A Girl to Come Home To (Musaicum Romance Classics). Grace Livingston Hill
it. She just wasn’t worth worrying about, I suppose.”
There was a deep silence with only the thunderous rumbling of the train. The younger brother sat and stared straight ahead of him, his startled thoughts taking in, in quick succession, the sharp changes this would make in his idolized brother’s life, the things he knew in a flash must have been being lived down by Rodney all these silent months when they had not been hearing from each other. And then his comprehension dashed back to the beginning again.
“But the ring!” he faltered, thinking back to the bright token that had meant to him the sign of everlasting fidelity, the lovely, peerless jewel that they had all been so proud their Rodney had been able to purchase with his own well-earned money and place upon the lovely finger of the beautiful girl who was his promised bride. “What will you do with the ring?” Jeremy was scarcely aware he was asking another question. He had been merely thinking aloud. Rodney turned toward him with a look almost of anguish, like one who knew this ghastly thing had to be told, and he wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.
“I sold it!” he said gruffly. The brothers’ eyes met and raked each other’s consciousness for full understanding. And in that look Jeremy came to know how it had been, and how it had to be with Rodney. Rodney was four years older, but somehow in that look Jeremy grew up and caught up the separating years, and understood. It did not need words to explain, for Jeremy understood now. Saw how it would have been with him if he were in a like situation.
But after a moment Rodney explained. “At first I wanted to throw it into the sea. But then somehow that didn’t seem right. It wasn’t the ring’s fault, even though it was of no further use to me. Even supposing I should ever find another girl I could trust, which I’m sure I never will, I wouldn’t want to give her a ring that had been dishonored, would I? No, it would never be of any further use to me, or to anybody unless they were strangers to its history. Yet what to do with it I didn’t know. I couldn’t carry it on my person and have it sent back to my mother sometime after I had been killed, to tell a strange story she wouldn’t understand, could I?”
“Then Mom doesn’t know?” asked Jeremy.
“Not unless Jessica has told her, and I doubt if she has. She wouldn’t have the nerve! Though maybe there was some publicity. I don’t know. I haven’t tried to find out. There hasn’t been a word of gossip about it in any of my letters. My friends wouldn’t want to mention it, and any others didn’t bother to write, so I’ve had to work this thing out by myself. After all, it was my problem, and I worked at it part-time between missions. It helped to make me madder at the enemy, and less careful for myself. What was the use when the things I had counted on were gone?
“And what was the ring that I had worked so hard to buy but a costly trinket that nobody wanted? So I found a diamond merchant who gave me a good price for the stone, more than I paid for it, and I was glad to get rid of it.
“That’s the story, Jerry. It had to be told, and there it is. At first I thought I couldn’t come home, where Jessica and I had been so much together, but then it came to me that there was no point in punishing Mom and the rest just because Jessica had played me false. So I’m here, and I only hope I won’t be subjected to too much mention of the whole affair. Jessica, I’m sure, will be out of the picture, thank heaven! She spoke of being married in another part of the country.
“Certainly I never want to lay eyes on her again, of course, and perhaps in due time, with the help of a few more wars, I may forget the humiliation I have suffered. But I don’t want pity, kid. I’m sure you’d understand that.”
“Of course not,” said Jeremy, giving a sorrowful, comprehending look. “But Rod, I don’t see how she could. She always seemed to be so crazy about you.”
“Well, let’s not go into that. I’ve been through several battles since that thought used to get me,” said Rodney.
“The little vandal!” said Jeremy. “What did she do? Just send the ring back without any letter or explanation?”
“Oh, no, she sent a nice little letter all right, filled with flowery words and flattery, to the effect that she was returning the ring, though she did adore it, because she thought I might want to use it again, and that I had always been so kind and understanding that she was sure I would see that it was a great deal better for her to frankly tell me that she had discovered she didn’t care for me as much as she had supposed; and as she was about to marry an older, more mature man, who was far better off financially than I could ever hope to be, and she wished that I wouldn’t feel too bad about her defection. She closed by saying that she hoped that this wouldn’t be the end, that she and I would always be friends as long as the world lasted. That we had had too much fun together to put an end to it altogether. Words to that effect, said in a flowery style, quoting phrases that had been supposedly dear to us both in the past, showing me plainly that they had never really meant a thing to her but smooth phrases.”
“The little rotten rat!” blurted Jeremy. “I’d like to wring her pretty little false neck for her!”
“Yes, I felt that way for some time, but then I reflected that I didn’t want to even give her that much satisfaction. She isn’t worth so much consideration.”
“Perhaps not,” said Jeremy, “but all the same I’d like to class her with our enemies and let her take her chances with them.”
The older brother gave an appreciative look.
“Thanks, pard!” he said with a wry grin. “Well, enough said. It’s good to know you’ll stand by if an occasion arises.”
“Yes, brother, I’ll stand by,” said Jeremy solemnly, and then after a moment, “And what about Mom and the rest?”
“Oh, they’ll have to be told I suppose, but at least not the first minute. The time may come soon, but probably not tonight.”
There was silence for several minutes, and then Jeremy spoke slowly, speculatively. “Ten to one Mom knows,” he said. “You know she always had a way of sort of thinking out things and knowing beforehand what had happened to us before we even got home.”
“Yes, that’s true. Dad always said it was her seventh sense. That she sort of smelled ’em out ahead of time. Still, I don’t see how she could this. However, it’s all right with me if she has. I guess I can take it. Gosh, I hate to tell her. I hate to be pitied.”
Another long silence, then Jeremy said, “Yes, I know. But I guess you can trust Mother.”
“Yes, of course,” said the older brother, lifting his chin with a brave gesture. “Yes, Mother’s all right. Mother’s wonderful! And it ought to be enough for any fellow to be getting home to her without worrying about some little two-timing brat of a gold-digger.”
Jeremy flashed a quick look at his brother. “Was that what she did? Was it money?”
“Yes, I figured that was what did it. A guy I met in the navy mentioned his name once and said he was just rolling in wealth. Had something to do with the black market he thought, though when I came to question closer, he wouldn’t tell any more. He said he guessed he oughtn’t to have mentioned it. Seems the fellow is an uncle of a buddy of his on his ship, and he was afraid it might get back to him that he had been talking. Well, what difference did it make? She’d thrown me over. Why should I care what for?”
“But Rod, we’re not exactly poverty-stricken. And as for you, Jessica knew Uncle Seymour left you a nice sum. You had a good start in life for a young man.”
“My shekels wouldn’t hold a candle to what a black market man could make now,” Rodney said, grinning.
“No, I suppose not,” said his brother with an answering grin. Then there followed a long silence, the brothers thinking over what had been said. Rodney had perhaps been more confidential with Jeremy than ever before in his life, and the younger brother had a lot to think over.
Rodney had dropped his head back on the seat and closed his eyes, as if the confidence was over for the time