“Just a thought.” Her words were barely above a whisper.
He draped an arm around her and hugged her tight. “I know you are just trying to help, but I worry. We worry about you.”
“And I tell you all that I am fine. I cannot work the fields like you do, but I can do this.”
He tugged on her hair that peeked below the wrap around her head. “You always had a penchant for numbers.”
“I hate you feel that you have to take care of me.”
Elonne growled. “Listen to me, little sister. I will always take care of you. It is not a chore.”
She finished her coffee. “It is. You have your wife and children. All I am is another mouth to feed.” She ignored that she lied to him, she knew the real reason.
“Not up for discussion. You are not a bother.”
But she was and she could see it on his wife’s face. No, she never said anything in front of Elonne, but the looks were there.
“I want a place of my own. Something small.”
“No.”
“Elonne, listen, I am three and twenty. I want to move out and I have money to do so. I also found a place.” She got off the bed and left the room, her clothes in hand to change into.
Her brother remained in her room when she came back dressed for the day. Braiding her hair, she didn’t look at him until she held on to the tip of her braid as she tied a red bow around it. She draped it forward over the left side of her neck, hiding what the collar of her dress could not.
Cup in hand, she left the room again, and this time he was on her heels, arguing with her.
Elonne’s wife Cara was in the small kitchen and she looked up, the expression on her features smoothing out when she spied Elonne.
“Morning, Gwen.”
Cara refused to call her Fyre.
“Good morning. Maybe you can help me convince Elonne my idea is the right one.”
“My wife sides with me, Fyre. She will agree with me, not you.”
Her dark eyes moving between the siblings, Cara waited.
“I think,” Fyre began.
“She thinks she should move out to her own place,” Elonne snapped.
Cara’s eyes grew wide. Fyre took advantage and pressed on. “It would be a small place, not too far away, and I would still be able to help out with the children, but they are growing and my room could be better used for one of them.”
She very deliberately did not mention assisting them with money anymore. Despite how Cara acted, Fyre more than earned her keep staying in this place with them.
“Tell her she is not going, Cara.”
Fyre watched her sister-in-law. For about a minute, she didn’t say anything. After she stirred whatever was on the stove, she sighed.
“I think we should support Gwen in this.”
As she’d expected, Elonne lost it. Her brother was a large man and could be extremely menacing, but she wasn’t going to back down.
Swallowing before she tried to get him to see it her way, Cara waited a moment then spoke again. Where her brother was large and loud, Cara never had to raise her voice to get her point made.
“She is a grown woman, Elonne. Why would she want to live with a married couple and their children?”
“Because we are family, and it is dangerous out there for her.”
“I am not leaving the town, Elonne. Just this house. I have never lived alone and you two have never been married without me in the house. At least let me give this a try. If it does not work, then I will come back.”
She had no intention of returning to this house.
She watched him think it over, then when his broad shoulders slumped when he looked at his wife, she knew he was caving.
“Fine.” He stomped off.
Fyre moved up beside Cara, who had returned her attention to her food.
“I know you did not do that for me, Cara, but thank you anyway.”
“Just make sure it works and you never have to come back here again to live.”
“Like I want to keep living with you.” Irritation rose, as was often the case when she dealt with this woman.
Cara narrowed her beady eyes. “You should be thanking me for letting you stay this long.”
“You should be grateful I contributed money to the coffers, given how much you like to spend. You will have to slow that down when I leave.”
Fyre walked back to her room and packed her meager belongings. She had somewhere to be and a place to rent.
Not long after, she walked along the dirt road, waving at the occasional passer-by. It was still far too early for most people to be up, well, the people who had servants to take care of things for them. The people she saw were the servants.