The unfairness of it irked. She couldn’t very well be rude to the twins when the rest of the family were there. Certainly when she was on her own she tried the usually successful ploy of not taking them seriously. Hugh didn’t know the complications involved with Steve. ‘Some men don’t need either,’ she said darkly. ‘Some men take a woman’s mere presence as flirtation. What should I do, wear a gag and mask!’
‘It might make life a little more peaceful for the rest of us,’ replied Hugh, with infuriating calm. ‘More to the point, why don’t you make up your mind which one you really want and put the other out of his misery.’
That was a bit strong. ‘I don’t want either of them,’ Julia protested. ‘And they don’t really want me. It’s just a game.’
‘It may be a game to you, but to them it’s real.’ The soft voice held a hint of contempt at her blindness. ‘Don’t you feel the animosity between them? That’s new. They may have bickered and fought in the past, but this is the first time there’s been any real acrimony in it. If it goes any further I think you’re in danger of permanently damaging their relationship.’
‘You’re exaggerating, it’s not that bad,’ said Julia, springing to her own defence despite her niggle of doubt. ‘They’re twins …’.
‘You obviously don’t know them as well as you think you do. There’s always been competitiveness between them—that’s partly I think why they were determined not to go in the same profession—certainly they are close but they are two people, not one, and in the last couple of years they’ve become even more different. If you’re serious about not wanting either of them, I suggest you make it crystal clear, now, before the tension escalates beyond a manageable level.’
Julia bit her lip, staring straight ahead as she remembered what Steve had said about Richard being the dominant one. Was Hugh right? Was he seeing all the angles this time, the ones Julia was too close to see?
‘Richard’s not serious, he can’t be,’ she said weakly. ‘Have you ever known him to be serious about anything?’
‘Yes. His work,’ said Hugh with clipped precision.
‘What’s that got to do with me?’
‘Don’t be obtuse, Julia. Richard’s technique is to live his roles and what’s he playing next? He’s Romeo and he’s cast you as Juliet. He’s in the process of genuinely convincing himself that he’s in love with you.’
Julia gulped. What incredible logic. And incredibly, it fitted exactly Richard’s behaviour, explained away his sudden attachment to her. Why, only yesterday, out on the upper balcony helping Jean beat carpets, she had been serenaded with the most famous lines of them all—’what light through yonder window breaks’. He had done the whole scene, oblivious to her rudely inappropriate responses. Hugh, having given her time to mull it over, was speaking again:
‘As to Steve. It’s quite obvious to all of us that he is at a vulnerable point in a personal crisis. I suppose you’ve been letting him cry on your shoulder.’
Was he always right, about everything! ‘What if I have?’
‘Don’t let your sympathy go too far … or has it already? It’s very easy to confuse it with love, particularly if you’re as confused to start with as Steve is.’
‘What do you suggest I do?’ gritted Julia resentfully, forgetting their earlier harmony. ‘Turn my back?’
‘Curb your natural instincts perhaps.’
‘Why you infuriating, pompous, arrogant …’ Julia exploded, temper fueled by his apparent calm. ‘You have a nerve! How dare you insinuate that I go around seducing everything that moves. I do have some discrimination you know, witness my attitude to you!’
‘Let it drop, Julia, I don’t think this discussion is getting us anywhere.’
‘It’s getting me somewhere. It’s getting me mad,’ Julia cried at the unmoved profile. ‘And don’t think you can shut me up with a snub. You ought to inspect your own back yard. Maybe if you offered Steve some sympathetic attention he wouldn’t turn to me. Maybe if you got involved instead of standing on the side-lines sneering at the rest of us you could help. But will you? Oh no, that’s not your style. You don’t like getting involved, even with your own family—’
‘That’s enough, Julia.’
‘No it’s not enough. Richard was right, you get away with too much. They care about you, the least you can do is care about them.’ She glared at him until the silence got too much for her. ‘And why don’t you argue back, damnit, instead of sitting there like a stuffed dummy.’
‘I’m driving the car,’ he replied mildly. ‘And I thought it was a stuffed shirt?’
‘A stuffed dummy in a stuffed shirt,’ Julia yelled wildly. ‘If your eyes didn’t move I wouldn’t know you were alive. Where is your life, Hugh? In your law books? Up in that attic prison? With well-oiled brunette robots—’
Fortunately she was interrupted. ‘We’re here, Julia.’ She hadn’t even noticed the car had stopped. She flung out of the car, pushing him out of the way as he came around to help her. ‘I notice you don’t call it home— that’s because you don’t know the meaning of the word. You don’t know about love, either, so don’t preach to me on the subject. Don’t you tell me how to run my life …’
‘You’re telling me how to run mine,’ he finally sounded fed up, and Julia was fed up too. Angrily she slammed the car door and would have stormed away but for the grunting moan he gave. She felt faint with shock as she realised she had slammed the door on his fingers.
‘Oh my God,’ she whispered, wrenching the door open again and catching sight of the three middle fingers of his left hand. They were white and crumpled; in places the skin was broken and as the blood rushed back into the injured fingers it began to drip out onto the gravel in a steady stream. Julia watched aghast as dark blood welled up under the nails—the pain must be excruciating! She reached to help. ‘Here, let me …’
‘Don’t touch me!’ howled Hugh, back away, following it up with a savage. ‘Don’t even come near me.’
‘You’d better come into the kitchen, quickly,’ croaked Julia, alarmed by his agonised white face. ‘I’ll put some ice on them, it’ll help the pain.’
‘I’ll do it myself,’ he ground out, and began to walk stiffly towards the house, cradling his damaged hand in his right.