’t have been able to hear what I was trying to tell him, and we would both have been worse off for my attempt.
He needs both of us, really and truly.
“She isn’t angry at you,” Jonathan said. “But you have hurt her. She didn’t get hurt when she fell—though she certainly could have. But you hurt her feelings by destroying something that mattered to her as if it wasn’t very important. That’s what you need to apologize for. You need to let her know that you understand why that was wrong, and that you won’t do anything like it again. You need to ask her for her forgiveness.”
Noah nodded quickly. “I will,” he assured Jonathan. “I’ll go right now.”
“That’s good.” Jonathan patted his shoulder. “That’s the right thing to do. A man takes accountability for the things he’s done. I’m proud of you for being willing to do that much, Noah. I’m pleased with the young man you’re becoming.”
Noah managed a small smile, and though it was shaky and unsure, Jonathan knew that Noah was going to be all right. He would come through this having learned why what he had done here was wrong, and if he could put a stop to the pranks, he would do much better from now on.
And Jonathan felt a small swelling of pride and satisfaction at that realization.
He had accomplished something here. He had helped Noah understand why his behavior had to be corrected, and he believed that Noah would change because of what he, Jonathan, had said. This was guiding Noah. This was parenting him.
I can do this. If he ends up in my care, if I am the one to raise him, he won’t suffer for it. I will be able to bring him up well enough, and he won’t turn out worse for having been raised by me.
This, he understood suddenly, was what Violet had feared—that he would have this realization.
But perhaps she shouldn’t have worried, because he was having another realization simultaneously, one that was hard to ignore.
The fact of the matter was that Noah wasn’t making a change because Jonathan had told him to—not really. Jonathan had found the right thing to say to convince him, but that thing had been a warning that he had caused harm to Violet.
He was willing to change his ways, not because of Jonathan’s reprimand—Jonathan knew that—but because of his love for Violet.
I would be doing him a disservice to separate him from her. But I don’t know how to manage that. I don’t know how to balance it. One of us will eventually inherit this house, and I do want it to be me. I’ve always wanted that, and nothing has changed, so how am I supposed to move forward?
He let himself out of the room and went down the hall toward his study. Whatever was going to happen with Violet and Noah now would happen between the two of them. He had done his part, and there was nothing more he needed to manage. He believed that Noah would apologize and turn over a new leaf—although if that didn’t happen, he knew their next conversation would be very severe indeed.
But right now, he was more concerned with the things he needed to say to himself.
He had to seriously consider what his goal here was. He had to decide how far he was willing to go to get this house and what price he was willing to pay.
Because whatever the cost of it was, he could see now that it would be paid by Noah, too. And there was no way for the boy to get out of this situation without losing something that had become vital to him.
Either he would lose Violet, or he would lose Jonathan. And they had come too far now for either of those things not to matter.
CHAPTER 24
Violet had intended to wear something old to the dinner party. There was simply no more time to go shopping for new clothes, and besides, she had spent so much money on the gowns that had been ruined. It made her a little sad—though Noah had apologized, and she had hugged him and assured him that he had her forgiveness—but it wasn’t that big a concern, really. This was dinner at her friend’s house. She didn’t need to impress anyone with her clothing tonight.
