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Chapter Ten

Everyone was up and dressed by the time grandmother came with breakfast. William still couldn’t meet my eyes and he went upstairs to the attic immediately after breakfast to do the remaining clean up, though I think it was really just to avoid me for as long as he could. We had hardly talked throughout the day since he was upstairs, while the twins and I stayed downstairs sifting through candy and playing cards.

It was just before dinner when Will finally returned from the attic. He looked to the bed where we were all gathered. “All cleaned up and back to normal,” he said to the three of us and then walked into the bathroom to wash up. As he stood at the sink washing his hands, I entered the bathroom and shut the door.

“William, I can’t stand this silent treatment. And I don’t know if it’s because you are mad at me for last night or mad at yourself for this morning.” I finally made eye contact with him in the mirror when he looked up.

“I’m sorry, Elizabeth; I didn’t know what I was doing. I was still asleep.” His face looked pained as he talked to me.

“I know you didn’t, William. You don’t need to be embarrassed.”

“I’m not embarrassed; I’m ashamed. How could I do that? You’re my sister. God, I’m sick.”

“Will, stop it. You said it yourself. You were asleep, dreaming. You didn’t know it was me and you are sixteen years old. I don’t want you beating yourself up about your body’s normal healthy reactions. It wasn’t a big deal. Just let it go, ok? For me? I can’t stand not being able to talk to you.”

“Yeah, ok,” he sighed, “for you. And I’m not mad at you for last night either. I was just upset at mom. I didn’t mean to take it out on you.”

I nodded my head in acceptance. “We good?” I asked questioningly,

He nodded in return. “Yeah, we’re good.” He gave me a smile and a little hug. “I don’t mean to hurt you.”

“You don’t. You just need to talk to me, don’t shut me out, please. We only have each other right now.” I pleaded with him. “We are still going to have to talk about mother.”

“Yeah, I know,” he said dejectedly. “We will later. I can’t right now.”

“Promise me.”

“I promise you we’ll talk about it tonight. After the twins go to bed, I don’t think they should know about this.”

My next words were interrupted by the sound of Dawn and Connor’s cries from the other room of “Mommy! Mommy!” I shared an incredulous look with William and then headed for the door. Sure enough, mother was in the middle of a double embrace from a smiling and giggling Dawn and Connor. She looked happy to see them as well, hugging them back and kissing their foreheads. Dawn turned and saw us standing at the bathroom door, “Will, Beth! Look, it’s mommy! She came to see us!” She grinned, breathless with excitement.

Will’s reply stunned me. “Yeah, ‘bit. I knew she would.” Then he ran over to join in the group hug. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Just a second ago, he was still mad at her. The twins I could understand, they were younger. They didn’t see what she did last night outside under the light of the moon with her new man. Mom noticed that she was missing a child around her and looked up. Her bright smile dimmed a little when she looked at me, still standing over by the bathroom door with my arms folded in front of me. “Elizabeth? Come see me, I want to hug my girl.” She said it so sweetly, like she really missed me. I crumbled; she was my mother after all.

Joining the circle, we all hugged some more. Then the twins started to fire off questions and comments. “Where have you been?” “Will and Elizabeth made us costumes for last night, I was a pirate!” “How was the ball?” “What did you dress as, mommy? I was a princess.”

“Wait, wait. One at a time.” She laughed pulling us all away and bringing the twins to sit with her on the bed. “Connor, you were a pirate? Jack Sparrow I suppose? I bet you were the bravest pirate around.” She quickly mussed his hair and then turned to Dawn, grabbing her hand. “And you, I bet you were the prettiest princess. I’m glad you had a good Halloween and by the looks of all the candy on the bed, it seems you cleaned up.” She looked at Will and me, “Thank you for giving them something special. I‘m sorry I couldn’t have been here too.” She hugged the twins again and I thought her statement gave me a pretty good opening.

“Why weren’t you here? You know how important Halloween is to Dawn and Connor.” My eyes were hard as I looked at her.

“Elizabeth!” Will grabbed my arm to control my temper.

“It’s ok, William.” Mom said as I shrugged off William’s hand and returned to my previous stance with my arms crossed in front of me. “I couldn’t come. I was getting ready for the ball. I spent a lot of time with my father yesterday, learning the names of the people I was going to meet. I needed to be perfect for my reintroduction into society. I couldn’t let my father down. Last night was very important to him and I had to please him. The good news is I was wonderful. Everything was perfect and my father was so happy with me.” She paused to giggle and hug the twins again. “We are so much closer than we were when we showed up two months ago. Our plan is going to work and then you will be out of this room.”

“And we’ll get to see you everyday again?” Dawn asked.

