Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Bruises faded, the leaves changed colors, and the world kept moving. Our souls, though? Our souls never seemed to stop raging.
We sat in the middle of Elio’s paint studio, his laptop open on the waiting room of the video call.
Moon was on my right, Elio to my left, all of our faces right there on the screen in front of us.
Elio still had some yellow around his cheekbones.
Moon still wore turtlenecks to hide the marks Jude had left behind with his nails.
We were all still a bit messed up, but we were together.
The laptop dinged just as Officer Blake came on screen, another man I didn’t recognize next to him. “Hey, guys. How are you?”
“We’re doing alright, all things considered.” I answered for us since Elio was busy nervously fidgeting next to me, and Moon wasn’t much of a talker as of late.
“Good. So, we finally have everything put together in our reports since clearing Moon of any charges. Are we ready?”
I reached out, grabbing Elio’s hand on one side and Moon’s on the other. We’d all been through this together, in one way or another. We all deserved to know the truth. “Yeah, we’re ready.”
The man beside Officer Blake cleared his throat.
“I’m Detective Manuel. I was brought onto the case during the questioning of Moon.
After looking through the evidence, which included text messages, security footage from various stores and buildings, and reaching out to friends of both of the deceased, it seems that Jude and Sarah had a relationship. A romantic one.”
I watched Elio’s eyes close on the screen. His shoulders slumped as he shook his head. “Makes sense, unfortunately.”
“Right,” Detective Manuel continued. “We aren’t sure when exactly the affair started, but they’d been together for some time before Jude started asking Sarah to keep tabs on Elio.
She seemed to feel loyalty toward him, though we aren’t sure of her entire motive there.
She spied on you, Elio. Both of you. Once you guys mentioned moving, she told Jude about it, and they came up with the plan to kidnap you so Jude could keep you with him.
Teach you some sort of sick lesson? Again, without talking to them, we don’t think we’ll ever fully understand.
“What we do know is that day, they knew Crescent was working at the bakery, and they took advantage of that. Sarah used her spare key to get inside, and they planned to take you from your home before you guys moved.”
Thinking it was possible and hearing it had actually happened were two completely different things. “She told us she had a sister who had been in a domestic situation. She helped us so much. She cried for Elio. I just don’t understand.”
Officer Blake hung his head. “That’s just the thing. Sarah didn’t have any siblings. She’d been watching you, lying to you, and getting closer to you for one thing and one thing only.”
“Well, what about that Devon dude?” Moon spoke up for the first time, his voice lower and quieter than I’d ever get used to hearing. “Did you ever figure him out?”
“No, unfortunately.” Detective Manuel blew out a long breath. “There was no record of a doctor by that first or last name in that hospital. The prescription that was filled was forged. We still haven’t tracked that down.”
Moon groaned. “It doesn’t make any fucking sense. None of it does.”
“I’m afraid it never will, Moon. We can’t understand what was happening in their minds, only that they were sick people and it made perfect sense to them.” Officer Blake sounded sincere, his eyes looking straight at Moon.
“Yeah, well, I hope they rot in hell. I know I’ll be going there with them, but at least I know they’ll be living in torture too.”
Officer Blake sighed, chewing on his bottom lip. “You did what you had to. You defended someone you love and care about. You defended yourself.”
Everyone was silent for a moment. He sounded so genuine and so concerned for my brother, who wasn’t even looking at the screen anymore.
Detective Manuel cleared his throat again, disrupting the awkwardness falling between us. “Well, I hope this gave some insight. Thank you all for your time, and if you need anything, you have Officer Blake’s number.”
I reached over, hanging up the call and closing the laptop. It’d been a long couple of weeks. A very long, very draining, yet very exciting couple of weeks.
Elio slumped back in his chair, finishing one of his breathing exercises. “I’m just mad I can’t get my painting or anything from his house. I mean, he’s dead. Why does it matter?”
Moon snorted—a short, sudden sound that startled me at first. “You don’t want anything from that fucker anyway. Besides, you have the new one right here in your studio.”
He nodded toward the wall off to the side, where all of Elio’s paintings were displayed.
Some of them were set to be sold already, while others were going to be permanent fixtures.
Right next to that wall was a gigantic display of nothing but windows, the sun shining through almost obnoxiously. It was always so bright.
The painting sat at the very top, right in the center.
A beautiful angel was floating, her feet high off the ground.
Her wings were spread wide, their off-white feathers pristine.
She had a serene smile on her face, her arms outstretched as blue rain fell around her, watering the daisies blooming beneath her feet.
She looked peaceful. Happy. Glowing. The direct opposite of how Elio had described the painting he’d left at Jude’s.
“I know, but still.” Elio frowned, a pout in his tone.
Moon stood from the chair, shuffling his feet. “I’d better get home. You’re all unpacked now, so enjoy the space while you can. I’ll be back for dinner tonight. Don’t forget to light the incense.”
“Fuck, I forgot the incense.” I groaned.
“That’s why I reminded you, little brother. See you later.”
Elio and I had quite a bit to do before the rest of our family got here. It was our official moving-in dinner, and we’d somehow gotten everyone to come over for it. We’d be cooking a meal together, one of Elio’s new favorite pastimes.
