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One month later, Dad, Martin and Tom went to Stonehenge. Tom and I had talked before he left, and while I'd admitted I did care for him, I didn't love him the way he loved me. He looked sad, but said he understood; even so, I did feel a bit bad when he bade me a formal farewell before getting in Dad's car. Martin winced.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I didn't want him thinking I cared more for him than I did. He's an amazing person, and I hope he can still be my friend."
"Don't apologise," Martin assured me. "Tom's not the type to take rejection well, that's all. He'll be fine; he just needs a bit of time to process." He then hurried off to hop in Dad's car, and as the Escort disappeared in a cloud of red dust, I sighed. Aunt Tempe gave my shoulder a squeeze. 69Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzYFapWlAF7
"Go take off," she told me. "You're a right mess, and you need a bit of alone time. Tom'll recover."
I took her advice, changed into my swimsuit, and hurried to the pool to lose myself in the steady rhythm of swimming. I hadn't wanted to hurt Tom, but neither could I live a lie, and though I tried telling myself it was better this way, it didn't stop the guilt from gnawing at me. So I did the one thing I knew would help; swimming underwater until I ran out of air, before coming up to the surface, taking deep breaths, and going under again.
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It was easy to forget your troubles when you were underwater, but after a couple of hours, I admitted defeat and let myself float for a while, old worries and new worries chasing themselves in my brain. I just prayed Tom wouldn't do something rash in the wake of our splintered friendship; for it was splintered. But I couldn't have lived a lie, and I knew that, if I had agreed to go out with Tom, I would have eventually hurt him even more. And I cared for him too much to hurt him in such a way. I just prayed that he'd come to see I was right to be upfront with him about my feelings. Otherwise, there was always going to be a barrier between us.
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After lunch, I got down to work, figuring that would be a good way to distract myself. Aunt Tempe wisely refrained from commenting, instead letting me do some chores that kept me too busy for thinking about worries past and future. And wondrously, it worked. By the time I returned to the house to wash up for dinner, a good tiredness had soaked into my bones, and I felt a bit better than I had that morning. By now, Dad and my brothers would be well on their way to Stonehenge, and as Aunt Tempe and I sat down at the dinner table, I was more optomistic than I'd been a month ago. But I knew Faith too well; on the surface she'd be conciliatory, while underneath, she still burned with the desire to have me back under her control.
Aunt Tempe was of the same mind as I. "Girl won't be all smiles and daisies," she warned me. "You stay on your guard; I wouldn't trust that hussy as far as I could feckin' throw her, and with an anvil attached to her feet. I'd rather just dump her in the river and let the water take her, to be honest."
I didn't disagree. "I'm still willing to give her a chance," I said. "I mean, yes, she's a right bitch, and I don't trust her much. That doesn't mean I don't want to be fair."
"Can't blame you for that," Aunt Tempe allowed, giving me a lopsided smile. "But don't mistake fairness for blindness. That girl will do you a wrong turn if she thinks it'll profit her. My boys are good at detectin' bullshit, don't forget. They'll be able to smell a lie from a mile off, and there's been no one in the history of mankind who can lie to my boys for long and get away with it."
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Two days later, Aunt Tempe called me in from the stables, her face grim. "Faith's proven her true colours," she said, her eyes red-rimmed. "It was a trap; she had her pack plus others all lined up, and the moment my boys arrived at the negotiatin' table, she had 'em taken hostage."
I sucked in a shocked breath. "Are they alive?" I demanded.
"For now," Aunt Tempe said, her mouth a tight line. "Faith's got two bullies interrogatin' 'em, but they're refusin' to tell her where we're hidin', and she's likely to go to drastic lengths to get the information she wants."
"Damn her," I said, biting my lip to keep the tears from overwhelming me. "I'm glad I didn't give in to my higher nature, then."
"It's a good thing indeed," Aunt Tempe said. She took a deep breath. "My boys will hold out as long as they can. But with Faith applyin' the pressure, they're goin' to crack sooner or later. I'm sorry; you're best gone out of here when she breaks my boys."
I'd already seen it coming. "Where can I go?" I asked, worried.
"Penzance," Aunt Tempe told me. "There's a hideaway that's even more securely protected than here, and the people there have already assured me nothing short of the devil himself will be able to get in there."
"I'll get packing," I said, rising. "But thank you. You risked your life for a virtual stranger, and I'll be forever grateful to you. If you can reach Tom, tell him I'm sorry for hurting."
Aunt Tempe gave me a fierce hug that all but popped my bones. I didn't care and held onto her just as tightly. "You're family," she said against my shoulder. "And even if you weren't, I'd still stick me neck out for you." She let go and patted my shoulder. "And don't worry about Tom. He understands, and he forgives you."
I had the feeling that last part was a lie, but as I hurried upstairs to get packing, I was grateful for it. Aunt Tempe had, rather neatly, severed the shackles of guilt holding me down, the one last kindness she could do for me before having to send me on my way. I just prayed, as I did up the buckles of my suitcadse, that Dad and my brothers would hold out long enough; once I left Aunt Tempe's farm, I'd be a sitting duck once more. I didn't dare try to reach out to them, since that would give the game away, but I prayed to whoever was listening that I'd get to the safety of Penzance before things went to pot again. And they would.
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