“What’s the favor you want to give me?”
“You want to go home. I cannot get you out of your foolish agreement, but you are not bound to this place the way another is. It seems quite reasonable to me that you may be able to take a ‘vacation’ away from here, as long as you return.”
Bell stared at the Fae, her body as heavy as stone. Inspecting the ethereally beautiful face, she couldn’t find any trace of a lie. “Are you… do you mean that?”
Smiling her cat-like grin, Sidero rose to stand in front of Bell. “I most certainly do, my sweet Belladonna. The magic that ties all here is a string that is knotted and twisted to bind you to this place. Beast has knots around him so tight he can barely breathe, and he can only move so far. You, on the other hand, have strings with significantly more slack.” She plucked at invisible strands in the air. “I think we can stretch it just far enough for you to see your family for a short while before those strings snap you back to this place.”
“Yes. Take me home.”
“Why so quick, my dear! You did not have to think at all! Here,” Sidero said. Her cold fingers pried open Bell’s hand to reveal the crushed rose petal hidden within. Dark as blood, it sat neatly in the center of her palm.
“All you need to do is place this in your mouth. Time will do the rest.” Sidero released Bell’s hands.
Bell brought the petal to her lips with shaking fingers. It smelled sweet, a scent no other flower could mimic. Placing the velvety petal on her tongue, it dissolved, throwing Bell into absolute darkness.
Chapter Nine
Blackness lifted in the blink of an eye. Belladonna found herself in a huddle on a worn dirt road, her head spinning. She closed her eyes, waiting for it to steady before she tried to stand. Whatever Sidero had done had seemed to have worked – there were no dirt roads on the Palace grounds. Excitement bubbled up.
Raising her head, Bell opened her eyes to mere slits, not willing to make herself ill if the world was still twirling. Only sunlight and trees hit her vision, softer now that they were stationary. The familiarity of the scenery hit her with the force of a blow; she had been deposited in the middle of the big bend in the road that hid Flor Cottage from traffic.
Jumping up, she began sprinting, kicking up big plumes of dirt in her wake. Bell rounded the corner and froze. Flor Cottage stood before her, a few chickens pecking their way through the sparse grass. Geranium sat in the sunshine, blankly staring ahead, her still nimble fingers shelling a bowl of green peas.
Dazed by the scene before her, Bell started towards the house, opening the creaky gate and letting herself in.
“Who’s there?” Geranium barked, her fingers freezing. When Bell didn’t give an immediate response, Geranium continued, “Speak your business. You came into our yard now what do you want?”
Her words were gruff and harsh, but Bell could still hear the hidden fear in her sister’s voice.
Stepping forward, Bell said, “Geranium, it’s me.”
“Belladonna?” she asked, her voice shaking.
“Yes,” Bell said, dropping to her sister’s feet and grabbing her hand. Once Geranium’s hands had been the softest and smoothest out of all the sisters, but now her palms and fingers bore rough callouses. “I’m here.”
Geranium took her free hand and hesitantly touched Bell’s face, using soft brushes of her fingers to outline Bell’s features. Belladonna tried not to move, breathing lightly on the fingertips stroking her brows.
“It really is you!” her sister cried, grabbing both sides of Bell’s face.
“What’s wrong, Geranium? I heard voices…” Poppy’s final words trailed off as she stepped outside and saw both her sisters crying in each other’s arms. “Bell!” she screamed, throwing herself in the mix.
It was several minutes before all three women had stopped crying enough to extricate themselves from the knot of arms they had become. Abandoning Geranium’s peas, the three sisters headed inside and collapsed at the kitchen table.
“Belladonna! When did you get here?” Poppy asked, crushing her hand as if she feared Bell would disappear the moment she let go.
“Just now! I walked up and saw Geranium sitting out front.”
Grinning from ear to ear, Geranium turned towards the sound of her sister’s voice. “That man you look after must have told you to come visit us and give you time off! See Poppy, I always told you he sounded like a nice man from all the letters Belladonna sent home!”
Bell was glad Geranium couldn’t see the confusion that crossed over her face. Letters? Man? “What? Oh, yes, sisters. I was given some time off for a brief visit home to see everyone,” she answered, trying not to look as surprised as she felt.
“Well, I guess you were right, Geranium. Our little sister looks just as beautiful as the last time we saw her.”
“Oh, that was years and years ago, even before she and Papa left the Big City for good, Poppy. And I don’t think any of us saw her after they moved here. I don’t think either of us tried or cared.” Geranium’s words were soft, but the bite in them was still sharp.
Neither of her sisters would look at Bell. For a moment, she considered listening to the small voice of spite in the back of her head. It agreed with Geranium: they had abandoned her and Papa and left their youngest sister to clean up a mess she wasn’t equipped for, and they had let her scrounge and scrape to survive. They hadn’t tried to give their aid. But she pushed the voice away because it wasn’t entirely true. There had been other circumstances that had prevented them.
Grasping one of Geranium’s hands, Bell said, “Of course you both cared. We knew you both cared. I was the one best equipped, and so I came here. But Papa and I both knew you still cared.”
