In Red

Chapter 14

"WE SHOULDN'T HAVE LEFT THEM ALONE."

"I don't know why you keep tormenting yourself. It's not the first time we go away."

"It's different now. We are not the only ones in danger anymore."

The four of them were in the same room of the inn where the girls had been some nights before. Nevertheless, the drive in the van had brought them much less tired this time.

"Roxanne, I told you what Harris said. Both you and your sisters can do whatever you like, as long as they're in the castle next week. After that, they will each have gone home with their husbands, which seems to be their wish, or they will just be free from any form of threat – at least on his part."

"What does that mean?" asked Celeste, who had not been present during the original explanation, and had merely picked up all her things on hearing they were going to the village to spend the night, taking advantage of the increased baggage allowances the availability of a vehicle brought. Now, the red and blue clothes were peeking out of the flour sacks, reconverted into suitcases. "Mr. Harris is no longer going to work for Father?"

"So it seems."

"Why?"

Joseph turned his eyes to Roxanne before giving any more information.

"I'm afraid answering properly to that would be too complicated at the moment."

"For Heaven's sake, do it!" brusquely exclaimed Alan, who had been quiet until then. "I'm sick of all this mystery and nonsense! This world is ridiculous!" He lifted from the chair, with an anxiety beyond the matter at hand. "All worlds are ridiculous!"

"What's wrong with him?" asked Roxanne once Alan had left the room in a rage.

"Let's say," Joseph puffed, "he has his own problems. Don't worry. I'll talk to him later. We all have our moments of nervousness, me included."

"Roxanne," said Celeste, grabbing her sister by the arms, "I want to know the same as you. I have a right to. I need to. I want to know if Mama really died because she hated us, or if that's also a lie. I don't want to content myself, like the others do, with what Father has told us."

Roxanne contemplated Celeste's light blue eyes, her fair hair. Only their light skin made them physically alike in some way. But, spiritually, they were now closer than they'd ever been.

"Lorraine loved you very much," she told her, pronouncing that name for the first time. "She loved us all very much. And she did die hating. But, believe me, not us. She looked after you, loved you and protected you over her own life. And she did all that... although she wasn't your mother."

Celeste kept quiet, not wanting the first surprises to prevent her from hearing the rest of the reality.

Roxanne felt her heart was tearing apart for not keeping her promise. But not telling the girls was meant to protect them all – and all should include Lorraine. If hiding the truth hadn't saved her, it didn't make any sense to carry on doing it. She'd been already fully aware of this the first time she'd decided to run away from the castle, but, deep inside, she also felt guilty for breaking the agreement with the only person she had ever loved.

"She wasn't my mother either," she finished confessing in a low voice.

Joseph's mind began then to weigh up new possibilities this left open, increasing his attention to what was about to be unveiled to Celeste.

"Honey, you and I are not really sisters. Your father isn't even my father."

At that point, Joseph felt relieved, but not in the way he'd expected. When he'd realized the two girls he was fortuitously helping were Leonard's children – like him – his heart had made him think it was terrible news for the feelings that were quickly beginning to grow inside of him towards the young woman in red. However, this unforeseen turn was a complete revelation, and it was then clear to him that she was someone he was going to love very much, but not how he felt he would when that door was closed, but as the sister she'd now turned out not to be. And he was glad to know he'd love her fraternally, not forced by the circumstances, but because his heart freely felt so.