Beyond the Broken Angel

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

— happier —

June 12th, 1938

GISELLE FLOATED ON her back in the quaint swimming hole Barbara insisted everyone go to after church—the exact one Ajay and Giselle had been at a month prior.

Barbara had been calling all the shots that day, taking full advantage of it being her birthday.

She had somehow roped everyone into wearing blue to church since it was her favorite color, and even wrangled Will into skipping his catching up on work to join them at the swimming hole. Though, he didn't even try to swim, just sat back against a rock on the dry land with a book.

"Watch this!" Albert yelled as he readied himself on the rock ledge overlooking the swimming hole. "I'll make the biggest splash ever!" He pinched his nose with his fingers before cannonballing in.

Once his damp head poked up out of the water, he swam over with a broad smile on his face. "See! I told you it would be a big splash!"

"It wasn't that big," Barbara pointed out. She was over in the shallow end with Selene and Dorothy.

"Yeah it was!" Albert countered. His gaze swiveled to Giselle. "Right, Ellie?"

She nodded. "I thought it was a good splash." She suddenly smiled, getting an idea. "But do you want to see an even bigger one?"

"Oh, no," Ajay said, swimming up to her, "I know that smile—what are you about to do?"

"You'll see," she replied mysteriously, swimming over to the shallow end to get out of the water. She passed Will on her way to the ledge Albert had jumped off of. His nose was embedded in his book, barely even giving her a glance as she moseyed on by.

She bypassed the small diving ledge Albert had used, stopping in front of the the 15-or-so-foot cliff that oversaw the swimming hole. She found a good foothold and started climbing, finding it much easier to do in the daytime than when she had done it at night with Ajay.

"Ellie, are you sure that's safe?" Frank asked. She dared a glance over her shoulder at him, smiling.

"It's fine," she said. "I've done this before."

She caught Will's gaze. He had discarded his book on the ground and was in the process of standing up.

"Giselle, get down before you hurt yourself!" Will demanded, coming over and stopping at the base of the cliff.

"I'm not going to hurt myself," she told him. She was almost halfway up the wall then.

"Giselle, if you fall, you'll fall onto the rocks," he informed, pointing to the large boulders at the base of the wall.

"I'm not going to fall," she assured him. "And it's not that far down, anyways."

"Leave her be, Will," Ajay called out across the pool. "She'll be okay. She's done this before."

Giselle turned her head to look down at Will, wanting to stick out her tongue but was stopped when her foothold broke free from the wall. She lost her footing for a split second but was able to find a new foothold just as quickly without any problem.

Will's eyes were wide when she peered down at him afterward. He barked out, "Come back down right now, Giselle!" There was panic in his voice, but she brushed it off.

"Calm down!" she placated. "I'm almost to the top."

"You're not jumping!"

"Heavens, Will, let her jump!" Marguerite yelled as she sat on the ledge next to Selene, swishing her feet back and forth in the water. "She's doing perfectly fine."