New Years Eve

[Eve]

It took Daphne a moment, but Eve was content to give her the space. The other woman was almost impossible to read, her expression so often as smooth and cool as glass, but in all the time they had known each other Eve had never really misinterpreted it as iciness – or even apathy. While she didn’t profess to ever know what Daphne was really thinking or feeling, she had never turned away from it either. Sometimes people just needed the offer of warmth. An invitation to share which they could pause to contemplate first, and decide to take or leave.

She was confused at first by the explanation – that Daphne was here because of the building itself. But then she continued, and Eve’s expression rippled with both surprise and compassion. She couldn’t have guessed the reason was identity, though of course she had known Daphne was adopted. Like the subject of Eve’s own mother, it was a family knowledge understood but never actually spoken about. Even Gui didn’t, and it wasn’t the kind of thing Eve would have ever pried into. Family was both intrinsic and intuitive to her, and not dictated by blood. Daphne was Gui’s sister. It was that simple to her.

But the real surprise spilled out in the warm rush of her voice as she said, “You’re looking for Minty?”

The strange fortune made her feel tingly inside, though perhaps that was just the champagne. “Araminta Rosewood,” she clarified a moment after, laughing. “And you need to speak to her, Daphne? Come, I’ll take you. We’ll find her together.”