Double Trouble: Four; A Story of the Crane Daughters
 by Cariad  
 

Double Trouble
~Four~
Julia shut the door that connected her room to Holly’s. They both were in the elder twin’s room now. Even Julia could not stay long in her retro-room. Not with the entire mansion done up that way. “My eyes will never be clean,” she said to Holly.

“Makes me wish I was like Tommy,” Holly replied. “Deaf, Dumb, and Blind!”

Julia rolled her eyes. “You and your musicals.”

“It’s a Rock Opera,” Holly countered. “Written by The Who—so I hope you’d give it a chance someday.”

“That’s beside the point,” Julia said. “We need a plan.” They both mulled around Holly’s room for a bit.

“The way I see it,” Holly said, “we have two distinct problems. One is Theresa. The other is Rebecca.”

Julia stopped in front of a framed poster for Jekyll & Hyde. “Step one, find out if it’s true that Daddy married the tramp…”

Holly picked up her train of thought easily. “Which means one of us has to befriend her and get it straight from the horse’s mouth…”

“And the other needs to work on Daddy,” Julia continued. “I’ll take Daddy, I can wrap him around my little finger.”

Holly shook her head. “Not this time, Jules,” she said sadly. “From what I know of Theresa, she’s wanted a career in fashion. That’s why she signed on with Mama. You will agree that I know nothing about fashion,” she said with a smile.

“Point,” Julia replied.

“And we’ll need your little finger for when we have to get Rebecca away from Father,” Holly continued. “I think I can get Father to open up about his trip to Bermuda. I’ve got a plan for that.”

Julia ran to the Queen-sized bed and bounced on it. “Tell me! Tell me!”

Holly struck a pose and flipped her hair in a conscious gesture of their mother’s. “You’ll see,” she replied archly. “But I have to visit Mama first.”

Julia bounced some more. “I love it already!” she said. “You know, I feel kind of bad doing this to Pilar’s daughter. I mean, Pilar was so nice to us when we were little.”

“Just because a parent is nice, doesn’t mean the child has to be,” Holly reminded her sister. “Should you feel bad that we’re bringing down Rebecca because you want her son?”

Julia’s eyes flashed with anger. “That bitch deserves what’s coming to her,” she spat. “Johnny Hotchkiss or no!”

“Then Theresa deserves what’s coming to her, Pilar’s daughter or no.”

Julia smiled an evil grin. “Thanks, I feel better now. But we need to do some scouting amongst the… locals.” She whispered the last word as if she were mocking a ghost story.

“And for that, you need to get us transportation.”

Julia looked at her watch. “It’s been a half hour,” she commented, “do you think they’re done?”

Almost immediately, Holly grabbed her head. “No! No!” she screamed. “Rule number one!”

“You pictured it?” Julia asked.

Holly nodded with a whimper. “How could I not after she was pawing him in the foyer!”

“Rule number two is safe, though?” Julia asked.

“Don’t even hint at Rule number two,” Holly warned. “You know my imagination. I do NOT want sound!”

Julia laughed evilly. “That’s for thinking I didn’t know about The Who’s Tommy.” She laughed once more than sang “Tommy can you see me?” while chasing her sister. Holly opened the door and darted into Julia’s room, Julia hot on her heels. She dashed once around her sister’s room, climbing over the bed to escape Julia’s lunge, and back through the door into her own room, closing the door behind her. She heard the thump of Julia ramming the door to make sure it was latched.

“Let me back in,” Julia pleaded through the door.

“No,” Holly shot back, catching her breath.

“Would it help if I apologized?” Julia asked.

“No,” Holly repeated.

“What if I let you drive,” Julia begged.

“So I can get lost?” Holly countered.

“You can’t get lost in Harmony,” Julia shot back. “What if I let you choose the tunes,” she conceded.

“And drive?” Holly asked.

“What if you get lost,” Julia taunted.

“You can’t get lost in Harmony,” Holly repeated.

“Throw my words back in my face,” Julia huffed.

Holly laughed. “Ok, what if you let me drive, and I get to choose just one song, and you pick the rest.”

“Deal,” Julia said and inched her fingers beneath the door. Holly touched them and they ‘shook.’

When Holly finally opened the door between the two rooms, Julia pounced and brought her sister to the floor, tickling her mercilessly. “Ha!” she shouted as she straddled her sister. Holly struggled beneath her, kicking and screaming.

“I give! I give!” Holly panted. “You drive… I pick one song… you get the rest…”

Julia stopped her torment. “Thank you!” she said as she helped her sister up. “Now fix yourself up, you’re a wreck.”

