Page 121 of The Seven Rings
“There’s a happy thought,” Cleo murmured.
“No, it’s manor logic. She can hurt me, at least a little. Ice burn, and I’ve got a bruise on my hip that proves it.”
“You’re not a bride,” Trey said. “You’re not engaged and planning a wedding. You live here, so you’re in the way, but not like you would be if you were the next gen of brides.”
“I think she needs me alive, and needs or wants me gone, so she’s doing whatever she can to make my life here too terrifying to stay.”
“She doesn’t get you at all.”
Sonya gave Cleo a little laugh. “Apparently not. I have to leave, like Patricia did, by my own choice. I’m not going to.”
Sonya sipped her wine. “And she’s the one who lost the Battle of the Ballroom.”
That night, she lay in bed with her head on Trey’s shoulder.
“I know you worry about me, and I know it’s stupid to tell you not to.”
“Good. You’re not stupid, so you won’t.”
“But I want you to take this to heart.” She propped on her elbow to look down at him. “I am not alone in this. I not only have you and Cleo and Owen, but Clover made it clear. I know we’ve said it before, but this really brought it home. She was right there, Trey, right there beside me.”
“Cutie, I’m factoring that in.”
“Maybe try to give it a little more weight.”
“If it didn’t have weight, I’d do exactly what your mom said. I’dmove in, all the way, and I’d find a way to work from the manor. And you need to factor something in.”
“All right. What?”
“She’s insane. At some point she could lose whatever control she has and go too far.”
Sonya lowered her forehead to his. “I’ve thought of that. I have. And I balance that out with knowing I’m not alone. It’s me for a reason, Trey. It’s us for a reason.”
“I know that, too, and it weighs on both sides. I also know you’re all in on this. If I thought I could talk you out, I’d give it a shot. I’m pretty good at arguing a case.”
Smiling, she rubbed her cheek to his. “So I’ve noticed.”
“If I did that, successfully?” He reached up to toy with a lock of her hair. “I don’t think you’d ever be Sonya again. You’d never forgive yourself, or me.”
“You maybe, because I’d know you did it out of concern for me. But the rest? You’re right. So how about don’t do that, and let’s never find out?”
“That’s where I stand right now.”
“Let’s take the victory.”
“The Battle of the Ballroom.”
“That’s right, and the sweet and happy ending that came after the battle.” She brushed her lips over his. “We can make our own happy end to the day right now.”
Lowering to him, she brushed her lips on his again, and once more before letting them both fall into the kiss.
When Sonya got out of the shower in the morning, she found Molly’s choice laid out on the neatly made bed. Not her usual work clothes, but an easy, breezy summer dress she’d yet to pull out of the closet that season.
“You know what? That works. Casual, but put together.”
She dressed, added the selected sandals, added the seed pearl dropsthat always reminded her of tiny white grapes. On impulse, she added Clover’s love beads.
Taking a step back, she studied herself in the mirror.
