Chapter 17 Caroline

Chapter 17

Caroline

Several Pop-Pie Negotiations Later…

It was weird for Caroline to walk from Gray Fern Cottage to her parents' house. She'd trudged the same path back and forth from her cottage to The Wilted Rose, over and over, for so long, it had become a muscle memory. How long had she stayed in that unhealthy pattern, just because it was safe? But she supposed, after all, it wasn't safe, because Rose had basically been keeping them hostage on the island under the threat of death for generations—even if they didn't realize it.

At least, that was what Caroline told herself, when she found herself standing in front of the bar. It felt like some strange alien world that she was afraid to enter now. The last time she'd walked through that door, she'd been ambushed. She'd nearly died. It wasn't the center of her world anymore, the thing she had to fight for, and she wasn't sure when that changed. It was probably the moment that Riley stepped off the ferry.

She'd spent so much time being afraid of what could happen if she left the island, she never considered the threats that could come from it. But now the world had opened up to her with a speed and breadth that left her dizzy. And she hadn't decided what to do with it just yet. She'd never considered the possibilities of her life, and everything felt like too much too soon, and yet not enough.

She opened the door and found her family polishing glasses, resetting the taps. The family tchotchkes, minus Rose's painting, had been replaced in the alcove over the bar. Wally looked miserable, but no more so than Will, who—according to Mina—was coming up on his fifth consecutive day of work without being able to get out of it. Her mother had actually gone to Will and Tabby's place to roust him off his couch and march him into work. Caroline cleared her throat to keep the laugh contained.

"Hey there, apple dumpling," Denny called from the swinging kitchen door. He carried a crate of carefully plastic-wrapped liquor bottles to the bar top and set it down.

The kitchen was largely unchanged, other than a coat of fresh paint, and as a historical piece, the bar was also treated to a new varnish face. But the ceiling was whole again, and snowy white. The wood paneling had been painted the color of fading sea mist. The outside windows had been replaced with a french door added so the barroom opened out onto a properly braced and refurbished deck. The ancient floor had been stripped and refinished to a high shine. Hell, Caroline was pretty sure that Cole rebuilt all the booths on the exterior wall.

The new color, the new shiny finishes, the lack of "spilled beer smell" made the barroom seem like an entirely different place. It was open and clean and free from the regrets that weighed the very grain of the wood down for centuries.

Cole might have been a treacherous, murdery psycho, but he did a nice job with carpentry.

Gert sidled up to Caroline, carrying another crate of booze. Caroline hissed, taking the crate out of her hands. "Oh, Mom! Your shoulder's not up to that just yet."

"Well, consider it physical therapy," Gert grunted.

"Dad's here?" Caroline asked.

Gert's brows rose. "Well, apparently, he gave some thought to what you said about us needing him. And he decided you were right, it was time to sit up, or something."

Caroline smiled. Across the room, her dad winked at her.

"I don't remember asking you to talk to your father on my behalf," Gert drawled.

"Well, somebody had to," Caroline said. "And we don't count on Wally and Will for things."

Gert pressed her lips together, trying to suppress a smile. "Caroline."

"I know, I know," Caroline snickered, feeling a bit more confident in poking at the bruise of her brothers' previously coddled state. "They help in their own ways."

Gert nodded. "Exactly."

"Unless those ways involve lifting," Caroline added.

Gert snorted. "Caroline."

Caroline's lips twitched. "Or cleaning."

"Sweetheart," Gert said.

"Or unpleasant tasks, of any kind," Caroline said, shaking her head.

"Caroline Anne!" Gert laughed.

"That was the last one," Caroline promised before lifting her hands and crying, "Oh, or saying no to Tabby!"

Caroline felt a light tap on her butt, courtesy of her mom's left foot. She snickered.

Her father wasn't going to just magically "get over" Chris's death—if there was such a thing as getting over a death—but there was a better chance for him to heal, now that he was out in the world. Her family didn't know about the mess with the ghosts or their selfish ancestor or the number of times Caroline had almost died in the past year. And they didn't need to know, because they were safe now…as safe as one could be in today's world.

Nope, no gloomy thoughts now. Today was a day for new beginnings and hope and all that shit.

Wally huffed and puffed across the room, slinging a cleaning rag over his shoulder. He did not take the case out of Caroline's hands, but she didn't expect him to, really.

"Oh, Caroline, thank God you're back," he said as Will approached from behind. "I think I'm done for the day. I've been at this for, oh, three-four hours?"

