When Angelina and Bernadette finally made it home after having said goodbye to the Fabrinos, the earliest sun rays had started to appear and paint the ground in a soft glow of extremely early morning.
Angelina though was a complete mess, she could barely sit upright on Firestorm, in fact Bernadette sitting behind her holding her waist was probably the thing stopping her from falling off the horse.
As they finally reached the cave Angelina could barely even bother to change, and was kind of glad she could just throw a night dress over her head instead of a full dress. That is after Bernadette had tightly wrapped her injured arm, it really was just a brush the bullet had just touch her skin enough so it bled, it still hurt like shit though. Looked like Angelina would have to wear long sleeved dresses for a while.
Her entire body seemed to hurt, her mind was a big buzz, her eyes were heavy and she had to basically drag herself all the way up to her room where she threw herself down on the bed and wished to never ever leave it ever again!
And of course that's when the earliest bird song started to sound from outside the window…. Angelina had half the mind to shoot them dead. She was just to tired to get up from bed and actually do something like that. So instead she buried her head in her pillow as she groaned and soon fell into blissful sleep.
However, it only felt like a second before a big shout sounded from the hallway and giant knocks on the door. "ANGIE!" Lolita exclaimed and the door opened to reveal Lolita in her own nightdress.
Angelina groaned as she rolled to her backside. "Whaaaat?" she asked.
"The Fabrinos, they've were freed by the Scarlet Fox this night. They are going to be okay. Isn't that wonderful Angie?" Lolita asked.
"Huh?" Angelina asked with a groggy voice as she blinked trying to get the sleep out of her drowsy eyes. "Oh, I see. That's nice."
Lolita blinked confused.
"What?" Angelina asked in a groan.
"You… erhm. Don't seem particularly happy about it." Lolita commented. "And I thought… I mean."
"Oh! I'm happy, i'm very happy." Angelina yawned deeply as she laid down again.
Now Lolita looked really confused then she frowned. "Isn't Daniel Fabrino supposed to be your friend?" she asked.
Angelina groaned as she closed her eyes, she had to come up with something quick to explain her behavior to Lolita, she was to tired to put on a big face of emotions then finally she turned around so she was facing Lolita. "I'm sorry Lolita." she said. "The truth is, the Scarlet Fox herself already told me. She was in my window a little while ago."
"Oh." Lolita realized. "When was that?"
"I don't know, the sun hadn't risen yet but it had started to become light." Angelina yawned deeply. "She also asked me to tell father that she borrowed one of our coaches to the Fabrinos. Their rescue was a favor to us, so she thought it was fair to borrow a coach."
"To us?" Lolita asked. "Why would she do us favors?"
"I don't know." Angelina groaned deeply. "Lolitaaaa, i'm to tired." she complained in a very childish voice.
That made Lolita blink, then she smiled as she was truck by familiarity and then she exhaled. "Have you been up all night?" she asked.
Angelina didn't respond.
"I see, you must have been worried sick." Lolita nodded understandable. "Please forgive me Angie."
"It's… Okay." Angelina swallowed.
"I'm sure when all this is settled Daniel Fabrino will be right back." Lolita assured. "He seemed like he was really fond of you."
And that made Angelina sigh deeply. "No… He wont." she said. "He wont come back."
"What?" Lolita asked.
"Another message the Scarlet Fox gave me, from Daniel." Angelina said. "It just wouldn't work, so we are going each our way. And that's it." she informed as she had to close her eyes to fight the tears.
"Oh god, Angie. I'm so sorry!" Lolita exclaimed. "I mean I… I.. Is there something I can do?" she asked.
"No, I just want to sleep." Angelina groaned deeply. "Please give my apologies to father I wont join you for breakfast, i'm to tired."
"It's okay I understand." Lolita nodded. "I'll send the servants up with a tray for you, eat if you can."
"Sure." Angelina muttered as she laid back in bed with closed eyes.
This day Angelina genuinely slept for the most of the day, she finally managed to join her family for dinner even if she was groggy and in a cranky mood.
It seemed though that everyone had just filed it under her suffering from a broken heart so they were lenient. In fact, they even served her favorite dessert, orange mousse with pieces of dark chocolate un top. And it really was delicious but Angelina had a hard time even enjoying it and excused herself early intending to go to bed again.
There up in her room she sat down by her desk and then groaned as she fell over her desk. "For christ sake pull yourself together Angelina." she muttered.
But somehow it just felt like she didn't have the energy to move from that position, and there she laid, sprawled over the desk groaning deeply until a soft knock came from the door.
"Angelina." A soft voice sounded from the door. "It's me, Lolita."
