Chapter 3
Celestine arrived before midnight.
She looked furious with Corinne.
Good.
That surprised me.
“What did she tell you?”
Celestine stared at the boxes.
“That you invited Oliver and me to stay through winter.”
“I didn’t.”
Her face changed.
“She said you wanted Oliver near the family.”
“Why?”
Another hesitation.
“Training.”
There.
I looked at Corinne.
She stood near the fireplace.
Silent.
I turned back to Celestine.
“What training?”
“She said you wanted a boy growing up inside the Valecrest household.”
Mabel was upstairs.
Good.
She did not need to hear that.
“A boy.”
Celestine nodded slowly.
“Corinne said you were worried Mabel would grow up alone.”
Elegant.
Not replacement.
Companion.
Mentor.
Future protector.
All the usual language people use before installing authority.
“And why Mabel’s room?”
“She said the family-wing rooms were being reassigned.”
“By whom?”
Celestine looked at Corinne.
There.
Again.
Then she said:
“I would never have come if I knew Mabel was being pushed out.”
I believed her.
Not completely.
Enough.
Oliver entered behind her.
Twelve.
Embarrassed.
Holding Mabel’s blue rabbit.
I stared.
He immediately handed it to me.
“Mom said it wasn’t ours.”
Good boy.
“Where did you get this?”
“Mrs. Corinne put it in my room.”
My room.
Already.
Corinne had told him Mabel’s room would become his.
Why?
Not because Celestine needed somewhere to sleep.
Because her son needed to be seen sleeping inside the direct family wing.
Symbol.
Proximity.
Familiarity.
A boy placed physically where my daughter had been.
I looked at Corinne.
“What exactly were you trying to make people get used to?”
May you like
She finally answered.
“The future.”
