“Oh, God,” Mae said, curling her lip and dumping the remainder of her own cold tea into her mouth. “What are you going to ask? You want me to throw myself at him in the central room of the clinic while you watch?”
“Gracious, no,” Vix said with a little flash of her teeth. “That is far too immediate and straightforward. This is meant to be entertaining, Mae.”
“Entertaining, is it?” Mae said, returning the show of teeth to Vix. “And once I have the thing, I can compel you to do humiliating nonsense? Is that the whole of it?”
“You can certainly try,” Vix replied with amusement. “I actually look forward to hearing what you come up with, butonlyafter you complete your own dare.”
“Well, then you can’t give the thimble to Mae today anyhow,” Rosalind pointed out. “Because I won’t have my chalkboards for another day or two.”
“We could agree,” Hannah reasoned, reaching forward to refresh her own tea, “that in this instance, between us four, we honor a clause of escrow.”
“Hm,” said Vix, tilting her head to the side, that giant bloody pearl earring catching the sunlight with a flash. “I am amenable to that, so long as the men never hear of it.”
“Agreed,” said Rosalind, sounding barely invested in the matter. “I shan’t tell.”
“Nor I,” said Hannah, arranging her cream and sugar.
They paused, looking to Mae, who scoffed in irritation. “I’m not married,” she reminded them. “Or related to any of the men. Obviously I’m not going to betray this circle of trust.”
“Then it is settled,” said Vix, grinning and turning to Rosalind with her hand out. “Two chalkboards and assorted classroom sundry?”
“Oh. Yes,” said Rosalind, licking the remains of a sugar cube off her thumb as she held the saucer out for Vix to pluck up the thimble. “Surprise me. I trust your judgement.”
“Folly,” Mae muttered, making Vix grin wider.
Vix twirled the thimble between her fingers, considering Mae. “You may have it,” she said, looking utterly pleased with herself, “if you tell us a full, thorough, unabridged accounting of all that has transpired between yourself and Roland Reed. From the beginning.”
“The beginning? Of what?” Mae retorted, almost coming out of her chair in annoyance. “The summer?”
“Your acquaintance,” Vix corrected, waving the thimble back and forth. “All of it. In copious detail. Do you want the thimble or not?”
Mae glared, looking at its shining domed top in consideration.
“And there is no expiry to this demand,” Vix continued. “You shall continue to report on the matter until such a time as there is an override of confidence. Say, matrimonial vows or something equally official.”
“Vix,” Hannah chided, clearly struggling to stifle her own amusement.
Mae pushed herself fully from the chair at that point and marched across the room to snatch the thimble from Vix’s smug hand.
“Fine,” she snapped. “I hope you all enjoy a tale of amputation with your biscuits. Settle in.”
Rosalind immediately snapped to attention, curling her legs under her skirt and straightening her shoulders as she folded her hands in her lap, ready and willing to be told a story.
Hannah raised her brows and, perhaps anticipating the particulars of the story, went ahead and finished her raspberry-jam-smeared biscuit.
Vix just continued to grin, awaiting the delivery of her demand.
Mae sighed. She sighed and she gave it.
CHAPTER 14
“Rosalind,” Roland called for the second time as he finished cresting the clinic stairs. “Do you have a moment?”
She paused, her pink skirt crumpled in her hand, turning over her shoulder with her mouth in a perfect O of surprise. “Oh,” she said, blinking. “I didn’t realize you were speaking to me. You don’t often do so. You know, it is funny, Matthew says you chatter endlessly, but I’ve never seen it.”
He gave her what he hoped was an easy smile. “You do not often require correction,” he said with a shrug. “Matthew almost always does.”
She giggled, shaking her head. “Now, you know I cannot agree with that.”
