Blooms of Consequence (Dusk Gate Chronicles Book 4) (15 page)

At least his parents and Nathaniel had been happy – at least she’d gotten a taste of the joy that was
supposed
to go along with a betrothal announcement.

“Maybe someday we’ll look back on this and be able to smile about it – when it’s all in the past, and things are better, this will just be the crazy story of how we became betrothed.”

“Maybe,” she said. And he knew that it all depended on her being able to repair this relationship with her mother – on Megan somehow being able to accept this, and the two of them making it through. Otherwise, as happy as he knew their marriage was going to be – this would be a dark cloud that always hung over this memory.

Just then, there was a soft knock on the door, and her whole body stiffened. William stood and leaned over to kiss the top of her head before he went to answer it. “It will be okay, love.”

When he opened the door, he was surprised to find Quinn’s little brother, Owen, standing there.

“Hey buddy,” he said.

“Hi.” Owen didn’t even look up at William as he passed by on his way to where Quinn was sitting on the couch. He immediately climbed up and curled himself against her.

William closed the door and went over to them. “Do you want me here?” he asked quietly.

She nodded, and so he sat down in one of the armchairs to let her and Owen have their space.

Owen didn’t say anything for several minutes; he just snuggled up with his sister. But finally, he looked up at her. “You’re not coming back with us, are you?”

Somehow, the tears that welled in her eyes stung at the bottom of William’s eyes, too.

“No, I’m not.” One of the tears spilled over and ran in a line down her cheek. Owen reached up and caught it before it fell.

“Don’t cry, Quinn. It’s how it’s supposed to be.”

A chill ran down William’s spine.

“How do you know that?”

The little boy shrugged. “I just do. It’s what you want, isn’t it?”

“Some of it is what I want. I don’t want to leave you or Annie, or Mom or Dad.”

Owen cocked his head to the side. “Daddy left when he had a job to do.”

“Yeah, he did. But he’s coming back.”

“But you’re not.”

“No. Not ever to stay, anyway. I’m going to live here. I’m going to get married to William, and I might even be a queen.”

Owen smiled at her. “You will be a good one.” Then he looked over at William. “Do you love my sister?”

William’s heart swelled with tenderness for this sweet little boy. “Yes, I do, Owen. I love her very much.”

“Then you should marry her. And I will love you, too.”

The tears he’d been holding back finally betrayed him, and slipped from his eyes as he regarded the little boy. “I already love you, Owen.”

William was halfway to the couch, wanting to sit closer to Owen and Quinn, when the bedroom door burst open and Megan walked in again.
Oh no.
She stopped cold when she saw Owen sitting on the couch.

“You did not just tell him this ridiculous idea.”

The immediate change in Quinn’s posture impressed him again. Suddenly, her back was straight, and she was looking right in her mother’s eyes. “Yes, I did. Because it’s the truth. It’s what’s going to happen, Mom, and I’m not going to lie to him or hide it from him.”

Megan’s face nearly turned purple with her rage, and William felt an overpowering urge to stand between her and Quinn, though he held himself back, knowing it would make things worse and not better.

For a long moment, Megan looked furious past the point of being able to speak. When she could finally form words, she said, “Let’s go, Owen!” and escorted the little boy out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

“AGAIN!”

“Again? Aren’t you getting dizzy?” Of course, Thomas already knew the answer to that. Annie was just as rambunctious and fearless as Emma, even though she was quite a bit younger.

“No. Again!”

“All right.” He picked up the little girl and spun her in a wide circle, letting go at just the right time for her to go sailing into the huge cushion in the corner of the playroom. She giggled wildly, her eyes sparkling in the way that reminded him so much of Quinn, except Annie’s eyes were brown instead of Quinn’s gray.

“My turn!” Emma called.

“No! Mine!” Little Sarah pushed her way in front of Emma. Even at two, she’d learned that she had to stand her ground to compete with her older siblings.

“Hey!”

“No, she’s right, Em. You went just before Annie.” Scooping Sarah up, he swung her in his arms three times before dropping her from his arms a couple of feet above the cushion.

He glanced across the room and saw that Alice and Alex were both still busy with puzzles, neither one of them seeming to notice the shrieking from this corner. As he turned back to the little girls, all three clamoring for his attention, a movement from the doorway caught his eye.

“Go on in, Owen,” Quinn’s mother was saying. “You could go do puzzles with Alex.”

Thomas raised an eyebrow. Although they’d been here at the castle for a couple of days now, Megan had seemed preoccupied and distant for most of the time. He was surprised she’d picked up on the names of his younger siblings.

Owen shook his head slightly. It was obvious she was upset, and even more obvious that Owen was worried about her.

“Hey, buddy,” he said, hurrying over to the door. “Alex and Emma had a new logic problem in their lessons today. Alex has been wondering if you would work on it with him.”

