Page 33 of The Last De Loughrey Dynasty (The Legacy of Aquila Hall #1)
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
DOROTHEE
“What are those trousers?” was the first thing my mother had to say to her daughter after not seeing her for more than three whole months.
Disappointed but not surprised.
“I bought them in a second-hand shop down in Owley. I thrifted a couple more clothes,” I answered her with a sweet smile. As much as I was unhappy to return home, I don't think anything could crush my happiness at the moment.
Calling Archer my friend hadn’t been on my to-do list before leaving for the holidays, but now that I had spoken those words, all I could think about was his smile at the title.
My mother peeled her upper lip back in disgust. “Thrifting is for the poor. Honestly, Dorothee, don’t you feel disgusted knowing your skin touches a fabric that has been worn by God knows who before you?”
I shook my head. “No, because washing machines exist, and I don’t see a problem with recycling old clothes.”
My attention turned from my mother to my father, who was talking to someone on the phone. Aaron De Loughrey could be in a burning building, but if he were talking to a client on his phone, nothing more important would exist to him at that very moment.
“Hello, Dad!” I said extra loud to gain his attention, but instead of apologising and telling the person on the phone that he currently had no time for them, he waved me off to be silent until he’d finished his call.
It’s fine, I mean, I haven’t seen you in seven months, but I'm sure that call is more important than properly saying hello to your daughter. Don’t worry, I get it.
“You’re talking like a waterfall in comparison to the day I brought you here, Darling,” Mum noticed, looking me up and down. And as much as the child inside me had wished to recognise pride in her gaze, I only saw disapproval.
When I was silent, she wanted me to be loud. When I’m loud, she wants me to be silent. That was madness in the ways of a mother.
“That’s why you wanted me to come to Aquila Hall in the first place, right? I’m healing, Mum. I enjoy talking again.”
She hesitated a little before she slapped on a smile. “Of course, Darling.”
Maybe she was telling half the truth. I had to mean at least something to her, and a mother wants her child to be happy and healthy.
“Hello, Dorothee,” my father said with a polite smile after he had ended his call. “I apologise, that call was important. I like your trousers.”
I gave him a genuine smile. “Thank you, Dad.”
Mum rolled her eyes. “She thrifted them, Aaron. You know how unhygienic that is.”
I bit my tongue at her comment, searching for another topic to change this conversation to.
“Can we stay to watch the theatre club present their version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream ? A friend of mine got one of the leading roles.”
My father's eyebrows raised in surprise. “You’ve got a friend?”
His surprise at that shouldn’t hurt, but it did, at least a little. I could only hope he was referring to the former ‘friends’ I had, who found it funny to use my fear of the dark against me, and not that he believed his daughter was too mad to find people actually liking her.
Once, Ariadne, a girl I believed to be my best friend at the age of eight, held my head underwater during swimming class until I started choking on the fluid filling my lungs. She’d laughed at me and said that she just wanted to baptise the demons her mummy had told her about out of me.
“Yeah, I’ve got five, actually,” I said proudly, but my parents only shared a look.
“Darling, making friends at a place like this doesn’t seem… clever to me,” my mother told me.
“Why? Because they could be as mental as I am?” My smile had left my face, as much as I had made an effort to keep it. I was so happy a few minutes ago, but my mother somehow always managed to wipe my smile off my face.
“Dorothee. That’s not what I said,” she defended herself in a quiet tone to not cause a scene.
“But it’s what you meant. But don’t worry, Mum, I won’t be able to bring any more shame on the family name hidden away where you like me.”
Her jaw dropped in shock. “Dorothee!” she hissed quietly.
My father placed his hands on my mother’s shoulders. “Of course, we’ll watch the play with you. Your mother and I are still jet-lagged from our flight, and some quiet entertainment before the long drive home will do us good. Right, Cordelia?”
She exhaled angrily, not taking her eyes off me. “Of course.”
