The Fool Ch. 05

It would have been easy for her to have bought into the fantasy that she could have a normal life with Sinclair and think about the future beyond the promise she had made to her mother, and had to remind herself that none of this was real. Once she betrayed him, he would turn on her, and she had to harden her heart against the growing feelings she felt for him.

"You're doing it again," Sinclair accused. "Just tell me what's going on; I can't handle much more of this hot and cold routine." He sounded irritated.

"Doing what?" she turned to look at him innocently.

"Shutting down. Just tell me what's going on, maybe I could help," Sinclair's concern over Carrie's moodiness was evident in his voice and only served to fuel his irritability.

"Nothing, I don't know what you're talking about," she gave him a wide-eyed stare, making him sigh heavily.

"Why lie? Do you think I can't tell when you're lying or avoiding questions by now?" He asked in frustration. "Reading other people is what makes people like us good at our jobs."

"I'm not lying. It's nothing. I've just been thinking about how different our childhoods were, and how cool it would have been to grow up on Treasure Island," she said, easily dismissing his concerns.

"I doubt many people had the same gypsy-like upbringing that I did, but this was always home for the holidays," he agreed.

"Just the holidays?" she asked.

"Yeah, we all went to boarding school and came home for the holidays," he said as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Oh, I thought maybe you had a tutor here or something," she said thoughtfully. "We just had such different lives up until this point. It's taking me a little while to wrap my head around it all. Being here has made me think about the future and if we possibly have one beyond the exhibition and the Fools final heist."

"You've been thinking about the future?" Sinclair asked carefully. "Our future?" he clarified.

"Well, we're here playing house, doing the normal day to day thing with no servants or people to put on an act for, except the one man I saw down on the dock, who I haven't seen since. It's not a big leap to wonder if we could have a normal life at some point," she said defensively. "But then I remember that this is not a normal relationship. This is about work for both of us. You're trying to prove I'm the Fool, and I need the prestige of creating an amazing exhibition for the museum to further my career. The fact that we have chemistry at all is just a bonus."

"So six months and it's all over?" he asked with humour in his voice. This was the most in-depth conversation he had managed to have with her since coming home, and he knew it was only just touching the surface of her strange reaction to being here. "Do I get a say in this at all?"

"I thought you'd be happy that I'm just using you for your body, no strings, no commitment," she raised her eyebrow at him. "You do have a reputation to maintain, after all."

"You can't believe everything you read on the internet," he chuckled. "Maybe I'm ready to settle down with the right woman."

"Maybe you should stop wasting your time waiting for me to reveal that I am the best thief in the world and go find Ms Right then, because I think our expectations for the future are quite different," she said, her mood changing again.

"I can't imagine our childhoods were that different, or our visions of the future, for that matter. We have so much in common right now," Sinclair said, trying to take away her anxiety and restore her relaxed mood.

Carrie didn't want to compare her unorthodox upbringing to his privileged existence and how that made any future together seem impossible to her. She lay back on the poolside lounge and closed her eyes, contemplating how to end this conversation quickly without telling him anything else about her life because she knew it would only lead him to believe his assumptions about her being the Fool were right. She could think of no other valid reason to explain her mother's obsession and how it had shaped her life.

"What's that noise?" she frowned, grasping at anything else to distract him from the conversation they were having. He cocked his head, listening with her and swore.

"Shit! They're early," he muttered.

"What? Who's early?" she grabbed a towel, pulling it up in front of her.

"Time to meet the family," he chuckled. "They're back early, I wasn't expecting them until the weekend."

"NO! I don't do the meet the family thing! You should have warned me!" she got up, quickly walking back into the house and towards his small cabin.

"Where are you going?" he followed her.

"To pack, I can't stay here now!" Carrie was panicked at the idea of meeting the parents he had spoken about so affectionately. "The seaplane can take me back with it when it leaves."

"You came for two weeks, that was the deal," Sinclair was stunned by her reaction.

