It was two weeks after Mom gave the staff huge-ass raisesand Dad went down for a variety of this-world felonies.
News on that front, he hadn’t been offered bail.
Even so, we had not, as yet (and I was concerned about whatthis might mean), been cut off from Dad’s funds.
That said, it didn’t matter anymore.
Mom told me later, when we were alone, that the withdrawalshe made, “Ansley assures me is enough for us to buy our own townhome, staffit, and for me to live the life befitting the lady I am, doing this until Idie.This as well as take care of Maxine until she goes.Though, he alsoassured me I shouldn’t bother myself with that worry, as you and Loren would bearound to do it.”
In other words, we were set to carry on in this world for,apparently, ever, which was a load off my mind.
Because not only did witches not put out shingles, we’ddiscovered, after the whole Minerva-she-god-plague-on-the-land situation,practicing witchcraft wasn’t verboten, but people were twitchy about it.
I mean, Idina nearly went into vapors when I casually triedto discuss how to find a witch.
I couldn’t click my slipper heels together and ask to gohome.
So, although Mom and I hadn’t officially discussed it, itlooked like we were there for the long haul.
Honestly?
I didn’t really mind.
We’d had a couple of sit downs with her doctor to understandwhat Maxine needed and had hired a nurse who was a groovy chick, but we didn’tmuch need her because Maxine was settled and content.And Mom and I made sureone of us was around at all times so she had stability, and although Maxie andI weren’t giggling together, she’d definitely grown used to me (as demonstratedwith how we were now).
Then there was the fact Mom was getting off on being LadyCorliss.
Also, the staff were in raptures at our “family” and theywhistled while they worked (I am not kidding, though some hummed and otherssang).
The curtains had been thrown open (literally andfiguratively, Dad-not-Dad liked it dark) on the house.A ton of knickknacks andbric-a-brac (no matter how expensive, it was ostentatious and oppressive) hadbeen cleared away.Mom had purchased some warm throws (autumn was around thecorner) and bright toss pillows (Mom was doing a lot of shopping, then again,she’d never been loaded, neither had I, so there you go).She’d also movedaround some furniture and had other pieces carted off to be reupholstered orauctioned because she didn’t want them anymore.She’d even had two roomsrepainted in lighter, brighter colors.
The place had totally been changed from dark, stifling evilden where the villain lurked to bright haven where the fairy princesses lived.
It rocked.
For my part, I hadn’t seen Loren since we had dinnertogether (all of us, not just him and me alone), the night after it all wentdown at the constabulary.
We’d had a mini-makeoutsessionprior to him leaving for the evening, and then he informed me he had “businessto attend” and he’d be back in “no later than a fortnight.”
Now, I was in a quandary.
Because I was thinking we were stuck there.
I was also thinking Mom was hunky dory with that becausebeing a countess and rich as shit far from sucked, but also she adored Maxine.
As an aside, we’d managed to dodge the deluge of formerfriends and acquaintances sending letters or calling at the door in order tocheck out the Countess Come Alive, because she had the excellent excuse ofsharing she was “finding her feet back home” and would “reenter society” duringher beloved daughter, Satrine’s wedding to the Marquess of Remington.
To do this, she had a new secretary, a widowed woman namedPalma who worked part time while her adorable toddler daughter toddled aroundthe study, and she wrote letters explaining this to everyone, and decliningdozens upon dozens of invitations.
For now.
Yes.
As ever, we were taking each challenge as it came.
Maxine was, according to the doctors, blossoming under thecare of her family.
We were set, money-wise.