Owen’s eyes lit up.

Megan stood in the doorway for several more minutes watching as the children moved into other activities. “Thank you,” she said as Thomas came to stand near her again. “You’re very good with them.”

Thomas shrugged. “They’re fun. The biggest stress in their day is usually who gets to go first at something.” He paused. “Are you okay?”

Megan frowned. He watched her expression change as she decided whether or not to answer, but then she shook her head. “Not really, no.”

“Want a cup of tea?”

He could read that debate in her eyes, too, but she followed him across the hall to the common room. It was empty, which was normal for this time of day. The family usually gathered here in the early mornings or late evenings.

“So,” he said, once they each had a mug, “are you going to stay mad at Quinn forever?”

“Not forever. Just until she starts listening.”

“And by ‘listening’ you mean until she does what you want her to do.”

“I’m still her mother. I’m still responsible for her.”

Thomas rolled the little silver chain on the tea ball between his fingers before pulling it out of the mug and setting it on a plate. “Do you think Quinn is just being disobedient and petulant, and that if she just does what you want her to it will solve everything?”

“She’s only seventeen!”

“And I’m only almost sixteen, but you’re able to have a rational discussion about it with me.”

Megan stared into her teacup for a long time. Thomas was afraid she was going to just get up and leave the room, but she didn’t. Finally, she looked back up at him. “I don’t want to lose her.”

Thomas sighed, and looked across the counter at her. “Of course you don’t. What I don’t think you realize is that she doesn’t want to lose you, either.”

“She’s the one doing all of this.”

“Yes, Megan. She’s growing up. It’s what children do. Except me, of course – I don’t plan on becoming more mature, just coming of age and then stopping.”

Megan actually chuckled for a few seconds before she became serious again. “She wants to live in a different
world
than me. She wants to get married at seventeen!”

“How old were you when you got married?”

Tiny spots of pink appeared on Megan’s cheekbones. “Nineteen. That’s two whole years older!”

Thomas shrugged. “It’s not the point, anyway. Think about it, Megan. Even in your world, she would have been starting to leave in just a year – and you wouldn’t be ready then, either. You should have seen my mother when my oldest sister got married. There’s no such thing as ready. She isn’t doing this to hurt you or to get away from you. She’s doing it because it’s what she needs to do.”

“But if she was going away to college in our world, she would come home in the summers, for holidays, for weekends...”

Thomas took a deep breath. “You knew Samuel wasn’t from Earth when you married him.”

Megan’s mouth fell open. “I never thought...”

“Maybe you didn’t. Maybe Samuel didn’t tell you the truth about things, or maybe he did and you didn’t believe him, I don’t know. But that isn’t Quinn’s fault. She didn’t ask to have parents from two different worlds; she didn’t ask to grow up not knowing the truth about who she is. She’s had to make some very difficult decisions, and it hasn’t been easy for her.”

He paused, taking a long sip of his tea before continuing.

“Honestly ... this isn’t usually me. I’m usually the fun guy who isn’t much bothered about things, but I have to tell you – I’ve watched Quinn struggle with this. I’ve seen how hard it’s been on her. And you’re making it so much worse. I don’t know if you think that you’re going to somehow be mad enough at her to guilt her into going back to Bristlecone, but it isn’t going to work. All you’re going to accomplish is the real kind of losing her. The kind where she doesn’t even
want
to go back and visit you when she can because it’s too painful. Is that what you really want?”

Tears appeared at the bottom of Megan’s eyes as she stared into her cup again.

“I didn’t think so. You need to talk to her – not
at
her.
To
her. Don’t mess this up, Megan. She’s getting
married
– to a great guy, by the way. If you spent even an hour with the two of them, really watching and listening instead of being mad about it, you would see that. That’s what you would want for your little girl – a man who loves her the way that William does.

“Don’t miss it – don’t throw away whatever amazing parts you could have, just because you can’t have everything the way you want it.”

“How do you know so much about this at fifteen?”

“It’s natural. I’m just that talented.” Thomas grinned. “Just try, okay? Because, I don’t think I can pull off this much seriousness again anytime soon. I’m getting a headache already. Think I need to go throw some children and listen to them giggle again.”

Megan gave him only a half-smile, but he figured it was progress. “I’ll see you later,” he said, walking toward the hallway, stopping just in front of the doorway to give Quinn a gentle squeeze on her shoulder.

*          *          *

Quinn had to blink several times to clear her eyes after Thomas left the room.

“You okay?” William whispered in her ear.

“I’d be better if everyone would quit asking me that every five minutes.”

His eyes widened. “Fair enough.” He squeezed her hand and followed her over to the counter.

“Hi,” Megan said quietly. Was her mom blushing? Was that a good thing?

