A Fiery Dalliance

XIX

"It is an absolute human certainty that no one can know his own beauty or perceive a sense of his own worth until it has been reflected back to him in the mirror of another loving, caring human being." John Joseph Powell, The Secret of Staying in Love

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XIX.

Perrie blinked several times before she managed to find anything coherent to say. Looking up into Joe's dark eyes, she could see that he was mightily displeased with her. While that was not anything out of the ordinary, it was usually in retaliation to an overt prank, and not something so trivial. Or had she misunderstood? Certainly, he could not be angry with her for not being able to tell him apart from his brother or pretending to not be able to.

"You are aware that you are identical to your brother, are you not, bridge troll?" Perrie asked slowly after a moment of dumbfounded silence.

"Seeing as we are identical, I am wondering if I should be offended at your belief in my brother's resemblance to such a hideous creature," Ed offered comically, but his words did nothing to diffuse the tension between Joe and Perrie.

Joe didn't break. Not for a moment. He glared down at her as though he expected her to say something different. His anger seemed entirely unfounded as the sin that Perrie had supposedly committed could have easily been made by anyone. Why was she expected to know different?

Just because she could tell them apart, that did not mean that she should be punished for mistaking them outwardly. Perrie wagered if she walked both brothers back into the church and stood them before the vicar that he would not be able to name Joe. Would Joe scold the vicar and ask if he was dropped on his head as an infant if he failed?

"Brother, come on now," urged Ed gently as he took Joe's arm and pulled him away.

Lily did the same for Perrie. "Why don't we go outside?" she suggested quietly.

Perrie shook her head. "No, is that why you are behaving so brutish towards me, Mr Parish?" she demanded to know. "Is my crime that I could not tell you from your brother?"

Joe's jaw tightened, his teeth obviously clenching inside his mouth.

Perrie positioned herself directly next to Lily. Perrie's younger sister clearly stood two inches taller than her, and while their features were very similar, they were clearly not identical. "Which sister is Lily, and which is Perrie?" she asked him. "Can you tell?"

Joe did not answer.

"I am Perrie, if you did not guess. But I suppose you did as Lily and I do not share a face." Perrie's stubbornness was at its height in that moment. She had no desire to tell Joe that she had known it was him. She was too irritated at his irritation over such a simple mistake to make. He was so determined to hate her for everything, and Perrie was too obstinate to give him any sort of satisfaction.

Joe inhaled a sharp breath, before he stepped forward and uttered, "God save the man who will one day have to stand up in this church with you. He doesn't deserve the grief that will certainly follow him in having to bear your company for the rest of his miserable life."

"Joe, that's enough," Ed admonished firmly. "Do not be cruel."

Perrie had launched at Joe in this very room the first day that she had encountered him when they were children. And she found herself, once again, flying through the air with her hands reaching for Joe's throat.

Both Lily and Ed were not quick enough to react, and Perrie, despite her small stature, knocked Joe to the ground. Perrie was not prepared for her own fall, and she landed quite heavily on top of him, the side of her temple smacking into Joe's chest.