"SWEET MAMA" he yelled, jumping back as the water splashed him "That water's 'bout as cold as hell with the furnace out" Harper laughed and Austin jumped away to avoid the backsplash.
"Keep 'em jumpin' sweetheart" Harper laughed as Austin snickered and Ryder fumed
"Calm down you baby. It's not that cold" Blair laughed. She loved messing with them. "Ryder your a drama queen."
Ryder scoffed "It was cold!" Ryder yelled as they all laughed
"Was not!" Blair smiled and mover her hand in a dismissing movement.
Harper got up and walked out of the room, snickering like an evil genius while Ryder argued with Blair. Austin got up and followed her, smiling like only a twin with a plan can.
A few moments later, they came back, Harper holding a tall glass of ice water, Austin sneaking behind Ryder like a Looney Toons character, the spurs on his boots jangling the whole time. Ryder, of course, was too busy being a drama queen to notice. Austin snatched Ryder's hat, causing him to turn around just in time for Harper to splash him in the face with said ice water.
"That was cold" Blair snarked
Ryder gasped like he was drowned, and immediately lunged for - ya know what, he didn't even know which one.
"RYDER! Let go of her you prick!!" Blair exclaimed as he reached out in a drunken-confused motion. She hit him on the shoulder.
and the plot becomes more dramatic)
Harper, Ryder, and Austin all fell to the ground in a drunken brawl, not quite sure what the goal was. They were hitting, but not hard, there was hair-pulling, kicking, slapping, every mark of a casual sibling fight. Ryder turned when Blair hit him, just in time to get elbowed in the chest by Austin. He kicked Austin in the stomach, who immediately doubled over. At that moment, their father walked in, alerted by the racket.
"AUSTIN! RYDER! HARPER!" He barked like the Confederate General he was, and all three kids stopped dead. They fell in line like soldiers, in the order they were called. Ryder stood at ease, feet shoulder-width apart and arms behind his back. Austin stood at attention, stiff yet natural. Harper stood quietly, the least military of the three. Her toes touched, her hands clasped one over the other in front of her. Her bottom hand fiddled with the fabric of her dress.
"What in God's name have I told y'all about rough-housin'?!" He launched into a loud beratement of the children, insults, and degradation spewing with venom from every word. "Y'all are so stupid if they put your brains in a bumblebee, it’d fly backward." When he finished with the boys, he looked them in the eyes and yelled louder than before "Now git on outta here 'fore I beat y'all like some redheaded stepchildren!" And with that, both boys were gone, disappeared out of the room and out of sight. Then he turned to Harper, who'd been standing there quietly, extremely interested in the floor.
“Harper, hon. That’s not mighty ladylike of ya’” He said, lowering his voice as he approached her, touching her long blond hair gently. He ran strands of her hair through his fingers as he talked. Snatching her jaw roughly when he noticed she wasn’t looking at him. “You look at me when I’m talkin’ to ya. Now you know ya brothers ain’t worth spit, but you, honey, Why you’re sweet as pie-” He was cut off abruptly by Harper tearing her jaw from his hand. He slapped her roughly and put his hand gently on the other side of her face when she stood back straight. “Honey you need to stop actin’ wild like ya’ been. At this rate, you have a bun in the oven before you even married. You know your ma’ girl, and you ain’t goin’ nowhere” He said, kissing her forehead and walking out of the room, ignoring Blair completely
"That was harsh. Are you ok harps?" Blair rushed over and examined Harper's cheek. It was redder than usual but there didn't seem to be any long lasting damage to it. Their dad is a dick. Fuck him.
