Page 47 of Prior Claim
Would Linda still look at them the same if she knew?
Ellisandre followed Alice and Dana. Linda was sitting at her makeup table, foundation on and half her contour done. She was just setting Dana down from a hug.
“Okay, bathroom, one last time,” Alice said to Dana. She gave Ellisandre a look. “I think we’re ready.”
“I’ll meet you at the door in a few minutes.”
Alice’s eyes widened a fraction, then tightened in understanding. Damn, the girl was too observant. Alice shut the door behind her as she left.
“I’m not sure when I’ll get used to seeing you carrying stuffed animals,” Linda said, nodding at the giant giraffe still in Ellisandre’s arms.
Ellisandre set the comfort toy down on Linda’s bed and sank onto the end of the mattress. “What if I told you I’ve never been completely honest with you?”
Linda looked at Ellisandre for a long moment, then turned back to her mirror, picking up one of her small, stiff brushes for eyeshadow. “I know you’ve never been particularly honest with me.”
Ellisandre raised an eyebrow, meeting Linda’s gaze in the mirror.
Linda smiled back without turning around and started to apply brown powder to her lids. “It’s not that you lie. You just leave holes in stories wide enough for me to move a housing development into. And that’s how you’re honest. You leave the hole there, and you don’t pretend you didn’t. Like when John disappeared. I asked you about it; you just looked at me and said nothing. You didn’t lie.”
Ellisandre raised their eyebrow higher.
Linda chuckled and leaned forward, checking herself up close, and blending. “I know you did something to him; I just don’t know what. And I know he’s not the only one you’ve done things to. I know that you never talk about the time between when we first met and when you found me again. And I don’t think I’ll ever ask.”
“Why not?”
Linda turned around on the stool and lowered the brush, meeting Ellisandre’s gaze. “Whatever happened, whoever you had to be, whatever you had to do—” Linda shrugged, as if trying to encompass more than she could cover with words. “I know who you are to me. Am I ever worried that you’ll hurt someone? Yes, it crosses my mind. You’re not a safe person, Ellisandre. You’re not even what most people would call a good person. You have too much agency. You care too much.” Linda sighed and looked down. “You’re going to train Alice. I know it. I’ll fight you about it. She likes to be fought over. You like the repartie. Alice has a bit of you in her. Our family is safer for you teaching her some of what you know. If you’re going to be a person who cares that much, if you’re going to have that much agency, it’s better to be skilled enough to carry out whatever you’re going to do without getting caught.”
“So you don’t care that I don’t tell you?”
Linda cocked her head to the side. “Care? Ellisandre, I care for you. I care that things happened you can’t talk about. I don’t care that you don’t tell me because I know you. I know who you are to me. I know how you teach Ash to alter his clothes, and that you gave Misha a downpayment on a condo a few years ago. I know that you can’t abide bad coffee and you think fast fashion should die in ignominy, preferably on fire.”
Ellisandre lowered their eyes, digesting everything for a moment. “You’re not jealous?”
Linda stood up, crossed the room, and knelt at Ellisandre’s feet. She laid her hands on Ellisandre’s wrist. “Jealous? No. I’m not even sure I have the right to wish whatever happened to you didn’t happen. I respect who you are. And you are who you are because of whatever choices you made and whatever events that have taken place.”
Ellisandre put their other hand over Linda’s. “You might meet my other world soon. I might need to go away for periods. I won’t be able to talk about it.”
Linda gazed up at Ellisandre unfazed.“All right.”
Ellisandre squeezed Linda’s hand.
“I know you’re not choosing to leave us,” Linda said. “This other world of yours might not let you make promises, so I’ll make one instead. You’re my person. And you will always have a place in my life.”
“Even if I scare your dates away?”
“I’m waiting for the one who can stand up to you.”
Ellisandre laughed. They squeezed Linda’s hand again. “If I disappear, it’s because I was taken, not because I left.”
“All right.” Linda’s face stayed trusting, forcing calm into the moment.
Ellisandre nodded. They glanced at the clock on the wall. “You have your eight thirty. Tristan is going with you. I briefed him and he has all the paperwork.”
“Thank you.”
“And I made him buy a new suit. So hopefully HR doesn’t get a complaint over that.”
“He has a crush on you. I doubt it.”
