"Willow's Tail" 31 ( Conclusions Part 1 of 2)

Willow strolled over to Perfidia but couldn’t contain her cat laugh.

“Yeah, I know my plan backfired and you think its funny but I need you to fix this, please?”

Willow sat down and tilted her head considering her options.

“Okay, how about a month of dinners, all your choice,” Perfidia offered with desperation.

Willow’s little cat smile said she’d found the right bargaining chip.

“Is it a deal?”

Willow flicked her tail and Perfidia felt the burden of truth evaporate; the potion was gone from her system.

“Thank you,” she said with a bright smile and then made Martha’s request.

“Martha wants everyone to have the antidote but can you leave Jon, Percival, Miriam and Dillon susceptible to the potion and just fix everyone else, okay?”

Willow grumbled but flicked her tail and all the simmering conflicts in the room began to quiet.

“Thank you,” Perfidia sighed with genuine appreciation. “Now, this may seem counterproductive but add my potion to two cups of Martha’s tea…please?”

Willow gave a sour meow of refusal and only complied after Perfidia agreed to include a dessert with the month of dinners.

*

Jon was still at the table and Perfidia smiled with renewed vengeance as she walked back.

He turned and smiled when he saw her approaching.

“So you do love me and can’t stay away?” he said with a soft, taunting chuckle.

“That’s not why I’m back. I’m here to make you a bargain.”

“I’m afraid to ask.”

“Drink some of Martha’s real tea,” she said placing a full cup of it on the table in front of him, “ And so will I,” she offered placing a second cup in front of her; but she wasn’t offering much of a bargain, because the antidote Willow gave her would protect her from the potion’s potency; but Jon wasn’t protected.

“Why? I’ll tell you anything you want to know without your potion.”

“But I won’t know if it’s the truth.”

Jon sighed, “Yes you will.”

“But I wouldn’t believe it,”

Jon picked up her teacup just to make sure it was filled with the same tainted tea his was; satisfied it was, he gave her a nod.

“All right; I guess we’ll drink you’re poison.”

“Lovely, you first…”

*

Martha didn’t see Miriam in the room and thought she might have gone back into the garden but just as she stepped to the garden’s door, Dillon walked through it blocking her way.

“We need to talk Martha.”

“Not now,” she said shortly.

“Yes now,” he said, firmly taking her arm and leading her back through the door and into the garden.

Martha pulled her arm away and faced him. “I think we’ve cleared up all we need to Dillon but if it’s forgiveness you want; I forgive you. Now I have to go.” She said as she noticed Willow walking into the garden. She didn’t feel good about what she was going to ask of her feline, but decided she had no choice.

Willow tilted her head and with a bit of hesitation, she flicked her tail at the mirror man of that other man and he fell into a chair, sound asleep.

Martha sighed, feeling a little guilty but she had to leave him there and find Miriam.

*

Miriam was just slipping out into the parking lot when Martha found her.

“Wait Miriam; we need to clear up a few things before you leave.”

Miriam sighed. “I wish I could leave; Percival drove us here. I was just going to sit by the car.”

“Why are you running away from him?”

“Because I’m not proud of what I’ve done and I can’t face him.”

“What have you done?”

“I’ve caused so much trouble.”

“For instance…?” Martha’s eyes darkened with suspicion.

“Where do I begin…” she sighed heavily.

“I’d suggest at the start.”

“Okay, do you know, all the years you’ve been gone, Percival has searched for you, for your address in the directory, online, anywhere he could think of.”

“No, I didn’t know that.”

“Well he did and it hurt me terribly that he still wanted to contact you.”

“I can understand how you’d be suspicious of his feelings.”

“I was and that’s when I decided to find out for sure if Percival loved me, or you.”

“And what was your plan?”

“To help him to find you so he could confront you; then I’d know.”

“Sounds simple…”

“I thought so, but I couldn’t find you and no one knew where you’d gone; you hadn’t contacted anyone.”

“So you gave up?”

“I had to, until the day I ran into this odd delivery man and he gave me a strange card and presented me with an opportunity to find you. He told me to contact his employer for details. When I did, I leaned I could do a lot more than just send you a letter.”

Martha smirked. “I’m guessing the card was for a company called Incognito, inc.?”

