Heart of Stone - Book 1: Fighting Fate

As soon as he was gone, Gwen threw her head back and laughed. “He is so predictable!”

The corners of Aubree’s lips pulled up, but she kept her mouth shut. The doctor hadn’t given her permission to speak yet, and she thought it best she continued to keep quiet and let Gwen do all the talking. Maybe she’d chat her ear off again and reveal more embarrassing things about Stone? It didn’t seem like an impossibility.

Plus, Gwen seemed more likely to chide Aubree like a mother hen if she began talking. Not that she was a doctor or anything.

Where was the doctor, anyway? She hadn’t seen him since she first woke up that morning.

“So, what flavor would you like?” Gwen asked, pulling Aubree out of her thoughts.

Aubree tilted her head as she debated her options depicted on the box. She pointed to the peach-mango one and Gwen pulled two out of the box—one for Aubree and one for herself. She left them on the bed in the wrappers while she hurried out to put the snacks back in the freezer.

She was back a minute later and jumped up on Aubree’s bed, promptly unwrapping her own popsicle and popping it into her mouth.

She began chatting away about how they rarely ever got treats like this. Ice cream, cookies, cakes, pies—they were all luxury foods that they only enjoyed once in a blue moon.

“Oh, and FYI,” Gwen said, pointing her half-eaten popsicle at Aubree, “Stone can’t cook. I’d be scared if he tried. He tried to bake me a cake for my birthday the year after Mom died and he failed miserably. I don’t know how he managed to mess it up considering we had all the ingredients and detailed instructions on how to make it.”

"What happened?” Aubree mouthed, intrigued that he would even try to do something so thoughtful.

“It exploded in the oven!” She burst out laughing. “There was flour everywhere inside! It was a mess to clean up! Never again, I tell you. I refused to let him touch the oven after that.”

Aubree chuckled, the movement irritating her throat but she tried to ignore it. Stupid throat.

The happiness in Gwen’s face softened and grew sad as she recalled more events from their past. “It’s funny now, but he was really upset then. He tried so hard to make me that cake because Mom was no longer there to do it. He was really hard on himself after her death.”

Falling silent, Gwen sat there, staring off into space until her popsicle started dripping on her hand. Snapping out of her reverie, she licked the base of her popsicle before any more of it dripped off. “Yikes. Vincent will have my head if I drip on the bed.”

She perked up then and started chatting Aubree’s ear off again as if she had never fallen back in time to those darker days in her life.

“Let me get the knots out of your hair,” Gwen said after she finished her popsicle and fetched a brush and comb.

While Aubree appreciated Gwen’s company and willingness to tame the beast that was her hair, she couldn’t help but be filled with sadness for both Gwen and Stone.

Their mother’s death must have been devastating, and yet they both seemed to handle it differently. Stone was more closed off, bottling up everything he had inside him, while Gwen seemed to have moved on in her own way, choosing to find happiness and joy rather than wallowing in misery.

After getting the knots out of her hair, Gwen drew Aubree a hot bath. She took the gauze off her head and reminded Aubree to be careful not to get any soap in the cut.

Aubree slapped Gwen’s arm playfully as she got up to go to the bathroom. ”Thanks, Mom,” she mouthed before closing the door behind her.

Gwen left a change of clothes for Aubree hanging on the hooks behind the door, only it wasn’t a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. Pressing her palm to her face, she sighed with a slight shake of her head.

That girl was something.

Once she was clean and feeling much better and more herself, she dried herself off and slipped into the shimmery navy blue dress Gwen left for her. It had a wide scoop neck that rested on the edges of her shoulders. The long sleeves covered the bruises on her arms, but her neck and shoulders still bore the marks of the attack. The fabric was slightly stretchy and fit her like a glove over her torso and hips. Below her hips, the skirt opened wide and hung loosely. She twirled on the spot like a kid and watched it billow out around her. It stopped above her knees, exposing the bruises on her calves. It was pretty, but far too extravagant for wearing around a clinic.

Unless Gwen had something up her sleeve that she wasn’t telling her?

Aubree peeked outside the bathroom door but saw no one there. Leaving the door open, she found the comb on her bed and returned to the bathroom to comb the fresh tangles out of her clean hair.

The cut above her eyebrow wasn’t as bad as she thought. It was an inch long and not deep enough to require stitches. A big band-aid would do the trick. It wasn’t even bleeding anymore, which was a good sign.

As she was getting the last of the tangles out, Gwen returned and flashed her a smile.

“Hey girl, what’s with the dress? You look great!”

Aubree gave her a puzzled look. Didn’t Gwen bring it for her?

Laughing, Gwen batted her hand at her. “Of course I brought it for you. You think I’d let you wear those dirty clothes all day? Nah, I got something special planned for you tonight.”

Gwen’s teasing was met with Aubree’s arched eyebrow.

“What?” Gwen tried to look innocent. “I can’t do something nice to try and cheer you up after a rough night?”

She had a point, but was a dress necessary? It wasn’t like Gwen was dressed similarly.

“Besides,” Gwen added, turning Aubree back toward the mirror over the sink and looking over her shoulder at both of their reflections, “you must be getting hungry by now. Vincent has a nice terrace overlooking the gardens, so I thought you would like to have dinner outside.”

Aubree’s brows furrowed. ”Dinner?” she mouthed.

“Yeah. It’s five o’clock now. I know it’s kind of early, but you’ve been sleeping most of the day and haven’t eaten much of anything. Besides, we’re planning on leaving later anyway.”

Already? Was that a wise move to make? Did the doctor say it was okay for her to leave so soon?

Gwen started playing with Aubree’s hair instead of saying anything more. Combing it back, pulling strands out, and weaving them together, she French braided Aubree’s still wet hair behind her head and put a big clip in it at the base of her skull and let her hair fall down her back.

She disappeared for a moment, giving Aubree a chance to try and see the back of her head, but failed without a second mirror.

Gwen returned and added a delicate ivory pearl necklace around her neck. It fit her perfectly, barely touching to top of her collar bone, and was low enough to not irritate the bruises around her neck.

She added earrings with matching single pearls dropping from a short silver chain.

Finished, Gwen smiled back at Aubree’s reflection. “Papa will be so surprised when he sees you wearing Mom’s pearls.”

Papa?

Eyes widening, Aubree turned to try and make sense of this revelation, but Gwen had her back to her.

Was she meeting their father now? Was that why she was making such a fuss about Aubree’s appearance? Wouldn’t it have been better to meet him later, when her bruises had had a chance to heal?

She put a hand on Gwen’s hunched shoulder in hopes of getting some answers.

She wasn’t expecting to find tears in Gwen’s brown eyes and a pleading furrow in her brows.

“Please, go easy on him, Aubree.”