“You shouldn’t have been the one best equipped though, Belladonna. I was the oldest – I shouldn’t have just allowed you to carry the heavy burden all by yourself. I didn’t even half-heartedly try to convince you to let me help. I was just so relieved I didn’t have to do anything.”
“And I shouldn’t have married, never to be seen again,” Geranium added.
Bell realized this was the first time in years that all of them were gathered in one room, and the only time they had ever been gathered together in Flor Cottage. “None of us were equipped for this. And both of you had families. So much had to be wrapped up quickly, and then Papa got sick… We all did the best we could.” Bell smiled at her older sisters. “And look where we are now – we’re all together again. Whatever might have happened in the past, we all made it through.”
The lightness of her words was a salve on her sisters’ guilt. Color started to return to both her sisters’ faces, which had grown pale with their confessions. Out of all of them, Belladonna had always been the least selfish, the one who was able to put her own feelings aside to see the bigger picture. If she had told them she resented them, or even loathed them, both Poppy and Geranium would have accepted her decree as just. But her answer didn’t blame them for their shortcomings. Instead, it focused on the now.
“We had no idea Papa was so bad, Belladonna. If we had…” Poppy trailed off.
“We still wouldn’t have done anything, probably. But I would like to think we would have,” Geranium added bluntly.
“Geranium is right,” Poppy acknowledged. “Neither of us would have done anything differently, except send empty words and pocket change. But we’re here now, little sister. And we see what you’ve gone through and all that you’ve done. I hope you know you are the best one among us.”
“I’d like to think you would have helped, in whatever small way you could. No matter what you see, Papa and I were doing well enough. My job at the Writing House was enough to cover our expenses. My true concern was leaving Papa alone all day, but we seemed to have been faring well.” Bell’s words didn’t seem to make either of her sisters feel better. Geranium was fidgeting in her seat, and Poppy’s eyes were getting wider with every word. “Really. We were getting by. You shouldn’t feel guilty, either
of you. Please.” Bell looked at her still silent sisters; they hadn’t had a conversation like this since they were much smaller; it was honest and open. “I’d like to think if we went back, we’d all do something different. But even if we didn’t, we’ve found our way home.”
“Let me get tea!” Poppy said, scraping her chair as she got up.
“No, let me do it. I need the practice,” Geranium countered.
“Humph,” Poppy grunted, flopping back into her chair.
Bell watched with anxious eyes, prepared to hop up at the slightest stumble. Poppy leaned over and whispered in Bell’s ear, “Don’t worry so much, little sister. She knows what she’s doing, even if she can’t see it with her eyes. She’ll be okay.”
“I heard that. I’ll be just fine, thank you very much. Don’t you dare think you can mother hen me while you’re here, Belladonna! It was hard enough getting Dr. Jayr to stop hovering around me during every free moment. Couldn’t move a muscle without tripping over that man – as if this cottage has any room to spare.”
Poppy giggled. “That’s because the poor man fancies you, dear Geranium. It was like tripping over a lovesick puppy.”
Grunting in disdain, Geranium didn’t respond, instead placing the teapot and three cups onto the table.
“I knew you were both here, but I don’t really know how either of you got here,” Bell said.
Poppy shrugged. “Well,” she started, “I came home one day, and Ashley was dead. He had tried to jump a fence on his horse and just toppled right off, breaking his neck quite thoroughly. The only thing he ever did well, it seems. I had told him over and over again that he wasn’t as good a horse rider as he thought, but, well, you knew Ashley. It wasn’t a wife’s place to be questioning her husband.
“It wasn’t until after he died that I found out he hadn’t left us with anything. I guess he thought that he had time, or he hadn’t thought it was important to figure out yet. But everything, and I mean everything, went to his siblings. Frank has a small property he will inherit when he comes of age, but the others have nothing. I have nothing.
“I don’t blame Ashley, but I do blame myself a little for not seeing him for what he was. I know you did, Belladonna, but you’re too kind to really say a bad word. If I had had your good sense, maybe I wouldn’t have married when I was so young. But here we are. Anyways, I had just received that letter from you about how you had been hired to nurse and tutor a sick man and couldn’t come home often. You and Papa had always told us we were welcome, and Flor Cottage was the only place I had left.
“I scrounged up enough money to get myself and the kids here, and then really everything fell into place. It was clear Papa needed someone here with him, and I needed to forgive him for his neglect growing up. You never seemed to harbor a grudge due to his absence, Belladonna, but I hated having to be a parent in his stead.
“And we all know I ran off and got married to a ‘good’ man who then made me a true mother of little humans I couldn’t escape from, not that I wanted too. The horrible part about having kids is if you don’t practice what you preach, they pick up on it real quick. I couldn’t teach my children to be understanding and forgiving if I wasn’t willing to do so with my own father. Papa really is a good man, and he welcomed us all here even though I loathed asking. It’s even harder to be resentful towards a man who doesn’t remember what he did. Everything is better now between us. The kids are all in school, and I embroider for the seamstress in town. All those fancy lessons we took turned into something useful after all,” Poppy smiled, self-satisfied with her skill.
