"Just tell me why!" Briana Leigh wailed, still wearing her flimsy nightgown, pushing her hands into her hair as she cried.
"It's for your own good," her grandmother said through her teeth. "And thank God I do it! Otherwise I never would have known that my only granddaughter planned on marrying before she even graduates high school!"
"But I love him!" Briana Leigh cried.
Ariana heard the anguish in Briana Leigh's voice and thought of that moment at the boutique the day before. How much Briana Leigh was looking forward to the future, to finally having a family. It made her heart ache for the girl.
Stop it. You're not supposed to feel sorry for her, she reminded herself."He's not appropriate," her grandmother replied, clucking her tongue. "And that is neither here nor there, because you will not be marrying anyone. You will go to Atherton-Pryce Hall and you will graduate on time. I have already phoned the headmaster, and he has agreed to give you the special attention you need. He will personally be sending me your report cards, as well as a weekly progress report."
"Great! You're going to have the headmaster spying on me too?" Briana Leigh cried.
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"Yes. And come August, I'll be taking you to the plane myself so that we don't have another Paris incident," her grandmother said.
Paris incident? I wonder what happened there, Ariana thought.
"You can't do this to me," Briana Leigh said, trying to hold her quivering chin up. "You can't."
"You've brought this upon yourself," Grandma Covington said. "Ever since your mother died, your behavior has been deplorable. Your father may have tolerated it because he felt sorry for you, but it's about time you grew up and realized that you have responsibilities."
She flicked her wrist and something small and sparkling pinged against the tile floor, bounced a few times, and landed at Briana Leigh's feet. Ariana held her hand over her mouth when she realized it was Briana Leigh's engagement ring. So that was how her grandmother had found out. One of the help had snooped and uncovered the ring.
"May as well give that back to him," Grandma Covington said, using the controls on her wheelchair to reverse. The chair made a soft whirring sound as it worked. "I'm sure he can find some other willing girl to give it to."
Briana Leigh clutched her stomach and doubled over, sobbing. Ariana's heart automatically went out to her again. Her grandmother was so awful to her. This woman in no way meshed with the image of the sweet old lady Kaitlynn had painted for her. Had Grandma C. changed in the years since Kaitlynn had been imprisoned, or had the old lady favored Kaitlynn for some reason? As Ariana considered this, Grandma C. turned her chair and, without looking back, navigated
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her way across the great room and out the open back door. Briana Leigh picked up the ring in her trembling fingers and continued bawling, looking broken and pathetic. After she finally got hold of herself and dried her eyes, she lifted her head slowly and glared at the door through which her grandmother had gone. Then she slipped the ring back onto her left ring finger.
Good for you, Ariana thought. In that moment she couldn't help respecting the girl. She pushed herself away from the wall as Briana Leigh came barreling up the stairs. The girl stopped in her tracks when she saw Ariana.
"I heard the shouting... ," Ariana said with an apologetic shrug.
Briana Leigh sniffed and raised her chin. "Well, then you know I'm screwed."
"Why?" Ariana asked as Briana Leigh breezed right by her. She followed the girl into her room and stood in the center of the hardwood floor as Briana Leigh flung herself dramatically onto her unmade bed.
"Because! I have to go to Atherton! I can't marry Teo. She'll throw me out on the street! She'll disinherit me!" Briana Leigh said, sitting up straight and turning her palms out.
Ariana bit her tongue and cinched the belt on her robe. "So what?" she asked, sitting down on the edge of Briana Leigh's bed. "Let her disinherit you. You can take care of yourself."
Briana Leigh stared at her blankly. Ariana felt a flutter of uncertainty in her heart. For some reason the figure $2401.56 flashed through her mind.
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"You do have your own money don't you?" Ariana asked, her voice sounding strained. "Your inheritance. From your parents."
Briana Leigh rolled her eyes and she fell onto her back again. "Uh, no"
Ariana felt as if the bright sun outside was mocking her. As if the four posts around the bed were tilting in around her, getting ready to clamp her down to the mattress and swallow her through the floor and into hell. So powerful, that one word.
No.
"What do you mean?" Ariana asked, fighting to keep her voice even. "Your parents didn't leave you anything?"
"Oh, no. They left me everything," Briana Leigh said in a bitter, sarcastic tone. "They just made sure that I wouldn't get any of it until I was twenty-five. It's held in a trust, and my grandmother controls it all."