AllFreeNovel
Share Us
With that she took off and Dean was left scratching his head. Definitely an alien landing pad. The girl spoke in some crazy language he’d never heard before. As she took off toward the man lumbering across the yard, Dean turned and walked back to where his father and older brothers stood.
“Daddy, what’s new money?”
***
Jillian
Nineteen Years Ago
Jillian slid her hand into the older man’s, his firm grip both comforting and slightly annoying. “It took a lot longer for her to notice this time.” She couldn’t help but skip as they traveled back to her house. Certainly not from happiness at returning to the exhausting and boring luncheon her mother was hosting, but from the boy she just met.
He was nice and had a funny smile.
The gray-haired man at her side turned his head toward her, his lips twitching. “You know you shouldn’t run away from your mother’s party.”
“Henry, what time is it?”
He turned his opposite wrist and glanced at the silver banded watch. “It’s nearly five.”
Jillian nodded and slowed her skip to a walk as they crossed from the thick grass to the concrete walk through the expansive, perfectly manicured garden. “Henry, I left almost two hours ago. She didn’t notice I was gone for two hours.”
The threatening smile disappeared from his face and his lips turned down. “Your mother is very busy, Jillian.”
Even at her young age, she knew it wasn’t the complete truth. There wasn’t a question that her mother held a constant list of tasks that needed to be done and events like today meant that socializing was on that to-do list as a high priority. But even on the rare time that Helena Monroe didn’t have an auxiliary meeting, or a fundraiser for the children’s hospital, Jillian knew that she didn’t register on her radar.
That is, not until she needed to show her off in a frilly, fancy gown with expertly styled hair that made her look more like the nearly untouchable dolls lining her bedroom curio than a seven-year-old girl.
Jillian tugged at the older man’s hand as they closed in on the door and Henry turned, dropping to a knee in front of her on his pristinely ironed black dress pants, a formal uniform her mother insisted upon for the events Helena threw under the guise of raising money for a very worthy cause, but one where the true emphasis was on networking and social climbing.
“What do you need, Miss Jillian?”
A familiar list unrolled in her mind, now slightly altered to include playing with Dean every day at the very top. Instead of voicing any of those items, she curled the list back up and tucked it into the recesses of her brain. She released his hand and turned to one side and then the other. “Did I get all the dust off my dress, Henry?”
He stood and smiled, offering a curt nod. “Yes, Miss Jillian. You look like a princess as always.” He offered the crook of his arm and Jillian dutifully slipped her small hand inside as he led her through the doors.
Helena Monroe stood a few feet away, laughing the laugh that Jillian had caught her mother practicing in an effort to make it sound real. Her flawlessly styled auburn hair, nearly an identical shade as Jillian’s, cascaded down in waterfall curls against her bare skin in the backless emerald gown.
At least that’s what the stylist had said when he declared Helena ready for the party. Jillian wasn’t sure she understood it all. How can hair look like water?
A small wave of relief washed over Jillian just before another arrow of hurt pricked her little heart. Her absence had been briefly noticed by her mother, but certainly hadn’t caused any concern.And her father was most likely holed up in his office with a handful of other men smoking stinky cigars and playing some game with cards he’d once declared was not a game for children when she’d asked to join.
Henry had been dispatched to handle it. Problem solved.
Unshed tears burned at the corners of her eyes and Jillian quickly blinked them away, an art form she’d mastered before she even begun Kindergarten. She lifted one shoulder and offered Henry a small smile before crossing the room to take up her expected residence on the hard, uncomfortable settee.
She kept her mind busy with fantastical stories of everything from heroes on horses to fearsome dragons, tamed by unlikely princesses. The time ticked by much faster as she weaved the stories in her head, lost in a wonderland while the party wound down around her.
Her mother appeared in front of her with one hand out. “Come, Jillian, it’s time to say goodbye to our guests.”
Jillian hopped to her feet and obediently took the older woman’s hand. They stood at the door with her father flanking her other side. One by one the people who had attended the charity event, the same ones who were at every staid, boring party her mother threw, departed with light hugs and air kisses and occasional pats on Jillian’s head.
When the door closed on the final departure, Helena laid a hand on her hip and turned to Jillian. “Where did you disappear to this time?”
She hesitated a brief moment before responding. “I met the new neighbors, Mother. Well, one of them. There were a lot of boys.”
Her mother rolled her eyes and tossed the few locks of hair that had fallen over her shoulder. “That was…congenial of you, darling.”
Jillian blinked several times, wondering what congeni-whatever was, but bit her tongue rather than ask. “Thank you, Mother.” With that she pulled on her father’s arm and lifted to her tippy-toes to peck him on the cheek. “I’m going to go get ready for bed now.”
