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“Okay, this is adorable,” Kurtis laughed and leaned closer. “Where is this?”
“In the gardens of the Croft Manor,” Winston smiled. “There were many large trees Lara would start climbing soon after, but at just two years old, she stayed on the ground yet. Mostly.”
“Or in the ground,” Kurtis gestured to the photo of a grinning toddler covered in dirt and laughed again. “The baby pictures were cute, but I think now it’s gonna get more interesting.”
“Ah yes, yes,” Winston nodded and carefully turned the thick page, “more… adventurous. Lord Croft started getting silver hair during that time. I am certain it was unrelated.”
Kurtis kicked his shoe off and stuck his foot under his other leg’s thigh to get more comfortable on the antique sofa. The fireplace was crackling with warmth, but days were getting colder and the mansion didn’t sport the best insulation.
“So what’s happening here? Pretty fancy.”
“Lady Croft’s birthday party. The pretty dress Lara is wearing ended up covered in chocolate shortly thereafter.”
“And baby Lara few pages back had a face smeared with pea puree. I’m noticing a pattern,” Kurtis set his fist under his chin like a detective inspecting nebulous clues.
“One she has yet to break out of, if yesterday’s laundry is any indication,” Winston pointed out in good humour. Kurtis chuckled a bit but decided not to comment. His clothes had been just as muddy as Lara’s when they’d returned from their spar in the gardens. By the amused side-eye Winston gave him, he was thinking of it too.
They looked at two more pre-chocolate pictures from the party and then the scenery changed.
“Wait, I was hoping for the chocolate dress,” Kurtis whined.
Winston raised his palm in a little what-can-you-do gesture. “The crime went undocumented that time.” Then he pointed to the new photo. “Although at this age Lara was graduating from smearing food on herself and stealing it from the kitchen instead. Especially hazelnut biscuits.”
Kurtis inspected the politely sitting kid in a what appeared to be a gazebo, another little girl sitting opposite, and a tea set with some cookies on the table between them. It looked altogether too formal for their age, which he guessed couldn’t be more than five for either.
“These don’t seem stolen.”
“Ah, no, not these. I’m afraid those burglaries remained undocumented as well, as any witnesses preferred to attempt to… apprehend the culprit.”
“Successfully?”
“There were such extremely rare occasions.”
Kurtis gasped. “She got caught? I’m so disappointed in toddler Lara.”
“She made sure to turn every failure into a learning experience,” Winston responded in a slightly apprehensive, far-away look, and Kurtis resolved to get some stories out of Winston later. But for now he’d focus on what the photos offered:
“So who’s the other girl?”
“That would be little Lady Melissa Croft, hosting Lara at her mother’s mansion.”
“Wait,” Kurtis leaned forward and squinted. “This is Melissa? I mean I only met her a few times but… huh…” Logically, she wouldn’t have been sporting fiery orange hair and bright blue make-up at that age, but seeing her so normal, with long mousy brown hair, made it hard for his brain to put her then and now easily together.
Although maybe not so much, now that he took in more details – she had each stocking a different colour, a simple bright green bracelet on one hand and a thick mess of rainbow beads on her other wrist, and several wildly different barrettes sticking from her hair. Yeah she was already starting on her unique look.
“Oookay I think I can see it. So what’s with the time-skip? Lara looks quite a bit older here.”
“I’m afraid Lara wasn’t interested in photos depicting certain family members, I was lucky so save the album at all, with significant redactions.” His eyes travelled towards the fireplace.
Kurtis could easily imagine Lara chucking the album in if she came across it, opened it and disliked what she saw. “No group family photos then, eh?”
“I am sorry to disappoint,” Winston affirmed. “You would have to find those at Lord and Lady Croft’s manor.”
Kurtis waved his hand. “It’s fine, I was curious mostly about Lara anyway, when you mentioned you had some albums in the house.”
“Hmm, I am sure this photograph will interest you then,” Winston turned the page again. There Lara was, a bit older again, and this time there were no pretty dresses. She was proudly posing in a cowboy getup, one hand pinching the brim of her wide hat and a toy revolver clutched in the other one.
“Wow, no trigger discipline,” Kurtis commented on her finger placement.
Winston matched his seriousness. “Indeed.”
They continued through the photo album, Lara growing steadily throughout, found as often in formal clothes as in a more sporty attire, such as when she started practising gymnastics. Winston shared some background information of each photo and Kurtis listened to every word, eager to learn more about the woman he’d known for over a year already yet still she felt as enigmatic at ever.
“Whoa, what’s that one?” Kurtis blinked in surprise.
“Oh, I almost forgot about this,” Winston nodded. “I would have thought it was destroyed with many others. Well, that is one unusual picture of Lara, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Kurtis whispered. He couldn’t help but stare. It was so… damn, so weird. But it stirred something in him that she wouldn’t appreciate. Or at least he thought she wouldn’t. They were dating, sure, but he never quite considered her the type to…
“So how did this happen?” Kurtis asked when Winston wasn’t offering any explanation. “Why would she ever wear a wedding dress?” She didn’t look exactly happy about it either.
“Lara was merely trying some on. I would say if the wedding were to happen, this one wouldn’t be her final choice, as her mother asked her to start looking quite early.”
“If the wedding were to happen? Early?” Kurtis repeated. “Winston is there some important chapter of Lara’s life I’m learning about right now?”
Two hands appeared, fast as lightning, and slammed the album closed. “Don’t you think you’ve seen enough?” a sweetly dangerous voice was so close that the warm breath tickled his ear.
“I don’t think I have,” Kurtis decided to play it cool and not show he almost got a heart attack. “You got any more of those wedding dress photos?”
Lara hit him over the head with the heavy album, but it was a gentle thump. “No. I kept that one because I looked good in it, but I don’t need more reminders.”
“Why not? What happened?” Kurtis turned around on the sofa so he didn’t have to crane his neck. “Who were you marrying anyway?”
“No-one,” Lara narrowed her eyes. “My parents chose a fiancé for me, I declined. Eventually.”
“Okay this definitely sounds like a story,” Kurtis looked from her to Winston and back.
Winston raised his hands, palms out. “Not a story for me to tell if Lara doesn’t wish to, I’m afraid.”
“It’s nothing much,” Lara rolled her eyes, “but not something I want to discuss now.”
“Aw,” Kurtis pouted. “Can we get the album back then? I wanna see the rest.”
“Hmm,” Lara set one hand on her hip, thinking. “And what do I get in return? I haven’t seen any of your baby pictures.”
“Oh yeah, such a shame,” Kurtis grinned, “there aren’t any around.”
Lara acquired a calculating stare. “Marie is visiting next month.”
Kurtis narrowed his eyes. “Yeah? But I doubt mom has any-” he paused. Wait. No, mom definitely had some. Some embarrassing ones too.
“Can you repeat that?” Lara asked politely. Her smile was evil.
“Look, who knows, right? We didn’t have much so we could pack quickly if we had to move,” Kurtis shrugged.
“Right,” Lara nodded. “I will call Marie to take a look if she finds anything.”
“You really don’t need to.”
“I need to, if you want to see the rest of this,” Lara waved the album.
“You drive a really hard bargain,” Kurtis lamented, but he did want to see the rest of the photos. And anyway, was there a way to stop Lara now? She would call his mom, and if any photos survived, she’d bring it with her for sure. His choice remained if he got the rest of Lara’s photos out of it. He sighed. “Okay.”
“You didn’t really have a choice,” Lara whispered and then winked as she walked off.
Winston patted Kurtis’ shoulder in silent consolation.