The day went about hurriedly, and when Olivia arrived she brought a storm with her that I only wished I could recreate. Dressed in a flared out dress with a collar, lace at the chest, she looked like a modest actress before her cocktail party. I seemed to always compare her to an actress, even more than Scarlett.

She smiled and beamed her pearly teeth at everyone, even me, indiscriminately before she called for her daughters.

"Angel, Connie! Come greet your aunts and cousins now," she said, voice just like I imagined with a surly tone alike a whisper, less sharp than Scarlett's.

Scarlett, dressed in a vibrant red, held her arms out to the girls.

"Oh, Angel! Connie! I've missed you two so much, mon cherie!"

Angel, bright like her mother, hair curled and done up, have a tinkling laughter before kissing her on the cheeks.

She said something in French before laughing. "Aunt, you're the same as always! One day I'll chide you enough that you will take me to France with you!"

I didn't see what the status symbol of Europe was, but they went about it, talking about fashion brands and hairstyles. Then Connie joined. She had a very sharp face, a cold yet not unpleasant, maybe something akin to a schoolteacher.

Or maybe it was all my imagination and I simple related to Connie who gave a polite head tilt and left her sister talking. Dylan walked to her, and for some reason I felt compelled to follow. Maybe I had to introduce myself.

"Hello, Constance, was it? I'm Blanche."

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

She held out a hand, and I realized through meeting all my relatives not one had offered one. I was worried before I held her hand, wondering if I should make it firmer or looser. Then I saw her hands.

"You have very beautiful hands," I managed to say. Dylan's eyes and hers naturally went to her still hovering hand. It was slender and deathly pale, but her veins were like carvings done by Michelangelo.

"I suppose. It might be the only part I'm better than Angel at."

"Are you two twins?" I asked. Angel seemed to be finishing up buttering up to Scarlett and caught our group muttering.

"No, I'm her younger sister. You can't tell, can you?" Connie said. Just as she did, Angel hopped behind her, a few inches taller, but then I saw it was her heels.

"You must be Blanche! You are so beautiful, almost like Dylan's mother!"

"You've never seen her!" Dylan glared at her.

Angel slid down onto her sister's shoulder and peered at Dylan. "I saw photographs, I didn't mean anything bad."

It seemed to have struck a chord within Dylan, so he inhaled deeply, obviously vexed, and then left.

He walked back to Vaughn who was talking to Calvin, and I was left with the girls.

"What are your ages this year?"

"I'm sixteen," Angel said, beautiful smile on her lips. "Oh, is that dress from Paris? I recognized this design and cut, it's from Paris, isn't it?"

"Yes, but how would you know from only that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. She beamed in a way eerily similar to her mother.

"I study fashion, in two years I'll apply to an university in New York! Daddy said he'd pay for it, and I'd live alone—or with friends, of course. I can't wait to grow up. It must be awfully exciting to be an adult, you seem to fall in love and out so quickly."

"Nonsense," Connie rebuked her, "now don't go jinxing your own adult life. They all fall in love seriously, and that's exactly why they know when it's time to let go."

"Well, I've been on and off with Hans for years now, is that love?"

"I don't know." Connie calmly swatted away her sister's hands and turned to me. "How is Ruby? Would she talk to me?"

"I don't know about that," I began, thinking of how to refuse properly.

"No, she'll never see us!" Angel touched her curls gingerly, and they were almost copper in the light. "Heavens, such nice looks wasted, and she always wears such old fashioned clothing!"

Angel wasn't wrong, Ruby was still in a long white dress that had no flounce or frills. It fell to her calves and she wore stockings and then her loafers. She wouldn't meet our eyes.

"Ruby is very good at writing, I've always liked her songs," Connie said. "She's talked to me before. She just prefers it when Angel doesn't come.

"Well, see if I care. Go to her."

Although her tone clearly showed she did, Connie nodded and headed to Ruby. She was fifteen, or so I think, but much more mature than her older sister. I thought of my older sister and realized it must've been the same. The older one spoke while the younger sat there not because they couldn't talk, but they did not interject their brighter sister.

Maybe because of this one fact I wanted to befriend Connie, and we headed towards Ruby together. Calvin turned, on guard, but Ruby held his arm and said something, and smiled as we came.

"I haven't seen you in a while," Connie jumped the gun without even greeting her.

"Yes, Connie. How long will you and your family stay?" Ruby asked. I blinked but it seemed like the two were pretty honest, or blunt, with one another.

"They left our dog and cat to the neighbors so I hope we go back soon. Our neighbor becomes crossed and doesn't feed them well."

"Oh no." Ruby nodded in understanding.

As they seemed to talk and catch up, Calvin gestured for me to follow.

"Ruby has a friend?" he whispered when we were off to the side, away from Olivia and Angel and everyone.

"How do you not know? You're always by her side," I replied. He worried too much, and occasionally I feared Ruby was his prisoner rather than being protected.

"They've spoken, but I feel like after living in that villa with Ruby she's never talked about friends, especially her cousin! Connie won't hurt her, would she?"

"I can't promise anything," I responded, voice even lower. "They are quite a unusual pair."

Connie was the same height as Ruby but the sharpness that I couldn't explain about her made her feel taller, shoulders up and tense. Ruby, on the other hand, was like an innocent puppy looking at Connie who was speaking. Connie was in a deep blue dress, flared at the cinched waist, while her sister was in a similar red dress with a white belt.

"Now, now, it's time to talk about the ball tomorrow," Austen said, suddenly, for the first time, taking charge of things. His wife squealed and hugged him, and Austen stood even straighter, motivated by beauty.

"We will be inviting some branches of the Blackwoods, Whitecrosses, and Red—Redgraves?

"Redmonds," Dylan corrected.

"And yes, the ball will be in two days, I hope that gives ample time to get ready!" Austen acted as though he were taking care of it, shouting from his corner of the table. His wife hung on to his arm in joy. I couldn't believe they were a happy couple—their family, too, definitely had a secret.

"Blanche?"

I was snapped out of my trance and looked at Calvin.

"You had on a scary expression," Calvin whispered. I smiled.

"You shouldn't say that to ladies, Calvin! No wonder you aren't popular," I joked.

As people crowded around Austen to hear about The Great Ball, Ruby and Connie ran to us.

"Is there really a ball?" Connie asked me, for some reason. "It just seems gruesome, a funeral, the reading of the will, and now a ball?"

"It's more of a family reunion," I lied.

"And for Blanche to get used to high society and find a suitor," Calvin had to add.

"Maybe so."

"Don't worry, Blanche, I know Dylan will take care of you," he said. "We made a pact once. I'd take care of Ruby, and he'd take care of the family business—if it wasn't for his honest nature Ruby and I wouldn't have gotten this far."

"But Ruby doesn't like Dylan," I asked. Ruby's face fell. Calvin didn't answer.

"It's not Dylan's fault, it's me," Ruby whispered.

Then she turned to stand by my side, and I watched the women in heels and men decked out in their suits mingling. In the midst of them was Dylan, who stood by Vaughn's side with his death mask, not showing any emotion.