Instead of coddling May, as Mother was wont to do, I decided to irk them both even more. I was incredibly tired of the two of them being so decidedly female about the entire journey. So, I leaned even further out the window and flashed my mother a defiant smile.
“Glynis, pull your head back in here! I cannot believe your daughter, Edric!”
I realized that my mother’s Italian temper was about to get the best of her. As I did not wish her to scold Father for my disobedience, I sat back in my seat with a petulant sigh. Fluffing up my skirts, I perched primly and proceeded to glare at her.
“Do not look at me like that, young lady! If you had behaved yourself in Venezia, Roma, Firenze, and even in Paris, we would not have to be here now in this abominable place,” Mother scolded.
She had a point. The entire purpose of our travels abroad were to find suitable husbands for me and my dear sister May. Our English suitors found me far too outspoken and my sister far too passive. Plus, we were a bit too foreign for many of the English aristocracy because of our Italian mother. Even her Medici lineage did not help us find favor amongst the nobility.
“I do not want a husband,” I responded coyly.
“Oh, really? And what is it that you want?”
“A series of young lovers. ” There! I knew that would send her over the edge at me and spare Father her wrath.
Instead, Mother narrowed her eyes and turned her gaze sharply to my father. “Edric! See, do you see, what you have permitted?”
“She is trying to provoke you, dearest. ”
I could not help, but smile. Father knew me so well. I was really quite bored and restless. And when I am bored and restless, I tend to behave rather badly.
“She is the way she is because of you!”
“Perhaps,” Father said. He tilted his head to regard me, smiling at me affectionately.
I mirrored his actions and relaxed slightly. Despite Mother’s constant chiding, I felt quite secure in who she was: my adoring, temperamental mother. And I knew that Father would always come to my defense. He adored my outspokenness as much as he did my mother's. Many times he told me how like her I am, and that is why he did not want to change me. If he loved my mother for all her fiery temper, then some man would love me for the same reason.
“Look, Glynis. See those graves there at the crossroads. The peasants of this country believe if you bury criminals at the crossroads they will not be able to return from the dead. ”
“Really?” I immediately leaned over to see, my eyes filled with morbid curiosity.
“Oh, how dreadful!” May gasped, looking even more pale than before.
“Do you see what you are doing, Edric? Again, you are only promoting her outlandishness. Why, why, Glynis can you not act like a proper young lady?”
“I do act like a proper young lady, Mother. Everyone adored me in Italy except for the men. It is my mouth that gets me into trouble. Remember? That is what you always remark. ” I regarded her with wide, innocent eyes.
“That tongue of yours. Where did you get it?” Mother sighed, growing weary of the argument.
“I wonder,” Father said in a soft voice. A small smile played across his lips.
Mother looked piqued, then she relaxed and smiled. “I will say no more! We are all exhausted by this tedious journey. Let us think of more pleasant matters. ”
“I feel so very sick. ” May moaned as she tried to brace herself in the lurching carriage.
“We do seem to be traveling awfully fast,” Father decided. He unfastened the window beside him and slid it open. Leanin
g out of the carriage window, he shouted, “Ovidiu, why are we moving so rapidly?”
I could not hear the response over the rattling of the carriage, but when Father sat back, his expression was one of bewilderment.
“What did he say?” Mother demanded.
“He said that the night is approaching and we must reach the village before darkness falls. Then he said the oddest thing. ”
“Which was?” I asked.
“The dead travel fast,” Father answered in a mystified tone.