"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."