LOUISA'S NIGHTMARE
Chapter 9: Understanding
It was a little before dinner when Rick, Evie, and Jonathan arrived at the manor. Louisa had calmed down a great deal on the trip home, and as they walked inside she didn’t even greet Alex, or Megan, going straight upstairs to the room she shared with her sisters.
When she arrived neither of them were there, and their things were still gone. Louisa didn’t worry about them, feeling a bit angry now about what they had said. She went to her easel and got out some paints, and began to do what she did best when upset.
Alex noticed how tired his parents looked, and he helped Jonathan with the bags, telling them that Elizabeth and Rebecca were in their new room. While they went up the stairs to handle things, Jonathan walked into the Parlor and made himself a drink.
~*~
All day the girls had dreaded their parents return, and now as they heard foot fall approaching both of them sat in their bed trying to look innocent.
When Rick walked into their room he wanted to take both of them over his knee and tan their hides, but he had agreed with Evie to at least talk to them before they got their punishment. “You two need to put your books away,” Rick said as he took a seat on a small two person sofa across from the bottom of their bed. Evelyn settled beside him, and both the girls did what he asked of them. “Why did you say such hateful things to your sister?” he asked both of them.
All day, and really since Louisa had been missing, Rebecca had been feeling terrible, and when she saw her parents, it was too much. She slipped off the bed and ran to them. Rick lifted her onto his lap as she started to cry. “I’m sorry dad, I do love her, and I’m glad she’s my sister, but she always does more with you and mum. We just miss doing things with you, and she got to wear mum’s locket too,” Rebecca managed through her sobs.
While her sister confessed for them, Elizabeth sat on the bed looking at her hands. She felt bad as well, but she was still mad. Neither of them knew what had happened to their sister, what all of that meant, and it was just as difficult on both of them to see her in such pain.
Evie watched her, then called her over, and when Elizabeth was in front of her, Evelyn hugged her. Elizabeth took in a deep breath and let it out, then she asked what she had been wondering for so long. “Mum what is a rape?”
Rebecca had calmed down, secure in her father’s arms and looked at her mother as she lifted her sister on to her lap.
On the plane she and Rick had talked about telling the girls what Rape mean, what it intaled. Neither of them wanted to scare them, but they needed to understand why Louisa had been so distraught. “Rape is something that a man who has no love, does to a woman or a girl. With Louisa Travis gave her kisses, like what daddy and I do, and those kisses were not anything your sister wanted. Louisa fought him, but he kept kissing her.” Evie held her daughter closer, about to say more when Louisa walked in.
“Travis kissed me after he pushed me down in the sand,” she said as she walked over to them.
Rick settled Rebecca between Evie and himself, and lifted Louisa onto his lap. She snuggled against him and continued, and told them what Travis had done, how it had hurt, and how it had made her feel.
Elizabeth was the first to give her sister a hug after she finished, and the first to tell her she was sorry. “I didn’t know that it hurt you so bad. I don’t know what it’s like and I’m sorry I told you what I did,” she said as a tear rolled down her cheek.
Rebecca was the next to apologize. “We want you to be our sister, we never meant what we said,” she told her.
As much as she knew they were sorry, Louisa was still hurt, and she slipped off of Rick’s lap. “I know you’re sorry but I need time to think about things,” she said, then she ran out of the room. Rick went after her, Leaving Evie and the other two alone.
Evie hugged both of her daughters to her, kissing them both. “Now for what you told your sister, and for lying to your father and I about Louisa not wanting to go with us yesterday, that is not something you will go unpunished for,” She said to her daughters.
“But we said we were sorry,” Rebecca said as she started to cry more. She knew they were going to get punished, and even with knowing she didn’t want it.
Evelyn used her hand, and spanked both her daughters bare bottomed then tucked them into bed. She told them they would be grouned to the house for a week, and to their room for the remainder of the day. After she helped them get ready for bed, she tucked them in, and then sat on the edge of the bed. Both girls were still crying, though not as much, and she felt like crying with them. “When you are angry at your father or me, then tell us. You didn’t have to be so cruel to your sister,” she said still angry for what they had done. She gave both of them a kiss, then left to go check on Rick and Louisa
~*~
It was later that night, after everyone had gone to bed, that Louisa made her way to her brother and Megan’s room. Jonathan was sleeping on the third floor in another of the rooms, and there was something else that had been worrying her. It was quiet as she approached their room, and when she walked in she found both of them still awake, both reading books of their own. “Alex? Megan?”
Both of them set their book aside, and when Louisa walked to his side of the bed, he lifted her up and settled her between himself and his wife.
“I heard you talking about the baby,” she confessed as she held her mother’s locket, unable to face either of them.
Megan looked at Alex and he winked at her. “That’s right, Megan and I are going to have a baby, but it doesn’t mean we don’t love you or Becca or Ella,” Alex said as he held her close.
“So you still love me right?” she asked. She felt very insecure right now, and this new baby was something she wasn’t entirely certain about.
To that Megan snuggled close to both of them, and took her hand kissing it. “Louisa, we will never stop loving you,” Megan said. “In fact you and Becc and Ella have an important job, when this baby comes you will all be Aunts, and you will have to teach it all about life, and help us,” she said, wanting to make sure she felt included.
Louisa considered that. “Well I will make sure to keep the baby safe,” she said as she snuggled her cheek against her brother’s chest. After all that had gone on, she was warn out. Alex slid down so that he was laying down, and Megan slid down beside them and rubbed her hand over Louisa’s back. When she went to sleep, they both decided to let her stay where she was, both hoping the rest of the family would take the news as well as she had.