I stood and offered her my hand. “Come along, I’ll walk you back to the house.”
“Fine. It’s best to get my punishment over with, isn’t it? Lizzie will make me stay in my room for the rest of the day. And it’s such good weather. I’m feeling all together bitter about it, Li.” She put her mittened hand into mine.
“I can understand.”
“Why didn’t you go with Fiona? I heard her talking about it with Cymbeline, and she said she wanted you to go with her.”
“I have responsibilities here.”
“Like your grandmother?” Delphia asked.
“Primarily, yes.”
We walked together through the woods until we saw the big house through a thicket of trees.
“Li?”
“Yes?” I picked her up to carry her over a skinny part of the creek and set her back down on the other side.
“You do think they’ll come back?” Delphia looked up at me with her bright blue eyes.
“Your parents will come back.” Fiona? I wasn’t so sure. She could be meeting a count or lord at this very moment.
“Did you know Fiona’s in love with you?”
We walked in the slushy tracks left by a car up the Barneses’ driveway. What did I say to that question?
“She was crying a lot before she left,” Delphia said. “Which made me not like you very much, but now I do.”
“I’m glad I’ve redeemed myself in your eyes.”
“Don’t you think Fiona’s pretty?”
“Who wouldn’t?” I asked.
“Only a fool.”
Fortunately, we were at the house by then. Addie came running out of the front door just as we came through the gate.
“Delphia, where have you been? We’ve been worried sick.”
“I went for a walk.” Delphia lifted her pointy chin, reminding me a lot of Cymbeline.
“Lizzie’s fit to be tied,” Addie whispered. “You should just head right up to your room. Lizzie’s downstairs for a couple of minutes. She had to check on something or it would burn, which made her even madder at you. I’ll sneak you up something to eat.”
“Good, I’m starving.” Delphia scampered inside the house and closed the door behind her.
Addie, who had grown into a ravishing young lady, gave me a shy smile. It was hard to believe that just a few years back she’d been terribly ill with stomach issues. Now she glowed with health and although not exactly robust, she was no longer painfully thin. “Thanks for bringing her back.”
I explained that I’d found her kicking a stump.
“She’ll have bruised toes again,” Addie said with a sigh.
Again?
“She’s having a hard time with Mama gone. Lizzie’s kept a tighter leash on her than we’re used to.”
“How are you doing?” I asked.
“I’m fine. Very busy. I’m working on a new novel, so I have no time to miss Mama and Papa or Fiona.”
“New novel?” I asked. “You have a first one?” She was only fifteen.
“This is my third one,” Addie said. “The first two are rubbish, but I may be onto something with this one.”
“Well, that’s good to hear. I wish you luck.” I turned to go. The sound of a car coming down the driveway diverted my attention.
Addie and I both turned our gaze toward the vehicle.
“It’s Cym,” Addie said. “Back from her errand. Those two men won’t be bothering you again.”
“Wh-what did you say?” I stared at her.
“The ones who beat you up. Fiona asked my brothers to take care of them, but Cym insisted on going with them. She had her pistol with her, so God only knows what happened.”
My feet tingled at all the ways that could have and perhaps did go wrong.
Cymbeline parked and came barreling out from behind the driver’s seat. “Li, just the man I wanted to see. I just went by your place and your grandmother said you were on a walk. Lo and behold, here you are.”
I looked at her warily. “What did you need?”
“I wanted to tell you that we took care of those two men who bothered you.” Leave it to Cymbeline to use the word bothered instead of beat. She would not want me to feel embarrassed. Pride was her biggest weakness. I was grateful for it.
“What did you all do?” I asked.
“We politely asked them to leave town.” She grinned and lifted her arm. Blood stained the sleeve of her wool jacket. “It was a lot of fun.”
“Oh, Cym,” I said. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“Let me tell you something,” Cym said. “You’re one of us, and when anything happens to one of us, we take care of it. Simple as that.”
“We don’t want men like that in our town,” Addie said softly.
“That’s right. And anyone else who thinks they can give you trouble will get the same treatment. I mean, most people prefer it if their noses aren’t broken.”
“Cymbeline, you didn’t?” I asked, secretly pleased.
“It might have been me. It might have been Flynn. Who knows?” She gave us one more mischievous grin. “Anyway, I need to go inside and see Jasper about getting the blood out of this jacket. My husband won’t be pleased to see me ruin another coat.”
Another one?