by Natalie Dean
“Anyone have any objections to some music?” Solomon asked.
“I don’t think any of us are in the position to tell you what to do with your car,” Frenchie answered. “And by the way, since when do you have a van?”
“I personally don’t. This is one of the work vans. Figured no one would miss it. Anyway, I’ve been listening to some Celtic music lately. Let me know if you absolutely hate it.”
“Frenchie won’t,” Tawny continued blithely. “She loves music and listens to it all the time. Her MP3 player is the most valuable thing she owns.”
“It’s a really good one,” Frenchie said with a shrug. “It was fifty dollars when I got it five years ago, on clearance, and it’s lasted ever since. Battery goes for two or three days even though I listen to it for ten hours at least out of the day.”
“That’s impressive. I always hate transferring music onto a new phone.”
“Remember when phones and music players used to be separate devices?” Frenchie said with a smile, leaning her head against the window. With the rumble of the engine, she was starting to get sleepy. She had forgotten that cars were great at putting her right to sleep.
“Uh, no,” Casey said from the back. “That sounds like fake news.”
“No, it’s true,” Adam followed up. “I’m a couple years older than you, but I remember my older sis used to have a flip phone and an MP3 player when I was a li’l one, and I was so jealous.”
“Wait,” Solomon said. “Are any of you over twenty?”
“I’ll be twenty-one in a couple months,” Chantal said quietly. “Adams four months or so older than me.”
“I see.”
“Why?” Frenchie asked, cracking her eyes open to glance at him. “Did you buy alcohol?”
“No,” he said with a laugh. “Just curious, I guess.”
“Well, you know what curiosity did to the cat,” she yawned, leaning her head against the window.
“I’ve heard, but did you know that satisfaction brought it back?”
“Huh?” she was so warm, so content, that it was hard to hold onto what he was saying. “No, I didn’t know that.”
“Well, it’s something to think about.”
“Mmhmm, something to think…” But then she was slipping under, feeling so cozy that it was easy to forget everything else.
18
Frenchie
“Wow, even the air is different out here,” Alitza said as they stepped out of the van. “It reminds me of when Papa used to work on a farm.”
Frenchie slid out of the van, yawning and stretching her arms. She was surprised to see they were in some sort of warehouse-like area, more tall buildings and silos rather than the opulence that she expected.
“Is… this the ranch?”
“What, this?” He laughed softly, but it wasn’t unkind. “This is just a garage, repair shop, and the tool sheds. Oh, and the silos. I guess. They’re the old ones, though, so they’re mostly filled with junk. I figure we could ride in my pickup truck to the estate since we won’t be going over the highway or anything like that.”
The estate? Tawny mouthed to Frenchie, but she just shrugged. They would see it when they saw it, and that would be that.
Or at least that was what she told herself. But as they clambered into the back of a fancy-looking and oversized pickup truck, she couldn’t help it as her head swiveled back and forth.
She couldn’t see much until they pulled out from the garage area, and then she was just as shocked as she told herself not to be. There was just so much space! And there were fields as far as she could see, some green, some white, some tan. Some of them waved in the breeze, but they were all so pretty.
Alitza was right, even the air was better, and she drew deep drafts of it into her lungs. She felt energized and strangely alive. Connected to the earth in a way she hadn’t in a long time.
“Oh my goodness! Look at all those cows!” Tawny said.
Frenchie followed Tawny’s pointed finger to see lots of cattle roaming in a field a bit in the distance. They were bigger than she expected them to be, even from far away, and she wondered what it would feel like to pet one. Maybe, if things worked out, she could ask Solomon to let her see them up close.
…if he still wanted her around. What if they finished up all of this court stuff and he moved on? Clearly, she wasn’t going to be some sort of staple in his life. She was a no-account street kid who had grown up into a no-account street woman and didn’t even have a GED to her name.
She tucked those thoughts away and just enjoyed the moment. Even though there was a cold bite to the air, and that was only amplified by them driving along, it wasn’t oppressive. Then again, that could be because there was a blanket spread across the back and another for them to all huddle under while the young ones and Frenchie looked around.
It was beautiful. There was no denying that. It was completely different from the city. She didn’t understand why Solomon would ever want to leave it. If she could just be surrounded by plants and open space all the time, she would be content.
But the real question is, were there any horses? Her hands were itching to draw a horse. Or lots of them. All long legs and flowing manes. The Millers were rich, weren’t they? Which meant they had to have some mounts around. Equestrianism and wealth went practically hand in hand.
She was so busy scanning for horses out in the field that she wasn’t paying attention to where they were going. Or at least, she wasn’t until she heard a shocked gasp beside her.
“No way, is that his house!?”
She turned around and looked where Tawny was pointing yet again, and her jaw dropped. The mansion she was seeing was like something out of a Hollywood movie, big and sprawling with at least three stories and spread out way too far to be possible.
“How many people must live there?” Alitza whispered, just as awed, and Frenchie couldn’t blame her.
