CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE – THE PAST REACHES OUT TO THE PRESENT

Finally, after what felt like an eternity of sputtering and shrieking, Theodore managed to extricate himself from the mud bath, crawling out on all fours like a drowned rat. He remained crouched on the floor, rivulets of pink sludge dripping from his sodden form as he gazed up at his irate wife with bewildered contrition. "E-Emilia, darling," he wheezed between glugging coughs. "I can explain..." Emilia's face was nearly as red as the mud coating her feet, a vein pulsing alarmingly at her temple. "Explain?" she snarled, jabbing an accusatory finger at the roiling mud bath. "Explain what, precisely? How you saw fit to disturb the entire spa with your...your tomfoolery?" Theodore winced, swiping uselessly at the mud caking his mustache. "Now, honey, it was just a bit of harmless fun. I only meant to—" "Fun?" Emilia's voice rose to a scandalized screech that set Kayla's teeth on edge. "You call this ridiculous, juvenile behavior fun? Need I remind you that we are meant to be setting a