“To be fair, you’re the only one who ever took those lessons seriously, so I’m glad not all of Papa’s money went to waste,” Geranium snickered, pouring herself a cup of tea after gently touching the rim of her cup and the tea spout.
Bell nodded, taking a sip of her own tea. “Geranium is right – I was always covered in ink from the interesting lessons or dust from the library, and she was either socializing or learning new ways to style her hair. You were the only one who listened to those boring ‘well-behaved women’ lessons.”
Poppy rolled her eyes without commenting further.
Bell turned back towards her middle sister, who sat, fidgeting with the handle of her teacup.
When it became apparent Poppy had nothing else to say Geranium started speaking. “I made a mistake,” she whispered. “But you already knew that, Belladonna. I think you knew from the beginning what a vain and silly thing I was, and how monstrous my mistake. You were the only one, though. Sometimes I wonder how you knew.” Geranium’s lips pulled tight, somewhere between a grimace and a grin.
“Poppy was busy with her own family, and Papa was so busy with everything that was happening, I think you were the only one who realized I was getting married for the wrong reasons, Bell. I wanted to escape, and I wanted to have all the money in the world. I wanted a husband who was just as beautiful and fashionable as I was. I don’t believe I could have been a more selfish and vain child. No, no, don’t argue. We all know I was all of those things, even if you all loved me despite it,” she said over her sister’s protests.
“Here I was, married to this beautiful man and living a carefree life while my little sister and father’s lives were falling apart. I should have stayed, I should have helped, but I didn’t have your brain, Bell. Nor your focus and skills, Poppy. All I had to offer was how I looked. I hadn’t taken time to cultivate anything else within myself. After I got married, I’m ashamed to admit that I visited you both because a small part of me wanted to show off how much better my life was than yours. But regardless of how I acted, he didn’t stay beautiful for long – we hadn’t been married a week before he hit me for the first time. I don’t even remember what it was about anymore.
“I saw the bruises once,” Bell admitted, her voice low with regret. “When your sleeve rose, I saw the bruises.”
“I know,” Geranium said sadly, turning towards Bell’s voice. “I stopped visiting when you saw them. I couldn’t have my perfect life ruined by you saying something. At that point, my pride was still too great. Every time he apologized and promised it wouldn’t happen again, I believed him. I was still young, but I shouldn’t have been that stupid.” Bitterness twisted her words into sharp daggers directed inwards. “There were lots of reasons why I stayed, but ultimately it boiled down to the desire for my perfect image to remain intact. What kind of idiot was I?
“One night, he came home drunk again and started hitting me. Except this time, he didn’t stop. I realized that the best thing to do was to pretend I was unconscious – it wouldn’t have been the first time. By the end, I actually was. He must have thought I was dead because I came to slung over the back of his horse. When he dropped me off in the ditch, I stayed still for a very long time. I was scared that he would realize I was still alive and come back to find me.
“While I was lying there, I remembered all the letters you sent me, Belladonna. The majority I hadn’t replied to, and the few I had it was only a line or two. But I read every single word, and at the end of every letter, you always told me I was welcome to visit. Laying in that ditch, you and Flor Cottage seemed the only place in the world that was safe. Once again, it was my caring little sister who gave me enough strength to finally stand and make my way here. Luckily, it’s right off the main road, and you had described it so perfectly.”
“You walked here? After he beat you? How far was it?” Bell gasped.
“I truly don’t know. I was in really rough shape before the trek, and by the time I got here –.
“She might as well have been dead!” Poppy shrieked, cutting in. “You should have seen her, Belladonna. I have never been so scared in my life! And then she just fainted!”
Bell remembered what she had seen in the mirror and blanched. “What happened then?”
“I made it here, and I fainted. Poppy and Papa and Dr. Jayr took care of me, but they weren’t sure if I would ever wake up. After about a week I came
to, but I can’t see anymore. I think he kicked me in the back of the head again, and that’s what did it. It may come back, but it may not.”
“Oh, sister… I am so sorry.” Bell put all of her feelings into the words.
Wistful, Geranium confessed, “I’ll be okay, even if it never returns. I’m learning how to do everything without eyes, so I haven’t missed much. It might even be for the best, as I tend to get distracted by pretty things.”
“Don’t say that. Getting hurt is never for the best,” Poppy admonished.
“So,” Geranium said, shaking herself from her thoughts. “Why don’t you tell us how you have been little sister? Your life seems much more interesting than ours!”
“Yes!” chimed in Poppy. “We know you were hired to care for and tutor a man, but that’s basically all we know. Whatever else Papa was told, he doesn’t remember.”
“We also know about the money!”
“Yes, but that’s not a surprise in any way. She wouldn’t have left Papa unless there hadn’t been an option, and it should come as no surprise to anyone that she sends almost all her wages home instead of keeping them herself. I want to know everything else, like how’d you get this job in the first place? It’s not exactly close by.” Both Poppy and Geranium turned to Bell, waiting for her story.
Rose Bound Magic Page 11
