“No, sir,” Calla whispered.
It was her eyes that she was worried about too.
She found out two days later.
They were damaged, but in low light she should be okay.
Albert brought her even darker sunglasses that wrapped and sealed around the sides.
“You keep these in your pocket all the time, young lady.”
Calla’s lips were almost normal sized, but like the rest of her, they were raw and peeling.
“Yes, Albert.
I think that was the first time I didn’t have them on me in years.
I’ve gotten so used to staying in the house.”
From downstairs they heard a demanding yell.
“Why didn’t someone call me?”
Feet thumped up the staircase and down the hall.
“Calla?
Damn it, Liam.
Why didn’t you tell me?” Kyle said angrily.
“Stop that, Kyle.
I told them not to.
There was nothing you could do for me.
Now, come here and give me a kiss… cheek only, and not too hard,” Calla said.
She felt his lips… and tears?
Calla realized that he was truly panicked.
“Oh, Kyle,” she spoke softly.
“I’m fine.
It’s just a bad old sunburn.”
“God, when I saw Albert’s car out front… and Marigold’s eyes are all red from crying, and she said you were so sick… god,” he finished.
“Yeah, well I guess we all know why outside gardening was rubbed off the slate for me pretty early.”
Calla stopped herself from smiling again.
She still could not make out faces, just blurry shapes of people.
She saw Cynthia’s gown outlining her body by the candlelight, though.
“It was beautiful, Cynthia… all the colors.
I’m so glad I got to experience it… just once.
It’s different from looking at them through sunglasses or windows, and pictures don’t come close.”
Calla turned to where Kyle’s voice had been.
“Speaking of flowers, what did you bring me?”
“Oh, shit.
She’s still in the car,” Kyle stammered, and he ran from the room.
Calla was bedridden for over a week, and when she could finally get up, even her loose caftan gown… she had taken up Cynthia’s choice of dress… rubbed against the baby pink skin from where she had blistered and peeled.
Remarkably, Albert was right and she did not scar.
Everyone treated her like a porcelain creation that might break.
“It was just a sunburn, for goodness sakes,” Calla finally huffed in exasperation.
Still, she had to admit that even her bottom was sore when she sat down.
The little redhead with all the freckles, Cosmos, was cute as a button.
The brunette Kyle brought back stared at her through slightly slanted eyes.
Her black hair fell almost to her knees, and she was barely five feet tall but with a perfect woman shape for her size.
Wherever did you find her?” Calla asked.
“Working in a mall coffee shop,” Kyle replied.
“Do you like her?”
“Of course.
She’s like a little China doll,” Calla replied.
“I swear, other than mother washing her, she hasn’t been touched.
I don’t know if she’s strong or bitchy… nothing.”
Kyle smiled.
He had been sure the second he saw the girl that Calla would choose her.
“She’s perfect, Kyle.”
Calla turned to Liam.
“I’m sorry.
Cosmos is adorable, but Kyle’s flower is just too precious.
Did you name her, Cynthia?”
“No.
I thought about this, and I decided you should start your own garden.
I can cut flowers and bring them inside for you to select from,” Cynthia suggested.
“Oh, that won’t be necessary for this one, Cynthia.
Her name will be Jasmine, like the flowers on the south wall.”
Calla smiled and closed her eyes, envisioning the delicate petals.
“You remember?” Cynthia asked.
“Almost all of it, before my eyes got too blurry.
It was a once in a lifetime moment for me,” Calla answered.
“Let’s hope so,” Liam replied.
“I’ve been to nurseries and other gardens at sunset, but to see them blooming in the sunlight…” Calla got a wistful expression on her face.
She shook out of it and looked at Jasmine.
She would be pretty with pink stones set in her collar.
“Sloan, you will help me with her, won’t you?”
Sloan had made a rare appearance upstairs to make sure that Calla truly was all right.
He had apologized to Liam earlier, because he still felt responsible for her painful session.
Calla continued, “I want you to show me how to train the positions.
Marigold and I were working on it before I got sick, but I really need your instruction.
Cynthia and I have decided that it’s where I feel comfortable in the scheme of things.”
“You want to work with me?”
Sloan was suspicious she was trying to appease him.
“I don’t have a strong enough manner for more physical training, and I’m good with patience and perseverance like you are.”
Calla walked between Liam and Kyle into dinner, and she caught Ethel peeking at her again.
“I’m still not a ghost, Ethel,” she laughed softly.
“I’m glad, mum,” she heard from behind the door.
Ethel brought desert to the table personally.
She had made an angel’s food cake with lemon sauce, and stared warily at the pale pink girl.
“Touch, Ethel, just be careful.
I’m still a little sore.”
Calla held out a hand, and Ethel once more let one finger touch the pale skin.
“Okay?”
“Yes, mum.”
She quickly dashed back into the kitchen.
“You coddle her nonsense superstitions,” Kyle said.
“Her beliefs are as serious to her as ours are.
It’s kind of sweet, in a way.
I mean, she doesn’t think I’m creepy,” Calla reasoned.
Liam rolled his eyes.
“She thinks you’re a ghost, Calla,” he reminded her.
“A fae, Master Liam,” Ethel called from the kitchen.
“Thank you, Ethel,” Calla called back.
Things returned to normal and the new flowers began to receive proper training.
