My New Life

29. The Mouse Roars

I knocked on James' door very pathetically. Sadly Ms. Evers, who was one of the last people I wanted to see, opened the door.

"Oh," She stated. "It's you." She turned away from me. "Mr. March, it is Miss Rostakov."

"Let her in." He called back to her.

Miss Evers stood aside and I pushed in past her. I came face to face with James, who stood in front of the dinner table, which was set. "What do you want?" I asked, putting my hands on my hips.

"I wanted to give you a chance to help Elizabeth. She should be materializing soon. She will need help adjusting from someone who has a lot of experience. I thought perhaps you would want to be there to support her." He said, seeming very proud of his plan.

I looked at him for a moment and raised my eyebrow. "What makes you think she will want to see either of us?" I asked.

"I suppose there is no guarantee of darling, but we may as well try. She does not have many other places to go. Trust me darling. Now go and get yourself ready, she will be arriving very soon." He looked at me with hopeful eyes, and I gave him a dead stare in return.

I sighed. "Fine." I turned and walked out of the room. "But I'm still not happy with you." I called back as I walked out the door. I went to my room and grabbed a long sleeved, floor length red dress. I paired it with a necklace Elizabeth had given me and my silver talon ring. I gave my hair a good shake and a fluff, deciding a messy look was perfectly justified. I touched up my dark eye makeup and put on my red lipstick. I looked in the mirror, shrugged, and went back to James' room. Once again Miss Evers answered the door. I skipped her introducing me and went into the room. James looked me up and down.

"You look ravishing darling." He started to come towards me, but hesitated due to my coldness.

"Flattery will get you nowhere James." I walked past him and sat at the table. There was a seat at each head of the table, one for James and one for Elizabeth. There was a place set in the middle of the table along the side. I sat down and took a gulp from the glass of wine at the place setting. Uncomfortable with the tension that hung in the room a lit a cigarette and began smoking it. Then there was a knock. Miss Evers dutifully walked over to answer it, but James moved in front of her and answered it himself. There at the door stood Elizabeth, looking as radiant as ever in a black dress that resembled a bow. She seemed very out of it, as if she didn't believe what she was seeing was real.

"My dear, it will take time to acclimate yourself to your new state. Come take my hand and take a seat." He offered Elizabeth his hand, which she took.

"It's like I feel nothing, like I'm not really here." She said.

"I have invited Diana to join us, I thought another familiar face would do you good." He said, guiding her to her seat, which Miss Evers pulled out for her. She sat down in it.

"Diana, I see all is well in paradise." She gestured to us both and began to pull out a cigarette.

"Not exactly." Miss Evers said in a sing song fashion. Elizabeth glanced at her, very confused.

"We have had some disagreements this past week, but nothing we can't sort out. Right now we are interested in helping you, aren't we Diana?" James said, making his way over to me.

"Yes of course." I stood up and made my way towards Elizabeth and crouched beside her. "I was quite upset when I heard of your death. I tried so hard to save you, since you saved me. I'm sorry." I put my head down and held her free hand. I didn't want to get emotional in front of James or Miss Evers, but it was so wonderful getting to speak to Elizabeth after having all of these emotions.