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"But it’s a new building"
"Can’t I go to a christening party?" Cecily says
Linden puts his hand on her stomach and says, "But your job is here, love And don’t you see how important it is?"
"Once the baby is born," she says
He smiles and kisses her She lets him, and it’s clear that they’ve been this familiar for a while "Then you’ll have the baby to look after," he says
"Elle can care for the baby soet upset, and Linden says this is so they can discuss privately later, and she says, "No, now" There are tears in her eyes, and she’s forgotten all about the pregnancy book and has discarded it on my lap
"Cecily," I say
"It’s not fair!" She turns to o to a party if I want to What have you done? What have you given up?"
Soinside ofso hard to keep quiet I have to I have to, because if I say the truth now, then I’ll forever be a prisoner And I won’t give her this expo or any of the parties to follow, because they are mine My only chances to show my brother that I’m alive, to find a way out of this place I deserve this Not her
Her eyes are big and full of tears Her sobs are wet and full of hiccups, and Linden picks her up--her small, swollen body in his ar across the hall
I sit in the bed, fuo They’re starting to come apart Petals have fallen around the vase and shriveled into scraps of tissue paper It’s like looking at the open eyes of a pretty corpse
Cecily’s good intentions never last long
Gabriel and I have been very careful about hoe inter-act I could spend a wholeabout our one kiss, and when he shows up to bring me lunch, all we’ll do is talk about the weather He tellscolder and he thinks there’ll be snow
"Did you bring Cecily her lunch yet?" I ask hi confined to my bed makes it hard for us to see each other I can’t follow hiardens
"Yes," he gruh in spite of myself "She didn’t"
"Because she wanted a twice baked potato, not once baked Surprisingly good aiirl in her condition"
He says that last part sarcastically We all know that Cecily isn’t nearly as delicate as Linden or Vaughn thinks
"She’s in a lovely ht Linden toldns, and she had a fit because he didn’t ask her instead"
He e ofparty?"
"Gabriel," I say softly, "it may be my only way out"
He looks at me for a while, face unreadable, and then he looks at his lap "I guess it’s not the worst escape plan you’ve had, is it?"
"Hard to argue I’ here in four different casts"
"Is it really so bad here?" he asks Then panic fills his eyes "Is the House Governor forcing you to do anything--you know--in bed?" His cheeks are on fire
"No!" I say I reach out and putlike that Gabriel, I can’t stay here for the rest of ot that you can’t get here?" he says