Alexander joined Cynthia in the morning, but he disappeared to train his private collection for her in the afternoons.
It was while he was working with his collection for Cynthia, that Albert called with his shocking diagnosis on Cynthia’s unsettling behavior.
“It’s your fault, Alexander.”
“
My
fault.
How the devil is it
my
fault?” he asked incredulously.
“You have treated her and named her your princess.
I do not remember in all the time I’ve known you for you to ever let her be challenged by a woman.
You encouraged her five year obsession to create those hideous flowers as reflections of her step-family.
This Orchid was a representation of the mother whom she loved… and the girl turned on her, making her feel the abandonment again.
Need I go on?”
Alexander looked out to the garden and sighed.
“Albert, is she sick or unstable?
I need to know what to do for her.”
“I think your plans with Orchid will fix that part of it.
Give her the other one.”
“She’ll kill her,” Alexander said flatly.
“No, but I expect she will make her suffer.
Let her retaliate against the treatment Ava and her daughters subjected her to.
She never got to prove herself to her real tormentors, and we both know that Cynthia’s controlling nature demands retribution.”
“I’ll think about it, Albert.
I’m not sure that I could handle her flying into a frenzy again.”
“I doubt she will, now that the initial shock has worn off.
I expect a part of her will believe she is treating the girl in such a way because she had been a threat to Sloan.
From what you’ve described, the policewoman is a total unsaleable loss, anyway.”
“Oh, she’s a beast all right.
Just like with Ava and her daughters, even the makeup and screwing with her figure could not hide it.”
After he hung up, Alexander looked across the stables to where Ethel was washing the ponies.
“Present,” he ordered, and the girls dropped down on one knee in perfect unison.
“They did much better today, sir.
Orchid’s legs is getting stronger, and she’s following Passion.
I only counted two lead changes they was off on,” Ethel informed him.
Alexander noted the two red welts across the girls’ bottoms.
Ethel was a hard taskmaster when it came to perfection.
She considered the ponies a team, and if one made a mistake, they both suffered for it.
Ethel worked them between breakfast and lunch, and Alexander took over in the afternoons.
By evening, the girls were exhausted, and that was when Sloan and Daryl came to train them in sexual performance.
Passion had adjusted rather well to the odd circumstances.
With the rubber bit in her mouth she did not have to speak, and once she learned the unusual gait the woman demanded, she got to do what she loved most… run.
In the evening, there was the added benefit of having a handsome man fondle her.
To Passion, the predictable routine and not having to deal with people or make decisions was comforting.
Orchid had taken a bit more persuasion.
She balked at being teamed with the other girl, and resisted being placed in a position she could not control.
Alexander finally discovered she was fixated on him, and that she would do practically anything he asked of her as long as he acknowledged her.
Eventually, the mindless training and conditions would lessen her need.
“Let’s see how they look rigged up,” Alexander suggested.
“Up.”
The two girls again rose in unison and stared straight in front of them.
Neither of them wanted to be responsible for them suffering the blinders again.
Sloan had made them beautiful harnesses with Cynthia’s tiger eye jewels on the bridals, and Daryl had adjusted a pony cart.
After Ethel had rigged the girls up, Alexander walked in front of them.
Though they stared ahead, he could see the pride in the matching mahogany eyes, and the jewels enhanced the gold in them.
“You look magnificent,” Alexander stated.
He chuckled when they both pawed the hay with their left boots, and he saw Orchid trying to smile around her bit.
“As long as we have them rigged up, I think we’ll try them once around the track.”
When they returned to the stable, Alexander decided that they would be ready to present to Cynthia by the weekend.
It was when Alexander had placed Orchid on the pyramid, stepped back and studied her figure, that the thought had come to him.
He had seen that same shape before, when Cynthia and he had visited Preston’s estate on Six Masters Island last spring for the races.
The winning pony was from Chayton’s stables and named Pretty Baby, and she had the same lean look as Orchid.
Chayton was raised with his sisters on a nearby estate, but he had left to the Island to escape the structured society his parents were a part of.
Alexander knew that Cynthia had been talking to Chayton about the welfare of his sisters since their parents had died.
Alexander expressed his sympathies and told him his plans concerning Orchid.
He could hear the smile on the Indian’s face when he spoke.
“Cinderella finally gets her carriage,” Chayton noted.
“I’m busy with our move, but I’ll tell Antonio to expect your call.
He’ll probably have you talk with Arturo, also.
He trains for dressage instead of racing, and I think that will be the look and discipline you’ll want for your pony.”
Alexander spoke with Antonio, and after explaining Orchid’s nature… and turning down a rather ambitious offer from the trainer to purchase her… Antonio suggested that they get a runner with a calmer disposition to pair with her.
With Antonio and Arturo’s guidance, Ethel and Alexander were turning the two girls into pleasure ponies for Cynthia, and Sloan and Daryl were working the specifics for a fine carriage to take them to Winter Display.
Alexander thought about his conversation with Albert, and he decided to follow his advice.
He discussed it with Ethel on the way back to the house to see what she thought about it.
“I think he’s right, sir.
Cynthia never did get to really show that horrible woman what she become… rub her nose in it, I mean.”
Alexander looked over at the garden while they were walking, and he whispered, “I thought she had gone completely insane, Ethel.
It was as if she didn’t even hear me.
I don’t know what I would have done if Calla hadn’t stepped in.”