“How did you know?”

“Go on,” Martha said with little expression. “What did you ask them to do?”

“I’m sorry but you have to understand, I had to know the truth.”

“I’m sure Percival has told you he loves you; you could have believed him.”

“How could I believe him when he kept searching for you? No, I’ve never felt sure of his love, not since that summer of betrayal.”

“What summer of betrayal?”

“The summer you left; but it was before you left that he betrayed me. Only you didn’t know.”

“What didn’t I know?”

“The week before Percival was to leave for a business trip, we kept meeting at the coffee shop in the mornings getting our orders at the same time. I’ll admit I planned it to happen but he didn’t know that. After the third day, we began to share a table and spend an hour talking. As the week went on we talked more intimately and Percival acted as if he cared for me and the last day, he said when he came back from his trip there was something he’d like to say to me but he implied he’d have to speak with you first.”

“Percival was meeting you at the coffee shop before that trip?”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t know that but I’m not surprised. We’d been drifting apart and that last week before his trip, we hardly spoke. I’d decided to stop seeing him and I intended to tell him when he returned from that trip.”

“Then why did he cancel that trip and stay with you? And it sure didn’t look like you weren’t happy to see him home!”

“He didn’t cancel that trip Miriam.”

“Yes he did; I saw you both in the park, when he should have been away, embracing and kissing like two people very much in love.”

“You saw us?”

Miriam nodded and began sobbing again. “Yes, and I can still see his hand pressed against your back and his ring glinting in the sunlight; that crest burned in my mind like betrayal.”

“You saw us…,” Martha repeated piecing together the differing perceptions of that summer.

“I did, and at first I hated him for lying to me but then I couldn’t stop remembering those days in the coffee shop. He’d sounded so sincere. It hurt to realize he’d led me on and he truly loved you.”

“I can imagine how that must have felt but-”

“No, I don’t think you can,” she cut Martha off and continued, “But then I heard of the argument between you two and I felt vindicated and when I received those letters from him, I was thrilled; I thought he really did love me. I was so happy after you left town, until I found out he was trying to find you; after that, I‘ve never been sure if he was over you.”

“Miriam; Percival loves you, you should just leave it at that.”

“Then why did he stay with you that summer.”

“He didn’t.”

“Yes he did; I saw you both.”

“No, it wasn’t Percival you saw…it was Dillon.”

“Dillon? You cheated on Percival with his brother?” She gave a low whistle, “No wonder you two argued, you betrayed him,” she said with rising indignation on Percival’s behalf.

“Now wait a minute, that’s not it at all; I thought Dillon was Percival; I thought Percival had come back early from his trip, but it wasn’t Percival it was Dillon, pretending to be Percival.”

“But how could Dillon pretend to be Percival when they’re so different in personality and expression…I’d never mistake them!”

“Yes, I know all the subtle differences now Miriam, believe me, but I didn’t then, and I didn’t know Percival’s brother was a twin, he never told me that, so I was fooled.”

“Oh my, I really do feel terrible. What did Percival say?”

“He doesn’t know; Dillon never told him and I…left. I guess it was a summer of misunderstandings all the way around.”

“So…when you kissed in the park, on the hiking trial and at the festival you truly thought it was Percival?”

“How long did you follow us Miriam?”

“Every day for a week and then I couldn’t stand it anymore.”

“I’d say you had a sight full either way.

“I did, but I thought it was Percival and I hated you for being with him…and I hated him for lying to me.”

“But if you were upset with Percival and me; why did you pull Perfidia into it?’

“I didn’t mean to but after the delivery man gave me your address I went to see if it was really yours and I saw Perfidia visiting with you, so I had to include her. But once I did, I realized it could be a benefit, with Perfidia’s reputation you might believe the havocs were all because of her.”

“Miriam, do you have any idea the trouble you’ve caused us all?’

“I do now, but don’t you see, I had no choice. I didn’t know it was Dillon with you that summer.”

“And on that subject, how did you get Dillon’s ring?”

