Cinnamon & Rubies // The Outsiders

twenty-one

Caroline carefully stepped down from the last stair and made her way to the door where Tim was waiting. She smoothed her hands down the front of her pale pink skirt and then straightened up. Helen met her gaze and pursed her lips into a tight line.

"You don't have to do this," Helen finally said.

"I do. We told Louise that she would be safe." Her little siblings were fast asleep upstairs, Louise's cast elevated on a pillow. Caroline had checked on her and Teddy before she came downstairs.

"Does Darrel know?"

Caroline reached up to adjust her pillbox hat on her pinned curls. She avoided her mother's gaze as she whispered out her answer. "No. He's not gonna know."

"I won't lie to him if he asks."

Caroline and Helen exchanged a long, hard look before Caroline opened the front door and stepped out into the frigid November air. Now that Thanksgiving was over, Christmas was quickly approaching. The wind bit at her exposed skin and she bowed her head in an attempt to block out some of the cold as she approached the low-lying car in front of her house.

"Let's get this over with," Tim grunted as soon as she shut the door to the passenger seat. He peeled away from the curb and headed for the deep parts of greaser territory towards Buck's house.

"What the hell are you wearing?"

"Well, Shepard, I know you ain't familiar with church but this is what folks call Sunday best," she retorted. He let out a low chuckle and shook his head.

"Y'know I was wonderin' what Curtis sees in an uptight skirt like you but you certainly got a lot of surprises, Montgomery."

"Hope that isn't what you call a compliment."

He smirked in response, a cigarette loosely hanging from his lips. Caroline turned her gaze to the road in front of them. Her fingers clenched and unclenched around the hem of her dress and she sucked in a tight breath as they approached the dilapidated area. People spilled out of the front door of Buck's, bottles of booze clutched in their hands as they shouted, kissed, and fought in the yard. Tim parked across the street and looked over at her with a relaxed expression.

"I can turn back now and drop you off at home. Never mention it to Curtis," he offered.

Caroline simply opened her door and stepped out. Her hemline fell just above her knee, exposing the pale skin of her calves and her skating-toned muscles elongated by her kitten heels. She demurely clutched her purse to her as she walked towards the crush of debauchery, her head held high. Tim quickly fell in line behind her, directing her with a quick point to one of the back rooms. Heads turned to gaze upon the prim and proper woman as she strode confidently into the house and past the weed filled haze that consumed the rooms. Caroline easily stepped over a man stretched out on the floor and looked back at Tim for confirmation of her direction. He nodded and she knocked on the door attached to the kitchen before stepping back and clasping her hands politely in front of her.

They waited a moment before the door swung open, revealing a shirtless man with a generous beer belly and a joint between his lips. His eyes raked over Caroline's slim form and then he looked over at Tim with a sleazy grin on his face.

"This a gift, Shepard?" he drawled in greeting.

"Shove it, Larry. She's looking for Mary." Tim crossed his arms over his chest and stared down Larry. The man raised his hands in surrender and stepped aside to let them into the room. Two men were playing cards at a small table in the middle of the room. A bed was shoved in the corner where a leggy blonde stretched out across the covers. She lifted her head and shook out her blonde curls before pulling the joint out from between her lips and blowing the smoke out into the air.

"They're here for you, Mary," Larry grunted before joining the men at the table.

Mary Raleigh's green eyes studied Caroline's appearance with disdain and she sat up, exposing her lingerie covered body from under the sheets.

"Do I know you? Or is Shep gettin' involved with church ladies now?" she crooned.

"You don't know me but I know your daughter. Patricia, ain't it? She's been messin' with my kid sister at school. Busted her arm on the playground yesterday."

Mary reached over to nab a bottle of beer from the nightstand and took a long drink before offering Caroline a smug smile. "And that concerns me how?"

"Well, I figured I'd ask you to talk with your daughter about leavin' my sister alone, but I fear I've been mistaken. That would require you to be involved in her life."

The room fell silent. Even the cards stopped shuffling as an uncomfortable tension consumed everyone in the room. Mary's eyes narrowed as she rose, her long fingers wrapped around the stem of the bottle clutched in her hand.

"Excuse me?" Mary hissed.

Caroline blinked at her with a wide eyed, innocent expression. She waved a hand at the booze and drug filled surfaces of the room and offered a tight smile. "Do you know where your daughter is right now, Mary?"

"You sanctimonious bitch." Mary lunged for Caroline but the brunette grabbed her wrist and neatly spun her around, forcing her against the table. Caroline leaned her head down close to Mary's ear.

"You tell your daughter to back off my kid sister and I won't call the fuzz on your parenting style, ya dig? And if I hear about your kid hurting my Louise anymore because you told her to, I'll be back. You don't fuck with my family, Miss Raleigh. You understand me?"

"How about you go to hell?" Mary spat, wrenching her arm from Caroline's grasp. The sudden action caused the bottle to slip out of her hand but Caroline caught it and slammed it against the edge of the table, shattering it to expose thick jagged pieces of glass. The brunette levelled the broken bottle with Mary's eyesight.

"You understand me?" Caroline's voice came out sharp and cold. It was unlike anything Tim had ever heard from the soft spoken woman. No one knew what to do as the two women faced off. Hell, he had no idea what Montgomery had planned when they came here but it certainly wasn't this. When he said she was full of surprises, it certainly wasn't this. Compared to Curtis, Caroline appeared unable to hurt a fly.

"I got it," Mary finally relented. Caroline released her and stood up straight. She tossed the broken bottle into the corner of the room and spun on her heel, exiting the room without another word.

They rode in silence back to the Montgomery residence. Once he rolled to a stop outside of the old house, Caroline thanked him with a nod and exited the car. She slowly approached the porch, taking the time to dig through her purse to locate her house key. Before she could slip the cool metal key into the lock, the door swung open to reveal the person she was dreading seeing the most.

"I'm going to kill Shepard," Darry announced in greeting.