The house was just so big. Impossibly so, and yet the closer the pickup truck drove, it got even bigger and bigger until it was unbelievable. Like something out of a cartoon, it was so ridiculously large that Frenchie had to rub her eyes to see if she was hallucinating.
There was a full fountain up front and a massive drive that a whole carnival could probably set up in. Who had a fountain that was at least two people tall in the middle of Texas? How much must their utility bill be?
Perhaps it was a silly thing to think about, but her mind was scrambled as she looked up at the yards and yards of real estate. The building was a sort of classic glamour, with pillars up front and several balconies. The roof was covered in what she recognized as those super fancy solar panels that she saw on the news, and there was a pond on the left side of the building. And by pond, she meant a large, clear body of water that had a dock attached to it for people to jump off of during the hazy summer days when they wanted a cool swim.
Wow. Being rich was crazy.
Solomon pulled right up to the front door, which was made of beautiful, intricately carved wood. Stained glass sat in the middle of each panel then around the edges, casting a beautiful prism of light across the stone porch.
Her hands itched to draw again. Being surrounded by entirely new things and such grandeur made her want to sketch it all, as if to prove that it was real and not some figment of her imagination.
“All right, everyone in,” Solomon said, getting out of the front of the truck. “Meet with the lawyers first, and then you all can eat.”
“Question,” Adam asked as they all piled out. “If you were just gonna haul us here with a truck, why not just use the van? Not that I’m complaining.”
“Because the van belongs to the company and if I leave it out here, one of our house staff will return it to the garage since that’s our policy. This, however, is my brother’s truck, so they’ll park it in the family’s personal garage, which will be much more convenient.”
“Wait, you guys have two garages?”
Solomon gave them a surprised
look, as if he didn’t think that was all that special, before he nodded. “I’ll give you the full tour of everything once business is taken care of. Now come on, I’ll get y’all something to drink while you’re talking to the legal folks.”
Oh right. She had been so swept up in everything that she had forgotten the reason that she was actually there. Trundling inside, she felt the seriousness of the situation start to sink in, but it was instantly banished once she looked up and saw everything that was inside.
“Is that a chandelier?” Casey asked. “In your house!?”
“Technically this is my parents’ house, but we all live here. Most of us have our own wings or floors, but the twins share one. They’re not as close as you hear about most twins, but they’re still quite a pair.”
“Wait, your brothers are—Oh, what’s this?” Tawny was pointing to something in the wall that Frenchie couldn’t even identify. It looked like a TV or computer screen, except it was dark and completely set into the wall.
“Oh, that’s just one of the housing interfaces. You can lower the lights or change the heat and AC or even see who’s home. Check our schedules that we all put on their too.”
“Whoa, bro, are you telling me your house is literally a computer?”
Solomon heaved a sigh, but it was a good-natured one. “This is going to take a minute, isn’t it?”
Frenchie nodded, trying to hold back both her amusement and curiosity and failing at about eighty percent of that. “I think we might be a little late.”
* * *
Frenchie had no idea how Solomon managed to corral all the young ones into a meeting room, but after fifteen minutes of ushering, they all somehow ended up inside and in chairs. She also didn’t know what an actual meeting room had any business doing in a house, but considering how big the place was, maybe they just had one of everything lying about.
It was so bizarre seeing how the other side lived. Solomon could fit three of the public libraries inside and still have room to throw a party. She knew he had a big family, something like five brothers, but how did they live with so much space? Sure, she liked driving around the countryside, but that was different than living a mile away from his roommates.
Except they weren’t his roommates, they were his family, which made it all kinda sad.
She didn’t have time to dwell on that, however, because then the lawyers were introducing themselves and two new people, who were apparently their criminal law contacts from inside the city. Things got really serious then, with them asking lots of questions and telling each of them the possible roadblocks and curves that might be thrown at them. The man who had assaulted Tawny and attempted to assault Frenchie came from a very rich family, and they were throwing their everything into protecting him. The lawyers told them that the defense would spend a lot of time and effort into mischaracterizing them and tearing apart their character and that they needed to be prepared for that.
Of course, that caused its own conversation when Tawny and Alitza both got worried about testifying. One, because Tawny was afraid her family would sweep in and cart her back home when she was just a few months away from being eighteen. And Alitza because she was afraid they would deport her like other members of her family even though she had been born in the United States. It took a while to sort that out, and in the end, Alitza apologized and said she couldn’t risk it. There were horror stories all over of people being snatched up and held for weeks, and she didn’t have any ID to prove her citizenship, so it took the lawyers agreeing to set up a witness protection of sorts for her. Frenchie wasn’t entirely sure what it entailed, but it involved her being in a safe house and having escorts to and from the court when the time came.
That went better than Frenchie thought. At least that would get her off the streets for the worst of the winter.
All in all, it was at least two hours before the lawyers said they had all they needed, and they also mentioned that they would want to meet again in a couple weeks. The trial likely wasn’t even going to start until spring, and the lawyers were hoping to do a sort of plea deal that would maybe keep them from ever having to go to court at all.
