Chapter 7 The Day Trip #2
Whereas Prudence was in a gray number that looked like the sweater version of Princess Leia’s outfit on the Death Star (complete with full sleeves and dangling hood at the back), a pair of flowy white pants that had slits up the sides (even if her sweater went to her knees, so it could be a dress), and the big-toe-separated Mary Janes, Chastity was in a long, pale-pink pleated skirt and a punch-pink sweater set, complete with a strand pearls.
She had a cute pair of unblemished white Keds on her feet.
She was also wearing a beige, felt fedora pulled low over her brow with her splendiferous mass of blonde frizz poofing out from under it.
She did not look like she was going on a day jaunt to visit a spiritual mecca adjacent to where one of the biggest musical festivals in the world was held, doing this wearing a super cute outfit that, from what I could tell, was totally her.
She looked like she’d finally come to terms with her fate right before being led to the gallows.
I was uncertain about this, and when I say that, I mean…very.
But I wasn’t certain who to talk to about it.
Prudence seemed to be hanging in, but I didn’t want to give her any excuse to cry off.
Battle had decided I didn’t exist.
Chastity was out, for obvious reasons.
So it would have to be Temperance.
That decision was made for all of two seconds, even if I hadn’t quite decided how I’d pull off a chat with Temperance when everyone was hanging around, when Prudence and I hit the bottom of the steps and Battle prowled to me.
Yes.
Prowled.
He then took my hand and dragged (yes…dragged) me to the back of the Peugeot and then some.
When we stopped, he turned into me.
I’d just tipped back my head to look at him, and, I didn’t know, maybe ask him what the hell with the whole dragging me somewhere business, when he asked, “You’ll look after them?”
“Um…”
“You’ll look after them.” This time, it was a demand.
So I guessed I was going to be talking to Battle about this.
I set about doing that.
“Am I missing something here?”
A muscle ticked in his jaw before he lied, “No.”
A thought occurred to me.
“Do we need security or something?”
His brows shot down. “Definitely no. Why would you ask that?”
“Because you all are super, crazy, stupid rich?”
“We take pains,” he stated. “No one knows who either of them is.”
I’d lived that nightmare.
Forsooth, it would have been good to know how gorgeous he was before his looks made me faint right in front of him.
“It kind of gives it away when we drive out of a massive heritage estate, one you all happen to live in,” I pointed out.
He took a moment.
And only then did he admit, “Chastity has been staying close to home for a while too.”
And there it was.
“How long of a while?” I asked suspiciously.
“Three years.”
I felt my eyes get big, and I snapped, kinda loudly, “What the hell is going on?”
He took my hand again and dragged me farther away.
When he was done dragging me, he faced me and bit off, “Keep your voice down.”
“What’s going on?” I whisper-snapped this time.
“It’s not my story to share. Just that Chassie is…dealing with a few things.”
Dealing with a few things?
For three years?
My gaze drifted to the Peugeot to see both Temperance and Prudence seemed to be smothering Chastity as they helped her into the back seat of the car.
Yes, even Temperance was doing this.
I went back to Battle.
“Is she okay?” I asked.
“She will be.”
“Is there something I should know?”
“Just be gentle with her.”
“With you acting all hinky, and me about to set out on a girls’ trip one of the girls on the trip isn’t all that fired up about, and you all casting me as the ringleader, that doesn’t give me much to go on, Your Grace,” I pointed out the obvious, and I did it sarcastically.
But I said the wrong thing, I knew, when I was being dragged again.
This time we went a long, loooooooong way, turning onto a path that took us down the side of the house.
Only when we were out of sight of his sisters did he stop me again.
And when he faced me this time, he did it right in my space.
So in my space, I had to tip my head way, way back to catch his eyes, and when I did, he was all I could see.
“What did I say about calling me that?” he asked, his purr silken and sinister.
“You’re being weird!” I defended hotly.
“I’m simply requesting you have a care with my sister.”
“Uh…considering she never raises her voice above a whisper and comports herself…no, wait…you all comport yourselves around her like she’s made of fine porcelain, I already got that,” I returned.
“This is family business.”
“Conceded,” I agreed. “She’s still going to be spending the day with me. What I’m sharing with you is, I’m sensing I don’t have the tools I need to handle it, primarily because I don’t know what tools to pack in my toolbox.”
“It’s Chastity’s business,” he continued. “You have Tempie’s, Prue’s and my gratitude for offering her the opportunity to break her self-imposed exile. You’re aware she’s fragile. You’ll have a mind. That’s all I need to know, and it’s all you need to know.”
“Did something happen to her?”
He said nothing.
Oh God.
Something happened to her.
I stumbled away from him as the immense weight of this knowledge landed on me.
I didn’t even know what it was.
I just knew that beautiful girl with her riot of hair and delicate features and whispered words endured something awful.
He caught my jaw in his hand and his face was in mine again.
His hold wasn’t harsh, or cruel, just supremely attention-getting.
“Don’t,” he whispered fiercely.
I realized only then my eyes had filled with tears.
And I knew what he was saying.
I didn’t need to lose it, start crying, acting weird and letting Chastity know I knew, even if I didn’t.
With us having this convo, she probably had some sense of what was going on.
But I didn’t need to return with red eyes, a runny nose, or any visible indication Battle shared his sister’s secrets, or that I felt sorry for her.
“Okay,” I said shakily.
He waited until I got my shit together before he asked softly, “You’ll have a mind?”
I nodded even with my jaw still in his hand. “Yes. I’ll totally have a mind.”
He let me go, stepped back and said, “Thank you.”
I swallowed.
Then I shook out my hands like I could shake off what I didn’t know, I just knew it was bad.
Finally, I squared my shoulders.
And I said, “We best get going.”
He nodded.
We walked silently, side by side, back to the car.
Bartholomew had made an effort to follow us but either got distracted or too tired halfway, so he joined us at that point and accompanied us the rest of the journey.
Chastity was in the back seat of the car.
Prudence was in the front.
Temperance was staring at me like, if I gave a single hint I didn’t have this, she’d tackle me.
I opened the driver’s side door and turned to her. “Burns the Bread. We have our instructions. But if those cookies are that good, and we eat them all on the way home, you only have yourself to blame for not coming.”
Temperance’s eyes rolled, but, even if it was a miniscule movement, I still saw her shoulders slump with relief.
Oh yes.
Chastity endured something awful.
Temperance then pushed beyond me to stick her head into the car and declare, “If no biscuits arrive with you on your return, there will be consequences.”
“We’ll buy loads so we can’t physically eat them all,” Prudence offered.
“This is acceptable,” Temperance said.
She pulled out of the car, but it was only me who saw, and obviously felt, when she grabbed my hand, gave it a firm squeeze and let it go.
If she was so worried, I didn’t understand why she wasn’t going with.
But then, when I climbed in, shut the door, and looked out the side window at Battle and Temperance standing there together, I did.
Battle and Temperance, the two strong ones, the two eldest, the two the others could lean on, needed the two who leaned on them to fly the coop.
On their own.
(Or, with me.)
And by damn, that was what they were going to do.
I started the car and opened my window.
“Any biscuit orders from you, Your Grace?” I asked.
At that, the muscle leapt across his whole cheek.
I smiled smugly.
“Battie likes their jam donuts,” Prudence said from beside me.
“Donuts it is,” I said. Then, “Ready, girls?”
“Ready!” Prudence cried.
Chastity said nothing.
“Tallyho!” I shouted and hit the gas.
Prudence giggled.
Chastity was silent.
And off we went.