33 | Actions Speak Louder Than Words

**Third Person POV**

Harper paced the passage in front of Father Sullivan’s rectory for almost five hours until her legs gave out, and she squatted down squarely on the floor. Everything around her made her feel edgy. It was not good for her nerves or her mental health. She had been alone, living with herself for years now because dyslexia does not encourage any kind of social skills.
For years, she had identified herself as ‘different from others, unable to explain her extreme need to organise things or expressionless behaviour, but deep down, she was as normal as any other girl of her age. But girls’ school was a kingdom of savages when it wanted to be. Unless you are quick, prompt, sassy or sexy, you won’t find yourself having too many friends. So, she had adjusted her life as a loner.
It did not bother Harper, though. She was thankful for the education she was getting under the tutelage of Father Sullivan and was content with her quiet life until she came across Sienna Emerson.
Sienna was everything Harper never thought of befriending. She was beautiful, sassy and wore an attitude of devil-may-care. A certain fearless part of her inspired Harper. And for the first time in years, she thought she has a friend in her.
But God’s cruel plans devastated and shattered her hopes.
Harper had just entered her class when she heard of chaos unfolding outside the classroom but did not bother to inquire. She often kept herself aloof from these chaotic girls’ boarding school dramas and buried her nose into the book instead.
A solid half an hour later, she came to know that it was Sienna. And the regret she felt gutted her belly. After that, nobody would tell her what was going on or her condition in the hospital. So she had been waiting outside Gabriel’s room, knowing he would be back anytime.
And that anytime stretch over eighteen hours.
Harper had almost given up hope and fell asleep on the floor before the long, hard footfalls came clacking. Gabriel was tired and numb and troubled. Bad enough, he did not catch sleep for over thirty hours at a stretch, and then Sienna’s accident turned out to be attempted mischief.
Mischief was probably the wrong word.
It was a planned action, one that Gabriel intended to find out soon enough. But his priority will always be Sienna and her recovery. He did not care how out-of-place or questionable it would look if he were allowed to stay here at the rectory beside his, but he did not care.
What startled him at the moment was a sleeping girl on the floor in front of his door.
“Harper?”
She woke with a start, almost disoriented, when Gabriel offered her a hand and helped her to steady her feet.
“It’s late. What are you doing here?”
For a moment, she was lost. “I was waiting for you, Father.” Gabriel gave her a puzzled look as she quickly added. “Nobody will tell me about her.”
“Sienna.” Realisation dawned on him, and he nodded. “She’s fine, but the doctors need to keep her for observation.”
“Oh.” A small relief coursed through her, and Harper sighed. “Can I see her? Please?” Her eyes pleaded with him.
“Harper, you are a good friend, and I can understand that you are anxious for her. But be rest assured, Sienna is recovering. Hopefully, the hospital will release her in a day or two,” Gabriel informed her.
“Okay.”
But she did not move from her spot, hesitating. So he poked once again. “Is there anything else?”
“It’s…I…” A torrent of thoughts ran through her head, and because she could not express any of them, her insides churned wildly. But she was glad that Father Sullivan was giving her a patient hearing. Perhaps, the only man close to her parental authority. So she let out a dejected sigh and broke out a small sob. “I am a bad friend, Father,” she confessed.
“Harper, why would you say that?”
Once again, she shook her head in regret. “Sienna had met me a minute before she went down to the ground floor where the accident happened. I…I didn’t even know how! And even when I heard noises, Father, I did not bother coming out of the classroom. I came to know after they had taken her to the hospital.”
Gabriel let the poor girl cry for a minute, knowing it was normal to let the pain out. He then cupped her shoulders with firm hands and ducked his head to a level with her teary-eyed gaze.
“Your remorse is justified, girl, I get it. But there’s nothing you could have done…”
“What, Father?” Harper hiccuped when the young priest had abruptly stopped and drawn his brows together in thought.
“Harper, you said that you had just met her a minute before the accident. Was there anyone else around at that time?”
Harper thought back, recollecting the events from that day. “No, but why? I mean, everyone else had left for the second class. Only Sienna and I were talking in the lobby outside the classroom.”
Well, that made it even harder for Gabriel to decipher. He had already narrowed it down to the obvious suspects of two people, Irene and Eva, but he needed to be absolutely sure. And once he does, even he did not know the penalty he would inflict.
He was not angry—he was livid.
If she weren't lucky, Sienna could have died or, worse, end up in a paralysed state. But still, the thought of her injured to such a degree infuriated him. Somehow, he managed to plaster a nonchalant look and nodded at Harper.
“Okay. It’s time you return to the dorm, Harper. Go. Keep her your friend in your prayers, and she will recover soon. I am sure the Holy Mother is watching over her.”
“Yes, Father.” She was almost ready to leave when she stopped and looked at him. “Can you…” Harper fished out a rosary from her pocket and offered, “…give this her to her? I know she doesn’t believe in God and thinks that it is all hocus-pocus…”
“Hocus-pocus?” Gabriel almost chuckled. That does sound like something only Sienna Emerson will say.
“Yes, but I have always found it comforting. It protects me, so it will protect her too. I think.”
Gabriel has always loved that about Harper. She was far too innocent for the world and way too sweet for the people of her age.
“I will make sure to place it beside her bed,” he assured her warmly.
“Thank you. Goodnight, Father.”
“Goodnight.”

