Henriad (History Plays, Book 5)

7: this loose behavior i throw off

Harry

I cut my morning ride and skate short to get the kids ready early, but in the end they are marvelously compliant. Our father sent no word of his condition so I'm going to assume it is not better. The others are of a similar mind, though we do not voice it. When the little ones ask, I simply say I'm sure he'll tell us and remind them how strong he is. Breakfast is a hurried affair and I spend extra time afterward directing the servants to prepare my father's room (they already had but I wind up checking it anyway), and then I instruct them to set out things for Joan in case he's bringing her back with him, then I draft a quick memo which I email to my siblings reminding them that our father likes Joan so we're going to be polite to her. Then I get myself dressed hurriedly and meet my siblings outside.
"Wow," Thomas is not impressed, "Just wow."
"What?" I ask, going to fix Edmund's tie, and mess up Jon's hair to make him grin. I give Edmund another pair of headphones and earplugs because he always forgets them. Rey looks ready to cry, so I give him a squeeze before going to check the girl's braids and uniforms.
"You haven't gone to school a single day since dad left," Thomas growls. Of course, I'm neatly in my Globe Prep uniform.
"And he's returning so I shall, nor does he need to know all that has transpired in his absence, mind," I say, arranging my siblings in order of height and age, before taking place at the head of the line, fixing my own tie.
"Code of Silence," Pippa says.
"I hate all of you," Thomas says as we all immediately begin to sing 'Code of Silence' which we are still doing when Joan's white Mercedes pulls into the driveway. I see they figured out the code. It isn't like it was hard, but my father probably railed for a whole five minutes before Joan said the clue and then he instantly knew what it was.
The car pulls to a stop and our father gets out of the driver's seat, tossing the keys back to Joan who climbs out of the passenger side. He looks, if possible, worse than when he left, with fresh bandaging on his face and neck. He's gaunt, and pale, with his jacket hanging off his shoulders like an ill-fitting shell. He regards us for a moment, not stong enough even to muster a smile for the little ones, and we, upon seeing him so ill and defeated, pause and say nothing at all. I search his face for some hint of truth of how the visit went but as usual he is stone.
"Come here," he says, almost inaudibly, opening his arms just a bit.
The little ones rush to his arms, Edmund staying back with me and Thomas. I put an arm around Edmund's shoulders, and Thomas approaches cautiously.
"Come here," our father says, tugging Thomas into the hug as the other four crowd him talking over each other. He kisses Thomas' cheek and I think I see tears sparkling in his eyes.
"And you, trouble," he says, looking at me with something like affection.
"You got in," I say, shrugging unapologetically.
"You being good?" he asks, ruffling Edmund's hair. Edmund smiles a bit but leans against me. My father hugs me around the back with one arm, but his grip is weak.
"I assumed you'd want us going to school," I say, coolly.
"You would be right—"
"I collected my assignments though in case you wanted me to brief you," I say, quickly, because I desperately want to talk to him. Alone.
"Absolutely not, get to school, we'll all talk tonight all right? I missed you people," hugging the girls again. They grin, perfectly happy to have him back. "You have no idea how unrestful it was to only be woken up three times a night by grimy people wanting my blood. I got something like decent sleep. It was horrible."
"What did the doctors say?" Pippa asks, frowning a little.
"Nothing new, I'm fine, go on. You don't need to be late for school," he says, hugging her one more time.
"Girls, I'll drive you," Joan offers, politely.
"You've been driving all night I'm sure, Godfrey is ready in the garage you may escort them if you like," I say, in my nicest voice I can when I'm not about to let her get back behind the wheel after that long a night.
"Sounds good; go ahead and get your bags girls," she says, coming to collect them. She's wearing a skirt and oversized sweatshirt with a peace sign on it, and her face is more drawn if possible than my father's. Her eyes are bloodshot from crying as well, if I'm not mistaken. So it wasn't good news.
"You should rest, father. I could fill you in over lunch?" I try, one more time.
"You, sixteen year old child, school, now. I'm perfectly capable," he nearly growls. My neck tightens but I just nod.
"I left some notes on your desk for you to look over when you're feeling like it. Everything is taking care of itself now," I say, hiding my anger.
"Yes it is, because that's how I left it —get to school," he says, hugging Jon and Rey one more time.
"Yeah, okay, come on boys I'll drive you," I say.
"I missed you," Thomas says, quietly.
"I missed you too, we'll talk tonight, go with your brother," he says, patting Thomas' back. I walk away, trying to stop the annoyance from building my chest.
I think I do pretty well considering.
"You actually dented that locker?? How strong are you?" Ned asks, as I pace the locker room. Needless to say we're not in class; we're hiding in the Bard's locker room while I handle my angst.
"He spoke to Edmund more than me! After everything---I took care of everything for three whole weeks and he's ill and he insists on treating me like a child," I sigh.
"He's sick, Harry, you've got to give him a break," Ned says.
"When is somebody going to give me a break!?" I cry, "I—everyone, everyone else gets to be upset because they're going through things and then I'm not upset, I'm okay and I handle things and they take it out on me more!'
"I know, it's not fair, life isn't if you haven't noticed," Ned says, drinking from a cup of coffee. He got me one, then took one look at my face and decided I did not need caffeine and he's currently sitting on top of the lockers drinking them both.
"Is it too much to ask that he's moderately pleased with me for once before one of us dies?" I sigh.
"Look, he's been up all night driving you said. Give him a minute. He's exhausted and he's been in the hospital. He probably didn't mean anything by the way he sounded—"
"No, he completely did—"
"He's going to look over your notes that you left him, I'm sure when you get home he'll thank you for all you did while he was gone, nobody else in the world could handle all of your---honestly very chaotic—siblings as well as the family business, along with still doing your school work. Like your mother used to say, everyone is way back there, Harry, you're way the fuck up here, give them a moment to catch up," he says.
"You really think he'll want to talk and be pleased when I get home?" I ask, hopefully.
"I don't see why not, you did excellent, you are excellent. He's going to see that."