I also had to hold my tongue, because, if she drove from Bath to London in that state, she could have further harmed herself. It was a miracle she made it.
However, this wasn’t the time for admonishments (far from it).
And it totally tracked that the only thought she had at that time was to get to Battle.
She leaned into me and put her head on my shoulder.
I wrapped an arm around her.
“Now, I’ve messed up, Vivi,” she whispered.
“How did you mess up, honey?” I whispered back.
“I scared them so much. I worried them so much. They aren’t living their lives.”
“This is what I know,” I announced grandly.
She just tipped her head back but kept it on my shoulder as we looked at each other.
“If that happened to my sister, I’d be on her like a rash, until I knew she didn’t need me. And I wouldn’t give that first fuck if she needed me for twenty years.”
“Really?” she asked softly.
“Absolutely,” I answered resolutely. “But what you’re missing is, they can look after you and live their lives too. You can’t be responsible for the decisions they make.”
“But…Tempie?—”
“No, Chassie. You heard Ravenna. It’s on her now.”
She lifted her head, but I kept my arm around her.
“I know she was worried about me going to London,” she said. “Seeing Mrs. Pattinson again. All of that. And she didn’t see him when she was there. She goes there, not much. Not enough, if he cares about her. And obviously he does. Their row on the phone didn’t sound good.”
“Her decision to make.”
“But—”
I shook her. “You have enough to worry about seeing to you, don’t take on Tempie.”
Her face grew stubborn, and damn, I was loving Chassie getting back to Chassie.
“So they can take on me, and I can’t take them on?”
“They didn’t take you on, my lovely. They stuck close to support you. I think it’s important you know the difference.”
She scrunched her nose, still stubborn, and I’d take it.
Though, I wasn’t done.
“But just to say, that would be my advice to anyone. Worry about yourself. What you can do. What you can control. Trying to take on responsibility for another person’s happiness is like trying to change the past or manipulate the future. It’s fool’s work and doomed to fail every time.”
She bit her lip and gazed into the ballroom.
I wasn’t sure what I said sank in, but I didn’t get the opportunity to pursue it.
We heard Prue shouting, “Battie’s home!”
We both twisted to see her at the end of the hall.
