The Secrets of Whitelea

|Chapter Seven|

Chapter Seven

Elizabeth spent the next couple of days making sure Kuro was settling in alright. Neither of them had brought Annabelle up again and Elizabeth was grateful. She didn't want to end up having a breakdown every time her sister was mentioned. Beatrice's death had also not been brought up and again, Elizabeth was thankful. She was still coming to terms with the fact that her mother was gone and no longer there to look after any of them – not that Beatrice had really looked after them for the past two years.

Tessa had been unsure of their new guest at first but had warmed up to him in the few days since. She had taken to following him around like a lost puppy – something Elizabeth had never seen her to do anyone. Kuro suggested that maybe it was because he was a father himself and Tessa was clinging to any fatherly attention he was giving her. Lucky, on the other hand, still didn't appear to like Kuro very much. She growled whenever Kuro entered a room and her tail drooped whenever he went near her. Elizabeth had noted this behaviour as being very strange – almost as strange as Tessa's – but had decided that it was probably down to the fact that Kuro was a stranger, despite Lucky having been there when Kuro had come over six years ago. Kuro joked that Lucky's dislike was down to him being a cat person.

Elizabeth had taken it upon herself to show Kuro every inch of the village. He had never been the last time he was over, choosing to spend most of his time exploring the country's capital city. Elizabeth had stayed with him, pointing out points of interest whenever she knew anything about anything. Kuro had told her that she should take up a career as a tour guide. Elizabeth had never taken that suggestion seriously. Today, they were going to the small café in the village that, in Elizabeth's opinion, made fantastic tea and coffee and amazing cake. Tessa had begged to come along with them instead of going over to her friend's house and Elizabeth had allowed her – if only to stop Tessa's whining at being left behind.

Kuro was in the living room with Tessa when Elizabeth came down from getting ready. Kuro had been up early and had taken Lucky a walk through the woods. Tessa had woken up before he had come back and had thrown a tantrum over not knowing where he was. Kuro was currently making it up to her by playing at tea parties with the tiny tea set that Elizabeth had bought Tessa three years ago for her birthday. Elizabeth watched them through the open doors of the kitchen and the living room and smiled. It wasn't often that Tessa allowed someone to get that close to her and she was surprised that it had been Kuro. Part of Elizabeth wished that Tessa would allow her to join in with things like she had so readily allowed Kuro.

Kuro looked up from where he was sat on the floor and made eye contact with Elizabeth. He flashed her a smile and Elizabeth returned it. He muttered something to Tessa and got to his feet. She watched as he made his way towards her. "Tessa is such a sweet girl." Kuro said. "It's a shame I didn't get to meet her last time."

"Not that you wanted to come here when you did come."

"I came to sightsee."

"And I thought you'd come all the way over here to meet me."

"That too."

"Have you let Tomika know that you're her?" Elizabeth asked.

"I messaged her last night." They fell into a comfortable silence. In the living room, Tessa was packing up the tea set, making sure everything was put away perfectly. "I hope Miyako grows up to be like Tessa." Kuro said.

"She has you as a father, I'm sure she will."

"The nature of the parents does not ensure the nature of the child." Kuro said. Elizabeth went back to staring out of the window. "When did you want to leave?"