"In due time."
Cryptic.
The two of them stood in front of a view they could barely see, clouded by their thoughts, time passing in silence.
?TRINITY?
Trinity was stir crazy, restless, and bordering on insane. When she was an overworked, over-thinking single mother, she dreamed of the free time she had now.
As it turned out, free time and in a decadent location wasn't exactly what it was cracked up to be. She had nothing to do — she simply had to mention her needs to have them satisfied. Somehow, it was stifling.
She found herself trying to take a breath, a real honest-to-God breath. She walked around as if everything around her was normal, but a small part of her mind was hyperventilating. Panicking.
She drew the words around herself like a trusty blanket. Still, that was a long time coming, and she was losing her mind right now.
Trinity rolled over in the lake they called a bed, not a smidgen of guilt filling her for rumpling the sheets. She couldn’t stop thinking about the meeting with the principal and the flippant confession that followed it.
Every time she asked herself why — why did she need to know? It was obviously a sore subject, no matter how easily he tried to pass it off. Obviously, the subject was closed, and no matter how much she needed to understand she couldn't even think about bringing it up.
Still, it seemed too big, too monumental to hide from someone you were in a relationship with — no matter how unconventional.
Six months,she reminded herself, but her feelings still drove a sigh from her lips.
She could read about it, maybe. The news was sure to cover something, especially with his high-profile family involved.
But it was a betrayal of sorts — he had trusted her with that much, and she couldn't go behind him to dig it all up. And for what?
It would change nothing...
No, it would change that stark look in his eyes, that look he masked with silence.
She didn't understand her new life. The only constant was her daughter, and if she was being honest with herself, sometimes she missed the past.
It brought a wave of guilt with it, but she wished for the familiarity of those streets. She had everything good here, but she missed the children playing soccer, the occasional loud wail of a cop siren, and the bums that sunned themselves on the only bench by the curb and the—
The bum... the bums —Winter was coming!
The thought shot her up from the bed and straight into the kitchen.
"Where is the fire, girl?"
The entire kitchen staff turned to her before Celia snapped at them. Only Bethany was too elated to be embarrassed.
"I found what to do!" she exclaimed, winded from her short sprint.
"I’ve seen your moping, going to put yourself to good use then?" Celia asked, eyebrows arched.
"Clothes — winter is coming and the people in my neighborhood will surely need them. People freeze to death every year in the winter cold."
"Good on you." The words were said in a so-so tone, but she didn't miss the going of approval and the nod that followed.
"Thanks. Do you think he'll like it? Will he think it's okay?" When she thought of her husband, she suddenly started rethinking her whole plan.Would he like it?
"I don't think he can deny you that."
Graced with another of Celia’s odd seals of approval, Trinity went back to her room in high spirits. But before she left the kitchen she turned right around and issued her first order.
“You're coming with me, Celia."