"Yeah, I've got to get back home," Will said, stacking a couple of glasses on top of Caroline's case. "Tabby needs me to empty the dishwasher."

"No."

Will blinked at her. "What do you mean, ‘no'?"

Caroline rolled her eyes and handed her burden to Will, glasses and all. "I mean, no, I'm not here to work. I came by to officially give you this."

She took a carefully folded piece of paper out of her back pocket and smacked it, open, against Wally's chest. He frowned at it while he read it. "What's this?"

"It's my official notification of vacation days I plan on taking over the next month. There will be fourteen of them, starting with today."

"What?" Will scoffed. "What do you mean?"

"Vacation days, which I'm allowed as part of my employment at the Rose," Caroline said. "It's less than a tenth of what I'm owed, in terms of back-vacation days. Back-cation? I'm not sure what you'd call it, but Mom and Dad wrote the policy so they'd accumulate year to year, so if you don't like it—or the fact that I'm going to be taking quite a few of them over the next year or two—go talk to them."

"Well, I'm just gonna take my vacation days, then," Wally said. "I don't want to be here while you're off. That's not fair."

"You don't have any accrued vacation days, Wally. Every time you called in ‘I don't feel like it,' that was a vacation day," Caroline said.

"You don't know that," Wally told her.

"Who do you think handled the office and all the employment paperwork?" Caroline asked, shaking her head.

Will laughed, but Caroline asked, "What the hell are you laughing at? You're in the hole two vacation days."

"That's not what a vacation day is!" Will cried.

"You took the paycheck, didn't you?" Caroline sighed. "Boys, for a long time, you've let Mom and I carry the weight of the bar. It's not fair, and it's not OK, and I'm not doing it anymore."

"But it's just easier to let you handle all this stuff," Wally said, tossing her vacation paper aside.

"For you, yes, I'm sure it is easier. But I am planning to have a life in the near future. So I need you two to get your shit together and put in an effort here. I'm not even talking about an extraordinary effort, just the bare-minimum effort, like showing up for shifts that you're scheduled for…when you're scheduled for them. Now, if you'll excuse me, Ben and I need to pack up the kids. We're taking them to Ann Arbor for the weekend. Mina's thinking about U of M," Caroline said.

"Wait, what?" Gert dropped what she was doing and turned to Caroline. "What do you mean ‘for the weekend?' You can't do that."

Caroline opened her mouth to explain, but Gert interrupted her. "Not because we need you at work, but it's not safe , Caroline, you know why. You can't leave the island for more than a day. None of you can. You know that."

Will and Wally looked uncomfortable, and for once, Caroline felt sorry for them. They didn't talk about the curse, out in the open. It was like they thought speaking about it would make it real. They couldn't pretend it away if they talked about it.

She closed her eyes. "Look, I can't explain why I know, but the problem that has, let's say, haunted our family for generations? It's not going to be a problem anymore."

"What problem?" Will asked, glancing at his parents.

"Does this have anything to do with all that time you've been spending at Shaddow House?" Gert asked.

"Yes, I can't explain what that is, but we've been working on resolving that problem for our family. And I have every reason to believe that we don't have to worry from now on. We can leave the island, come and go freely."

"Oh, Caroline, you haven't done anything…silly, have you?" Denny asked.

For once, Wally looked truly concerned. "Like signed any weird-looking documents in blood or anything?"

"No. There have been no Faustian bargains, I promise," Caroline said, laughing. "It has to do with the Shaddows. And our family, and how long we've lived here. And something that happened a long time ago that wasn't our fault. And we don't have to pay for that something anymore."

"That sounds crazy," Will told her.

"Yeah, I know," Caroline conceded.

Denny shook his head, his face pale. "Honey, I'd love to believe you, but it's always been this way for us."

"I know," Caroline conceded. "And I know that it's hard to believe, and I'm not giving you a lot of details. Just trust me."

"And what, you think you need to just take a weekend away to test the theory?" Gert asked. "That's just stupid, and you are not a stupid girl."

"I don't need to test it," Caroline replied. "I already did. Ben and I took the kids to Traverse City last week. We rented a house for the weekend. It was great."

She smiled at the memory. It had been a heady experience. Colors seemed brighter. Food tasted better. Music sounded sweeter. She'd practically stuck her head out the car window while rolling down the highway.

Wally gaped at her. "You did what?"

"OK." Caroline clapped her hands together once. "This was fun; see you in a while. Enjoy the move-in. Bye."

Denny cleared his throat. "Caroline."

