I looked at Roxy. She was glaring at them both with lasers for eyes. “Forget about them,” she suddenly said.
“What?”
“You heard me. You can tell her later that you won’t be going to live with them after all.”
“I won’t?”
“No. You’ll be living with me,” she added, and went to speak with Uncle Alain.
I stood there stunned for a moment, and then, for the first time in days, I felt my face break into a smile.
When Aunt Lucy and Uncle Orman heard that I’d be living with Roxy, they were even more stunned than I had been. Roxy came up beside me when she saw that I was giving them the news.
“She’s old enough to be my legal guardian,” I added.
“Roxy? Someone’s guardian? Ridiculous,” Aunt Lucy said, looking at her. “She’s not capable of that, and besides, no court would permit it. Why, she could turn you into someone just like her, and then—”
“Let it be,” Uncle Orman suddenly said sharply. I had been anticipating his threats and anger.
“What?” Aunt Lucy asked him.
“You heard me. If this is what the girl wants, fine. Only know this,” he continued, giving me his officer’s firm glare. “You don’t come back to us if you discover you’ve made a mistake. We’re no second choice. Is that understood?”
“I can’t come back to you if I’ve never been with you in the first place, Uncle Orman.”
He said nothing for a moment and then came the closest to a smile. His lips merely creased, and his eyes widened slightly. “You’re just like your father, pigheaded,” he said.
“Thank you, Uncle Orman. That’s about the nicest compliment you, especially you, could give me.”
Roxy laughed.
Uncle Orman turned away. Aunt Lucy continued to stare, astounded, and then he called to her and told her to prepare to leave. She went directly to Uncle Alain with her complaints. When he heard what was happening, he looked at us with a slight smile, but he pretended to listen sympathetically to Aunt Lucy. He said nothing, and she turned away from him in a huff.
Finally, they were gone. We realized that everyone else was, too. The silence took all three of us by surprise, and for a few moments, no one spoke.
“Are you both sure about this?” Uncle Alain asked us.
“I am,” Roxy said, and she turned to me. “If she listens and obeys the rules.”
“What rules?”
“There’ll be rules,” she said. “Don’t think there won’t.”
“If you can live by them, I can.”
“They’re not rules for me. They’re rules for you.”
“What about this house? Are you going to live here?” Uncle Alain said.
“No, that won’t be possible,” Roxy said. “We’ll put it up for sale. The funds could provide her with college expenses. I have someone who can help us with everything, an attorney,” she added. “You don’t have to worry about any of that, Uncle Alain.”
“Très bon,” he said. “I’ll plan on returning to France soon, then.”
“You can go tomorrow, if you like,” Roxy said. “We’re not chasing you away, but we’ll be fine.”
“I think you just might be,” he said, smiling. She had said it with such firmness that I tho
ught we would be, too. “I’ll expect you both to come to Paris soon.”