Mid-afternoon " Sunset, May 1st 2011
Alder House rose up the way it always did, massive and intimidating. Whichever of their ancestors had built it obviously meant to impress everybody else in Maple Grove with the status and power of this branch of the Granger family tree. Lola stared at the front door with her hand pressed to her stomach, fighting the queasy feeling there. It used to be her home, their home " she'd grown up there, and her Papa still lived there. It was the last part of that thought which was causing her so many problems. The thought of the sweet little Beltane box that had arrived from Risa and now rested in the cab of her truck finally gave her a bit of nerve.
Georges answered the door with a word of warning that Junior was "not feeling well", and Lola felt her stomach flip again. Junior had been drinking again, that meant. It had gotten so much worse since Caro removed him from the business. Caro had been right to do it, right to take Junior out of power, but " well, it made things worse here in Alder House. Georges and the housekeeper/cook, Marta, were the only two servants who had stayed on and Lola thought that was mostly because they were so old that finding another place would have been hard.
She trailed her fingers through dust on the chair-rail on her way to the study door and paused again with her hand over the waistband of her dress in vain hope to settle her nerves. Then she knocked, and entered. "Papa?"
He was standing and staring out the window again, and Lola flinched when she realized the cut-glass decanter of scotch was almost empty. When he spoke, he almost sounded sober, though. Reasonable and polite. "Laura. I see you haven't forgotten all of the respect due your father."
One, two steps further in before she shut the door behind herself. "No, I haven't forgotten." The study was a wreck. He had never cleaned up the papers and mess after Caro's auditors had gone through searching his records, and apparently, he'd kept Marta out as well. It smelled stale and musty in the room.
"Or maybe you're just here to feed off the corpse like everybody else. Come to gloat at the way that b***h humiliated me." Vitriol crept into the calm, quiet, level tones of Junior's voice, and Lola paled again. "Here to laugh at me, are you? I'll have the last laugh, Laura. Just wait."
Fingers knotted hard against each other while Lola listened to her father, and she took a step backwards. "No " I wasn't here to laugh, Papa. I was " I'm one of the Beltane Ladies in Waiting, and there's the bonfire tonight " I wanted " I hoped you'd come to see." She wanted, so much, to be able to love her father instead of fearing him, to have his love in return.
"Proved you're one of a court of sluts, did you?" Scorn and contempt layered into the quiet, dangerous voice. "That's all you've ever been, without my support. You think any of your little business attempts were successful" That you would have gotten that set in Fashion Week without me pulling the strings for you? The only thing you have a talent for is spreading your legs. Two men at once, now."
What little color Lola had left drained from her face. His words hit just as hard as any blows, and she shook her head to reject them. "No. No, it's not like that " I told Connor I couldn't see him anymore, there's just Icarus. My show for Fashion Week was good, it was " I did that." Her voice gained strength on the last statement. "I did that, with the help of people I love, who love me. I'd like it if you came tonight, Papa, but " it won't hurt me anymore, if you don't. I won't let you hurt me anymore. You're my father and I respect that, but I won't let you keep hurting me." Fragile buttress of self-confidence; if Junior was facing her instead of keeping his back to the room, he would be able to see the way her hands shook.
"Then go. Just go, Laura. You've had your laugh at the old man, taken your chance to rub what that b***h did in my face. I don't want to see you again.? Junior said it without ever turning around. Lola opened her mouth to answer before she shut it again, turned and left, shutting the door behind herself.
Alder House rose up the way it always did, massive and intimidating. Whichever of their ancestors had built it obviously meant to impress everybody else in Maple Grove with the status and power of this branch of the Granger family tree. Lola stared at the front door with her hand pressed to her stomach, fighting the queasy feeling there. It used to be her home, their home " she'd grown up there, and her Papa still lived there. It was the last part of that thought which was causing her so many problems. The thought of the sweet little Beltane box that had arrived from Risa and now rested in the cab of her truck finally gave her a bit of nerve.
Georges answered the door with a word of warning that Junior was "not feeling well", and Lola felt her stomach flip again. Junior had been drinking again, that meant. It had gotten so much worse since Caro removed him from the business. Caro had been right to do it, right to take Junior out of power, but " well, it made things worse here in Alder House. Georges and the housekeeper/cook, Marta, were the only two servants who had stayed on and Lola thought that was mostly because they were so old that finding another place would have been hard.
She trailed her fingers through dust on the chair-rail on her way to the study door and paused again with her hand over the waistband of her dress in vain hope to settle her nerves. Then she knocked, and entered. "Papa?"
He was standing and staring out the window again, and Lola flinched when she realized the cut-glass decanter of scotch was almost empty. When he spoke, he almost sounded sober, though. Reasonable and polite. "Laura. I see you haven't forgotten all of the respect due your father."
One, two steps further in before she shut the door behind herself. "No, I haven't forgotten." The study was a wreck. He had never cleaned up the papers and mess after Caro's auditors had gone through searching his records, and apparently, he'd kept Marta out as well. It smelled stale and musty in the room.
"Or maybe you're just here to feed off the corpse like everybody else. Come to gloat at the way that b***h humiliated me." Vitriol crept into the calm, quiet, level tones of Junior's voice, and Lola paled again. "Here to laugh at me, are you? I'll have the last laugh, Laura. Just wait."
Fingers knotted hard against each other while Lola listened to her father, and she took a step backwards. "No " I wasn't here to laugh, Papa. I was " I'm one of the Beltane Ladies in Waiting, and there's the bonfire tonight " I wanted " I hoped you'd come to see." She wanted, so much, to be able to love her father instead of fearing him, to have his love in return.
"Proved you're one of a court of sluts, did you?" Scorn and contempt layered into the quiet, dangerous voice. "That's all you've ever been, without my support. You think any of your little business attempts were successful" That you would have gotten that set in Fashion Week without me pulling the strings for you? The only thing you have a talent for is spreading your legs. Two men at once, now."
What little color Lola had left drained from her face. His words hit just as hard as any blows, and she shook her head to reject them. "No. No, it's not like that " I told Connor I couldn't see him anymore, there's just Icarus. My show for Fashion Week was good, it was " I did that." Her voice gained strength on the last statement. "I did that, with the help of people I love, who love me. I'd like it if you came tonight, Papa, but " it won't hurt me anymore, if you don't. I won't let you hurt me anymore. You're my father and I respect that, but I won't let you keep hurting me." Fragile buttress of self-confidence; if Junior was facing her instead of keeping his back to the room, he would be able to see the way her hands shook.
"Then go. Just go, Laura. You've had your laugh at the old man, taken your chance to rub what that b***h did in my face. I don't want to see you again.? Junior said it without ever turning around. Lola opened her mouth to answer before she shut it again, turned and left, shutting the door behind herself.