“Hi.”

“How much of that did you hear?” 

“I was there for a couple of minutes.”

Her mom nodded, looking down at the floor. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I don’t know why I’ve been acting like this, I just...”

“I know.” She reached for her mom’s hand.

“This isn’t going to be easy for me, Quinn. But I’m willing to try. I’m willing to listen, and I promise I’ll try.”

William shifted uncomfortably beside her. “Do you want me to give you two some time alone?”

There was a long pause, and then Megan shook her head. “No, William. You’re going to marry my daughter, so we need to get to know each other, and apparently we don’t have much time to waste.”

“Speaking of time,” Quinn said, “how much of it do we have? Are you going to want to leave when the gate opens again?”

“That’s only a few days from now, isn’t it?”

“It must be.” Quinn looked at William; she’d lost track of the exact dates.

“Three days.”

Megan nodded. “Stephen has actually been telling me that he’s not sure we’ll be able to leave that quickly. There’s still fire in the area, and they don’t know where that guy who kidnapped us is.”

“Jonathan.”

“Yes... I still don’t understand what’s going on with all of this. He’s Samuel and Nathaniel’s brother, right?”

“Right. He’s the youngest one. He was born after their father died.”

Megan rested her hand against her forehead. “I didn’t even know he had siblings other than Nathaniel. I thought both of their parents died when they were young, and that’s why they were living with their relatives.”

“Their father did die, but their mother is still alive. She is still the queen of Philotheum.”

“Bless you.”

Quinn stared at her.

“I’m sorry. It’s just that none of this makes any sense to me.”

“I know.” She sank down onto the stool beside her mother. “I’m still trying to make sense of a lot of it myself.”

“So what you’re telling me is that Samuel was really the heir to the throne in this other place, but since he’s dead, now it’s you?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re really going to do this?”

“Yes.”

“Why? Is this really so much better than your life at home with us?”

She actually felt a crack open down the center of her heart. Now that the anger had faded, she realized, for the first time, just how much she’d been in denial about that part of it. Her hands were starting to tremble. Anger was easier than this. “No, Mom. It isn’t about that. I love you. I love the life you gave me there. I don’t want to leave there, not at all. It’s not about
leaving
there, it’s about staying here. I need to stay here. This is the right thing for me to do.”

“I might not ever understand that, Quinn.”

“I know. But do you think you could still love me, anyway?”

“Oh, baby girl.” Tears ran down Megan’s cheeks as she pulled Quinn into her arms. “I will love you always. Nothing could change that. Do you think I’d be mad about all of this if I didn’t love you? I just don’t want to lose you.”

“I’ll still visit. You can come here and visit, too. I know it won’t be the same, but...”

“We’ll just have to make it work. There are a lot of things we’ll have to figure out, if you’re really not coming back.”

A thick feeling filled Quinn’s throat as she sat back down on her stool. It had definitely been easier being mad. Maybe that’s why her mom had been so angry. It didn’t hurt as much.

William put his hands on her shoulders and rubbed gently. “It’s going to be hard on everyone. But maybe right now we should enjoy the time we do have together. I know I’d like to know you better, Megan.”

Megan studied the two of them for several seconds. “He is a pretty good guy, isn’t he?”

“I think so,” Quinn said, reaching up to cover one of his hands with hers. He leaned down and kissed her hair.

“You’re going to take care of my girl?”

“Yes, Megan. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for her. I love her. And I want you to know that I never wanted to take her away from you. Whatever I can do to make sure that you’re as much a part of our lives as you can be – I promise you I’ll do it.”

“I guess we have a wedding to plan, then.”

As sad as she still was, Quinn felt lighter – like a huge weight had been lifted from her. “Yeah, I guess we do.”

“Are you ever going to show me the ring?”

Quinn felt William’s breathing speed as she extended her hand toward her mom, the little silver and gold ring twinkling in the light from the window. She glanced up at him to see his face growing red.

“It’s not much,” he said quickly. “Rings are different here in our world…”

While her mom took her left hand, Quinn reached with her right one to grab William’s wrist. “Don’t,” she said. “It’s perfect. Don’t you think so, Mom?”

“It’s beautiful, honey.”

As her mother stood and wrapped her arms around William’s neck, Quinn felt the fissure in her heart begin to heal, just a little.

It wasn’t until Linnea came to ask if she wanted help getting dressed and ready for dinner that Quinn realized she was going to have to deal with seeing Ellen and Charles again at the meal.

“Why would she need help getting ready? Are we supposed to dress up for dinner or something?” Megan asked.

Her mother’s question made her forget about her nervousness at facing her aunt and uncle. It looked like her mom might actually try to participate with her in her life here – maybe, even though her family would soon be leaving, she would actually get to enjoy this time with them before that happened.