When they finished, Solomon led them down to the kitchen where there was a veritable feast laid out, a woman and a man in black and white uniforms working on putting out more. There were thick sandwiches with big portions of meat between the soft bread. There were chips and dips of several types. There were fresh vegetables and a fruit platter with also three kinds of dip for that. Frenchie didn’t even know there was such a thing as dip for fruit!
There was also a big pan full of messy, saucy, absolutely delicious pulled pork, spare buns, and fresh greens.
“Holy cow, Solomon,” Frenchie gasped. “You really weren’t kidding about the food.”
“Heck, if you’re gonna feed us like this every time,” Tawny said, skittering forward. “Then I’ll come here and talk to a bunch of lawyers whenever you want.”
“Same here,” Casey said, rushing forward. “This is legit.”
Everyone busied themselves with getting food, and Frenchie only realized just then how hungry she was. Apparently, her body had gotten used to eating on a fairly consistent schedule. That was going to suck when things went back to normal. At least she had managed to send her resume into several shops that were likely looking for seasonal work.
“Eat as much as you like. I’ll have the staff pack up what you don’t finish and send it with Frenchie so she can keep it in the fridge at the hotel. You all can pop by there whenever you want more food.”
“Oh, so then you don’t mind if we have people over at the hotel?” Frenchie asked.
“What? No. Why would I mind?”
“Well, because it’s your place, technically. We didn’t want you to think we were taking advantage by having people in and out whenever we wanted.”
But Solomon just shrugged, surprising her. “I trust you to use it however you need. Whoever can stay there as long as they don’t damage things. Especially since it’s getting colder.”
“All right then. That’s good to know.” She took a bite of her sandwich that she had just picked up and then flashed him a closed-lip smile.
“Of course.”
“Oh man, this food is good!”
That broke the strange, sudden intensity between the two of them, and soon everyone’s attention was turned to the food. It really was delicious, and it was only mildly weird that it was made by two people who didn’t join them for the meal at all. Frenchie had never met a maid or butler in real life, and it was something she’d assumed she’d never get to experience.
Nevertheless, the meal went along swimmingly, and it wasn’t long before everyone was sitting along the island in the middle of the room, leaning back in their chair and holding their bellies.
“Oh man, I’m so stuffed,” Adam said, stretching lazily. “Do we have to go right back? Cause I think I might pass out in the back of your truck there.”
Solomon looked pensive a moment, rubbing his chin with his hand before he seemed to suddenly make up his mind. “Actually, why don’t you all take some naps in the guest rooms? I’m sure you could use the rest.”
The suggestion warmed Frenchie’s heart, and all of the young ones outside of Tawny shared surprised glances, but then the logic came swinging in. “What about your father? Didn’t you say he… wasn’t a fan of us?”
But Solomon just shrugged. “He rarely comes into my wing, and if he does, what is he going to do? I’m a grown man, and I’m the only one who can run the entire business in his retirement. If he wants to play hardball, I’m the worst person to do it with.”
Frenchie had about a million and one other things to say, and yet somehow, she couldn’t articulate any of them. She wanted to thank him, wanted to tell him that he was ridiculous to put them before his family. Wanted to say that he couldn’t change anything no matter how hard he tried, and yet even another that wanted to cry just because he cared.
But instea
d she stayed quiet and let him lead them far away from the kitchen. Her alarm spiked again at leaving such a mess, but then she saw the same two house staff members slipping in to organize things.
Wild.
It was a surprisingly long trek to his wing and the guest bedrooms, which he had four of, which they didn’t even use up, as half of them had two beds instead of just one, and most of the young ones preferred to sleep curled up together.
Frenchie understood why. In the winter, warmth was the hardest commodity to come by, so most of them would crash together at night if they couldn’t find a shelter to stay in. It was a sort of creature comfort, one that came from thousands of years of being a pack animal.
“What about you?” Solomon asked when everyone was eagerly getting into bed and settling down. “You ready for a nap?”
Frenchie shook her head and let out a small laugh. “No, I napped in the car.”
“Well, in that case, want to go on a bit of a walk?”
“Oh, sure. Why not. You gonna take me on a tour?”
“Maybe something a little less formal. It’s not that bad of a day outside. Maybe we could see the chicken coup?”
“You have chickens here?”
“Not professionally, but Mom likes them a lot, so we got maybe fifteen or so. Rare ones too.”
“There are rare sorts of chickens?”
He laughed. “Oh man, are you in for a treat.”
“Am I?”
He didn’t even seem to think twice as he took her hand in his and led her to a different staircase. She didn’t say anything either, but she felt her whole body flush with heat and her heart start to beat as hard as it had when she was in the chase he gave her when they first met.
Oh boy. She was in so much trouble.
She tried to push the thoughts away, but they all swirled around her head as he led her outside. It wasn’t until the cold hit them and he went to zip up his jacket that he seemed to realize how he had been holding her.
“Sorry about that. I didn’t even realize.”