Valley Of Glamorgan (33 page)

Shocked by the call, at that moment in time
I wanted to hang up the phone, but I didn’t as I was worried about
him. Despite him being an idiot, after all he was usually so calm
and collected; I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. When
I heard Eirnan come back on the phone and ask me, “Anyways. I hate
to do this to you, but I heard your parents were out of town
tonight so can he crash at your place? My mom will never let him go
home with me, and his mom; well quite frankly I just don’t want her
to see him like this.”

To be honest I knew I didn’t want to see him
like that either, but as I thought of everything Declan’s family
had gone through, and his sweet little sister, I just couldn’t let
him go home to them like that either. Finally I told Eirnan, “I
will come and get him. We will be there as soon as can be,” then I
hung up, not wanting to hear anymore of Declan’s drunken screaming
in the back ground.

“Is everything ok?” Maggie asked, obviously
concerned by the distressed look on my face.

Shaking my head sadly I replied, “No. Not
really. I wondered if someone would go with me to get Declan; he is
drunk and needs to sleep if off here.”

Without hesitation Lorcan volunteered, “I
will go princess.”

“No.” Knoll suddenly spoke up, “maybe it
would be better if I go, after all this isn’t my first rodeo.
Besides, I have dealt with these damn drunk kids for years now.” I
expected Lorcan to throw a fit and demand to go with us, but he
actually agreed that maybe Knoll was better for the job.

Quickly we made our way out of the house.
The cold of the bitter wind making me pull my arms closer to my
body. It seemed winter was starting to come down on us. As we
walked along, Knoll asked, “Where is he?” He sounded as annoyed as
I was.

“At Thora’s! That is apparently where he was
been drinking all day,” I stated, disgust and annoyance reflected
in my voice.

“Now, don’t jump to conclusions Mina Bear,”
Knoll told me, “Thora throws parties for the kids all the time. I
guess it makes her feel involved.”

“Really” Well I can think of a few ways of
involving her,” I said smiling, thinking back to how good it felt
when I had hit her in the face. It wasn’t that I was usually the
violent type but every person had their equivalent to a Thora in
their life; that someone who lived to make other people’s lives a
living hell.

As we reached Thora’s large brick house, I
could smell the alcohol and hear people everywhere. Knoll told me
that some were even passed out on the lawn chairs, whilst others
were dancing to the loud, ear piercing music coming from the house.
Deciding to call Declan’s phone, we listened for the ring making it
easier for Knoll to find him amongst the crowd of drunken people.
Knoll heard it first and told me to stay put as he knew it would be
hard for me to navigate my way through the house with not being
able to see it. After he left I stood there wondering how many
people were staring at me.

Just as I was starting to get worried I
heard Declan yelling something. “Hey babe,” he said, putting his
face too close to mine so all I could smell was beer and the strong
stench of vodka.

“Let’s go,” Knoll said sternly and I felt
Declan being pulled away from me as Knoll went on, “Don’t make me
carry you Declan! Because, if I have to I will pick you up in front
of all these people and carry you home like a baby.”

“The hell you will,” Declan shouted and
pulling away he began walking and stumbling over everything in his
path. Needless to say it was a long walk back home. By the time we
walked through the castle door I was feeling tired and my annoyance
level had risen somewhat. Suddenly Declan turned to me demanding,
“Where am I sleeping? How about in your bed gorgeous,” and as if
that wasn’t bad enough he grabbed my chin saying, “No, look over
here I am over here!” and he forced my face round towards him. I
couldn’t believe it; had he really forgotten I was blind?

Suddenly I heard Lorcan speak, “You will
take your hands off of her and you most definitely will not be
sleeping in her bed!”

Declan obviously hadn’t heard the tone of
Lorcan’s voice as he turned on him and snarled, “Oh! Is that right?
Just who the hell do you think you are to tell me what I can and
cannot do?” Then turning back to me he spoke sarcastically, “Mina!
Here is your big bad guardian, come to save the day! Is he good
enough to sleep in your bed? Is that why I can’t?”

