“Nowhere near her time of the month, baby. And she usually doesn't Let that get to her, in any case.”

“Oh, I understand,” Maria said. She began unpacking books, stacking them meticulously. "She's the baby of the family, the sweet Little nina who everyone loves. She's always had her father and brother looking out for her.

“Now a new woman is here, no? A woman who might be a rival. She has always known her role in the family. But I, I am a...disruption. So she tries to show me my place.”

~She is wise, our Maria.~

Rachel nodded slowly.

“I think you are right. Still, there is no excuse for rudeness. You will tell me if it happens again." The words were not a request, but an order.

“Yes, Mistress."

“And I know you don't officially start until Tuesday," she added.

“But we are having a cookout tomorrow afternoon. If you don't have other plans, I would Like for you to drop by.”

Still, it could be worse, Rachel thought, as Maria told her cousins goodbye and they roared off in a cloud of exhaust. Josh excused himself to his workshop, where, he said with an eager gleam in his eye, he had a new project to start. She entered the house, her sandalled feet softly slapping the polished hardwood. With the way Sarah was acting, you would think she and Maria were old lovers who had broken up and were meeting again.

~No,~ Althea chuckled wickedly. ~Sarah has no interest in women as playmates. She would have to be desperate indeed to see one as a potential partner. Even one as lovely as Maria. Her heart belongs to another.~

Well, thank goodness. The last thing we need is for some lover's quarrel to break out here. She frowned at Althea's sense of smug amusement. What? What's going on?

~Her heart belongs to another.~

Who?

~Didn't you notice how jumpy Joshua was this afternoon whenever Sarah was nearby? Thanks to my gift, they are seeing each other as man and woman now. Not as father and daughter. That is why Sarah is so miserable, and why Josh is so nervous. Once the genie of desire is out of the bottle, there is no getting it back in.

~You're going to have to do something about it.~ Althea's voice was kind. ~They can't go on as they are.~

Loosens inhibitions, you said last night. Well and so. This would be the greatest inhibition of them all. The woman she had been would have been horrified and furious, she knew. Let me think about it.

~You could-~

I said, let me think, she snapped. Besides, I have some phone calls to make. Or don't you want me to find your body?

A miffed silence was her only answer.