Violet Barnes

Valentine's Day

Violet and her sisters slept well that night, and nothing bothered them. When Violet woke up, she found Steve sitting in his chair, looking at the Valentine's card.

"Did you find anything last night?" Violet asked, sitting up, making sure to be slow, because the area with her stitches was actually kind of sore.

"Yes," Steve said. "You're safe now. Nothing will bother you."

"Who was it?" Violet smiled.

Steve looked at her, with a strange look in his eyes, but he was smiling, so she shrugged it off, and asked about her sisters.

"Have you figured that out yet?" Violet asked.

"Figured what out?" He said, looking up from the card.

"Which one of my sisters made that for you," Violet smiled.

"Oh, the card," Steve said, and sighed. "No, I haven't figured it out yet. I wanted to wait for you to wake up before I went to visit your sisters. Would you like to go now?"

"Yes," Violet smiled, excitedly, carefully hopping out of bed. "Let's go."

She grabbed Steve's hand and basically dragged him down the hall. She awkwardly ran into Anthony Sydney along the way, because she had been talking to Steve and hadn't been paying attention to where she was going.

"I'm so sorry," Violet said, letting go of Steve's hand. "I wasn't paying attention."

"It's alright," He smiled kindly. "No harm done... happy Valentine's day."

He shook Steve's hand and smiled one last time at Violet before he left. "He's a nice kid," Steve said, as they made their way down the hall again. "But if he gives you any trouble... let me know."

He was just teasing, because he knew Violet liked Anthony, and he gently elbowed her in the arm.

She smiled and elbowed his side. "Don't say anything to my sisters."

"Alright, I won't, but only if you tell me who gave me this card," Steve said, teasingly.

Violet just smiled, and walked faster to get ahead. She knew he was kidding... mostly.

When they finally reached the room, Rachael and Freya were whispering about something, and Katie, Katrina and Michelle were all talking to each other about a guy. Violet guessed Katie had gotten enough courage to tell her sisters about Steve.

"Hello girls," Violet smiled.

They all looked at Violet enter the room, and they smiled.

"Did you sleep well, Violet?" Michelle smiled.

"Yes, I did," Violet nodded. "What about you?"

"Oh, I had a very good rest," Michelle said, and everyone fell silent once Steve entered.

He pulled the card out of his pocket, and looked at each of them to see their reaction. Rachael and Freya looked at each other when they saw the card, Michelle, Katie and Katrina just stared, and Violet smiled.

He looked around and noticed that Katie's face was turning red, and once he was satisfied that he had figured it out, he put the card away, and said, "Well, you girls get to leave tomorrow. How are you feeling?"

"We're great," Katrina said. "I can't wait to get outside, and have some fresh air. I'm sick of being cooped up in here."

"Yeah," Freya said. "How did you sleep, Steve?"

"I didn't get much rest," He said. "Violet told me that she was afraid someone was watching her, so I stayed up to see what she was talking about."

"What did you find?" Rachael asked eagerly.

He just smiled. "It was probably your imagination about a monster."

To Rachael, that meant that Steve found nothing, so she didn't ask again, but Violet knew he was hiding something.

They visited for about an hour or two, when Aunt Betty suddenly entered the room with the help of Anthony Sydney. Violet thought it was very kind of him to help her aunt. She smiled.

"Hello girls," Aunt Betty said cheerfully. "I can finally walk... see?"

"You're doing so much better," Freya smiled. "I'm so glad."

"Are your legs not hurting as much?" Katie asked, trying to act natural.

"They're feeling much better, thank goodness," Aunt Betty smiled, as Anthony helped her sit down in a comfy chair.

"Do you want me to stay?" He asked.

"No, it's fine, you can go and continue your work," She smiled. "Thank you so much for helping me. You're a very kind lad."

He smiled and as he walked passed Violet to leave the room, he nodded at her, and she smiled. Once he left, Violet sat down on the side of Freya's bed.

"You like him, don't you?" Freya whispered.

"Just a little, but there's no need to go around telling everyone," Violet whispered back. "Most of you know about it anyways."

Freya nodded with a smile. "Guys, I know this isn't much, but... I made a few Valentine gifts for you."

Freya pulled a little basket out from under her bed, and it had seven cards in it, and each card had a bunch of fancy little drawings on the front and back. "I was going to get you candy, but I didn't have any money and the doctor didn't want me to."

She began handing them out, as she went around the room.

"They're perfect," Aunt Betty smiled once she got hers. "Thank you very much, dear."

Aunt Betty gave Freya a kiss on the forehead, and then Freya handed a card to Steve.

"Thank you," Steve smiled, and looked at his card.

It only said "Happy Valentine's Day!" And it had the person's name at the end. Everyone enjoyed them very much.

"These are beautiful," Katrina smiled, looking at her card. "Did you draw these pictures yourself?"

"Yes," Freya smiled back. "Do you like them?"

"Oh yes, we really do," Michelle nodded. "Thank you so much. I just wish we had something to give you."

"It's alright, I'm glad I could make something for you," Freya said, with a big smile.