William took a deep breath, and as he did, I heard the sound of a car pulling up outside, followed by the opening and closing of the car door and quick footsteps, crunching through the leaves on the ground. I checked my watch, it was just past 9 am, and I'd been away from home for 3 hours. I wondered if William was expecting someone, but he looked baffled.
There was a loud, frantic knocking on the door, and William got up to answer it. I saw Aunt Kate push past him, and she headed right for me.
'How could you do this!' she shouted. 'The first time I allow you to come out alone again, and you immediately break my trust and come straight here!'
To be fair, she'd never outright expressed that I was disallowed from coming to see him, but I guess it was implied. She grabbed me by the wrist and started to lead me out of the cabin. I looked to William, who just shook his head.
'You'd better go.' he muttered, and without a word, I'd gotten into the car with Aunt Kate.
The drive was awkward and uncomfortable. I'd tried to speak up, but Aunt Kate had just keep her eyes firmly focused on the road with steely determination, and refused to speak. I didn't understand it, yes I'd been gone for a while and she was probably worried, but she seemed to be angry that I'd come to William. When he'd taken care of me when I fainted in the woods before, she hadn't batted an eye and seemed to share my point of view that my mom was overreacting to the whole situation.
When we got home, she told me that I was grounded, and could forget about going out with Eryn later. She took my phone and my credit card, and sent me to my room, only calling me down later when it was time to eat.
The rest of the week had gone much the same, and I'd opened up to Eryn about what happened. She seemed to share Aunt Kate's sentiments and made me feel like I'd done something awful and irresponsible. She told me that he was a creepy old man and I was better off not hearing him out. Maybe she was trying to make me feel better, but it didn't.
Finally, about a week into this torture of being banished to my room and deprived of our daily chats, Aunt Kate called me over to the kitchen table after I'd finished my dinner.
'I need to go away again, for the hotel project.' she said. 'Ive organized that you go and stay with Barbara and Eryn while I'm away. I just think it would be better for you to have some adult supervision so that you don't get yourself into any more trouble. It should only be about two weeks, but I'm sure you'll have a good time with Eryn... I'll give you the card and your phone back, and you two can have that shopping trip you missed. '
Progress, I thought. But the fact that Aunt Kate was so disappointed in me and had lost all her trust in me broke my heart. I knew it was my fault, but I still didn't understand why I was being punished so severely.
I started to bawl uncontrollably. 'I'm so so sorry Auth Kate! I didn't mean for this to happen! I just wanted answers! Just please stop hating me, I promise I will never go there again!' I struggled to catch my breath in between sobs, and I saw Aunt Kate's face soften for the first time in a week. She reached across and held me in a soft hug, my head on her shoulder as I sobbed and she stroked my hair.
'I don't hate you. Oh honey I could never hate you!' she said. 'I was just so scared, and I'm not used to being responsible for another person. I didn't know how to react. I'm sorry honey, I didn't want you to feel this way.' she started to cry as well. 'I found something when I was cleaning going through the boxes that I took out of your room. Come and see it, maybe you will find the answers you are looking for.'
She led me to her office, and pulled out an old, leather-bound maroon journal. On the front, embossed in gold in curly, old fashioned cursive, was a name: Violet.