I was sorry for Jimson and Lilias, but Jeremy was about to comfort Lilias, and Jimson seemed to find a certain solace in his work.
And when Joss and I decided to go Home, it was due to the Green Flash.
I had talked this out with Joss and it was one of the matters over which we were in disagreement. There were, of course, many matters over which we disagreed and somehow that gave a stimulus to our life together.
Joss used to laugh when we argued fiercely. “Well, I always knew I must expect fireworks from you,” he said.
“Fireworks make such a glorious blaze,” I retorted. “You must admit they’re exciting to watch.”
“I always enjoy them,” he answered. “And they make the occasions when we do agree extra good.”
Of course everyone in the town was waiting for bad luck to strike us.
“There’ll always be legend attached to that stone,” I said.
“Naturally. It’s unique.”
Joss liked to take it out and look at it. “You’re getting obsessed,” I accused him.
“Nonsense. There’s only one thing in the world I’m obsessed with.”
“And that?”
“You know very well it’s you.”
“Oh Joss,” I cried, “you say such marvelous things sometimes. Obsessions can be momentary though. They often don’t last.”
“There you are. Never satisfied.”
“Well, there was a time when you were obsessed by Isa Bannock.”
“That was before you came. Everyone was obsessed by Isa. I fell in love with her when I was sixteen…in common with everyone around here.”
“But you continued with the affair.”
“She seemed to expect it.”
“And you gave her the Harlequin Opal.”
“Ah, but only to spite you.”
“Sometimes I hate you, Joss Madden.”
“I know. It makes the times when you love just marvelous.” He was serious suddenly. “Forget Isa. It’s over. I behaved as I did because you wouldn’t have me. You scorned me…scorned the peacock. Peacocks don’t like that. They get spiteful.”
“That was the cruelest thing you did…to give her the Harlequin.”
“I’m going to make up for it. I’m giving you something more valuable. The Green Flash.”
“No, Joss.”
“Yes, you’ll forget that Harlequin incident then. I’m going to relinquish my share. It’s yours. It’s a thousand times more valuable than the Harlequin.”
“I’ve been meaning to speak to you about the Green Flash. I’m frightened of it.”
“You! Frightened of a stone?”
“Yes, I am. It ruined my mother’s life. It changed mine. Ezra died for it. Tom Paling nearly did…and so did I.”
“You’re not going to let all that talk upset you.”
“I’m not thinking of myself, but my family…I won’t run risks. There are some things which are too precious to be put in jeopardy.”
“Me? The child?”
I nodded.
He was moved, I could see, so he laughed at me half derisive, half tender. “So what do you propose to do?” he asked.
“We’re taking the Green Flash to London and we’re presenting it to a geological museum there. People will be able to see it and marvel at it and I’ll cheat the evil in it because it won’t belong to anyone.”
“So you’re resigning all claim of my gift to you?”
“Your gift to me, Joss, is not a stone. It’s much more than that could ever be.”
“Do you know,” he said “you’re getting sentimental as you grow up.”
“Do you mind that?”
“How can I when you’re making me the same?”
***
I wanted my baby to be born in Oakland Hall, and it was a whim Joss was ready to humor. I knew Ben would have been pleased. Joss was his son, and there would be a new line to add to the genealogical tree in the hall which had always intrigued him. Mr. Wilmot and Mrs. Bucket thought this right and proper.
Oakland had not changed. Why should it because I had been to Australia and fallen in love and come near to death, when it had stood for hundreds of years and had no doubt witnessed as many tragedies and comedies?
Miriam had a child now. “She’ll live to rue the day,” said my grandmother.
My grandfather was a little bolder than he had been, and the whip with which my grandmother had scourged him had lost some of its sting since I had brought Oakland back to the family in a way, and because Xavier had now married Lady Clara and was managing the Donningham land.
My grandmother was quite respectful to me and most interested in the child who was to be born at Oakland—a gesture with which she entirely agreed. She even took to Joss after the first few skirmishes. I think she recognized some power in him which it would be impossible even for her to subdue.
She used to say: “Well, he received a large part of his education in England,” as though that made him acceptable; and the fact that he had brought Oakland back to the family made him most admirable in her eyes.
My son was born on a mellow September day in the vaulted chamber where my ancestors had made their first appearances.
This was the culmination of my happiness. I sat up in the big four-poster bed and looked out on those lawns which had mellowed for hundreds of years, and I had a feeling that I had come home; and yet I was well aware that nothing was half as important to me as the rich and full life I should live with my husband and son.
Joss came and looked at the baby, marveling at the tiny creature as though he couldn’t believe he was real. Then he turned to me. “It’s good, eh?” he said.
“What?” I asked.
“Life,” he answered. “Just life.”
“It’s good,” I agreed, “and going to be better.”
“Who can be sure of that?” he asked.
“I can,” I retorted. “And I will.”
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About the Author
Eleanor Alice Burford Hibbert, better known to readers as Victoria Holt, Philippa Carr, and Jean Plaidy, is one of the world’s most beloved and enduring authors. Her career spanned five decades and she continued to write historical fiction and romantic suspense until her death in 1993. She has sold more than 100 million books and has twenty-one international bestsellers.
Victoria Holt, The Pride of the Peacock
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