For ten straight minutes, Natalie waited with her back pressed against the door for her husband to return to their room. When she finally gave up on that, she walked over to her father's picture and sat on the ground leaning her back against the bed. It was, at least, a more comfortable feeling than the door.
Tracing her father's picture with her fingers, she whispered, "Are you watching from wherever you are, Dad? Can you see how strange this mansion is?"
Reflecting on every argument that had taken place under this roof since she and her uncle moved in, Natalie couldn't decide whether the Valois family had good relationships among its members or bad ones.
"They care about each other and come together when times are tough, only to bite each other's heads off whenever the occasion allows it." Her eyes swept over the walls of her room. "They're as close as the bricks in these walls but as cold to each other as well."