“That is enough,” Lorcan warned.

But Declan ignored the lingering threat,
“Ohhh, so you are sleeping with him? You slut! After all everyone
in town thinks you are! No one gets why I’m with a blind girl,” and
laughed before carrying on and on in a drunken slur.

Until he didn’t, as someone announced, “You
really shouldn’t have called her that.” Then Lorcan called in my
direction, “I am sorry princess,” and before I could call out ‘what
for’ I heard the loud noise of bone against bone and Declan was
quiet.

Desperate to know what was going on I
yelled, “What just happened,” calling out to anyone who would
answer me.

Finally Knoll was the only one to chime in,
saying, “He got what he deserved Mina that is what happened.”

Just then Maggie walked in saying, “Oh, my
god! Mom and Dad are home!”

All I could say was, “What?” Just when I
thought this night couldn’t get any worse my parents had walked in
the front door.

Eleanor was the first to speak, “My
goodness,” she called out, “Why is Declan sleeping on the
floor?”

At her comment Knoll burst out laughing,
before declaring, “He’s sleeping all right.”

“Will someone please tell me what the hell
is going on,” Liam ordered and the room grew silent.

Lorcan was the one to speak up, “Sir, this
is my fault. He isn’t sleeping. I knocked him unconscious.”

“You did what,” I called out!

“Why would you do such a thing Lorcan?”
Eleanor asked.

Lorcan swallowed before replying, “I was out
of line and I apologize.”

But Liam wasn’t satisfied as he said, “I am
afraid that isn’t going to be enough. Knoll what is going on?”

Finally Knoll began explaining about the
evening’s event, “Sir, Declan was drunk. We brought him here to
sleep it off and I’m afraid he called Mina a slut and accused her
of sleeping with Lorcan as well as a lot of other horrible things.
He was out of control so Lorcan shut him up.”

“Hmmm,” said Liam, then turning toward
Lorcan he went on, “Well, my boy as he clapped Lorcan on the
shoulder, I am glad you were here to defend my daughter. As for
him,” and he pointed to Declan, “Take him home. I do not want him
in my house, at least until he is clear headed.” I wanted to argue
that his mother shouldn’t see him like that, but in all honesty
after what he said to me, I didn’t want him here either. And so it
was left to Knoll and Maggie who agreed to take him with them on
their way to their new home. They then quickly excused
themselves.

As I stood in the foyer with my parents and
Lorcan, everyone was silent. I had a feeling no one knew what to
say. Declan’s behavior had been so unexpected, not to mention the
nasty way he had lashed out at Lorcan. Maybe he was as cute as
Maggie said he was, or why else would everyone be acting so strange
around him? I was thankful when my parents kissed me on the top of
my head and went off to unpack and get settled in for the
night.

Being left alone with Lorcan I had crazy
thoughts running through my head. I had to admit to myself that I
was still trying to figure out if I should thank him for defending
my honor or if it was weird just to want to thank someone for
hitting your boyfriend, who had acted like a pompous jerk.

Eventually Lorcan spoke, “I am sorry that
the evening was ruined. I was having a good time.”

Despite myself I defended Declan saying, “I
don’t know what came over him. It must have been the liquor
talking, as he’s usually a really nice guy.”

Lorcan obviously didn’t agree saying, “No
offense Princess.”

‘So we were back to him calling me
princess,’ I thought to myself but decided to let him continue.

“I highly doubt that is the first time he
has acted in this manner,” Lorcan responded.

Thinking back to the way Declan had treated
me the few moments before I was kidnapped, I remembered how he had
left me standing alone; but that hadn’t been the worst part as he
had left me alone knowing I was blind. Who does that kind of thing?
I felt as if my head was about to explode as it began to pound with
frustration. I loved Declan, there was no denying that but he
hadn’t been the same since his animal ceremony and it was making me
question where we stood. He had been at Thora’s house, the one
person in this entire village that I couldn’t stand. It wasn’t that
I was being ridiculous or behaving like a jealous girlfriend it’s
just that Thora was a horrible person who treated everyone like
crap.

