This chapter picks up shortly after the
other one left off. Marine and Mrs. Wright are wandering in the
flower gardens just after breakfast. Mrs. Wright asks Marine not to
be mad at her for lying because she doesn't want to be a burden to
anyone. Marine assures Mrs. Wright that she's not a burden, but Mrs.
Wright doesn't believe her. And why would she? She's had all this
conditioning that she's a burden. It's going to take awhile for her
to stop believing that, and Conrad will have to stop acting like she
is. However unlikely that is. Mrs. Wright also tells Marine that
it's okay for Flora and Annie to be there because Marine will be
there now to help her. Marine realizes that Mrs. Wright is
pretending that Marine is going to stay there forever, just like how
she's pretending that Flora and Annie are good at their jobs. Then
Marine starts wondering what it'd be like to stay there forever. But
no, that's silly. She can't be doing that. No way. Sigh.
Anyway...
While Mrs. Wright is taking a nap that
afternoon, Marine calls her aunt to bring her up to speed and ask if
her aunt can find anyone to take over for Marine once she leaves.
The aunt promises to look into it and asks Marine about Christmas.
Marine's not sure if she'll be able to go to her family's for
Christmas, but thinks it might work if she can bring Mrs. Wright.
This is, of course, fine with Marine's aunt. I guess shortly after
this call Mrs. Wright wakes up and now they're going to wrap
presents. All of the presents are expensive and awesome because Mrs.
Wright bought them from Marine's aunt's store. There's a diamond
pendant in particular that Mrs. Wright is worried about and debated
about for awhile before buying. She asks Marine if it's good enough,
and Marine assures her that it is. This pendant is for Helena
Wilcox, you see.
Jump to the next evening when Marine
meets Helena. Mrs. Wright is asleep and Marine is curled up in the
sun room reading, what else, a romance novel. I wonder if the
romance novel she was reading was one I've done on this blog, and if
she gets as frustrated by the characters as I do. Who needs a fourth
wall? Anyway, Helena is kind of predatory and scary without actually
doing anything. Well, also, Conrad asks if she should be in bed
since it's late, and Marine is dressed more like a teenager than the
super-mature and adult 23 year old that she is. Yes, because all 23
year olds are super-mature and adult, especially Marine.
Anyway, Conrad introduces Marine and
Helena and Helena is not the happy, squishy kind of personality you'd
want to be unexpectedly sharing a room with. She's brittle and hard
and...it's all in the way her eyes look and she carries herself, I
guess. Well, that and she gets Conrad to kiss her primarily to
unnerve Marine, I'm guessing. Conrad pours them all a drink, sherry
for the ladies and scotch for himself. Marine gulps down her glass.
She's feeling funny and dizzy. I'm pretty sure that's not the
alcohol. Anyway, Marine puts her glass back on the liquor cabinet
and escapes, saying it's time she went to bed. On her way up, she
sees that Mrs. Wright is still awake. Mrs. Wright is flustered
because Helena is in the house. I would be too. Marine sits with her
until she falls asleep, then heads off to her room.
The next morning dawns bright and
beautiful. Marine heads out the to beach, in a yellow bikini this
time. The surf is too crazy at the beach right behind Conrad's
house, so she wanders for a bit, looking for somewhere nice to swim.
She finds a place with some chillaxed water, and swims for a bit.
Then Conrad walks out on the beach and yells something to her. She
waves, but she can't hear him. He yells something again, and then
Marine is violently pulled under. She's caught in a strong rip tide
and that's no good. I was kind of thinking it would be a shark or
something, but this makes way more sense. Anyway, Marine tries to
float on top of it so that hopefully she can ride a wave back to
shore, but there's a nasty undertow that messes that plan up. Marine
is under the water, unable to get her head above it. She doesn't see
her life flash before her eyes, possibly because that would take the
focus off of Conrad saving her.
So, now he's holding her above the
water while she gasps and recovers her breath. She puts her head on
his shoulder and he strokes her hair. Then he bends his head toward
her and lightly brushes her lips with his. Hey! You've got a
romantic commitment, dude. Back off, or break it off with Helena the
Hunter. Anyway, Marine is totally okay with him kissing her, and she
kind of wants to bang him, but then he flips her on her back and
swims back to shore with her. Good thing that rip tide and undertow
only showed up when they were necessary to make Marine a damsel in
distress.
Back on land, Conrad is not so nice.
In fact, he's super pissed. Apparently there was a sign warning
about the rip tide. So, here's Conrad's reaction to Marine almost
dying: screaming at her, taking her by the shoulders and shaking her,
and pushing his point so far that she starts crying. Once she starts
crying, he changes tactics, and holds her close and gets much nicer.
So, I checked and he only fits four of the seventeen signs of an
abusive partner (force during an argument, controlling behavior, dual
personality “Dr. Jekyll Mr. Hyde”, and isolation). Still, I'm
going to be on the lookout for this as this novel unfolds. This guy
is not showing his tender feelings well.