"That was the deal before I knew this was your family home and that they would be here!" she bit back viciously. "You should have told me, Sinclair! You should have given me a choice about meeting your family! Fuck, I can't believe you ambushed me like this!" Her panic made her voice high and pitchy as she berated him. "You don't know me or my family! Did it even occur to you that I lost my mother not so long ago and didn't want to be mothered or fathered for that matter by your parents?"

"Carrington! Stop!" he grabbed her and pulled her into his arms, holding her tightly as she struggled to get away from him. "Just stop for a minute!" Unable to calm her, he threw her on the bed and wrestled her into a submissive position before speaking again. "Calm the fuck down. It's not a big deal. What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I don't do parents!" she repeated, and there was real fear in her voice. "I don't want to be here, Sinclair, let me go, please!" she begged.

"No," he said at a complete loss as to what else to say. "Stay one more night, and tomorrow, if you still feel the same way, we'll go," he said calmly in a low murmur next to her ear. "Just stay one more night," he said soothingly.

"The plane is here now, it would just be easier for me to go now," she said in a voice less filled with panic but sounding tense to the point of anger.

"The plane won't be leaving again today," he explained calmly in the face of her anger. "The plane is flown by my father. I promise if you still feel the same way I will ask him to take you to the mainland in the morning myself," Sinclair said in the same low murmur, loosening his hold on her slightly now that she'd stopped struggling. "Agreed?" He asked, softly kissing her neck.

"You don't know what you're asking," she said softly, knowing that she had little choice. He wasn't letting her near that sea plan today, she realised.

"Then explain it to me," he murmured softly.

"I told you, we have different pasts, you don't know me. We've worked together and slept together, but we don't know each other, and I'm not ready to meet your family. I know from the last few days that your idea of family and mine are two very different things," she tried to explain as vaguely as she could. "Have you even told them who I am?"

"Not that it would matter, but, yes," he said easily, finally releasing his hold on her and rolling onto the bed beside her, keeping an arm around her waist. "Agree to stay at least one more night and we'll talk about you leaving tomorrow."

"You swear I can leave tomorrow if I want?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him. "Not just talk about It, but actually leave."

"I swear, but I'd like to have a better reason before you leave than the fact that you don't do the meet the parents thing," he grumbled.

"No conditions," she said forcefully. "I stay tonight and you let me leave tomorrow without any arguments."

"A discussion then," he said. "We will discuss it tomorrow, and if I can't convince you otherwise, you can leave, no arguments."

"Okay," she finally agreed. "I need to have a shower and change, so you can let me go now, I won't start packing again." She knew she had little choice, but at least tomorrow he could call the pilot from the mainland to come and pick her up if his father wouldn't fly her off this island.

"Thank you," he murmured, moving to kiss her neck again and feeling her pull away from him. "I'll just lay here for another minute or two so I don't look like a horny teenager caught with a girl in his bedroom," he chuckled.

"I knew you loved the battle more than the sex itself," she accused, seeing the telltale bulge in his shorts.

"Not at all, but we don't have time for make-up sex right now," he removed his arm from around her waist and let her get up.

*****

Sinclair was sitting in the great room with his parents when Carrie finally made an appearance. Gone was the carefree, relaxed woman he had shared the last few days with, and in her place was the assistant curator of the museum. Her hair was pulled back neatly into a tight ponytail, and she had a thin layer of makeup enhancing her complexion. She wore a demure summer dress and closed in low heeled pumps.

"Here she is," Sinclair stood and walked toward her, trying not to look concerned by the change in her. "Mum, Dad, this is Carrie Ward." He wrapped an arm around her waist and drew her forward.

"Hello," Carrie said in a soft voice, extending her hand formally to Georgia, who took it in bemusement before she turned to look directly at Frazer Mansvelt with her hand extended.

"Do we know each other?" he tilted his head as he took her hand.

"No, but I think you might know my grandmother," she said carefully. "People say I look like her, though I think I look more like my great grandmother. There's a strong maternal line of women in my family. You might have known her too when you were younger."

"You never told me this," Sinclair said.

"I didn't think I needed to. You seem to know so much about my family and me already," she said sweetly. "Our grandparents were distant cousins, or something like that."

