Chapter 28
“Wait, it’s not what you think!” I shout as I stumble.
Ethan catches me with one arm effortlessly and his smirk turns into a full out grin. “Really? Because from here it looks like I’ve caught you maneuvering on your own.”
I pull away from him and hobble to my bed. “Let me guess, this is the part where you out me?”
He laughed. “No this is the part where you tell me the truth about how much you’ve been able to do.”
I sigh. “I can walk, not perfectly, but a lot better. My hand is still not great, but I feel that it’s slowly healing, and my ribs don’t hurt as much as they did.”
“You little faker,” he repeats, and I roll my eyes. “That’s great progress, Karin, seriously. Does that mean that you and Ada are no longer at odds?”
“What? How do you know about that?”
He lifts the folder in his hand. “Notes from Doc. I need to know everything so that I can effectively form a course of treatment.”
“Fine. So are you going to tell anyone?” He shook his head. “Really? Why not?”
“Because obviously you don’t want anyone to know. That tells me it’s less of the physical that’s holding you back and more mental, maybe even a little emotional.”
I avert my eyes and my bottom lip quivers. “Ada and I are doing better, but overall, no mentally, I’m not doing well. I get flashes of what happened, and it keeps me up at night. When that’s not happening, I feel like nothing will ever be the same again…I will never be the same.”
Ethan walked over and sat beside me. “Maybe not, but that doesn’t mean that a new normal is that bad, either. Lady Karin, you owe it to yourself to get to know this new you. I promise you just might like her.” He smiled. “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll keep your secret, but under two conditions.”
“Which are?”
“You keep nothing from me. I can’t help you recover if I don’t know what’s going on.”
“Deal. Now what about the second thing?”
Reaching into his bag, Ethan pulled out a deck of cards. “You put more effort into your recovery, starting with playing me in cards. If anything becomes too much, tell me. I promise we can adjust.”
I raise my bandaged hand and frown. “I hate to break it to you, but this is the hand I used to hold cards. It’s better, but I don’t have that type of control over it yet.”
“Hmm…” Ethan looks around my room. Zeroing in on my jewelry box, he walks over and picks it up. “I have an idea,” he says, and I watch him use a few other things to create a makeshift stand. Proudly, he poses in front of the shaky construction. “I definitely could have had a career in engineering.” The structure immediately falls apart, and I can’t help but double over in laughter at his pout.
After several tries and multiple curse words, Ethan and I found ourselves in a comfortable silence playing cards.
“I want you to know that I fully plan to push you,” he says. He puts down a card and smiles at his winnings. “We’re going to start at the crack of dawn with speed walking and berry picking. I’ll shake the bush and you can roll the berries into the basket.”
I chuckled as I put my card down. “Is that your professional plan to get me back on track? I think that a physical therapist would be offended if they heard you.”
“I have you know that I also have a specialty in recovery. You’re in safe hands with me, I promise.” We continue to play, and now and then I sneak a peek at Ethan. “You look like you want to ask me something,” he says, catching me.
A blush forms on my cheeks. “Sorry. I was just thinking that even though you're super annoying, you’re also really nice.”
“Umm…thank you?”
“No I meant it as I compliment, I swear.”
He laughed. “I know. I just enjoy teasing you.” He paused for a moment, as if deep in thought. “I wasn’t always nice,” he said after a while.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that for a while I didn’t deal with pain from my childhood, which caused me to inflict pain on others. I was bullied and at the first chance I got, I became one.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I come from a pretty privileged background where I wanted for nothing, but the offset of that was that my parents thought things were a substitute for them being there. I hate to sound dramatic, but I don’t think they had me because they wanted me. I think they had me because it was expected of them. I’m an only child and that left me alone a lot.
