Sisters Three (Completed)

13. Morna

Aunt Perta had pulled Afton away as soon as the song ended, which left Morna standing in the middle of the ballroom floor by herself, looking suddenly small and out-of-place. She hunched her shoulders and hurried to the safety of the far wall, flopping herself down on the chair next to Aunt Nora and Great Uncle Roma.

"You look as red as a fox, child," Aunt Nora remarked.

Morna's hand flew to her face to feel the warm skin of her cheeks. Knowing she was blushing only made it worse and she felt the heat rise. She ducked her head and shuffled her feet, trying to hide that tell-tale sign that marked her face.

"Perta, bring her something to drink!" Nora shouted. Aunt Perta, who now was alone, retrieved a glass from one of the tables and offered it to Morna.

"It's water," Morna said, eyeing the clear contents warily.

"About two mouthfuls," Aunt Perta said, sighing heavily. "Can you not handle even this small amount? Just drink it."

Morna accepted the glass, holding it warily in her lap. She took a sip but felt the hook in her stomach tighten as the water touched her lips. The most sensible thing to do would be to drink it all in one go, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to at this moment. The excitement of dancing, mixed with her unease over where Aunt Perta had taken Afton to, combined to lower her tolerance for the water. So she held it loosely on her lap and tried not to look at it as a vigorous dance started up on the ballroom floor.

The dancers were nearly halfway through with their frenzied twirling when Morna felt someone brush up next to her. She looked up to see Afton, breathless and his own shade of blushing red. He cleared his throat and motioned to the empty seat by her side.

"May I sit?" he asked. Morna nodded wordlessly. He flopped down, his hand running through his hair as he kept glancing toward the door that led into the small library. Morna tried to see what he was looking at, but he stole her attention away by grabbing her hands.

"Careful! You're about to spill," he said.

Morna looked down to see that she had dipped her fingers into her cup without realizing it, and that the water was dangerously close to the lip of the glass. She gasped and wrenched her fingers free, letting Afton take away the glass while she hurriedly wiped her hand dry on her skirts.

"I don't know what got into me," she murmured, sticking her offending hands under her and biting down hard on her tongue to keep a strange onset of frightened tears from appearing in her eyes.

"There's no harm done," Afton said. He bent to set the glass of water on the floor beneath his chair, and when he straightened back up his look of worry had disappeared from his face. She felt the weight in her own heart lift a little to see the usual look of good humor make the corners of his eyes turn up.

"Where did my aunt haul you off to?" she asked, making up her mind not to worry about his answer.

"Oh, just to see something that she apparently thought I might be interested in," he said, waving his hand in the air dismissively. "I wasn't, but I think perhaps I should steer clear of your aunts for a little bit."

He glanced meaningfully across her, and when she turned to follow his gaze she met the unexpectedly narrowed eyes of her aunts. When the aunts saw they were observed, they pretended to be talking to Great Uncle Roma, which made Morna stifle a laugh as she turned back to Afton.

"They're very stubborn," she explained. "If they like something, they think everyone will. Their displeasure in your unfortunate lack of good taste will pass in a few days. I think they're too impressed with your position to hold much of a grudge."