This time, as I forced a smile on my lips, the happy thoughts didn’t succeed over the memories that started to hit me when I thought about the De Loughrey manor. The place where all I could do was watch but never listen.
My parents and I took our seats at the back of the auditorium to watch the play. After spending almost two hours with them, I was already fed up. Mum constantly muttered something about how this place gave her a headache, and Dad took one call after another while I showed them around.
When we had our appointment in Chadwick’s office for him to give my parents a report on how I was doing, both of them suddenly acted like the best parents anyone could wish for. Shame had filled me with their behaviour because Chadwick knew about how my home life had looked as I grew up. Session after session we talked about how hard it was to grow up with the feeling that I’d never be good enough for either of them. And now they sat here, and all I said looked like a complete lie.
The red curtains were still closed, but the light in the room started to slowly dim. Someone from the front row got up and ran towards the back of the room, where I sat. As the small figure came closer, I recognised Maisie, who wore a long white skirt with a matching white blouse that had long witchy-like sleeves which spun around her in her quick walk. Her golden and crystal jewellery gave her an unworldly touch. My friend had these looks that could only ever be compared to an angel.
She took my hand and smiled widely. “Come on, we’re sitting in the front row so that Jesse can see us.”
I stood up and looked at my parents, who eyed the blonde girl that still held my hand. “Mum, Dad, that’s my roommate Maisie.”
“Now I know where your sudden change in style comes from,” my mother muttered.
“Pardon me?” Maisie asked, a little confused. Instead of wasting any more time, I smiled at my friend. “Not relevant, the curtains are opening.”
She turned around to look at the stage. I gazed at my parents one last time before I pulled her with me to where she had come from. “I’ll meet you after the play,” I called to my parents, not waiting for them to argue that I’d stay by their side.
We had front-row seats, and they’d kept an empty one for me between Archer and Maisie.
“Does he know we’ll be watching?” I asked Maisie, who snuggled against Nathaniel by her side. She grinned, her eyes not leaving the stage as the lights lit up above to draw everyone’s full attention.
“He has no clue, only Naomi knows, and she’s backstage—hush, it’s starting.”
I sat back and watched as the first students slipped into their roles, eyeing the boy by my side for a moment. His concentration was completely on the stage, so I just admired his looks.
Just now, as I looked at him while no one was, I was ready to be honest with myself and admit that Archer Kingstone might be the most beautiful man I had ever seen.
Jesse’s performance was astonishing.
All of the students were, but my full attention had been on him the whole time. Even Maisie had her Polaroid camera solely on our friend, who played the role of Puck. Seeing him as a malicious fairy wasn’t on my bucket list for this year, but it definitely is one of my new favourite memories. I fully hope that someday he can live out his dream of being an actor on a bigger stage than Aquila—he deserves it.
The cast lined up on the front of the stage, and I watched as Jesse’s face saddened a little, looking around the audience, knowing his parents and siblings didn’t make an effort to watch their son and brother doing the one thing he was so passionate about.
Naomi laid her arm around his shoulders and pressed a kiss to his cheek. He blushed, and his face twisted in confusion, but not even that could lift his mood fully.
My heart ached, but instead of continuing to watch his disappointment, I grabbed Maisie and Archer’s hands and pulled them up together with me. They knew what I was doing and joined the applause until he looked down at us.
Jesse’s brown eyes lit up the second he saw us mouthing his name during our applause for him, which was louder than the rest. Naomi said something to him, I couldn’t understand, but from the way her lips moved, it looked like, “We’ll always be there.”
He threw one arm around Naomi and tugged her close, his mouth forming a big smile.
After the curtain had fallen again and he and Naomi were jogging down the stairs towards us, we embraced the both of them, showering our friends in congratulations and compliments.
At this moment, I felt the warmth of a family enveloping me, a bond forged not by blood but by love and understanding, filling the void where comfort had been missing my entire life.