The Sins of the Fathers

Chapter Twenty

The Rosen Estate

Sanibel Island

Florida

"This is just temporary...you will need to see a proper specialist, but they can do wonders with wigs these days...no one will ever know it's not real, Caris?" Brianna murmured as she combed the auburn hairpiece, smiling at Caris in the mirror. "And I remember your hair so clearly...I was sixteen when you visited with Sean and you were so cool...that pixie cut you had that summer? And the white jeans worn with a sleeveless purple top...we had a barbeque and you were the life and soul of the party? I thought you were incredible?"

"Happy days." Caris said, because she had to say something. She remembered Brianna as well as she remembered anything and she knew her old friend was only trying to help, but her head was still spinning and she could not make it stop.

"Gideon and Pan suggested talking on the porch? Do you remember the view of the lake from there, Caris?" Brianna asked and Caris nodded, because she did remember the view and the house, and the people. She had pictures of them all locked away in the far reaches of her mind, where God could never find them, to ruin or destroy. She used to drag one out every once in a while, normally whilst in her sack, because that was the only chance she really ever got to think for herself. "So...you don't have to get dressed, at all, if you don't want to? That bathrobe is fine...but you can borrow anything you like from my wardrobe? And once you are feeling up to it, we can shop for anything you like?"

"Thanks." Caris managed, looking at Brianna's simple cotton dress, which showed her arms and the bottom third of her legs. And she was tanned, Caris noticed, so she had been outside, looking like that. Her own skin was so white. She had not been uncovered outside of her cell or the showers for forty-three endless years. She supposed that they put vitamin D in the gruel, but she was sure that if she went out onto the porch dressed like Brianna, she would burn in seconds, and then die of the shame. Not that she could ever dress like Brianna because it would be a sin, and she did not want to sin for fear of the consequences. The long robe would have to do.

"Maybe a little sun cream for your face and hands then?" Brianna suggested, apparently also worrying about her skin. Caris nodded and Brianna smiled, reaching for a bottle of lotion on the dressing table. "Shall I do it?"

"Can't I have my habit?" She asked, the desperation clear in her voice, and Brianna closed her eyes for a moment, her hands resting on her old friend's shoulders. Mena had refused to wear anything revealing or in any way immodest, but she had not clung onto her habit, to her veils. Not in the house, at any rate. Mena had only been a nun for four years, and it was quite easy to guide her back to her previous mindset as a Daughter of Eve, but Caris had been in the Order for so long. "I will be punished when they take me back?"

"No one is taking you back, Caris?"

"I am a fugitive...I cannot get a visa for this country...they said..."

"Caris...Gideon was just trying to explain the legal position...you have a temporary visa that runs until at least January, authorised by Presidential decree...but Sean cannot make that permanent...only the courts can do that here...and the next President is unlikely to be as sympathetic to our cause?" Brianna explained patiently, picking up the sun cream again and squeezing some onto her palm, starting on her face. "But that is six months...and we will work out something else...there are countries where you would be safe...you are never going back to the Order?"

Brianna kept trying to reassure her. Caris was in there, she was remarkably together in her head, but she was also traumatised and scared and overwhelmed by everything. Brianna had only spoken to Skylar Hamilton once, and it was immediately obvious that she needed a lot of professional help to even start to function like a normal human being, but Caris was much better than that. Caris could talk, and function to an extent, as long as someone was there to tell her what to do, and to encourage her to do it. But even whilst she was talking to them and answering questions there was something inside her, telling her that she was sinning and that she would pay for her sins. It would have been better to give her more time, but Pan Deacon could not wait, he had to have his evidence, his silver bullets. So, Brianna coaxed her downstairs and out into the sunshine, where Pan and Gideon were waiting for her.