The Last Christmas Ball by Lily Seabrooke

Author:Lily Seabrooke
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2020-12-09T23:00:00+00:00

I’ll Be Home for Christmas played softly through the manor, and I pushed past small groups of people talking quietly, early-morning voices and sleepy smiles, the light of the sunrise filtering in through big windows and glinting off ornaments on the Christmas trees, but I just gave thin, polite smiles to all of them and kept going until I found Aunt Gina talking to one of my million cousins, and I interrupted to say, “Aunt Gina, can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Oh, of course, my darling,” Aunt Gina said, and she gave my cousin an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I need to talk to your cousin. Let’s go, Alice, dear. What can I do for you?”

“Let’s talk somewhere else,” I said, and I led her to the library, deathly quiet and worlds apart from the rest of the building. When I shut the door behind me, Aunt Gina sank into the awful green paisley armchair, and I fell into the sofa with all the grace of a dying fish flopping down.

“What’s wrong, dearest?”

“I need to stay in a different room than Lisette’s,” I said, and Aunt Gina just smiled and shook her head.

“I’m sorry, Alice, dear. It’s all right. This is all His Plan.”

I rubbed my forehead. “It’s not working like you think it is, Aunt Gina. I just can’t… I’m sorry. Please. I don’t think it’s working.”

“Relax, my dear,” she said. “There’s a reason you were guided to stay here after all. Everything is working according to His Plan.”

I stopped mid-gesture, straining to find what words I was supposed to use now. “Look, I—it’s not—I don’t think you’re picturing the right problems right now.”

“You’re beginning to see the root of the poison,” she said. “You’re starting to see His Light, and it’s so bright you have to squint.”

“What? No. Aunt Gina, I… please. I can’t stay with her.”

She smiled serenely. “You will, dear. Everything will make sense in time.”

I put my hands to my temples. I was going to have to resort to the nuclear option, after all. “Aunt Gina, I, uh… look. I don’t want to have to say this. I promise you I don’t want to say this.”

“You don’t have to say a word, dearest,” she said, putting a hand on my arm. “I can see it in your eyes.”

“Lisette and I slept together,” I blurted. “If you’re hoping for this to make me straight, I, uh—it’s not working.”

But Aunt Gina didn’t even flinch, still smiling. “You have to face the sin before you can drive it out. This is all part of the process.”

Oh my god. I couldn’t believe this was real. I stared blankly at her. “Aunt… Gina. I’m not worried about the sin of sleeping with a woman. I’m a lesbian. I don’t know how you missed that. I’m worried about the fact that my ex-girlfriend and I fell into bed together by mistake and I’m still in love with her.”

“This is all part of His Plan,” Aunt Gina said, sounding like a broken record, and I wanted to throw her out the window or myself out the window but not both of us.

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