“I know you do, sweets.” His smile, those dimples, a shiver ran up her spine at their effect.
A throat-clearing behind them had her pulling away. There they stood; his parents. With huge smiles on their faces. “Now that you’ve basically said we don’t matter, how about you introduce us to this gorgeous, young woman, Landon,” his mother said laughingly.
“Mom, Dad, this is Cecilia. Sweets, these are my folks Matthew and Rosa Powers.” As they walked up to his parents, she could see they were amused by the way she freaked out and not at all angry about it. She relaxed a little as they pulled her in for a hug of welcome instead of a stuffy handshake.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you both.” Smiling, they all went inside.
“Your sister will be here soon,” Matthew announced.
She tried not to show outwardly how much that terrified her, but Landon must have felt her stiffen at his father’s words because he looked at her strangely. Placing a fake smile on her face, she knew things were about to get ugly.
As they walked into the house, she lost her breath at the beauty. Decorated with Victorian-style furniture, she immediately fell in love with their home.
“This is beautiful,” she whispered in awe.
The front door opened up into a family room filled with two big chunky royal blue chairs. The spindling on the wood was phenomenal and the craftsmanship, flawless. A matching sofa was placed evenly in the middle of them with a large oak trunk for a coffee table.
“Matthew took me to an auction about twenty years ago; I got them for a mint. I was lucky, too, because they were easily worth five times the amount I paid for them,” Rosa explained to her.
“Really? May I sit?” she asked unsure if they were for show or comfort.
Laughing, Rosa motioned for her to have a seat.
As soon as she sat on the over-stuffed sofa, it molded to her body. The blue fabric was soft as silk on her hands. Rosa quickly went on to explain about having to re-stuff it a few times over the years, and how once she nearly had to replace the fabric – which was the original from 1754 – because Landon had spilled grape juice on it when he was seven. His laughter had them both shooting him a dirty look before she started talking about its history.
It didn’t take long before all of her anxiety vanished and she was immersed in Rosa’s stories about her favorite pieces of furniture around her home. Like a gorgeous ceramic vase that was made by her great, great, great-grandmother and had been passed down to each generation. The white wash with the stunning, vibrant red rose wrapped around was exquisite. She explained that every few decades the paint had to be refreshed to keep the vibrancy, so it was unlikely that any of the original paint was on it but the design was always the same.
So absorbed in Rosa’s storytelling, she didn’t realize anyone else had entered the house until she heard Ashley bellow, “What the hell is she doing here?”
“Ashley!” Matthew admonished her.
“Hell, no! That freak has got to go! Or did Landon not tell you she’s the reason he won’t speak to me and has cut my credit cards off?” She hissed with so much hatred in her voice, Cecilia shrunk in her seat.
For the first time since she arrived, Landon’s parents looked at her with a less than friendly expression. She was as shocked as they were about Ashley’s confession. Landon hadn’t mentioned his sister to her at all in the last two days. Not since he’d picked her up from college that day.
“Landon?” Rosa whispered horrified.
Standing up, she looked to Ashley first then her parents, saying, “I should go. It was lovely to meet you.”
“Oh no, you don’t, sweets,” Landon snapped. Gripping her arm, he pulled her to his chest before addressing his family. “How about you tell them why, Ashley?”
Cecilia’s face was buried in his chest so she couldn’t see what was going on, but the quiet was so deafening you could hear a pin drop.
“What?” Ashley spat, feigning innocence.
“Really? You’re gonna go with ignorance?” Landon demanded to know.
“Not my fault she’s a klutz.” Ashley actually seemed to laugh at that. At the pain Cecilia suffered from her actions.
She heard a growl deep from Landon’s chest as he lost it. “A fucking klutz? Yeah, maybe because you got some douche bag to trip her and then you both decided it was a good idea to use her as a stepping stone, kicking her as much as possible on your way. Or did you forget I was there in the aftermath? That I have the medical reports? Please, Ash, explain that.”
“Ashley Rose!”
“Oh please, Mother. You should have seen the pathetic way he fell all over himself for her. I mean look at her! She’s ugly! Those sc
ars are hideous and right across her face? I can’t believe you guys don’t see this.”
The shock felt around the room reverberated through her veins. She’d never known Ashley had so much hate for her. They’d gone to school together and while Ashley had always been mean and dismissive, she’d never full-on hated her let alone assaulted her this way.