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Kit seemed to squirm and looked away, and Stephanie felt he revealed more than he planned. Unsure of what that was, Stephanie didn’t push for answers.
“Tell me of my siblings,” Kit begged.
An immense wave of relief swept over Stephanie as he gave her an escape from the awkwardness that had sprung up between them.
With a grin, she started regaling Kit with the antics the others had told her about. And they sat there laughing as she spoke about the tricks they were playing on each other.
???
Stephanie recoiled as the sun began to set. No doubt, as soon as it did, Justin would once again resume his attacks.
“Are you okay?” Kit asked from where he stood in the kitchen. He was cooking their dinner with Stephanie instructing him. She was rather amused that he was willing to learn to cook, but Kit seemed to take to it like a duck to water. Tonight, he was making sausage and mash. They’d been laughing over his mashing efforts, as Kit had seen it as a chance to flex his muscles. After he’d wiped down the walls and worktop twice, he learned not to be so eager in his attempts. He was now frying the sausages and jumping as hot fat spat at him.
“Just wearying of Justin. Why won’t he bugger off?”
“Bugger off?” Kit chuckled, and Stephanie grinned.
“Yes, bugger off. Honestly, he can take a long walk off a short pier for all I care,” Stephanie elaborated.
Kit laughed again. “Why don’t you say how you feel?”
Stephanie chewed that over and took Kit at his very words.
“I’ve never hated anyone until Justin. I’ve disliked people and often avoided them, but hate was an emotion I never felt. If Justin would stay dead, he’d do the world a huge service, but he refuses to twaddle off into the night. The level of loathing he spews towards Cole, I’ll never understand or condone. I think at one point, Justin was hoping I’d hate Cole because of the beatings I took. Instead, it just reaffirmed what a good man Cole was and what an utter scumbag Justin was.”
“Keep going,” Kit encouraged.
“I despise what Justin did to me. It’s unacceptable for anyone, regardless of gender or age, to endure such suffering. I’d like to take a huge fly swatter and swat Justin all over the place with it. Or I want to shrink him down to a finger-sized person and flick him constantly to make him splat against the walls. For once, I want Justin to suffer how he made the rest of us feel instead ofbeing this stupid monster he’s turned into. And I wish, I really wish, I’d never met him!”
Stephanie held Kit’s eyes as he chuckled.
“Finger splat him?” Kit inquired and laughed.
Stephanie bit the inside of her cheek and then laughed with him. “Maybe a little extreme?” she asked.
“Not at all. You were rather polite, actually. My thoughts include torture, blood, and guts. Men like Justin existed in my time. The women had no hope of escaping their unhappy marriages. The terrible fact about my era was females were property. They had no rights, and leaving an abusive husband was certainly not one of them. Hell, Stephanie, they didn’t even have the right to the children they birthed.
“This age is so much more enlightened. It used to worry all of us about whom CeeCee would marry. Because we’d tear anyone apart who’d harm her, but finding a good, genuine man in our time was difficult. They existed, of course, but were hard to find. Loyalty was expected in a marriage only until the heir and spare were born. Then, as long as they were discrete, affairs were permitted. Because their relationships were unhappy.
“Lucian used to wonder what would happen if we made our own marriages instead of arranged ones. Would society be a happier place? By observing the present, I notice the abundance of divorces. However, people can freely choose happiness. None of this legal wife beating or abuse because women have rights,” Kit mused as he turned the sausages.
“Your family was rather ahead of your time,” Stephanie replied.
“Yes. Lucian forbade all of us to marry for duty. He told us to wed only for love. And he was ready to throttle anyone who attempted to trap CeeCee. Several tried only to meet his and Benedict’s fists.” Kit chuckled.
“Your brothers fought to defend her honour?” Stephanie asked.
“Oh, we all did. Once she turned sixteen, the men came sniffing around her like she was honey to a bee. And they would encounter five very protective brothers as well. CeeCee was a rare prize, rich, beautiful, intelligent, and of noble blood to an old name. Many tried trapping her, and all failed. Most learned that CeeCee would not be coaxed or bullied into taking lonely walks at night with them. And she had no qualms about making that loudly plain either.”
“She was your twin?”
“Yes, I was born first. Cecilia was the youngest and sometimes the fiercest of us all. Even Lucian said he’d shake when she lost her temper. In battle, she was a thing of grace and deadly beauty. Like us boys, CeeCee grew up with a knife in hand before she could walk,” Kit mused.
Stephanie realised he was engulfed in his memories. And she allowed him that time. Kit clearly needed to remember his siblings, especially his twin. Losing CeeCee must have been akin to losing a vital piece of himself. But now he knew she existed and was making Cole’s life a living hell. Stephanie smiled at that image. She guessed Cole would have been besotted by a ghost living with him at first. Until she began her pranks.
“What makes you smile?” Kit asked as he removed the pan from the heat.
“CeeCee torturing Cole. If I know Cole, and I do, he would have bought lots of expensive ghost-hunting equipment, and I bet she’s played havoc with him. Having a real spook would have thrilled Cole. And I wager CeeCee blew his expectations out of the water. I imagine he’s sulking now.” Stephanie grinned.
