Misleading The Marquis

24 - Gina

Rain made small pattering noises at the glass panes of the sitting room windows where Gina sat alone, drinking a cup of tea and pondering Bane's offer to find her twin brother. He'd asked if she would leave once Ben was recovered to her... and Gina knew that she would. 

They'd been best of friends once, they'd shared everything - including a rather charmed existence with two parents that adored them and one another in a modest house that was always warm, and smelled of bread. Thinking of it now made Gina's throat tighten. Ever since that first black rose had arrived on the doorstep of St. John Manor, signaling to the rest of the community that the Rose Death had arrived there - ever since that moment on that too sunny Tuesday morning - all she'd wanted was to go back, to restore that former happiness. To resurrect the life she was supposed to have. 

But everything had fallen like sand through their fingers after that first rose. First Mama, then Papa. The funerals. Then Aunt and Uncle and Francis and Georgina had arrived and Gina and Ben had become imposters in their own home. And then, the greatest wound of all was the slow deterioration of her other half. Her twin, with her in all things until that moment, had began to pull away.

"Everything alright?"

Gina jumped at the sound of Malcolm's voice. She hadn't heard him enter at all, so lost in her grief she'd been. Odd, she didn't ususally allow herself that kind of contemplation, that kind of examination of the pain she'd sufffered over the last seven years. Usually she kept it tightly boxed up - wary of Pandora's story like a warning against opening the thing up.

"I'm fine," Gina answered, swiping the few tears that had escaped down her nose as she'd gotten lost in the past. She gave herself a shake, smoothed her skirt and turned her attention on her brother in law. He was looked tired this morning, but dressed in the latest fashion color pallete that the Mart could offer, and clean shaven as they came. 

"I made you something," the younger Sefton brother announced with a gentle smile as he produced from behind his back a walking stick. It was beautifully carved, polished smooth to the touch, with little pictures of vines going the length until they bloomed into flowers where one's hand would rest.

"Oh - thank you," Gina sputtered, surprised by the gift, she swiped again at her face and accepted the offering. Her leg had been troubling her less today... and she did so miss the freedom of walking by herself.

"You were crying," Malcolm accused gently, coming to sit with her on the small sofa. Like his brother, he seemed to fill whatever furniture he landed on. Gina studied his face for a moment, mentally comparing the two men. Here was a fair bit of Bane, and then a tendency towards Merigold in the eyes... she wondered what each of their parents had contributed, wished she had been able to meet them both.

"It's nothing," Gina insisted brightly, she knew how to behave, and sobbing on the shoulder of a man who infuriated your husband was not anyone's idea of wisdom.

"It's him, isn't it?" Malcolm asked, voice soft, eyes narrowed on her face as if he could read her thoughts. Only he was so far off that it miffed her, picked at her just enough that she felt her mouth twist sourly as she considered her next words.

"If by 'him' you mean my husband - you'd be incorrect," Gina answered primly, eyebrows going up in feigned ignorance. Mal studied her carefully, holding his chin in his fingers for a long moment, still with that narrow eyed gaze trained on her face. It was beginning to irritate her.

"You can tell me you know," he tried again, "I know what he's like, George..." and here Malcolm reached across the small space left between them to taker her hand in his.

"My name is Gina," she bit out at him sharply, snatching her hand from his grasp with a scowl, "And beg your pardon - but you hardly know your brother at all if I had to guess."