Broken City

Chapter Twenty Four

Chapter Twenty Four

The hall is filled with people, making his progress slow, after the long wait just to get here, this last agonizing hold up seems somehow worse than all the rest.

“I didn’t know you were coming today, Tom,’ Jimmy’s quiet voice, still strangely audible above the hubbub of the great hall, catches Tom’s attention.

“I’m never sure myself when I’ll be coming, Jimmy, this visit comes as something of a surprise for me too,” Tom looks down at Jim’s slight neat frame. “Is Rye over at the Barracks?”

“No he’s gone out into the city with the girl.”

“The girl?”

“Yes—your brother seems to have got himself a girl friend, or to be more precise, two.”

Jim’s voice is bland but it has the effect of stilling Tom’s progress through the crowd.

“Really?” Tom’s voice is faintly amused, concealing the rushing thoughts and feeling of dread that hovers over him. “I can’t think Nova’s too jazzed about another girl in competition.”

“Another two girls,” clarifies Jim. “Nova’s dropped out of the running altogether.”

“I dare say he’ll tell me all about it when he gets back,” shrugs Tom. “Pass the word that I’m here would you Jim—I’m off to see Mari.”

Jim’s voice again halts his steps.

“She won’t be home, Tom, she’ll be with the other girl.”

“As in…”

“As in, Ryder’s, other girl.”

“I see, and where will they be?”

“At Wisteria house, that’s where Ryder’s given them quarters,” answers Jim. “I’ve called my car for you; it should be waiting outside by now.”

“Thanks Jimmy.”

The car is waiting by the curb as he steps out into the pleasant surroundings of the Andak compound. He had been astonished to learn that Jan and Deeta were in Rye’s care, but on reflection perhaps it wasn’t such a big surprise: Ryder had a profound interest in the female of the species—an interest that they seemed to reciprocate enthusiastically. Tom frowns, the ominous feeling of trouble deepening; Ryder had claimed them, had taken them to live in his mother’s house and was at this very moment travelling the city with one of them—alone.

Please don’t let it be, Deeta!

Please don’t let it be that, he couldn’t take it—didn’t like the way that, just the thought of it, was making him feel.

He had watched Deeta grow from girlhood to womanhood with a tense feeling of foreboding; knowing that with every passing year his feeling for her changed and intensified, but also knowing that those feelings could never be acted upon. It was impossible to bring upon her the disgust of the world outside the Andak compound, or the snappish hate within Andak territory, impeded not so much by the thought that it might make her unhappy, but by the feeling that he had for her, that if he could spare her from one moments unhappiness, he would do it, regardless of the hurt and desolation it would cause him. And he wouldn’t lie to himself and say that it wouldn’t hurt him; he knew it would, and that his hurt could only be made worse with the passing of time.

He had watched with jealousy, her developing beauty—known that he was not the only one who was noticing; known that one day someone would make a try for her and win her and be more to her than he had ever or would ever be. It was in Deeta’s nature to be loving and caring, he had seen these qualities in her from the very first, it was what had alerted him to the future problems he would face, the unselfish warmth of feeling that she had rained upon him and Uncle Jep. He had resigned himself to the fact that she would one day love another—but he was damned if he would let it be Rye! He could only be unselfish up to a point; but he would not let Ryder’s impulsiveness destroy all he had tried to protect.