I’d been off work at my new bakery job for the last few days, so we’d been able to get everything unpacked with some help from Star and Moon.
Resting my hands on Elio’s shoulders, I leaned down to kiss the top of his head. “How are you feeling, baby?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know what else I could’ve possibly expected, honestly.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. It’s still hard, though. You see Christina again tomorrow, right?”
“Mhm, and you see Mark the day after?”
“Mhm. Maybe we should get Moon to look into therapy, too.”
“Yes, definitely.” Elio turned in the chair, looking up at me. “But that’s for another day. For now…” His lips began to lift, a smile curving them. “Care to pose for me?”
I raised an eyebrow at him curiously. “Now? Baby, we have so much prep to do for the dinner, and painting takes so long.”
“Not for me to paint on canvas, silly. We have a brand-new mattress to stain. What do you think about ocean blue, hm?”
For someone who blushed so easily, he sure was good at making me do it. “Fuck, baby. Jesus.”
“Can I take that as a yes?”
“Only if it’s forest green again. I kind of miss those stains.”
He stood, cupping my face and pulling it to his. “Now that, I can work with.” When our lips came together, our smiles melding into one, everything felt right in the universe.
Within our raging souls was the certainty that we were always meant to be. Two puzzle pieces fitting together.
Lavender incense and chicken alfredo didn’t mix very well. Only one stick was lit, but it was enough to fill up almost the entire downstairs of the house with the scent. Mom appreciated it, though.
Star and Mom were laughing at the other end of the table, at a joke the rest of us didn’t seem to be privy to.
Dad was nodding along, pretending he understood exactly what they were saying, but by the look on their faces, they were onto him.
Dad had never been great at bullshitting.
Moon had kept mostly quiet, which worried Elio and me both.
He wouldn’t talk about it, though, and since he wouldn’t talk about it, we couldn’t help.
Once everyone had finished eating, pushing their plates away from them, Elio turned his head to me. There was a question on his face, one I’d been prepared for all night. “Go ahead, baby. I’ll get everyone into the living room.”
He smiled, rushing away to go upstairs while I tried to herd everyone together. “Let’s head to the living room, guys. Try out our brand-new sectional.”
Mom was up almost immediately, holding her plate in her hand. “I can get the dishes for you first, honey.”
“No, Mom, that’s okay. Elio and I can do them later, or maybe I’ll get Star and Moon on them.”
Star looked at me, her eyes narrowed. “You wouldn’t dare. I just got these nails done!”
“I could, and I would. Poor thing can’t sacrifice a little chipped nail polish to do her favorite big brother a favor?”
Moon huffed. “Favorite big brother? Yeah, okay. You better watch out, Cres. I know where you sleep.”
“Yeah.” Star pointed a finger at me. “You don’t live too far from campus, you know. I could always sneak in here and, like, replace all your food with beets and asparagus.”
“Or,” Moon countered. “I could come in and steal your precious One Piece manga collection.”
I gasped, placing a hand over my heart. “No the fuck you wouldn’t. You take that back.”
“Never.”
“You wouldn’t dare touch—”
“Enough, kids!” Dad’s stern voice was honestly terrifying. It was rare that he ever had to use it, so when he did, it struck fear into all of us. “Crescent, please show us to your living room. We would all love to check out this sectional you mentioned.”
I pushed away from my chair, leading them all into the room. We didn’t have a TV yet, but we were lucky enough to have found a new couch and bookshelf that fit perfectly in the space.
That wasn’t the real reason I was leading them in there, though. Right in the middle of the room, Elio stood. Next to him was his easel, a large painting sitting on it.
Mom gasped from behind me. “Oh my god.”
Elio smiled—big, wide, and genuine. A real, true smile. The same smile I fell in love with when we were kids, without even knowing it was love I’d felt. “This is for you.” He gestured to the painting proudly.
I stepped aside, letting her through first while the rest of us watched. She walked up to it slowly, wading through imaginary waters.
I’d expected her to reach out toward the canvas. I thought she was going to touch it with her fingertips, maybe trace it with tears in her eyes. She didn’t, though. She turned toward Elio, grabbing him in a big, tight hug. “My baby. Oh, my baby. Thank you. Thank you.”
Elio’s eyes widened as he hesitantly wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. I nodded at him with a smile.
The Miller family all stood in the same room, in a new life, with more love than we could’ve ever thought possible. After years of pain, loss, and uncertainty, we’d found each other again.
At the center of the room, Mom finally had her painting.
The blue jay was perched on a branch, looking off to the side, its blue, white, and black feathers all perfectly in place.
I’d watched Elio make every stroke with intent, putting so much love into the color that his forehead would sweat from concentration.
The canvas was tall, wide, and virtually indestructible.
Nobody could take it away from us again.
Nobody could stomp on it, or tear it apart, or use it to scare me into obeying them.
The blue jay sitting on its branch was so much more than a painting.
It was hope and resilience. Love and trust. A prophecy of a never-ending future, with feathers so pristine, they’d never fade. They’d never wilt.
And they’d never get lost again.