***

As far as patients wait, Sienna was the worst. The next morning when Gabriel went to the hospital, he heard a string of complaints from the nurses and doctors. Apparently, she had refused to take the sedative pills that would provide her body with the necessary rest.
He went straight to her room, pushing the door open with a quintessential scowl he reserved for troublesome students. “You refused the meds?”
Sienna was lying on the bed, aimlessly staring at the ceiling, and as soon as she saw him, it felt like something brightened up her day. “Well, good morning to you too. Thank you for asking, but I am feeling rather fine today,” she sassed.
Gabriel narrowed his eyes and steeled his voice. “Sienna.”
“Don’t Sienna me,” she shot up. “Those pills make my head feel funny. Besides, when am I getting out of here, Gabriel?”
He closed the distance between them, pulling a chair near her bed and took a seat. “The doctor will sign off your release, but keep it up, and I will tell me to delay it.”
“Please, don’t do that. I am…dying here,” she whined.
“Melodrama doesn’t suit you.” He took out a small envelope from the pocket and handed it over. “Harper sent her love. She is completely beside herself for what had happened.”
“It was not her fault,” Sienna said as she uncovered the string of beads and stared at it with a puzzled profile. “It’s a rosary…nice.”
“It’s not hocus-pocus.”
Her jaws fell. “How did you…Harper!” She shook her head and smiled, tucking the rosary underneath her bed. “God! I have to train her better not to spill my secrets to you.”
Gabriel took her hand, gently caressing her skin where they had injected the needle for IV and turned solemn. “Sienna, we need to talk.”
“Sounds serious, Father Sullivan.” She beamed. “What is it?”
His eyes locked with hers. “I don’t want to send you back home, but I don’t know how safe it is to take you back to school. Do you have any idea who pushed you down the stairs?”
“I did not even catch a glimpse; everything was so sudden,” she recollected from her memory. “What are you thinking?”
“Eva and Irene.”
She gave a slow, knowing nod. “Well, they did threaten me.”
“When?”
“The day you caught Harper and me in your office. Though I am not sure if they would dare to do this, I mean, it is a little extreme. But I am absolutely certain that this was not an accident.”
Sienna knew that she made an enemy out of them, but to attempt to kill her was an extreme step. But, at the moment, she was just glad to have Gabriel by her side.
Bravely, she ventured to touch his hand and entwine their fingers as he reciprocated the same.
“I will find out, and when I do, there will be hell to pay,” he vowed.
“Gabriel?” Sienna asked softly. “Why didn’t you tell me that you were leaving the next day for Chicago? I…missed you.”
She cast her eyes down in a wounded way that knifed through his ribs, and Gabriel, being the man of few words, did not know what to say to comfort her mind.
So, he leaned down and pressed his lips to her forehead, inhaling a gulp of her scent and whispered, “I missed you more than you’d ever know.”
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