Page 12 of Castle

I carried some of Castle’s food on a plate and began climbing the stairs. When I reached his room, I heard someone talking, so I stopped outside of his bedroom, not wanting to pry into the conversation.

“Do you understand what I’m saying? I know you can.” The maid’s tone was commanding. I recognized her as Barbara. “Don’t act smart with me! You tell that girl something, and I don’t need to remind you what happens after that.”

I was appalled by what I was hearing and how the maid was talking to Castle.

What didn’t she want me to find out?

“Are you going to eat your dinner or not?” she scowled.

The way she was treating her boss horrified me. Even though Castle wasn’t exactly in the right state of his mind, it didn’t change the fact that he was still the owner and the eldest son of the Montgomerys. Before the boating accident, Castle was theone handling everything here. I didn’t think she would have had any right to speak to him like that if he knew better.

He was reassembling a complicated toy robot; his concentration was on what he was doing as he completely disregarded the fuming maid.

“Fine, suit yourself!” She emptied the plate of food into the bin.

That’s it. I couldn’t just stand there and do nothing.

I knocked on the door and stepped inside.

“Hey sweetie,” I watched as her whole demeanor changed completely. She sounded nothing like she did a few seconds ago. “Were you standing outside for long?”

She was checking to see how much I’d heard of everything that she’d said before I entered the room.

I shook my head, “I just came here to check on Castle since he didn’t show up downstairs for dinner.”

She stood up and took the plate filled with food from me. “Castle doesn’t want to eat, and I’ve tried my best to convince him to. In this house, we discipline rebellious behavior. He can skip dinner tonight.”

“That’s not for you to decide, and I’m sure he’s hungry. I can get him to eat something.”

Barbara’s face remained impassive. “If he gives everyone a hard time, he skips dinner. Those are the rules and I hope you would follow them too. You have to be strict with Castle, Miss. Millie; otherwise, he would do as he pleases. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

She gave Castle a look filled with vehemence and stormed out of the room, closing the door behind her.

I sat on the bed beside him, but he paid no attention to me. His full concentration was on building the robot from scratch and, by the looks of it, he was doing a good job.

“Castle,” I called him to bring his attention to me.

Devin had informed me that if I were to talk to Castle, I needed to address him by his name even if we were alone in the same room because he had a hard time focusing on conversations and because of his memory loss; he didn’t understand certain words.

He looked up at me, his golden-brown eyes cut through mine. “Millie,” his voice was almost a whisper.

And just then I noticed his bottom lip. It had a little blood on it. There were spots of blood on his lower lip, like someone had tried to force him to eat. I closed my eyes as I felt a wave of ferocious anger build inside of me, momentarily blinded by fresh tears. I quickly wiped them away.

“Castle, can you tell me who did this to you?” I touched his cheek and felt the soft bristles on my fingers. I willed him to look at me.

He continued to stare down at his robot, trying to fix it. “Come on, you can trust me with your secret. I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”

It was no use. He wouldn’t talk about it.

Then an idea hit me, but I wasn’t sure it would work. The file that contained information about Castle mentioned he had a sweet tooth.

I left him alone and went back downstairs. I spent the rest of the evening baking a peanut butter chocolate cake and just before bedtime; I brought it upstairs to him.

I knew he would love the cake because my aunt used to love it, and I baked it for her until her very last day.

I saw a flicker of happiness when Castle saw what I’d brought him. He ate the cake in four bites, not bothering with the fork or the spoon I’d brought him. I wiped the icing off the corner of his mouth with a paper tissue.

When he was done with one slice, he reached towards the second one, but I pushed it away from his reach. “If you tell me who hurt you, I’ll give you more cake.”

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