Holly laughed. “Speak for yourself, Jules.” Julia touched her own hair, now wildly out of place.

Five minutes later, they were returning downstairs, keeping their eyes out for scantily-clad-gold-digging-wannabe-Mrs. Crane’s. On their way to their father’s study—where Julia surmised he would be, with a decanter of brandy, Holly amended—the front door burst open and their nearly-sister-in-law burst through the door, looking like a storm cloud.

“Gwen!” they shouted in unison.

Gwen Hotchkiss looked up to see the two young Crane women, staring just for a moment before she realized that they were, in fact, in Harmony. “I didn’t realize you were back,” she said, her face lightening. “I wasn’t expecting to see you two until the New Year’s Eve Ball.”

“We graduated early,” Julia declared proudly. “So tell your brother that.”

“He’s not coming home until Christmas Eve,” Gwen said. “And he’ll be staying with Father. Things have been rather tense in the house lately.”

“Tell us about it,” Holly said. “Your mother’s been making waves. Our house too.”

“Speaking of Mother,” Gwen said, her body alighting with purpose. “You haven’t seen her have you?” The older woman began looking around, hoping to catch a glimpse.

“We only saw her when we came in,” Julia said with a sigh, “and then she dragged Daddy off someplace…”

“Look,” Gwen said, “I’ll look upstairs, you look downstairs, and wherever you’re going tonight, if you see Ethan, tell him…” The could see Gwen trying to keep control over her emotions. “Tell him I’ll always be there if he needs me.” She began to stalk up the stairs.

Julia called after her, “You can do a lot better than our dumb-ass brother.”

Gwen turned and gave a bitter smile. “Yeah, but I love your dumb-ass brother. And that doesn’t seem to be changing in the near future.”

The girls sighed in unison. "You being in love, or Ethan being dumb?" Julia asked, not expecting a response. Gwen just smiled.

“I’ll take care of Ethan,” Holly said.

“Ethan and Daddy?” Julia asked.

“Sure,” Holly replied, “You’ve got the tougher job.”

“Yes, thanks to you,” Julia said with a roll of her eyes, but her attitude changed as Julian and Rebecca emerged from their father’s study—looking flushed and disheveled. “Daddy!” Julia called as she heard Holly chanting softly to herself “Don’t add sound. Don’t add sound.” Julia poured her father a drink and put it gently in his hand. “I love you, Daddy,” she said, batting her eyes up at him before she shot a look at Rebecca daring her to take notes from a professional.

“Gwen is looking for you upstairs, Ms. Hotchkiss,” Holly said. “She seemed quite distressed, and wanted to talk to you urgently.”

“What could be more important than…” Rebecca mumbled before she caught herself in front of Julian. “You’ll be all right without me, Pookie, won’t you?” she asked with a little pout.

Julian looked up from a ring Julia was showing him, “of course, dearest,” he replied. While Rebecca flounced off, Julia continued with her story.

“So he told me he saved up for a month to buy me this ring. To show his devotion or something like that. But I have to be thinking, he saved up for a month? He can’t be worth all that much obviously. But I wear it because it still is pretty, even if the sapphire is small, and it goes so well with my eyes, don’t you think, Daddy?” Holly smiled to herself. Julia had perfected the art of being the spoiled rich child who wanted nothing more than more pretty things and wealthy admirers.

“So can Holly and I take a car out tonight? And, well, see the town?” Julia asked, sitting on her father’s lap like a little girl.

Julian gave a wise paternal smile to his baby girl. “There isn’t much to recommend Harmony, aside from our estate being here. The… locals,” he said the word with a sneer, “aren’t much.”

Julia sighed. “I figured as much, but you know Holly, always with her nose in a book. She’s finished another one and wants something new to read…”

“There’s something to be said about having your nose in a book,” Holly replied quietly as she moved a tray of brandy, snifters, and ice closer to her father.

Together, the girls gave him an entreating look and asked, “Please?”

“Oh, all right,” he said after looking into two pair of identical blue eyes—Ivy’s eyes. “Take whichever car you want. But no tickets. The Chief of Police isn’t on the best terms with me at the moment. And I can only bribe the judge so much before things look suspicious.”

“Yes, Father,” Holly said, keeping her head lowered.

“Thank you, Daddy,” Julia said, planting another kiss on his cheek.

Julian sighed heavily as he sipped his drink and his daughters bounded away. If only Ivy had been more like his girls, he would not have strayed so much. All polite and demure like his Holly, and then affectionate and demonstrative like his Julia. Rebecca was wrong. They were his daughters. He would know if they weren’t. Wouldn’t he?
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