"Edith," Frazer said into the frosty silence that ensued from Sinclair. "That would make you Robyn's daughter, Carrington."

"I am. I didn't think you had much to do with my family once your father passed away," she said. "I'm surprised you picked up the family resemblance."

"He has a thing for faces, never forgets one and rarely forgets a name. It comes in handy when you get to my age and can't even keep your own children's name straight," Georgia said with a laugh. "What did you say your grandmother's name was?" she asked pleasantly.

"Edith, Edith Ward," Carrie said quickly.

"That doesn't sound like any family name I know of," she looked at her husband.

"Very distant relative, more like family friends," Frazer added the information. "Don't worry about Sin, wouldn't be the first time he cut corners in his homework," Frazer chuckled and raised an eyebrow at his silent son's unhappy expression.

"Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I could use a cocktail," Georgia said. "Why don't you boys run along and mix us a batch of something yummy."

"What would you like to do first," Georgia said conspiratorially as the men walked away, "Embarrassing photos Sinclair would hate me to show you, or the childhood souvenir's I've saved?"

"Photo's?" Carrie posed her answer as a question, not sure why his mother would be relishing embarrassing her son the way Georgia seemed to be doing. "Sinclair showed me some of his photos from when he was younger when we arrived," she said carefully.

"That doesn't surprise me, but it ruins all my fun. But I do have one series of photo's you probably haven't seen," she smiled mysteriously. "I'm afraid you'll have to wait until Sunday to see it, though."

"Oh, I'm not sure I'll be here that long," Carrie immediately became worried that Sinclair had made a promise he couldn't keep when he said she could leave tomorrow. "Is Sunday an important day for your family?"

"It's Frazer's Birthday, all of the children come home and celebrate with us. It's a wonderful celebration every year, and I have some wonderful things planned for this year," she laughed.

"Birthday's were never a big deal in my house growing up. What sort of celebration do you have planned?" Carrie asked, more to be polite than out of any real curiosity.

"Birthday's are always a big deal," Georgia said adamantly. "Especially Frazer's!"

"My father was absent from my life, for the most part," she said easily, knowing it wasn't unusual in this day and age. In fact, having the perfect nuclear family seemed the oddity these days. "There weren't any male role models around to know how they liked to celebrate special days," she tried to explain, but realised she was digging a deeper hole for herself.

"Well, these days Frazer is just happy to have all the children home together. Of course, now that the girls are married and have children of their own we don't always have all them come home," she said somewhat sadly. "They usually buy him a small gift, like funny underwear or a garish tie like they did when they were children. We have a big dinner with all his favourites and just enjoy each others company."

"Are they all coming this year?" Carrie asked nervously. She could see why her agreement to stay had been so important to Sinclair now.

"You've made sure of that. Sinclair's never had a serious relationship before. At least not serious enough to introduce the woman to us, until you," Georgia unknowingly put even more pressure on Carrie to remain on the island longer than she wanted to, and noted that the young woman froze as she took in the information.

"Carrie," Sinclair said gently as he came back to where they were sitting, noting that she had turned pale and had an odd smile frozen on her face. When she didn't respond, he said her name again a little more forcefully, "Carrington."

"You lied to me," she said softly, turning her head to look at him. "I understand why you did it, but you should have told me that your sisters were coming as well this weekend."

"They are?" He looked at his mother. "I thought they couldn't make it," he said frowning.

"Plans change, and you know how much your father loves having everyone here," Georgia said as if it was perfectly normal.

"That's very true, plans change, and, unfortunately, I've promised my brother to be at home by the weekend. I'm sorry I won't be here to meet them all," Carrie said apologetically. "I had no idea you had organised a family gathering or that this weekend was Frazer's birthday. Sinclair never mentioned anything about it."

"Well, it's just as well we came home early and got to meet you before you left then," Frazer said in a cheerful voice in an attempt to lighten the mood. He hadn't known the girls were coming home either, and he looked speculatively at his wife who seemed horrified that her plans were not working out as she wanted. He considered how badly this could go and searched for some way to diffuse his wife's anger over having her plans thwarted.

