Chapter 7
Gwen and Laura were still sitting on Scott and Daisy’s couch, flipping through TV channels while Scott’s mother was in the kitchen making them something to eat.
They settled on something, “Say Yes to the Dress” and leaned into each other
“Can’t wait for that to be us.” Laura said.
Gwen sat up slightly. “You honestly mean that?”
Laura nodded.
“So…” The older Gwen said as she walked in with drinks and sandwiches for them “How long have you two known each other?”
“We met at the beginning of the year, when term started at university.” Laura said “We were sitting next to each other in a computer science course. One thing leads to another and…”
“Why did you stop taking your hormones?” Mrs. Riley asked her niece.
“I… That’s a little private… I don’t… ‘Performance issues’… okay, happy?” She said “After she told me she was pregnant I started again.”
“You didn’t have to tell me if you didn’t want to. You’re just like your dad when we were kids, one poke and he’d break.”
Laura got up to use the bathroom again, leaving the two Gwens alone.
“Gwen, why did you come here?” The elder one asked.
“Laura told me about the man at the house… how he was evil… And how… how bad things happen to the people who get in his way.”
“Why didn’t you tell Scott this?”
“I… I promised Laura I wouldn’t tell anyone.”
The baby monitor started making noise, relaying Toni’s crys from upstairs.
“Excuse me.” Mrs. Riley said, getting up.
Laura came back while she was gone.
“So… Have we been talking about me?”
“No…” Gwen said
“Awe, I like it when you brag about me.” She said, giving Gwen a nudge.
“Why don’t you want me to tell them about that Tisch fellow.”
“I told you in our best interest to not get involved. Besides… I think they already know. The things my brother saw.”
A few feet away, Gwen Riley was pressed against the wall, listing to what her niece and Laura were saying. Skye was upstairs taking care of Toni and Mrs. Riley was using this opportunity to get more information. She slowly crept into the kitchen and pulled out her phone.
“Mum let him down for a nap, comes back less than an hour later and he was gone” Michael told Scott as they looked at the grave. “Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. He was out baby brother. Younger than Simon. Mum was pregnant every other year for a good while. Remember when I told you how she started acting like you mother didn’t exist after she left? This was part of the reason. She changed after he died. Your Nana used to be a fun-loving person. Now, anything that made her unhappy or displeased her in anyway… it didn’t exist.”
“Christmas Eve… That’s terrible…” Scott said, “Why did you guys hide something like this? This seems so important. Does she like the fact I’ve spent my entire life thinking she’s just insane… where there’s this level of trauma behind it…”
“Scott… This is what people did back her day. They didn’t talk about these things. Your Grandmother believes that his death is her fault, and that if word got out, it would be a stain on her image, your grandfather’s image and the image of our company.”
Scott stood up and took a deep breath.
“After Daisy told me we were going to have a baby… I started doing research on child care. Even today, no one knows what causes it, so why… Nevermind, I think I know the answer to that.”
“It’s her guiding principle in life.” Michael said as he knelt down and touch his brother’s gravestone before making the sign of the cross and standing “Act as if she has the title that she feels she deserves.”
“Title? What title?” Scott asked, confused. He knew his Nana wanted to be important, but he didn’t think it went that far.
“That’s the second secret…” His uncle said as he stood up.
“Can I just ask if it’s also buried here?”
“No… It’s the reason why your grandmother goes to such great lengths to play matchmaker for the four of you.”
“She’s a social climber… I know that part.”
“The thing is…” Michael said, shaking his head “You grandmother believes the man she was told was her father… isn’t her father. Her parents worked for an Earl. Her father, at least the man who we think is her father, was the man’s personal assistant, so to speak. They called them a Batman back in the day, a junior solider to do everything for you. This Earl was an Army Brigadier. Her father convinced the Brigadier to hire on his fiancée, your great-grandmother, as his personal cook. The two had an affair, after the Fiancé went off the war… The same Earl… they bought the manor from.”
“Wait… he had no family, right?”
“Correct.”
“But if she is his daughter then…”
“She would, theoretically, have a legal claim to his titles. But she was never able to prove it. The man’s wish was followed, and he was cremated when he died, there’s no DNA to test off of.”
“Which means the four of us are her plan B. If she can’t get a title for herself, she’s going for the next best thing. Marry one of us off to someone of noble birth and restore the honor she feels she lost.”
“Exactly.”
“God fucking damn it, that woman is going to drive me insane…”
“It’s what she does best.” Michael said, “Let’s get back before she does something even more stupid than usual.”
Scott’s phone began to buzz.
“What’s up.” Michael asked.
“It’s from Mom…” Scott said before reading off the text “Mae'r ddau flodyn wedi blodeuo. Mae gan un arogl melys. Rydw i'n mynd i'w dyfrio.”
“What does that mean?” Michael asked “I hate it when she speaks welsh. None of us understand it.”
“But I do.” Scott said “Gwen and Laura are at my new house. Mom and Skye are watching over them. As for the message it’s a not only Welsh, but it’s a basic SHIELD code system, they use it to train people on the stronger ones. Mom and Dad would talk in it all the time when they didn’t want me to hear things. She just translated it into Welsh as an extra level of security. ‘Mae'r ddau flodyn wedi blodeuo’. That means ‘The flowers are blooming’ which means the girls are talking. ‘Mae gan un arogl melys’, or ‘one has a sweet scent’. That would mean one of the knows what we want to know, but she didn’t say which one. The last bit means ‘I’m going to water them’, which translates to she’s going to try to pump them for information.”
He texted her back. “pa flodyn sy'n arogli brafiaf?”
“I just asked her ‘which flower smells nicer’, i.e., which one is giving us the details.”
“Y chwyn”
“The weed’. The outsider, the one that doesn’t ‘belong’. Which means Laura.”
His phone beeped again “!Ble mae'r diapers ychwanegol?”
“What does that mean, is it part of the code?”
“Well, it is part of the code.” He showed his phone to his uncle “See this exclamation mark at the start of the sentence?”
“Yes?
“It means ‘not using code anymore, what I’m saying is to be read literally’. It means she can’t find Toni’s diapers…”