That they were talking without resorting to raising their voices gave me hope. No more fighting. Nothing crashed. Dries was a kind and patient man. He would be able to reach Theo. He would calm Theo’s anguished mind with reasoned arguments.

“All is well now,” I told Wil. “Your papa is coming out to us. I will draw him a bath. That will make him feel better. Or maybe we shall go for a stroll first on the street. Would you like that? He probably needs fresh air.”

I hurried into Wil’s room and prepared a fresh shirt, fresh pants. Luckily, I had a load out to the laundry when Theo had locked himself in, clothes that had since come back. It was the only reason I had anything to wear.

Half an hour passed in nerve-racking suspense before Dries emerged. The door slammed closed behind him. I could not catch so much as a glimpse of my dearest.

Dries looked at me with the regretful expression people wore when they had to tell someone their loved one was gone forever. “You shouldn’t be alone with him.”

Pain and denial screamed through me. His words were not ones I could accept. “He loves us.”

“He is not in his right mind.”

“He would never harm us. You know him.” I begged. “I know him. I love him, Dries.”

“He should be in an asylum.” My brother softened his tone, but he didn’t soften his words. “For his own safety and yours. He should be under the watchful eyes of a doctor.”

“I can’t have them lock him up. I can’t bear the thought. They don’t know what he needs. They don’t know him as I do, all his moods and fears and regrets.” I rounded the table, put it between us as a barricade against Dries’s merciless opinion. “The asylum didn’t save Vincent.”

“Didn’t it? When he was inside, he was safe. When he was on the outside, he cut off his ear. He shot himself.” Dries, equally frustrated, shoved a chair. “When was the last time you saw Theo?”

“When I gave him his dinner last night.”

“Fully seen him. Not through a gap in the door.”

“Two weeks ago?”

Dries flinched. “Do you realize he voids his bowels into a bucket?”

“But I hear him use the bathroom in the night.”

“Not during the day?”

I covered my face with my hands because I couldn’t bear to look my brother in the eye. And I couldn’t bear to think of my Theo as debased as that.

“His mind cannot fight the darkness of grief, Jo. And his body is fading as well. He needs help.”

“Then help us.”

“The best I can do is obtain him medical assistance. This is beyond the two of us, Jo. You must see that.”