Fairchild's 7 Daughters-The 12: Book One

25. Ghost of six years back

Taitiann took one end of the table cloth and Selene the other. The former stared out the window as they folded the cloth together.

"What are you thinking about, Taitiann?" Selene asked.

"Warm weather," Taitiann answered. "I'm tired of the cold."

"I don't think the weather has much to do with the chill we feel here," Selene said.

"What do you mean?" Taitiann asked.

"I mean Jessop St. Cloud," Selene said. "His mother spent the whole night crying. It must have been something he said."

"I didn't want to give up on him," Taitiann said. "But it seems even Annie Mount-Helens has. Did you know that Ira St. Cloud is planning to propose to her?"

"No," Selene gasped then laughed. "She's settling for the younger brother."

Taitiann nodded. "But I think she really likes him." She put the folded table cloth over the back of the sofa. "I just really didn't want to give up on him."

"Why?" Selene asked as she put the chairs back in their places.

"Well..." Taitiann started. "He...it sounds foolish when I say it, but he reminds me of Miriam." Both sisters looked to the door as if Miriam would come breezing in at that second. "So cold...like a heart of stone. Miriam wasn't always that way."

"She used to be fun." Selene pushed the negative thoughts out of her head.

"Still no news of Astrid and the girls," Taitiann said. "I'm starting to worry. I wish they were here. Hannah would love the Wendy house."

"Hannah would tear that house apart," Selene said and both sisters laughed. "Maybe I should take Miriam some breakfast. She hasn't been eating much." Selene took the tray and walked the short ways down the hall. "Miriam," she said then knocked. "I've brought you some breakfast."

When Miriam opened the door she was dressed in her usual dull creams and grays. "Thank you," she said stiffly. When she didn't close the door Selene stepped through it after her.

"It's dark in here," she pointed out. "Maybe you should open the curtains.

"Looking at snow only makes me colder," Miriam said. She took a seat on the bed and looked over the tray.

"Do you mind if I sit with you?" Selene asked and when Miriam gave a shallow nod so she took a seat on the opposite bed. The eldest sister ate in silence. Selene almost regretted asking to stay. The woman that sat before her was a shell of the sister she once knew.

/

"Why do you have to be contrary?" Jessop challenged his brother over breakfast.

"He's not," Natty said. "Jess, try to understand."

Jessop stirred his oatmeal. "All I can understand is how ungrateful my brother is."

"How is deciding my own future ungrateful?" Ira fired back.

"I've pulled strings for," Jessop said, "got you a seat with the best that others would kill for. We already have everything laid out for you. You'll get your degree then come work for my firm in Louisiana."

"I don't want to be a lawyer," Ira said. "I want to be an architect. Like cousin Jethro." He nodded to his cousin who like his parents chose to stay out of the argument. "I can already draw...and that's what I want to do. Tell him, Pa."

"Ira, your brother has a point. You become an architect you may not get any work. But if you chose to practice law—"

"And what, work for him the rest of my life?" Ira scoffed. "You couldn't pay me. He's impossible to live with I can't imagine what it is to work for him."