Esmeralda held out her hand and pulled Saphira towards them when Saphira twined their fingers together. "Everything's fine, Saphira. Charisma..."
"... stopped by to apologize for being rude to Esmeralda earlier." Saphira slid her free arm around Esmeralda's waist, only to find herself pulled forward to stand beside her. She caught Esmeralda's eyes and Charisma watched in fascination as they held a silent conversation. Then they turned to her and Esmeralda cleared her throat.
"Senator Charisma Tagherty, my mate Saphira. Saphira, Senator Tagherty."
Charisma extended her hand and Saphira accepted it gently. "I'm delighted to meet you, Saphira. Esmeralda has told me so much about you."
"The pleasure is mine, Senator. Es has spoken highly of you."
"Please, Saphira... my name is Charisma. I'd be pleased to have you call me such."
"Thank you, Sen... Charisma."
"Look... it's late and I really do need to get home. Can I offer the two of you a ride somewhere?"
"Maybe another time, Charisma, though we appreciate the offer," Esmeralda said with a smile. "As you pointed out, it's late and you should probably get home to Adam." Charisma narrowed her eyes.
"This isn't because you're still upset at me for earlier, is it?"
"No, Ri... it's because she made a promise to both of us and she's doing her best to keep it without betraying either of us or sharing any secrets she's been asked to keep."
At the first sound of Brianna's voice, Charisma had stiffened but she hadn't moved. Only when Brianna stopped speaking did Charisma look around, finding her standing casually behind her leaning negligently against Charisma's limousine. Charisma held her gaze for a fathomless moment, watching as a myriad of emotions flitted across Brianna's face. Charisma felt several of them strike a sympathetic chord in her soul and she hardened herself to it, turning her back on Brianna as she brought her attention around to Esmeralda. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then opened them and started speaking.
"This is why you kept me out here, isn't it? Because you promised me no funny business." Esmeralda nodded, holding her breath. Charisma stepped forward and took Esmeralda in her arms, the hug brief but fierce. "Thank you," she whispered, brushing a kiss over the smooth cheek under her lips before she pulled away and offered her hand to Saphira.
"It was really nice to meet you, Saphira. Perhaps sometime soon we'll have the opportunity to sit down together and talk."
"Thank you, Charisma. We'll look forward to it."
Charisma smiled at them once more, then they watched the professional mask of polite courtesy fall over her features before she turned to face Brianna. Brianna straightened, but didn't move away from the car, wondering what Charisma would do. Turq stood perfectly still beside her door and that gave Charisma the impetus she needed to look at Brianna.
"It was good to see you again, Brianna," her tone one of courteous friendliness, though her expression was one of bland tolerance. "I hope you'll enjoy your term here in Washington. Now if you'll excuse me," motioning to Turq, who immediately opened the door, "I must get home to my son. Goodnight, ladies," she added, then disappeared behind the door.
Turq shut the door solidly, then ran around and crawled into the driver's seat. Another moment and they were headed back down the road, three pairs of eyes following them until they vanished out of sight.
"Well," Brianna commented, her voice full of tears though she didn't allow them to spill from her eyes. "I guess we know which of us is Mohammed now."
"Did you expect any difference?" Saphira asked kindly.
"I actually expected anger," Brianna said plainly. "Not indifference."
"Ah, but doesn't that describe Mohammed perfectly? Wasn't it his indifference that caused the mountain to go to him?" Saphira inquired, despite the look Esmeralda was giving her.
Brianna shrugged wearily. "It doesn't matter tonight. I'm going to go home - I can worry about this tomorrow."
"Let us walk you home, Brianna." Esmeralda held up a hand when Brianna opened her lips to speak. "We don't have to talk about Charisma anymore; we don't have to talk about anything at all tonight if you don't feel like it. But let us take you home. It's too late for you to be out alone."
Brianna smiled, the effort causing the tears to slide soundlessly down her cheeks. She brushed them off impatiently, though she never lost her smile.
"You must have old-fashioned parents," she commented. "You have old-fashioned manners," she added when their foreheads creased with frown lines at her statement. "That's a good thing... trust me."
"You do realize I'll have to share this with Amber," Saphira commented to Esmeralda. "She's been saying for years that I needed to learn some manners." Saphira turned to Brianna. "Amber is my sister. She thinks I'm rude and pushy."
Brianna chuckled. "Don't most siblings think that about one another at some point?"
"Maybe," Saphira agreed with a crooked grin. "But it'll be nice to be able to rub her face in this."
Brianna laughed out loud. Esmeralda just covered her eyes with her hand and shook her head. Saphira looked between the two of them.
"What?" she asked in all innocence. "Whaaaaat?"
"You girls about done out here?" came Joe's voice from the doorway. "I'm ready to lock up and head to the house." Even though the home he shared with Matilda was just behind the diner, they couldn't blame him - not with the hours he worked seven days a week.
"Sorry, Joe," Esmeralda apologized as they stepped back into the diner to retrieve their purses.
"Not a problem, Little Es. I'd just rather be snuggled in bed with the old woman than hanging out here if I have the choice."
Saphira snickered. "Matilda hears you calling her an old woman, the only thing you're gonna be snuggling with is a pillow on the couch for the duration, old man."
Joe glared. "That's why you're not gonna tell her about that," motioning to the three of them. "I like where I sleep."
The women snickered, then solemnly zipped their lips and tossed the imaginary key away. After grabbing their purses from the counter where they'd left them, they nodded goodnight to Joe as he held the door open for them. Then they made their way towards the Metro station, headed for home.
************
"That could've gone better," Saphira commented to Esmeralda as she stepped from the shower.
"It could also have gone much, much worse," Esmeralda replied. Saphira cocked her head in Esmeralda's reaction, dropping the towel she'd been drying her hair with and picking up a comb.
"How so? I thought Charisma's lack of reaction was more cutting than anything else could have been."
"At least she acknowledged Brianna, and Brianna can use that. Nothing is worse than being persona non grata to the one who means the most to you in the whole world. Brianna exists to her and that's more than Brianna has had to hold onto for almost twenty years."
"So Charisma gave her hope today?"
Esmeralda hesitated. "I don't know that I'd go that far. Charisma gave Brianna acknowledgement. What Brianna chooses to do with it will determine what happens next."
"I'm not following," Saphira confessed as she crawled into bed next to Esmeralda.
"Brianna has several options open to her - she can aggressively pursue Charisma, goading her into what in all likelihood will be an angry response; she can try to re-establish their friendship, hoping to break through Charisma's barriers by essentially killing her with kindness; or she can leave it to Charisma to take the initiative in deciding their next course of action."
"You don't think she'd leave the initiative to Charisma at this point, do you?" Saphira asked, plumping her pillows and settling down as she reached over and snapped off her bedside light. Esmeralda finished rubbing in the lotion she'd applied and slid further down the bed, tucking the covers up under her arms and turning to face Saphira.