Wren is sitting at the table, drizzling caramel sauce across little, perfectly-shaped flan on glass dishes on a tray. I sit down next to her and begin adding blobs of whipped cream to each flan.
Wren doesn’t normally have a dreamy look on her face, but she does today, and she’s smiling like an idiot. Over flan?
“What are you thinking about?” I ask her.
“Nothing,” she says and smiles.
“Oh come on. I won’t tell.”
Wren pretends to think while she waves the spoonful of caramel over the little flan. “I’ve met someone,” she says at last. She tries not to grin, but she can’t help it. Her face twists in that way that says she is jumping up and down inside.
“No you haven’t,” I tell her. “There’s no way. You’re not even out of EI. And trust me, if you had any kind of solicitation, Mom would--”
“You can’t tell her,” Wren says. She’s even melodramatic enough to drop the spoon on the table and clutch at my arm as if she’s the heroine in a story. I wonder if now it’s my job to tie her to a tree until the hero can get here to save her.
“You had a solicitation without Mom knowing? How did you manage that?”
“It’s not exactly official.”
“What?” If my parents knew that she had been talking to a boy without filing any paperwork, they would be furious.
“Promise you won’t tell on me?” Wren demands. I have to really think about it.
“I don’t know,” I tell her. I’m not sure exactly what I’m promising.”
“I haven’t done anything wrong,” she insists,crossing her arms and looking stubborn. That worries me.
“What have you done?”
“You have to promise.”
“I’m not promising anything until you tell me.”
She shrugs and tries to look like she doesn’t care, but I can tell that she’s upset. As in, really mad.
“Okay fine.I promise.”
She loosens up a little. “Okay. Just remember that you promised.”
“Wren!” I’m about to kill her. “Tell me what’s going on.”
She still has her arms folded. If I had to guess,I’d say she’s feeling stubborn and pleased with herself,but also a little bit afraid. “I’m...We’re engaged.”
I stop my indulgently disapproving smile. “Wren that’s illegal.”
“You think I don’t know that?” she insists. And then she sags. “I didn’t mean for it to happen,”she tells me quietly. “But it was a stormy day. I had stayed late for dance class, but it was cancelled that day. I got locked out. So did he.” She shrugs. “I was half in love with him before it occurred to me how strange it was that we seemed to be running into each other so often. By then I didn’t want him to stop.”
“Well, if you’re sensible and keep it quiet then I guess you’ll be okay,” I say. I can’t stay mad at her for very long. “One more year, and then you’ll be old enough to do the paperwork.”
“There’s only one problem.” Wren has decided to tell me everything, and now there is no stopping her. Sometimes I think it’s funny, but right now, I don’t. Of course, I don’t want her to keep quiet, not now that she started telling me. Only a part of me does. In fact, two parts of me want her to just shut up and never say anything again. The first one, what is more important to me, is the worry that she is only sixteen.
“Problem?”I ask.
“He’s not the oldest son. He needs a subsidy.”
“Oh,”I say. That is a problem. “Doesn’t he want to get an apprenticeship? Then he could wait a year.”
“He knows how to farm. He offered to go into something else just for me--even though he’d hate doing anything else--but it’s no good. His grades aren’t good. He’s doubts that he’ll do well enough on the Exam to make up for it.”
I sit down and start fiddling with some loose buttons in my pocket. I wish that I had my sewing. It would calm me. But she’d be offended if I excuse myself now to go get it.
“He says he’ll think of something.” She tries to look hopeful. I can tell that she’s been crying about this before and will again.
“You haven’t even told me his name,” I remind her.
She shakes her head. “I’d better not. Of course I would tell you, but this way I’m keeping my word, and I’m the only one who could get in trouble.” She goes to the back door and picks up her coat. “I’m going to go help Dad in the barn,” she says.
I stare at the door as it closes, and then head back, hoping that my mother and grandmother are behaving themselves.
I make it to the door of the visiting room before I remember the tray, so I have to hurry back to the kitchen for it. It clinks a little bit more than it should on my way in, but I manage to smile, and hopefully I look normal. l can’t actually think about Wren because I’m handing around little glass dishes and little silver spoons.
Mom cheers up as everyone takes a little dish. She always breathes a sigh of satisfaction and relaxes just a little when something is completely right and proper. Anen, on the other hand, isn’t so happy or relaxed. Her mouth is just a little bit tighter, and she takes miniscule bites, just scraping the top of the flan with her spoon. She pretends to like it though, “Isn’t this beautiful flan?” she asks. “Really, you outdid yourself.”
Which makes mom smile and look like she might actually like her mother-in-law. I don’t believe it, though. There must be some reason why Anen is being so nice.
“You know,” she says as if she had just noticed, “today is such a nice day. I’d like to go for a walk around the farm and get a good look at it.”
My mother looks surprised. I can guess why. It isn’t typical for visitors to suddenly interrupt the visit and go for a walk. “Well, it can be a bit muddy in places.” She seems at a loss, and the mud is just a starting place to buy her a few seconds to think. Are you sure that you’d be all right by yourself?”
“Oh, Kestrel will come with me to make sure that I don’t run into any trouble.” She turns to me, “Won’t you?” She reaches over and squeezes my hand.
1) Going on a walk with Anen wasn’t on my list of favorite things to do today, but how can I say no? At least it would separate her from my mother for a while.
http://kestrelbook.blogspot.com/2012/08/209.html
2) I look at Anen’s expectant face and realize that I have had enough. I can’t add one more thing. Besides, I don’t really have a coat right now. I need some time to try to get the blood stains out before I go anywhere where people will notice my coat.
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