“My parents left me with nannies while they traveled or hosted benefits for whatever was the popular cause of the month. Eventually, even pawning me off to the nannies wasn’t enough, and they sent me to boarding school where I was bullied because I didn’t fall for the ideal that the rich was better. But eventually it became too much being alone, and I turned into my bullies and began to bully others. I wish I could say that it stopped when I graduated, but by then it was heavily engrained in me. Overtime though, I realized my dream had always been to help people and to help people you can’t be a jerk, so I worked on myself, and started my road to redemption.”
My silence made him look up at me. “Wow,” he mumbled. “That was a long story and highly unprofessional. I’m sorry.”
“No,” I reply with a small smile. “I appreciate you telling me. Many people never take accountability of their flaws.” I fumble with my fingers, slightly uncomfortable but feeling the need to share. “I know you’ve heard the rumors, and you probably already have your mind made up about me…but I’m not that. I’m just someone who found themselves in a bad situation and was awarded a silver lining, but at a price.”
Ethan put his cards down and looked me deeply in the eyes. “Lady Karin, I have no thoughts about the rumors that may or may not have been told to me. All I concern myself with is the person that people show me they are.”
A Few Days Later
“It’s the crack of dawn that means it time to wake up!” Ethan yells as he opens my curtains.
I groan. “Why are you such a sadist? I thought you were kidding when you said you would wake me up at the crack of dawn.”
He grinned. “I haven’t been taking it easy on you for the past few days why would I start now?”
“Don’t grin when you’re being a butthead. Now get out so I can change, and then you can set up the cards.”
“Actually, I was thinking of something a little different today.”
“What’s that?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I was thinking, how about going for a walk?”
“Ethan…”
He shook his head. “Hear me out. In the past few days, you’ve been making some great strides. You’ve been moving around your villa on your own, and I can tell you’re getting a little more confident. There’s no one out and we can do a simple walk around the villa, then back. I figured that maybe if we started with a walk, we could work our way up to you doing ballet again.”
“How did you know I do ballet?”
“Doc put it in the notes. It states that you’re an amazing ballerina and you have reservations you will dance again.” I turn my face, and he sighs. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to upset you. I just don’t want to do a disservice to you. I know you want to dance again. Let’s start with walking and see how it goes.”
I look outside and mull over the idea. “Just walking?”
“Just walking.”
“Fine. Give me a moment to get myself together and I’ll join you outside.” Ethan nods and retreats from my room. Gathering my clothes, I think about the prospect of dancing again. The sound of applause and the thrill of executing moves I worked forever on, and the smile on Ansel’s face as he plays the tune I dance to.
Stop Karin
I scold myself. Even if I somehow dance again, it will not be to Ansel’s music. The thought seems to kick me in the stomach and sadness washes over me. Shaking my head, I push the thought of Ansel to the back of my mind.
After dressing, I join Ethan outside. He beams at me and extends his arm. “My Lady.”
I laugh loudly. “Kind Sir,” I reply, locking my arm in his. We start our walk once, and I soon slowly ease into it. Even Ada seems to enjoy the break from the villa. “Thank you,” I say. “I needed this. I don’t think I realized how cooped up I really felt.”
“You’re very welcome. Anything to help with your recovery.”
“Speaking of which, my hand feels better today.”
“Great. I’ll make note of it in your chart.”
Ethan and I come to the clearing and from the distance I can make out the manor. “Do you think I should tell Maggie that I’m feeling better?”
“Do you think you should?”
I nod. “I feel horrible as is for not doing so, but I wasn’t ready. I don’t want her to be mad and me, though.”
Ethan gave my arm a gentle squeeze. “Maggie seems to be a very understanding person. I think she will be so focus on your progress, she won’t care about the other stuff.” Before long, we found ourselves back at the entrance of my villa. Releasing me, Ethan's eyes twinkled in mischief. “Same time tomorrow?”
“Same time tomorrow…at the crack of dawn…when everyone else is sleeping.” We share a laugh and then Ethan waves goodbye and leaves. Entering my villa, I link to Maggie,
“Would you mind coming over? There’s something I need to tell you.”
