ROBYN

Veronica
Stefan and I walked back to the house in silence. He held my hand, his thumb making circles inside my palm. The air hung heavy around him, his mood dark. I wished he’d tell me what had happened between him and Stephen.
“Are you okay?” I finally asked before we went inside.
He turned to me and rubbed my arms, backing me against the wall. His expression looked as though he had a thousand things to say, but instead of saying any of them, he cradled my head with one hand and leaned down to kiss me full on the mouth, his lips soft against mine, the touch intimate and sensual. Different than his other kisses. Not erotic. Not at first. When he pulled back, his eyes almost gleamed.
I touched his face, and he flinched. He’d have a wicked bruise tomorrow.
“My intention when I started this, the whole time I planned it, I never thought about you. Not you as in flesh and blood and human. My brother is right to be worried. I keep telling you I won’t hurt you, but I do, don’t I?”
“Stefan-”
“It’s what I do.”
He shook his head and touched a finger to my face.
“I could stop. I could call it off. Let you go. Forget about the inheritance. If I were good, I would do that. But I’m not good.”
I searched his eyes, confused. He looked solemn, almost sorry, and his words, they sounded so… final. But before I could ask him any questions, the door opened. Maria stepped out with Charlie running around her feet. She looked irritated and then when she saw us, embarrassed. She told us dinner was ready, and if we didn’t hurry up, it would be cold soon.
“Come on.”
Stefan took my hand and led me inside.
After he had a quick shower, the three of us sat down to dinner. I didn’t miss how Robyn’s eyes roamed to the empty seat where Stephen was supposed to sit.
When I’d gotten back to the house that afternoon, she’d seemed… different. Happy, but different than usual. She’d told me about her day with Stephen, said he’d gotten to the house early, and they’d had coffee together while waiting for me, but when by ten I still hadn’t made an appearance, he’d offered to show her around his favorite village, Pienza. After that, the story had been fairly superficial. Lunch. A tour of the church. Then driving around the countryside. Something had told me not to ask more questions, but to wait for her to tell me.
I wondered how much Stephen and Robyn’s day together had to do with the brothers’ fighting. I was dying to ask details of Stefan but couldn’t, not with Robyn there. Instead, we made small talk, and every little sound had both Stefan and Robyn glancing at the door. Stephen never turned up, and it was past eleven at night when Robyn finally went up to bed, her disappointment hard to miss.
“What was that at the chapel?” I finally asked when we were alone in his bedroom.
“Well-”
He pulled off his T-shirt and tossed it on the floor before facing me.
“Did you notice how he and your sister looked at each other when we got back?”
“I noticed something, but she’s sixteen. I mean, she’ll be seventeen in a few months, but I thought I was wrong, given the fact he’s at seminary and she’s, well, young.”
“I’m not saying anything happened. Stephen’s far too responsible for that. Although today showed me a different side of my brother.”
“How did the fighting start?”
“I made some comment about what you just said, Robyn being young, and he blew up. Things then rapidly moved on to your favorite topic. My anger issues.”
I bit the inside of my cheek, not denying anything.
“And it all just escalated into what you saw. You know, it’s maybe just years of anger he has too. I mean, I have no idea where he is in his head with what happened. With mom and, well, with what I did.”
“You’ve never talked about it?”
“We didn’t grow up talking about anything, Veronica.”
“I think it hurt Robyn’s feelings when he didn’t show up tonight.”
“Well, it’s probably better off he didn’t. Not like anything could ever happen between them.”
Him saying that out loud, though, it felt strange, almost as if he were tempting fate. Too caught up in what he said, I didn’t respond but stood studying him until he took my hand and led me to bed.
I shared the discovery of mom’s perfume and lipstick with Robyn. She didn’t have a connection with the scent I thought of as Mom’s, for which I was grateful. I didn’t want to give up my find.
She and I spent the next two days together. Eric drove us around to some of the villages during the day, then we’d go back to the house and swim into the evening. Stefan pretty much left us alone, and Stephen remained a no-show. Whenever I tried to steer conversation toward him, Robyn managed to turn it around. It was clear she didn’t want to talk about him.
On the morning she was to fly home, we got up early and took a long walk around the property with Charlie.
“I’m not sure who you’re going to miss more, me or him,” I teased.
“Both of you. I wish I could stay longer.”
“I tried, but Grandfather wouldn’t allow it.” I left out the part about Stefan thinking it was safer for her to go home anyway.
“Well, maybe I can come back over the Thanksgiving break. We can show Maria what an American holiday is like.”
“You mean we cook a turkey? You and me?”
“Nah. We don’t want to kill her.” She paused, hesitating for a moment before reaching into her pocket. “Do you think when you see Stephen again you can give him this?” It was a sealed envelope.
I took it from her hand, studying her, trying to work out how far I could go.
“What happened with you two?”
“Nothing. Not really.”
She turned to walk, and I stepped alongside her. She kept her eyes on the ground, but I saw the small smile creep along her lips.
“I don’t even know how to describe it.” She looked up at me. “I mean, he’s twenty-four years old, and he’s going to be a priest. It’s not like anything can happen.”
“He and Stefan were fighting at the chapel yesterday. Physically fighting.”
“Did Stephen give him that shiner?”
“He’s got a matching one.”
“Ouch. What was it over?”
“What Stefan told me was that he’d made some comment about how you’d looked at each other, and Stephen blew up.”
“He did?” She searched my face, hopeful, but then hers darkened again.
“It doesn’t matter anyway. I’ll be on the other side of the ocean.”
“And you’re sixteen.”
“Almost seventeen.”
“He’ll take vows of celibacy.”
“He hasn’t yet.”
“Robyn,” I stopped and took her hands to make her look at me. My sister and I were close. I knew Robyn. But I realized then how, over the last four years, we’d been apart more than we’d been together. Robyn wasn’t just my little sister anymore. She’d grown up. She was almost an adult. This-whatever this was that had happened between her and Stephen-it belonged to her and something told me to let it be. To not push.