Most years, anyway. Before Eleanor died.
But having dinner as an Ashby and having dinner as a Kane are two completely different things.
I learned early in Mercy's stay that children do not fuck around in the this-is-what-I-will-and-will-not-eat department. The kitchen staff brought Mercy a grilled chicken salad for lunch the first time I was home from the hospital at lunchtime after Legion woke up. She didn't throw a fit, per se. But it was Mercy's version of one. She crossed her arms and shook her head. All the while that upper lip was sneering at that salad.
Cash was there. He was a tiny bit exasperated with her. "Mercy," he barked, "this is what’s being served for lunch. This is the meal. You will eat it."
Of course, she defied him. Shaking her head and stiffening that upper lip even more.
Cash, to his credit, seemed to be trying hard to be nice to her. Why that is, I have no idea. Probably because I was there and he wanted to make me think he was in control of the situation.
But he wasn't. She didn't eat that salad. Or the one that came with dinner, which was burgers that night. She ate those just fine.
So the next day, I asked the kitchen staff to make her child-friendly lunches. Cash didn't argue. I secretly think he's relieved that I'm here, kinda takin' over.
Cash's personality change has been both revealing and surprising. Because he generally seems to like Mercy. I'm not sure what happened in those first days she was here alone with him, while Legion was dyin' and I was frantically trying to keep him alive.
ut something did happen between them. Because Mercy generally seems to like Cash as well. She doesn't have conversations with him the way she does with me, but she seems to respect my oldest brother in a way I can't quite understand.
Perhaps it was the puppy. Or all the clothes in her new closet. Or the new bedroom decorated for a pre-teen girl that did not exist in our house until Mercy came to live in it.
Regardless, she likes him and I think he likes her back. Which is why I took his side about Rimrock Academy.
"You loved it there," he told me, after I learned of his plan. "You know you loved it there. You came home every Friday afternoon with regret, Savannah."
"Well," I laughed. "Eleanor's digital prison never felt like a home." He was right though. I did hate coming home from the academy on the weekends. I would've rather stayed on campus. But Eleanor didn't permit it. The car appeared for me every Friday at two-thirty and back I came.
Of course, I did like seeing Legion on the weekends. But he didn't appear in my life until I was twelve and I didn't go proper boy-crazy over him for three more years after that. He wasn't a part of my formative years, Rimrock was.
So yes, I do think the academy is a good fit for Mercy. She's a bit feral and she won't fit in—at first. But she's adjusted remarkably well to the posh life. She's not a girl who gets put off by bribes. Perhaps she doesn't know that Cash is bribing her with puppies and ponies, but I think she does.
And I think she likes it.
She doesn't talk back to him. She doesn't talk back to anyone. I think Mercy Kane understands that she fell into a Cinderella story and she's not about to let this opportunity slip away without a fight.
I don't blame her.
No offense to Legion, but Mercy's childhood has been a complete shit-show. The movie-of-the-week on Lifetime can't hold a candle to this child's drama.
When I get to the kitchen, there is no dinner tray set up for Legion. "Excuse me, Ms. Charlot? Do you know when Legion's dinner tray will be ready?"
"Oh, he's eating in the dining room tonight, Miss Savannah."
"Is he?" I exclaim.
"Yes," Ms. Charlot says, chuckling a bit at my reaction. "I'm just about to serve, if you'd like to take your seat at the table."
I smile. He's eating at the dinner table. With Cash. Not Wyatt, he's practically disappeared since Legion came, but I've never been close with Wyatt.
Cash is enough though. Because it's just been over a month since that whole kidnapping thing. And I was pretty sure Legion was going to enact some kind of revenge against Cash about it, but there has been no confrontation.
Which should not surprise me, actually. Legion, I've noticed, is not really a confrontational man. He's quiet. Always watching, always listening, but he's not reactive. Posturing isn't something he does.
He's always been like that though. Typically, a man of few words. But also a man of action. When he makes his mind up about something, it's done and there's no goin' back.
"OK," I tell Ms. Charlot. "I'll go take my seat. Thank you so much."
I leave the kitchen smiling. Feeling pretty OK with this moment. Marcus hasn't bothered me, Legion is going to live, Mercy is happy, and even Cash seems satisfied for the moment.
