Page 83 of Charlie
He nodded and River, who was right behind us, didn’t need any further instruction than that. She climbed onto the bed and spooned Nathan.
Turning to me, Liv gestured for me to follow her and once we were outside, she spoke in a soft voice the way you do around people who are sick or sleeping. “I’m going to stay with them until Nathan feels better.”
Her concern for Nathan touched me. I couldn’t remember anyone loving me so unconditionally as a child, and Liv hadn’t even known him for that long. “Okay, do you want me to stay as well?”
Closing the door to the room, she wrapped her arms around her waist. “Charles, I’m worried for the kids. What if Nathan told the truth and Conor really did tell him to go meditate in the pond?”
“That’s crazy. Why would he do that?”
Her eyes were alight with fire. “For the same reason that he’d ask Sara to put a gun to her head and pull the trigger.”
“But Conor didn’t even know Nathan was out there.”
“Yes, he did. I saw him looking out the window from the schoolroom. He knew!”
I rubbed my forehead feeling myself getting defensive. My mentor had already suffered with people spreading untrue rumors about him. The last thing he needed was us insiders to turn on him. “Conor probably just heard you shouting and running through the house. That’s why he went to the window to see what was happening.”
“But why would he go to the window to the back yard? Why not come downstairs to see what was wrong?”
“Saffron sweetie, you’re overthinking this. You heard what Conor said. Nathan has a history of creating drama. We shouldn’t fall for it.”
“Fall for it?” Her tone was incredulous. “That boy in there almost died trying to prove his loyalty to O’Brien.”
The accusation was so far out that I scoffed. “No, he didn’t. Conor had nothing to do with it.”
She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, but didn’t speak.
“You really choose to believe Nathan?” I asked.
“Yes!”
I was stunned and took a step back. “Well, I’m taking the word of the adult. Conor wouldn’t lie.”
We stood staring at each other with a wall of frustration suddenly feeling like a physical barrier between us.
Footsteps made us turn to see Ciara with a tray in her hands. “I’ve got the tea and some toast for him.”
Liv took it and I opened the door for her to enter the room. Ciara and I didn’t question that Liv was the one to care for him. After all, she had slept in Nathan’s and River’s room since she got here, and she’d been the one to pull Nathan out of the pond. I was, however, upset that Nathan’s desperate call for attention had come between Liv and me.
“I’m taking a shower. I’ll talk to you later?”
She nodded before closing the door, but there was no smile from her and I got the feeling that she wasn’t happy with me.
CHAPTER 21
When Adults Lie
Liv
When the Red Manor had been built for the first family who lived here in the late eighteen hundreds, River’s and Nathan’s room had housed five children. Their governess had slept in the room next door, which was now O’Brien’s room. Nathan had told me as much on my first night sleeping in here when I’d asked about the connecting door.
After Nathan fell asleep that first night, River had told me that both she and Nathan suffered from nightmares and that’s why Conor insisted on keeping them close so they could run to him if they needed comforting.
I’d only experienced Nathan’s having a few nightmares in the time I’d shared their room, and both times he’d woken up screaming about a yellow snake in his bed. I looked to calm him down, but of course there was nothing there.
River didn’t scream in her dreams. She made small whimpers, and I found that the easiest way to calm her down was to hum a melody and hold her hand.
As the younger sister in my own family, I hadn’t had small siblings to care for like this, but I found that it came natural to me. In fact, my bond with the children was growing fast.