“Oh, honey. Everyday, I promise. Things are going so well. That’s why I came today. I wanted to let you know how wonderful it was. I wanted to give you hope that things are going the way we planned.” She pulled them in for another tight hug. “We are going to succeed and be together as a family as soon as possible.”

She smiled up at Will, who returned her smile. He walked over to her and sat next to Connor and gave her a kiss on her cheek. “I know we will, mom. You’ll make it happen.”

“Thank you for believing in me, William.” She looked at me with mixed emotions on her face. I could tell she was sad that I doubted her, but I thought I saw a glimpse of contempt in her eyes, as if my defiance was going to ruin her plans. What I thought I saw in her stare was gone in an instant as she smiled brightly again. “Now, tell me about your Halloween.” Our mom was back, listening to the twins tell stories of last night, about bobbing for apples, their costumes, which they put on again to show her, and William’s story of The Gentlemen and the Slayer who stopped them.

Will kept glancing over at me as I stood apart from them. I couldn’t take the hurt look on his face anymore so I went over to join them on the bed. I still wanted answers from my mother, but I could wait until after the twins had enjoyed her presence.

**********************************************************

Mother had stayed the rest of the night and even tucked the twins into bed for the first time in months. We chatted quietly about inconsequential topics until we were sure they were asleep. Once Connor began his light snoring, we knew it was safe to bring up more serious issues.

Not wasting any time, I went right for the jugular. “Who was that man you kissed last night?”

William flashed me another glare but I knew he wanted to know as much as I did so I ignored him. Mother sighed and then began, “I was hoping you didn’t see that, but I guess I should know better. You two always did like to spy on the adults.” She giggled thinking of the many times dad or her would have to shoo us from our perch on the stairs back up to our rooms during dinner parties.

“Mother, don’t try to distract me from the question.” I said icily.

“Fine, fine. His name is Wesley Wyndham Price. He is a partner at father’s law firm. Father introduced me to him a few weeks ago, but last night was our first official date. He is bright, kind, attractive, and has the most wonderful British accent,” mother explained with a song in her voice.

“Don’t you think it’s a little early for you to start dating again? Dad hasn’t even been dead a year.” I knew my words were harsh and cruel, but I couldn’t help it. She was betraying our father.

“Elizabeth, don’t take that tone with me. I loved your father with all of my heart. You know the main reason for the falling out with my father was because I chose to be with Hank over Ethan’s wishes, so do not act like I’m betraying your father. Hank is dead and he’s not coming back. That’s something you need to get used to.”

Her cruelty was worse than mine. Tears slowly began to leak from my eyes and William was torn between the two women in his life. My tears won out as he came over to me and cradled me to his chest. “You don’t need to be so harsh, mom. Elizabeth loved dad too. You might be over his death, but she’s not. None of us stuck in this room are.”

“William, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it the way it came out. She’s always just so critical of me and my decisions. I’m doing this for you, for all of us. To get back into Ethan’s good graces, I have to do things his way. This is part of it. He always wanted me to marry someone from his firm. The fact that Wesley is a good man is just an added bonus. I will never forget about your father or stop loving him, but he’s gone. I have to move on if we are going to make this work.”

“Does he know about us?” my question was muffled against William’s chest.

“No, I can’t tell him yet. But I will, when the time is right and when we are closer to our goal.” She sounded confident in her resolve. “We are closer now than ever to accomplishing what we want. At this rate, you will definitely be out of this room by Christmas. It’s going well, can’t you see that?” Now she sounded as if she was pleading with us.

“Yes, mom, we can see that. It’s just hard when we don’t hear from you in so long. We don’t know what’s going on or how the plan is going. We don’t know if you still think about us.” William replied.

“Of course, I’m thinking about you. I’m always thinking of you. You’re my babies. You’re the most important people in my life. I’m doing this so we can all be happy again, be a family again.” She came over and embraced us both. “This is going to work. I love you always.” She tightened her arms around us and I heard her sniffle. “I need to go now, but please remember what I’ve said. Things are going to work out.” She gave us both a kiss and left the room.

William and I stood in the middle of the room, him still holding me while my crying subsided. He kissed the top of my head and tightened his grip. “It’ll be alright, Elizabeth. It’s ok that you still miss dad, I do too, but maybe mom’s right. He’s not coming back, maybe we need to start moving on too.”

“I don’t want to move on, I want dad back.” I snuggled deeper into his chest.

“I know, sweetheart, I know.” He rocked me gently for a while until I couldn’t stand anymore. The emotional roller coaster I had been on today exhausted me. William felt the change in my body and gently lifted me up. He brought me over to my bed and tucked me in. “Go to sleep, you’re drained. We can talk more tomorrow. Don’t ever forget that I love you.” I nodded and he kissed my forehead before going over to his own bed.

“Thank you for being my brother, William.” I said softly before he reached his destination.

He smiled and climbed into his bed. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”





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