Page 2 of Masked in Deception
I sniffle and shake my head.
“A milk shake!”
Giggling with Jackie, I realize my knee feels all better, and I have a pink bandage. He puts the same one on his hand so we match.
“Now, you have to pinky promise not to tell your mom, but I have a surprise for you.” Jack winks, and I giggle, watching him pull my favorite chocolate out of his pocket. “You aren’t supposed to have these before dinner, so this is a very serious pinky promise, Margot. I could get in trouble. And you have to eat all your dinner tonight.”
I nod and give him a big hug. “I promise I’ll eat the most dinner ever, and Mommy will never know. Thanks, Jackie!”
“You’re welcome, Princess.”
Jack and I share my chocolate. He laughs, wiping my mouth off with a washcloth when I get it all over my lips and face. Then we’re racing off again to find Ledger. Earlier, I was running to hide while he and Jack chased me, but now Jack says it’s time for us to be on a team and chase my brother. I can’t tell Ledger, he says, but I’m a better chaser than him, and I’m Jack’s favorite to play with. Ledger sometimes doesn’t want to play with me, and Henry is old and boring. But Jack never gets mad at me when we play, and he brings me chocolate and stickers and gives the best hugs.
I asked Mommy where Jack’s mommy and daddy and sister and brothers are. She said he doesn’t have any, and we’re Jack’s family. But Jack is too cool to be one of my brothers. He’s better. I’m a princess, and he’s my Prince Charming. As long as he’s here, I’ll have someone who wants to play with me and share chocolate and fix my ouchies. As long as Jack is here, I’ll be a happy girl.
Chapter three
11 years old
“Jack, you know you don’t have to vacuum your room every day, sweetie. It’s okay if we just do it as part of our Sunday chores. You keep everything so tidy I don’t think you can have too many crumbs built up over a week.” Ms. Blanche chuckles as I bring the vacuum back to the closet just outside of the den. Dinner was about an hour ago, and while Ledger went to his dad’s study for one of their “lessons,” I went to do the nightly cleaning of my room.
“I know, Ms. Blanche. I just want to keep everything nice.” I would never admit I’m always scared a gross room will get me kicked out of this family.
She stands from her reading chair and crosses the room, turning lamps off as she goes. Placing a kiss on the top of my head, she sighs. “You can keep yourroom exactly as neat or as messy as you want, sweetie. It’syourroom. As long as you don’t leave food in there for ants to get in my house. The episode last year with Ledger’s old sandwich still gives me nightmares.”
I laugh and shudder, thinking of the nasty glob that the exterminator pulled from underneath Ledger’s bed, earning him a two-week grounding and double chores for a month. If I had ever brought food into my room before, that would have made me quit. “I promise, no food.”
This earns me a warm smile as Ms. Blanche heads to bed. “I love you,” she says, just like every night. “Come get me if you need anything.”
“I love you too,” I reply, knowing that it would take an absolute emergency for me to bother her in the middle of the night. The one time I had a bad dream and went to her room, Mr. Sinclair woke up before Ms. Blanche did and yelled at me to never open their bedroom door after dinner again.
Now that everything is clean and I’ve said good night to Ms. Blanche, I walk past Ledger’s room to see he’s already in bed and drooling. I’m convinced he could pass out anywhere at any time and not wake up for eight hours, regardless of his surroundings. I never sleep well, and I’ve always been jealous of how safe he feels to do that. Moving on to Margot’s room, I see her starfished on her stomach, surrounded by an entire toy store’s worth of plushies on the bed with her. It makes me smile just how much pink is in this room, and as ridiculous as it is, it’s very her. Just like a princess.
Everyone is safe and tucked in, and my room is neat with tomorrow’s clothes laid out, so I finally fall into bed and manage to sleep.
A terrible wail jolts me awake, and I’m out of my door and heading in the direction of the sound before I can even think. I run past Ledger’s door, not surprised he hasn’t woken up, and burst into Margot’s room to see what’s causing her to scream like this. Her plushies are all over the place, and she’s thrashing around in bed, screaming, “No, Sprinkles! No!”
The pit in the bottom of my stomach loosens as I realize there’s no danger and it’s just a nightmare, apparently involving her favorite plush rainbow cow, Sprinkles. Still, her crying in her sleep bothers me just as much as it does in real life, and I need to wake her up so she’s not upset anymore.
Moving to sit down on the edge of her bed, I gently try to shake her awake. “Margot…Margot! Wake up, Princess, it’s just a bad dream. You’re okay. Sprinkles is right here.”
When she hears “Sprinkles,” she sits up, looking around frantically as I place the ridiculous cow in her lap.
“See? She’s perfectly okay.”
Finally fully waking up and realizing what’s going on, Margot bursts into tears all over again and throws her arms around my neck.
I can barely make out her words between the sobs. “We were on a boat and Sprinkles fell over, and she can’t swim, Jack! She’s only a cow! And I couldn’t save her…”
Oh, my sweet Princess. What an awful dream to have, even if it’s only about a stuffed animal.
“It’s okay, Princess. It was a very bad dream, but Sprinkles is here, alive and well. And I’m here, so nothing bad can happen.”
She looks up at me with her big blue eyes and a quivering lip. “Pinky promise?”
Looping our pinkies, I give her a kiss on the forehead. “I promise. You’ve got me, Henry, and Ledger looking out for you. We’ll always keep you safe. But you need to get back to sleep.”
She’s tucked back in among her plushies, and I’m heading for the door when I hear her small voice, so quiet I almost miss it. “Will you stay with me, Jackie? I’m still scared.”