“Oh that hated ring; I told you it was stuck in my mind since that summer but I thought it would be a good trinket to make you confront Percival, if I sent it to you. Only I hadn’t seen him wear the ring, not since that summer anyway. I didn’t know where it was until he took me to spend Christmas day with his family and there it was, sitting on a dish near the kitchen sink. Only now that I think about it, Dillon was helping his mom clean the dishes, so he must have taken it off and placed it there. I didn’t know that; I thought it was Percival’s, so I took it.”

“And you gave it to the havoc maker.”

“Yes, when we plotted out the havocs. Once he listed your address in the directory I told Percival I’d found it there and I knew he’d go to talk to you so that was the start of it.”

“Miriam, if you had my address why didn’t you just come and talk to me?”

“Because I thought when you left, after those letters Percival wrote to me, that you still loved Percival.”

“So you didn’t switch the letters?” Martha mumbled, trying to put the pieces together.

“What do you mean switch? Weren’t those letters to me?”

“Oh,” Martha nodded, “yes of course they were.”

“What aren’t you telling me Martha? Did Percival not write me those letters?”

“Percival loves you and you need to get over the past before you do lose him.”

Miriam sniffed back tears.

“I don’t know…are you sure you don’t love him?”

“I don’t, and you already know that Percival and I have talked, just as you’d arranged, once at my house and again at the fair. So, unequivocally, he only loves you. We’re friends, nothing more.”

“Truly?”

“Truly.”

Miriam gave her a trembling smile but then a worried frown replaced it.

“Are you going to tell Perfidia?”

Martha sighed. “She will want to know why you sent Roger to us.”

“Sent Roger?”

“Yes, Roger Appleton; the invite you sent him from Perfidia, the stink weed you sent to Gloria from Roger and of course stealing Perfidia’s Orchid that wasn’t a little thing either?”

“No, I didn’t send Roger.”

“You didn’t?”

“No, but the day Percival went to talk to you I did follow him and waited there until after he left your house so I saw Roger walking to your home with Perfidia. After that, I found out from his mother he was recuperating at your house. So then I had to include him in the havocs, just as I had to include Perfidia and Willow. Incognito Inc. did all the investigating and knew exactly what to do to make the havoc effective for each person and also the contests were to make sure you’d all have to come here.”

“So you didn’t invite Roger to my home by a fake invite from Perfidia?”

“No, I didn’t send Roger to you, but if Perfidia thinks I did that to her…oh my, are you going to tell her?”

“Maybe we should see how this night plays out.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think there may be more truthful revelations before this day ends.”

“Yes, revelations… Martha to tell you the truth, I didn’t intend to reveal any of this to you.”

“I realized that when you didn’t meet me at the Lemon’s of Life café.”

“I was going to but I chickened out and besides Percival was there, so I couldn’t tell you anything anyway.”

“I see.”

“But in truth, I wasn’t sure I’d ever tell you. So I have to ask, did you add something in your tea that makes you tell the truth?”

“I’ve added nothing to my tea but I wouldn’t suggest you drink any more of it.”

“I’m not going to; I’m having a glass of wine instead,” she said holding up her half filled glass.

Martha took the glass from her hand and spilled the contents onto the ground then handed the empty glass back with some advice.

“I’d recommend the coffee; I’m sure that’s the safest choice at the moment.”

Miriam’s lower lip began to tremble because Martha was being so forgiving. It made her feel just horrible for all the misunderstandings and all the trouble she’d caused.

“We should go back and you should talk to Percival,” Martha suggested.

“I guess so and I am glad it’s all out in the open Martha,” she wiped at her tears and sniffled, “but I wish I could take it back. I’m sorry Dillon fooled you that summer, I’m sorry I misunderstood the situation but I have to admit, I’m relieved it wasn’t Percival’s arms you were in…but you know what?

“What?”

“Thinking back to those summer days, you and Dillon did appear to be two people very much in love.”

“I’m sure it looked that way,” Martha said with a forced smile.

“And speaking of Dillon…”

Martha looked over her shoulder to where Miriam had nodded and sure enough there he was walking with a determined stride towards her, apparently Willow hadn’t sent him far enough into dreamland.

“Maybe you’d better go Miriam.”

Miriam nodded and quickly walked towards the festival gates passing Dillon on the way. She nodded to him but he didn’t even take a cursory notice of her, his implacable expression appeared set in stone. It made her wonder, how had Martha ever confused him with sweet, affable Percival?”