The Little Dove #2 ✔️

40. The Board Of Trustees

CHAPTER 40: The Board Of Trustees

It was three days after I told Edmund time apart was what we needed, it wasn't difficult, until three days, I was sitting on the porch, it was close to raining when one large recognisable SUV pulls up onto the driveway. Talon was in the passenger seat when I see Iris stepping out of the back, I figured Edmund was in the driver's seat, but the windows were tinted as I stare into the tinted windshield, before my eyes narrow in on Iris'.

She holds a bag in her hand, stepping up towards the steps. I stand in my black floral heels, watching closely as she tentatively holds it out to me, "We didn't want to leave without telling you. Something's happened and we're required to leave for a few weeks as we sort everything out. This is just a few clothes Lorraine left with Erik, she won't talk to him, but we...we all understand why. Look, I just wanted to apologise for everything I ever did to you. I was horrible, vindictive, manipulative...and I'm so very sorry." She whispers to me, placing the bag down below.

I lean against the pole of the porch, staring down at her, stoically, I look down at my shoes once, "Were you and Lyndon brought up at the Fitzgerald Brotherhood as well, or was that just Edmund and Talon who was a part of it?" I ask her, treading carefully. The engine of the SUV cuts off, but no one opens any doors, I know they were all in that damn dark car, watching, most likely listening too.

She looks up at me, slowly, glancing over her shoulder, "Yes. Why do you only mention Talon and Edmund?" She asks me, quietly, against the cold winds, she cocooned her arms around her fluffy royal pink coat.

I give her a long look, tilting my head, "Why were you there? Did you grow up in their facility?" I ask her, attempting to understand, even if Edmund had avoided me like the plague over the past three days, when I attended classes, he'd even try not to look at me, when we connected eyes, I'd never received such cold surfaces. Even now, he uses her to speak to me.

She swallows, "I have the same reasons why Edmund won't tell you, all of us just want to forget what happened at that place." She whispers. Her eyes dart around, unsure, so very uncertain.

I lean down and grab the bag, "How ironic," Considering the destination in which they were headed, would do the very opposite of making them forget. Iris gives me her furrowed eyebrows, I stare her down, "Why'd you do it, Iris? What did I ever do to you to get what I got? I never liked the man you proclaim to love, I turned to your leader for guidance and received a knife in the back and a quick plead for forgiveness, yet no truths. Your entire group was in on this, I trusted you, I opened up to all of you and this is something I get in return?" I say, as coldly as before. I was icier than he wind against her rosy cheeks.

She looks up at me, "Not one of us are proud of what happened. Of everything. Melanie, you have to understand, he received the worst of it, compared to everyone else. You cannot break it off with him, please. This is our fault, we shouldn't have asked him to lie for us, I understand that now." She almost pleads.

"Good luck in New York." I tell her.

Grabbing the bag, she gives me a cautious look, "How do you know it's New York we're headed to?" She sounded strange, foreign perhaps. It was difficult to explain.

I turn away from her in one swift rotation, the movement felt almost too quick for even me, but all my thoughts ran with wishing I hadn't chosen studying on the porch I this very moment, grabbing the bag along with my laptop, I turn towards the back porch door.

She sighs behind me, "I guess we'll see you when we see you." She says behind me. I close the porch door, dropping the bag on the dining table and watching the SUV get roughly ripped out onto the road, his anger showed clearly in just the sound of the tyres squealing in protest. I lock the door, takin a deep breath.