Sky Pirates

Chapter 42

Mildred started at the abrasive knock at her bedroom door. She pulled on her robe, suspecting that the intruder was a house maid. Now that she'd taken a more active role in the household duties, giving instructions on meals, having pictures moved, and noticing when a grate hadn't been cleaned properly, the women who worked in the house were a constant bother to her, coming to her, as it were, with all manner of troubles, both related to Wickwillow Manor, and their personal lives.

She opened the door a crack, ready to send the intruder away. Certainly, any problem of the moment could wait until morning. Standing before her was her brother looking wet and disheveled.

"Cole!" She eyed him from his mud splattered boots and pants legs, to his open shirt, to soft brown curly hair plastered to his head. "What on earth has happened to you?"

"May I come in?"

"Of course," said Mildred as she held the door open further to allow his entrance. "But, please don't flop yourself down on my couch. You'll dirty it." She moved to her closet and retrieved a towel, which she placed over the old chair that no one liked. "Sit here," she instructed. Next, she moved toward the fireplace and gave the coals a stir which brought the fire up. It had been a cool several days with the rain and wind and she'd had fires lit in the most used rooms, including her own bedroom.

Before sitting where instructed, Cole moved to the fire and held out his hands.

"You'll catch your death wandering around all wet and damp. Why don't you go change your clothes and come back?"

"This can't wait," said Cole, but he went no further.

"Shall I ring for some tea?" Mildred offered. Their days and days of not speaking made this moment awkward for both of them.

"No." He turned, not really to face her, but to warm his backside nearer the low flames. "Something horrible has happened. I shouldn't even tell you, you being such a young girl, but..."

As his words trailed off, so did his eyes. For a few moments, Mildred didn't think he was in the room, not in his mind anyway. First, he simply looked distanced, as if he was thinking about some past memory, a haunting past. Then, his face contorted into something almost grotesque. From the look of him, Mildred softened her mood and attitude. While they'd had their squabble, they were, nonetheless, still brother and sister. More than that, they were friends.

Steam began to escape from Cole's damp clothes and Mildred did worry for his health and well-being. She urged him back to her. "Won't you please tell me what's happened, Cole? It can't be bad as all that." Mildred took him by the arm and guided him gently to the chair next to the fire. He allowed himself to be arranged in the chair and, just for a moment, Mildred saw the child in him, the innocent boy who was her friend.

She pulled the chair from her desk close to him, near enough that their knees could touch, although because of his muddy state, she avoided that contact.

Mildred allowed him his silence, watching him while navigating her position close enough to take his hands into hers if the need arose. She was taken back to when they were both very young. It must have been twelve or thirteen years ago. Father, as usual, was away. It was very late at night, or possibly very early in the morning. Christmas morning. Cole looked similar as he sat in her rooms confessing that he'd discovered that Father Christmas had been there. Instead of waiting, or even waking his sister, he'd opened all the presents on the tree. After the joyful moment of ripping open every single package, not only those with his name on them, he'd gone into a panic and had awoken Mildred. Together, they'd gone down to see the destruction and she'd done all she could to help him rewrap the gifts and retie the ribbons. In the morning, when Lorain finally awoke, the two of them were on the floor, opening their gifts so that it looked like it had only just happened. Lorain was suspicious of them, but no one, not a single servant, offered them any grief.