I thought back to her saying that Declan
could have been hers’ if I hadn’t come along. Up until this moment
I believed she was just trying to make me mad as I’m sure there
could never be anything between them, but now I wasn’t so sure;
maybe she had a reason to think that he was into her. Despite
myself I couldn’t shake the ominous feeling creeping up my body,
slowly leaving a prickly feeling behind. It was then I realized I
had been standing there staring off into space, deep in thought and
I felt bad for zoning out with Lorcan’s statement still hanging in
the air.

My only answer to him was, “Everyone makes
mistakes Lorcan,” and that was all I was going to give him; I
didn’t want to say something I couldn’t take back. Starting for the
stairs with Lorcan following closely behind me, I was very much
aware of the closeness of him as every time I took a step he
followed, his breathe warm on my neck. The tiny hairs on the back
of my neck stood to attention and I could feel myself shudder
slightly; what was going on with me today? As we reached my bedroom
and I opened the door I paused to tell Lorcan goodnight and then I
closed the door firmly behind me.

Jumping onto the bed I sprawled out before
wrapping the silk blanket around me. This was my safe place, and no
matter what the day threw at me, I could come here and let it all
go. Finally I decided to change into an old fashioned, white long
sleeve night gown, thankful that the bathroom was in my room as I
was pretty sure it was slightly see through. I could never tell if
the lights in the room were on or not being always surrounded by
darkness. Yet despite that, I often found myself wishing that I
would just wake up and see the world around me once again. However,
tonight I was thankful for the darkness; it is one thing to hear
the person you love say horrible things about you, but it would
have been a lot harder to have watched the words come from his
mouth. At least this way it was easier to convince myself it hadn’t
been that bad.

Chapter 21

Sometime later I was woken by a loud
pounding on my bedroom door and the sound of two loud voices
yelling on the landing.

“I just want to talk to her,” yelled a man’s
voice I recognized as being Declan’s.

The Lorcan replied, “I am sorry but the
Princess is sleeping and I don’t think she wants to speak to
you.”

“But I said I was sorry!” whimpered Declan
childishly.

I had known instantly it was Declan and
Lorcan fighting but all I wanted to do was curl up under the
blankets and hide. The problem was that it was hard to tune the
pair of them out as any loud noises in the giant castle just kept
echoing around and around, making it that much harder to pretend I
was asleep. Stumbling to the door I was still feeling half asleep.
As I swung the door open and they both stopped yelling and looked
at me as I yelled, “What the hell is going on?”

“Mina!” Declan shouted suddenly throwing his
body in front of mine, pushing me back into the room and slamming
the door shut behind us, leaving Lorcan on the other side probably
feeling as confused as I was.

Shocked I yelled, “What are you doing
Declan; have you lost your God forsaken mind?” I was in no mood to
play his jealous boyfriend game for as I thought about it, I knew I
wasn’t in the mood to see him at all today.

“Your damn night gown! Lorcan just saw
you’re’…,” and he stopped speaking as he struggled to say the word
‘breast.’

“Oh my god!” I gasped, shocked and threw my
arm over my breast as I felt a familiar heat of embarrassment
overtake me as I hadn’t even thought about the night gown when I
answered the door. Quickly scurrying to the closet I pulled my robe
from the hook and slipped it on, tying it tightly so that nothing
showed.

Returning to the room I said, “I am sorry
about that. I really had forgotten about the stupid night gown. I
paused before continuing, “I wasn’t even certain that it was see
through. It’s very hard to know when you can’t actually see
anything!” putting stress on the last few words in order to make a
point.

“It’s ok,” he said sighing and sounding
defeated. “Just another thing being blind takes away from you I
suppose.” As it happened I had just been thinking the same thing
but when he said it, it stung a little as if it was him who was
always being affected by my not being able to see. I appreciated it
had to be an adjustment for him, but what the hell did he think it
did to me. Up until then I had almost forgotten I was mad at
him.