Caroline called, "I was gone for three days. It was fine."

Gert found her voice to yell. "Caroline Anne Wilton!"

But Caroline was already out the door. Behind her, the Rose loomed, unhaunted.

***

The door of Shaddow House opened to her as if she was a Denton born. She walked in, smiling to herself. Her family was here. Ben was sitting by the fire, going over patient files. Josh and Mina were seated at the coffee table, squaring off against a lovely blown-glass chess set haunted by Nicholas, a child prodigy who died in the 1980s. Nicholas was very patient with their novice moves, grateful to hang out with people his age—sort of. Edison and Riley were lounging on the couch, quietly enjoying the scene.

Caroline wondered, did they get lonely, sometimes, in their house on the hill? How long would it be before they changed the picture with new children or marriage? How long could this little family hold like this? They had seven of the locks now. And that was incredible progress in very little time. But would they manage to find the remaining locks, or would that burden be passed along to Mina and Josh after her lifetime? Had she set up her own generational obligation, after all her efforts to get out from under the Rose?

Caroline shook her head. Better to focus on the task at hand and enjoy this time while it lasted.

Her attention was turned to where Alice was sitting off by herself, in the atrium, handling an enamel vase covered in a pattern of crisscrossing rue leaves. Alice looked pale, like she hadn't slept well. Caroline wasn't sure what was going on with her. Yes, Rose had been a little more sinister than their usual ghost, but Caroline hadn't lost any sleep over banishing her.

Or maybe it was that she was lonely? It had to be hard, with Riley and Caroline paired off, and Alice…well, Alice had never shown much interest in anybody.

Maybe it was more cumulative stress?

Caroline stroked Ben's arm as she passed. He smiled up at her, content, but stayed in his seat as she sat next to Alice on her chaise. "You all right, sweetie? You seem a little off."

"My grandparents are coming back to town early," Alice said, her voice shaking. Caroline put her arm around Alice's narrow shoulders. Alice sank against her, leaning her head against Caroline's.

"I guess they called some of their old acquaintances here on the island and heard that I was spending too much time out of the shop. They've come to ‘question my judgment and commitment to the family business.' So they're coming back to review my performance."

Caroline scoffed. "Like you're some employee?"

"I am technically their employee," Alice reminded her.

"They still suck," Caroline said. Alice made a noncommittal noise. "Come on."

Caroline dragged Alice into the parlor, where they joined their family in front of the darkened fireplace. Alice offered Mina a wan smile as she perched near her on the floor and moved a knight into a more advantageous position. While Josh offered her a grin, Nicholas grumbled openly.

Caroline took some papers out of her pocket.

"Well, I have news. I'm going to take some classes at State to finish out my biology degree," she said. "And then I'm going to apply to a folklore program at a regional university in western Kentucky. They offer a low-residency master's degree, so I'll only have to go to the campus for a week every six months or so."

Edison gasped. "That sounds amazing! Do you think I could…"

Riley held up a finger. "No."

"Oh, come on," Edison huffed. "It fits perfectly with my history background."

"You already have all of the degrees," Riley told him. "Leave some for somebody else."

Edison pouted. "Fine."

"We have more than enough on our plate," Riley said, kissing him. "We have enough challenges, enough friends, enough love."

He sighed against her mouth, "You're right."

"Would you two mind not pawing at each other in the presence of the children?" Plover huffed, appearing behind the couch.

"Thank you, Plover," Mina told him sweetly. "Someone had to say it."

"Is that so?" Ben's smile turned predatory as he pulled Caroline into his lap and kissed her soundly.

"Oh, Dad, no!" Mina gagged.

"There's nothing grosser than parental figure–level PDA," Josh said, shaking his head.

Caroline tried not to let her heart skip, telling herself that Josh probably wasn't referring to her as a "parent," just his dad. But it warmed her soul just the same. They'd accepted her. They loved her and were invested enough in her to be grossed out by PDA involving her.

Aww.

"This is like when Grandpa used to sing Grandma that ‘Sexual Healing' song when he thought no one was around," Josh said, shuddering. Caroline cackled as Ben trailed kisses along her neck. Alice and Riley giggled uproariously.

"No!" Plover cried. "This is really too much! Dr. Hoult! This is beyond the pale! Have some common decency, sir! There are ladies present!"

"I'm sorry, Plover, I have a lot of time to make up for, and I'm going to have to claim all the kisses I can, while I can," Ben replied.

Plover's eyes narrowed at Ben. "I'm getting my tray."