Angelina groaned deeply. She really wasn't in the mood to deal with Lolita right now, in fact she wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone! She just wanted to be left alone, but Lolitas responds was to open the door and come in carrying a tray which had a a pitcher and two mugs on it and Angelina looked up.
"I brought hot chocolate." Lolita informed. "Mom taught me that hot chocolate is the best cure for heart ache."
That suddenly made Angelina blink as she looked up in surprise. "She did?"
"Yes, my first affair ended quite abysmal and I was a mess, so mom brought me hot chocolate." Lolita informed. "I'm sure that if she was here she would have done the same for you but well… I guess it has to be me."
Angelina looked up at her then smiled amused as she dried her eyes with her sleeve. "I don't think I have quite realized she's gone yet." she admitted. "I keep thinking she's just on vacation."
"Yes it feels like that sometimes, must be even worse for you. You weren't even there at the funeral." Lolita commented and Angelina bit her lip turning away. "Oh, i'm sorry I."
"So you seriously had an affair?" Angelina asked. "Who was the man?"
"This traveling merchant." Lolita smiled amused as she seemed to take Angelinas words as an invitation to sit down beside her. "He told us all he travelled the entire world to sell the best and most precious wares. He really knew how to speak for himself, made it sound like he had a great fortune and really did have a big estate back at Blakeney…. turned out he was a total froth." she then admitted. "And he only courted me for my money. You should have seen father when he found out, he chased the guy all the way out on the country side with a sword." she chuckled.
And Angelina smiled amused as well but then she frowned. "I'm sorry Lolita." she said.
"Don't be." Lolita replied. "I feel like I learned a valuable lesson back then, to not be taken in by pretty words. But that's not what happened to you is it?"
"No." Angelina shook her head. "Daniel was really serious, he asked me to come with him. To marry him. And he's not badly off I know that for a fact, he's for real. The sole heir to a whole estate."
"Wow." Lolita blinked. "But then he changed his mind? What happened?"
"He didn't change his mind, I turned him down." Angelina swallowed.
That made Lolita blink surprised. "Why?" she asked.
And Angelina bit her lip. "It just… It was not going to work." she swallowed. "And he agreed."
"Oh Angie." Lolita exhaled deeply putting an arm around her, then with her other hand she poured up hot chocolate for both of them. "Look, i'm not really an expert myself. But I can tell you what mom told me."
"What did she tell you?" Angelina asked.
"Well, she told me that… It'll be pretty likely that i'm going to fall in love quite a few times still, and sometimes men with fall in love with me. But even then there's no guarantee it'll work out, that's okay though. It's okay falling in love even if it doesn't work out. For a while it's going to hurt but with time the memory is going to be warm and precious, something you think back to with nothing but warm feelings. And then one day, as long as you keep being yourself, you'll find that person. The person where you just know you have to be with him, no matter what! And he'll love you to. It may take a few heart breaks before you get there, but you need to keep trying. Because ones it happens, it'll be worth every last little tear it took getting there. And every last little experience that'll turn you into the person you'll be that day,"
And Angelina smiled as she looked up at Lolita. "Mom said all that to you?" she asked.
"Yes, she did." Lolita nodded.
"She really loved father a lot, didn't she?" Angelina asked then she grew quiet looking down.
"Yes, she loved all of us." Lolita replied.
Angelina smiled though her smile was very sad. "I hope I can be like her one day." she said. "Like her and father, loving each other like that. Every single day they were together."
Lolita nodded. "I hope that to." she admitted. "Well, I suppose we both just have to keep looking. Even if it's pretty slim picking around here." she sighed deeply. "When everybody else thinks the sergeant is the best they can do, we are really scraping the bottom of the barrel aren't we?"
"Oh yes!" Angelina exclaimed looking up. "What a rat! He just ratted the Fabrinos out without a second thought. And then he's acting like he's some hero from a adventure novel, I mean really sergeant? You're not that charming." she rolled her eyes. "You're not actually D'Artagnan!"
And Lolita chuckled. "Yes, that's exactly it." she commented. "And he's not the count of Monte Cristo either."
"Oh dear no. Edmond Dantes would at least show some restraint." Angelina replied and they both smirked amused then Angelina looked down. "Thank you Lolita, this is nice." she said.
"Yes." Lolita replied sounding mildly surprised herself. "It actually really is."
And Angelina smiled as she lifted her cup with hot chocolate. "To all the heart breaks we have to suffer before we find the right one."
"Indeed." Lolita replied as she picked up her cup as well and they clinked as both sisters smiled. That's the moment that Angelina knew, this was going to work out just fine. She had no regrets.