Harper's eyes stung as tears threatened to spill, and her cheek radiated warmth where he struck her. She smiled at Blair warmly. "I'll be fine. I got a plan" Harper walked to her room, holding Blair's hand gently. She closed her door softly behind her, Ryder and Austin already in the room. They had been waiting for her. She turned to the three assembled in her room, Austin criss-cross on the floor, Ryder standing calmly at her bedpost. "We've had this plan for quite a bit." She said to Blair before launching into a lengthy explanation of their plan. They were leaving. They weren't taking his shit anymore. They wouldn't have to hide once they were out anyway. They were all legal adults. Ryder and Austin were 27 for Christ's sake. Even the youngest, Harper, was 21! He wouldn't make it easy to go, but he couldn't stop them once they were out. They had a place they'd been paying for uptown. It was a decent distance, and they'd wanted to go up north, but they didn't want to leave Blair. The place was stocked, their shit was packed, they just needed to leave. "That's the kink in the plan. We were gonna pretend to be going out and coming back, but now he has us on lock. How do you propose we do this, Blair?" Austin asked her
"Fuck guys. There's no way I'm letting yall run away without me." Blair fiddled with her skirt. "There's something I haven't told yall yet. I've been betrothed. If it isn't too much trouble I'd like to run with you. But I have a plan for getting out."
She took a deep breath. Their dad dosen't leave much. For work and for food.
"Is he scheduled to work soon? Other than that our chance is when he gets food."
"Well, that makes things so much easier." Harper sighed. She walked to her dresser and pulled out a long-ass fancy letter. "Fake. I copied some terms and shit from his older, legitimate ones. It'll get him away at least until he realizes it's a dud." She packaged it nicely and stamped it with wax just as the Confederates did. "I'll put this on the table when I get the mail. Mix it with everything else. Get your guys' stuff together. We should leave as soon as he does". The brothers nodded sternly. Harper was their dad's most trusted child, so she got the mail, and ran all the important errands. They left the room and headed for their respective ones, getting ready to go.
Harper came up to Blair before she left the room. She held both of the other woman's hands in her own, looking up slightly with honest concern. "Go home, get all of your stuff together, and meet us at the parlor downtown. I'll be as fast as possible"
(soft poke)
"Ok. Promise me you'll be alright?" Blair took Harper's hand to her mouth and gently kissed it. "It won't take long I swear."
Blair then left. And she ran home. Not stopping to jump across the river. Not stopping to pet the stray sheep in the grass. Not listening to the distant barking coming from the woods.
They didn't have much to pack. All of her belongings fit nicely into a brown case. She didn't have much. A brown skirt, white shirt, too small vest, riding pants(from ryder), some food, papers, and then the clothes on her back. The rest belonged to her mother.
The sun was coming up now. She needed to leave soon.
So, making sure nobody else was awake yet, she threw her bag out the window and jumped down after it.
"I'll be as safe as possible" She pressed her forehead to Blair's before she left. As soon as Blair was gone she packed her few important belongings. She lived a well-off life, but little of this stuff was worth the space it would take up. A few dresses she liked, some pants, button-down shirts, and a few personal belongings she cherished. She took the opportunity to quickly change, throwing the blue dress she'd been wearing across the room with disgust and donning simple gentlemen's attire. A vest, a white button-up, and some pants. She placed her hat neatly on her head and threw her bag out the window down to where her brothers were waiting with their belongings. She an downstairs and out to the mailbox, fake letter in hand. She took a deep breath, put on her best concerned-daughter act, and a voice in her head said "Action".
She ran inside and directly up to her father. "Daddy! Daddy! They sent 'ya another letter! I think it's important, 'cause it's written with all the red ink an stuff!" Her dad turned on his heel and snatched the letter from her, just as she'd hoped. He opened it, and read it quickly, not too worried about the fine print. He patted her head "Thank ya, Harper. They need me in the capital. I'm to leave immediately. Tell ya ratheaded brothers I said behave" He spoke quickly as he prepared and left asap.
She smiled broadly as soon as he was down the road, out of sight. She ran to where her brothers were waiting, grabbed her bag from them and they were off. She hauled tail to the parlor and stopped just short of Blair. "We're out, but were not home-free." They all began walking briskly in the same direction, Harper hand-in-hand with Blair