Chapter Twelve: Matters of the Heart

After Gavin had left, Zorell took to the task of unpacking her things. First thing she did was put her clothes away. There was plenty of room left over, and when she was able she would buy herself a few more dresses and a few pair of shoes and other articles of apparel.

She looked at the bed and thought a good rest would be nice, but there were no sheets on the bed. She looked over to her trunk and remembered that she had some packed in her trunk along with a quilt. A nap seemed like a good idea right about now.

She walked over to her trunk and opened it. She found her quilt and sheets folded nicely on top and took them out. Her books were neatly sitting there in a stack at the bottom left hand side, and on the top of the pile was her copy of The Little French Girl, which she hadn't read yet. She took it out along with a small envelope of pictures. She needed to get herself a scrap book to put them in. She picked up the sheets and took to the task of making the bed. She placed the book and the envelope of pictures on the table next to the bed.

She made the bed in no time and spread the quilt over the top. She would hang the curtains later, but she had a pang of tiredness cursing through her body, so she propped up the pillow and sat on the bed. She picked up her book and the envelope of pictures. There were some pictures of the wedding inside, and she did want to look at them again.

She took out the pictures and flipped through them. She saw one of her and Eloise. They were smiling with her in her maid of honor dress, and Eloise in her wedding dress. It seemed so long ago, but it was only a little over a week, and Eloise and Devlin were still on their honeymoon.

She wondered if Devlin was really going to stay back home and work for their father. He didn't like the fact that they were moving into their own house, which was a wedding present from Eloise's father. She cringed at the thought of dear sweet Eloise having to live in the same house as Damon Dupree. He always treated her with the utmost respect, but it wouldn't be long before he dropped his best behavior and showed his true colors. She was glad that Devlin wasn't too proud to not take the gift the patriarch of the Freeman clan offered him. The house was more for his daughter than Devlin, wanting Eloise to have a comfortable house to start her married life in, instead of a small apartment that Devlin was originally planning for them to live in.

She shuffled through the pictures and found one of Leland and Devlin. He was grinning ear to ear, but Leland looked sad. She remembered why, but he wouldn't have to be down in the dumps anymore, since he had his lady love back in his life. She wondered how his father was going to react when he found out the news.

It would soon come to light, and her deception would be revealed. When that happened, she would have to find a way to deal with it. Her birthday would be coming up in a few months, so her father couldn't legally force her to return home. She would be relieved when December 1st finally came, but even with the legality of the situation on her side it wouldn't stop her father from trying to reclaim her.

She shuffled through the rest the pictures and some dead stop when she came to the last one. "How did this one get in here?" She stared at the picture looking into the face of the man who was consuming her dreams at night. Gavin Lorio was handsome in a somewhat goofy kind of way, but she came to that conclusion after she had met him. He had a fun-loving demeanor, and even if she didn't want to, he could lighten her mood and make her laugh.

She stared at the picture for the longest time and wanted to put it back in the envelope, but she just couldn't. The others, she put way and propped the picture up against the lamp that sat on the small stand next to the bed. She picked up her book and tried to get her mind off of him and that question he had asked her.

She opened her book and started to read. She found her herself lost in it and imagined the mother character was like her mother could have been. She was so into her book that she didn't hear the knock at the door.

"Yoo-hoo," came the high-pitched voice of a girl. The door was cracked, and Zorell jumped when she saw the dark-haired girl standing in her doorway. If she didn't know better, she would have thought it was Clara Bow. She had the same dark hair and mischievous expression one of her favorite film actresses possessed in all the characters she played. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

She was wearing a cute little red dress that looked like the style a twelve-year-old would wear, but she could tell the girl was around her age.

"No, you just startled me a little," Zorell said, sliding off the bed.

"Miss Kastor said a new girl moved in today," she said and smiled, while holding out her gloved hand. It was made of lace with a butterfly design. "I'm Wendy Stiller."

"Zorell Dupree," she said, taking the girl's hand. She thought about the name which wasn't that common and made her think of the stage play, Peter Pan, and wondered if she was named after the lead female character. "I'm a nurse at Harden hospital."

"Oh, like Sonya," she said in her perky voice. "She lives down the hall next to my room."

"Yes, I met her at the hospital," Zorell said and thought of the question that was preying on her mind. "So, were you named for Wendy in Peter Pan?"

The girl giggled at the funny question. "Oh, no, I was named after my father Wendell Stiller. My mother hated it, but Papa always got his way."

Zorell was fidgeting with her book, feeling embarrassed that she had drawn the wrong conclusion. She accidentally turned it over, and Gavin's picture fell on the floor. It landed right by Wendy's feet.

"Oh, it looks like you dropped something," Wendy said, while Zorell tried to grab the picture before Wendy could see it, but the girl had it in her hands before Zorell could get near it. She picked it up and looked at the photograph and gasped. "He's so handsome. Is he your beau?"

"No," she said and grabbed the photo out of the girl's hand. "It's just a bookmark." She tried to make light of it, but she was flustered and her hands were shaking a bit. Stumbling, she placed the picture back inside her book and closed it.

"You have that one," Wendy said, pointing at the book as the cover became visible. "I've been wanting to read that one for the longest time." The statement was a surprise to Zorell, since the book had only been published a few months ago, but when a girl is still young a day can seem like a long time. "Could I borrow it after you're done?"

"Sure, but I just started, so it will be a while," she said and put the book back on her nightstand.

"That's okay," she said in her friendly way. "I can wait." Wendy turned when both girls heard noises coming from down the hall.

"Wendy!" a female voice called from down the hall. "Where are you hiding?"

Before she knew it two more girls entered her room. "Wait a minute, where's Dara?" a girl with long dark red hair asked. She was wearing a red sailor dress and a matching hat.

"Don't you remember, Sabrina?" Wendy asked her. "Dara moved out to get married. This is Zorell, the girl whose taking Dara's room."

"Oh, hello," Sabrina said, while the other girl, who was a bleach blonde stood behind her friend. Her skin was lighter then porcelain without one imperfection except for the beauty mark above the left side of her upper lip. Zorell wondered if it was real. It wasn't brown like most beauty marks but a strawberry red. "So, do you have a job?"

"Yes, I'm a nurse at Harden hospital," Zorell said and shook Sabrina's hand.

"Viola and I are dancers in the ballet," Sabrina said and performed a lazy pirouette. Viola giggled at her friend showing off.

"Do you like dancing?" Viola asked in a high-pitched voice. Zorell was surprised never hearing any human person ever sounding like that.

"Oh, yes, but I never danced ballet," she said trying to think back to her one and only attempt to dance on her toes. She ended up falling on the hard floor of the back porch.

"Then we'll have a fun time teaching you," Sabrina said and took her hands and swayed, while singing gibberish to the music of Swan Lake.

Zorell was just beginning to realize that living here was going to be more fun than she thought.

"Maybe we should all go and let Zorell get settled," Wendy said and the other two girls looked disappointed. "Well, maybe after dinner tonight you two could put on a show. Miss Kastor would be glad to play the piano."

"That's sounds like fun," Zorell said, but what she really wanted to do right now was take a nap. Perhaps then, she could get her mind off the things she didn't want to think about.

The girls left her room and she latched the door hoping to not be disturbed for a little while. She could hear the chattering down the hall, but it wasn't so loud that she could drift off to sleep. In fact, it was somewhat comforting. 

Thanks everyone for reading. The chapter title was meant to be something else, but it was going to run too long so I decided to split it up into two chapters. Zorell is going to get some advice from Shanee while her past is about to come back to haunt her.

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