So, Conrad wraps an arm around her and
starts walking her back to the house. Marine likes the way she fits
against him, then reminds herself that Conrad's involved with Helena,
which makes her shiver. Sure, she remembers that now, not when he
kissed her. Anyway, the shiver causes Conrad to pick her up and
carry her. She doesn't want anyone from the house to see them, so
she asks him to set her down, but he won't. He carries her to her
bedroom and sets her down on her bed. I can tell this is a bit more
held back in tone than the last novel I snarked, because they don't
immediately have sex.
He smiles at her and Marine's various
inner organs do acrobatics. Conrad tells her to stay put and that
he'll run her a warm bath. After a bit, he comes back, picks her up,
and carries her to the bathroom. Also, he used half of the bubble
bath, instead of just a capful. His justification? “A devilish
expression gleamed in his eyes. 'So I got carried away.'” Hmph.
Flirty McFlirts-a-lot-after-screaming-a-lot. I mean, I suppose it's
possible he's in an open relationship with Helena the Hunter, but I
don't think that's likely. She seems to be pretty possessive of him.
Anyway, then Conrad kisses Marine's nose. She wishes it had been
her lips, and he can tell, which Marine sees he can tell and that
puts her out of sorts again. Oh, that's when he sets her down.
Goodness. I know she's short and tiny, but Conrad must be pretty
strong to hold her up for so long. Anyway, now that she's standing
on her own power, Conrad picks up some bubbles and puts them on top
of her head. Marine reaches to grab more and throw them at Conrad,
but he's already leaving the bathroom. She calls him a coward and he
tells her to enjoy her bath before closing the bedroom door. I was
wondering if he was going to let her bathe alone.
As Marine soaks in the bath all sorts
of lovely thoughts about Conrad and how it felt when he was holding
her fill her mind. But no. That's bad and wrong. Scrub the
feelings away! She's reminding me a bit of Lady Macbeth here, but
she apparently doesn't scrub her skin raw, so that's a plus. Anyway,
then Marine gets out of the bath and gets dressed and such. Mrs.
Wright is still in bed. She really doesn't want to go downstairs
today. Eventually, Marine finds out it's because Helena the Hunter
is there. Seems reasonable to me. Also, it sounds like Mrs. Wright
has a very bad feeling about Helena the Hunter: “I know what you're
thinking. You think I'm a foolish old woman! You think I don't like
Helena because she wants to marry my grandson. You think I'm
deliberately trying to make a nuisance of myself so that Conrad will
worry and fuss over me. You think I'm trying to put a rift between
him and Helena so that they will never marry!” Wow. More on who I
think she had been talking to about in a bit.
Marine assures Mrs. Wright that she
doesn't think any of those things at all. Marine decides that Mrs.
Wright is in no state to eat in the dining room, so she'll bring up
breakfast for them both, and they can get out of the house by going
shopping today in Manly. Mrs. Wright's alternative had been to stay
in her room until Helena left. Mrs. Wright agrees with Marine's
plan. Marine gives the condition that they eat in the dining room
with everyone else tomorrow, then she heads downstairs to get the two
of them breakfast. On the way, she overhears Helena the Hunter
talking with Flora. I'll give you the highlights: Flora used to work
for Helena's mom, Flora is here for “a good cause”, and Helena
wishes that Marine weren't there (probably in her function of looking
after Mrs. Wright).
Well, I'm guessing that Mrs. Wright
confided in Flora or Annie her misgivings about Helena the Hunter and
whoever she talked to made her think that she was being a silly old
woman about it, when she's probably very right. Anyway, Marine backs
up so they won't know she was listening, makes a bit of noise, and
enters the kitchen like she didn't just overhear them. She explains
that she's grabbing a bit of breakfast for herself and Mrs. Wright
and that they'll be gone all day. She pours two glasses of juice and
grabs some bacon. When she's headed back up the hallway, Conrad
leaves his study. He is, possibly, disappointed that she and Mrs.
Wright won't be eating with them. Marine explains their plans again.
Conrad asks if she should be shopping after what happened this
morning. She doesn't look well. Marine lies and says that she's
fine. There's a lot of that going around in this house. Oh, we also
get the information that Conrad hired Flora and Annie simply because
Helena the Hunter recommended them. Well, that explains a lot. I'm
still not sure why he hasn't looked for some better housekeepers who
will actually keep the house clean, though.
All right, my predictions for the next
chapter: Mrs. Wright will find the perfect addition to her knife
collection when they're out shopping. Mrs. Wright shows Marine how
the weapon works with a quick run through against an imaginary
opponent. The shopkeeper is so impressed, he gives Mrs. Wright a
discount and manages to pass her a secret message. Marine finds a
new bikini that's red and yellow. Also, their lunch is far
better than what Flora and Annie cook.
Also, I'm a little worried that Flora
and Annie are there to harm Mrs. Wright. Maybe they weren't supposed
to kill her, just get her feeble enough so Conrad would put her in a
home. Of course, I don't know why Helena the Hunter would think that
Mrs. Wright could or would stop her from marrying Conrad and getting
his money. Maybe there's something in Conrad's will about caring for
his grandmother. Or something. I'm sure it will become clear,
hidden between Conrad's and Marine's flirtations. Eventually.
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