Greenbriar Manor

Refreshments before Retribution

Martha woke up in the hospital. She wandered the halls looking for her husband. No one had given her a room. She felt cold but calm. She found him in a room at the end of the hall. He was sleeping. She smiled as she walked into the room, careful to avoid the nurses. He was mumbling something in his sleep. His eyes opened abruptly n but he did not notice her at first. She held his hand and started singing a song they had danced to on their wedding day. His eyes focused and he smiled. She told him to rest and that she was here now and would not leave him. He asked her how long he had been gone and what had become of the boys and the horse. She assured him they were doing just fine. He thought of the stable boy and the shrill noise in this place. The strange woman walking the halls was silent but threatening. He felt something beneath the warmth of their reunion. She would only leave their home if she were unable to stay. Greene's protect Grey's. It was then that he noticed the strange bruise pattern on her forehead. She had been harmed. His eyes filled with tears. He was supposed to protect them. Here, he could not do that, and she had finally come for him. He had been told that they would keep him on at the house to train the horse, but he knew that he would not leave again when he returned. The house always wanted the family to stay. This was his last chance to return. The heart monitor sent its frenzied beep into the hallway, but no one heard it. It was not pain or fear that had made his pulse quicken it was her. He remembered a long-forgotten memory. One buried so deep he thought he would never see it again. 

 A nurse made her rounds and saw the man mumbling to himself in the space between waking and dreaming. Something about a horse and a boy and a wife coming to bring him home. She knew he would go home soon enough; his heart had almost fully healed. 

Meanwhile, in the Grey house. The women who had no home set to their mischievous work. The recipe they used was older than this place and the secret ingredient was malice. It was not the last Greene they were after but a space to belong. The thick green icing spread thin over each cookie and confection. That rolling pin had come in handy after all these years. She remembered Vera's face after she won the recital when Bridgette had hit the last note with a loud THUD! Salem looked out beyond the yard to the tiny dark-haired girl swirling in circles under that gnarled old oak tree. She thought of her dragging ankle, once so strong that it supported her through any step she wanted to achieve even through blood and sweat and tears. Nothing was in her way for long. She had arrived in Paris the star of a few ballet companies. Her fall from grace had been abrupt and cost her everything. She had spent years in the dark and cold. Her aunt had spent decades hiding in corners of a rotting Manor house in Vermont. She could go only where the darkness went. She was no guardian more like an omen. This day the plate had come to be passed again. Someone would return with Brittany to Vermont to live out their days in the dark and one would stay here in the shadows. 

 Salem thought of her brother and how he always loved  Lorna's cherry pies. She whispered in her ear while she slept her raspy fitful dreams. She had long since needed to leave this place her and Fern were here because of her long ago mistake and tonight she would rectify it. Maybe tonight her pie would seal her fate and give Salem security. They prepared for the dinner. Mari waited just beyond the house in the treehouse clutching her doll. She had not seen it in ages. Somehow she felt its appearance meant something. Brooklyn had been gone all day and when he was home he was with that horse or sneaking off to some abandoned room on the back wing of the house to see Daniel and someone else. She was not sure yet. But she felt more alone than ever. Even their mother was no longer here. She felt like an orphan wondering how long she could stay up here alone until someone cared enough to go find her. What was so great in Vermont anyway? It had long ago stolen Bridgette her only friend. It seemed to her that old place had brought nothing but pain. What would be worth leaving the Manor for all this time. Maybe she did not have all the worldliness they all had been given. Maybe she as a Grey never knew those Greene desires to be the best and be well known. She had always been Brookie's sister and now it was like she was becoming Fern's shadow. Her mother did not even come home last night and neither did her brother. Had she really become that invisible to them all? All she ever did was wait for Bridgette to come home. Maybe no one wanted to come back here. Maybe she needed to start thinking about trying to find a way to get back to her cousin in Vermont. Mack had gone there once. She would go and ask him about Mabel's strange tea party. All she knew was that for everyone else today things seemed to be aligning and she was left of center. Brittany was leaving and she had not yet seen Bridgette even though she felt as if Daniel knew something no one else dared to say. Scamp kept pulling her skirt toward home. Growling and scratching. She heard the first clap of thunder as she crossed the stream toward home. A strange almond smell greeted her and so did Lorna when she opened the door. They had all been invited to dinner with Daniel. She felt uneasy as she walked toward her room to change. Her dress was muddy from climbing the treehouse.