Chapter 5 - Presley tells a different story
Presley’s mother was Delphine’s older sister, Camille Ward.
She arrived that evening to collect her daughter.
Camille was furious.
At Presley.
At Delphine.
At me.
At everyone.
But mostly frightened.
“What happened?”
I told her what I saw.
Presley interrupted:
“Maribel was being a brat.”
Camille looked at her.
“That is not an explanation for pushing someone beside a pool.”
“She gets everything.”
There.
“Who told you that?”
Presley crossed her arms.
“No one.”
“Presley.”
“She does.”
Then:
“She has the whole house.”
Maribel was not present.
Good.
Camille asked:
“What does that mean?”
Presley said:
“Aunt Delphine said Maribel acts like she owns everything because her dad lets her.”
Delphine immediately answered:
“I never told her to push anyone.”
I believed that might be true.
But words travel.
Presley continued:
“She said once the house situation is fixed, Maribel won’t get to decide everything.”
“What house situation?”
Presley looked at Delphine.
That glance mattered.
Camille said:
“Answer me.”
Presley whispered:
“Her room.”
My anger sharpened.
“What about Maribel’s room?”
Presley said:
“Aunt Delphine said it was wasted because Maribel only sleeps there.”
It was a child’s bedroom.
Of course she mostly slept there.
Then:
“She said it could be part of the guest suite.”
Delphine interrupted:
“That was a design conversation.”
“With an eleven-year-old?”
“I was speaking to Camille.”
Camille shook her head.
“No. You said it to Presley when you brought her to the house last month.”
Delphine’s face tightened.
May you like
This was no longer about one shove.
Someone had taught Presley to see Maribel’s place in the house as excessive.