"I'll fly you to the mainland tomorrow if you have to go," he said easily, "which means I can have the giant gift you brought back with you tonight," he said to his wife, "While Sinclair is here."

"You don't need to go as well, do you?" Georgia asked Sinclair, her eyes widening.

"I'm sorry, Mum, you should have told me the girls had changed their plans. I hope they didn't do it just to meet Carrie. She's too shy for a big family gathering, and I'd rather if the whole clan didn't scare her away just yet," he tried to soften his words. "I did tell you we were coming while no one else was home, I thought you understood that, Mum."

"Let's let them argue, Carrie, and you can help me find this present, it's huge, so it should be easy to find," Frazer chuckled and held out his hand to her. "Unless you'd like to go and get it yourself, my love," he looked at his wife with a stern expression.

"Fine, I will get you your present, but only because at least one of your children is here," she sighed, coming to her feet.

"Give that girl a cocktail and apologise for whatever dumbassery just happened!" Frazer said sternly to Sinclair, and followed his wife from the room.

"I didn't lie," Sinclair said as he passed her a glass full of multi-coloured liquids all layered to look like a sunset.

"Not the best apology I've ever heard," she said frostily.

"Why didn't you tell me our families were friends," he tried putting the spotlight back on her.

"I assumed you knew," she shrugged. "It's not like I have much family to investigate, unlike you. Why didn't you tell me about your father's birthday? I don't even have a gift for him!"

"I didn't think anyone would be home this week, and that we would say happy birthday when they got back on the weekend and have a simple dinner, just the four of us. I don't know what Mum was planning. She does stuff like this. She probably told the girls Dad was getting old and this could be his last birthday, or something dramatic like that," Sinclair sighed and sat on the couch beside her.

"She told them I was here, they're coming to meet me," she said, shaking her head. "She said she was grateful because you made it possible to get all of her children home together."

"Okay, for that I will apologise," he said taking her hand. "I'm sorry I put you in a position you didn't want to be in, but, to be fair, I didn't know you had a phobia about meeting my family."

"It's not just your family, it's any family," she admitted. "I don't do it because I don't understand it," her voice held all her anxiety and emotion as she fought back her feelings of panic at being different and having him judge her and Robyn.

"What's to understand?" he turned to look at her, his confusion furrowing his brow.

"I was lucky if I saw my father once a year. My grandmother was a voice on the phone rather than a presence. Jordan came to live with us when he was ten, but Robyn sent him away to school as soon as she realised we were becoming close. There was only ever Robyn, and her parenting skills were unusual," she tried to explain. "I don't do families because they make me nervous and uncomfortable, like I am a freak who doesn't belong."

"You must have had to meet your friend's families when you hung out after school or on the holidays," he was trying to understand what she was saying.

"Robyn never let me go to school, I had tutors at home, and, before you ask, no, I wasn't allowed to join clubs or sports teams or have friends at all. I had tutors, trainers and Robyn, then she got sick, and I had Jordan to lean on again, but time had changed us both, and we weren't kids anymore, or even knew how to deal with each other. She died, and he was all I had left. An adoptive brother that Robyn treated more like an employee than a family member," the words tumbled out.

Sinclair was stunned and didn't know how to respond to what she had just said. He felt sad and angry and horrified that a mother could isolate her child so completely from the rest of the world, even from her father and grandmother.

"I don't want to be the freak who doesn't know how to act at your family celebration. I don't want to be here. Can you just let me leave, please?" she asked in an unemotional voice, blocking out the pain and anxiety she still felt from Robyn's absence. All she had now was the Fool's plan to cling to as a normal part of her life. Sinclair only served to cloud her brain and her judgement. She hadn't told him the entire truth, but she wasn't going to tell him about Robyn's obsession with proving to the Hats that their family deserved their place among them, regardless of not having a male heir.

"Okay," he said. "We'll leave in the morning."

"You don't have to come with me," she said. "Stay and hang out with your family. I'll just be working when I get back to London anyway."