Fifteen minutes later, we were at Miss Annemarie’s Tearoom, huddled in one of the corner tables and drinking chamomile. Aunt Jewel’s pot of tea was half empty by the time she took a shuddery breath and said, “All right, Miss Harper Jane. I take it back. You are not overthinking this. I don’t think anyone could overthink such a thing—goodness.”

Pressing a shaking hand to her lips, Aunt Jewel shook her head. “And you’ve been dealing with this all alone.”

“Not alone,” I told her as I poured us both another cup. “I have David and Ryan. And Bee. Bee knows.” I left it at that, rather than explaining Bee’s new Paladin powers and her kidnapping and sudden reappearance. Aunt Jewel had had enough shocks for one day. We could always get into that later if needed.

“But no adults,” she said, dumping a few sugar cubes into her cup. “And all of you running around, breaking up with each other, getting together, breaking up again, getting together with different people.”

I thought about telling her about Alexander, but since I still hadn’t made up my mind how to feel about that, I decided I could skip it for now. “I know, things are complicated, and the dating stuff probably doesn’t help.”

But Aunt Jewel only shook her head, the cubic zirconias in her ears winking. “You’re children,” she said again. “That’s what children do, make things messier than they have to be.”

I thought of Ryan and Bee in the closet, her lipstick on his face, his eyes daring me to say I didn’t want them to be together.

Yeah, things were messy, all right.

Miss Annemarie stopped by the table, smiling down at the two of us. “Harper! I’ve seen your mama and your aunts in here, but I haven’t seen you in forever!”

“I’ve been busy with school,” I said, not adding that I’d been avoiding her since we’d tried to kill each other at Cotillion. It was still bizarre to look into her face and remember her coming after me with a knife.

After Miss Annemarie had gone back to the kitchen, promising to make some of her crab bisque, Aunt Jewel turned back to me, her eyes rheumy but sharp behind her glasses.

“Sweetheart, if anyone can handle all these responsibilities, it’s you. I’ve never known such a determined little thing in all my life. Did you know, when you were about two, your daddy built you and Leigh-Anne a sandbox. And every day, you’d toddle out there and try to build you a castle, and every day, your sister would knock it down.”