47. Chapter Forty Six
Chapter Forty Six
Skyla
M y knee bounces anxiously as we drive down the road. It’s a long drive from Salem to northern New Hampshire, probably for a good reason.
I can’t believe she’s alive. My mom. She’s been alive all this time. There are a million things running through my head, thousands of questions. Yet, one stands out above the rest. Why did she fake her death? Or I guess, more importantly, why did she leave me behind?
Wesley is driving with Ronan in the front seat, Vincent and I in the back, and Liam and Asher in the center row. We passed the road that takes us to the cabin we stayed at for Christmas about an hour ago. I can’t help but smile as I think about the memories we made over that weekend. I’d do anything to go back and relive it all over again. Maybe someday.
We can only stay one night before Liam has to have dinner with Maryia’s parents, something he is most definitely not looking forward to. Ronan looked up some hotels near the address we were given and chose a suite so we could all be in the same room together.
I’m not sure what will await us when we get to my mom’s house. Will my real dad be there? Are they still together? Where does Henry fit into this puzzle? I’m honestly a little irritated that she dropped several bombshells on me and then vanished. I’m trying not to jump to conclusions, to allow her the chance to explain herself, but being anxious is putting it lightly for how I’m feeling.
The GPS announces that we’ve arrived at our destination, but we all frown when we see that it’s just a long dirt road off the highway.
“You sure you punched it in right?” Ronan asks Wesley.
Wes rolls his eyes and nods as he slowly turns down the road.
“What if this is a trap?” Asher asks.
The vehicle is silent as Wesley creeps down the heavily wooded driveway.
“I’m just saying.” Asher continues. “She has ties with witches, clearly. Who’s to say she isn’t trying to hurt Skyla? Or one of us? Hell, all of us.”
“She’s my mother,” I defend.
Asher turns to look at me with a shake of his head. “And if there is anything all of us can agree on, it’s that parents suck, princess.”
I frown at that, doing my best not to let Asher’s negativity seep in. After a quarter mile or so, the trees break free and my jaw unhinges when I look out at the land before us. There are at least fifteen little cottages sprawling across acres and acres of cleared land. It’s like a fairytale meadow or something. There are several large gardens with plants, fruits and vegetables growing. There are also several outdoor seating areas, like a large community center.
“What the fuck? Did we just walk into a commune?” Liam asks.
“Commune of witches,” Asher adds.
“A Coven, morons,” Ronan corrects.
“I don’t like this,” Vincent murmurs.
I turn to him and frown. “Why?”
“No good escape routes. The car could be easily sabotaged, then we are out in the open with no cover until the tree line.”
I snort and shake my head because they are all being ridiculous…aren’t they? Unease settles inside me as we pull up to the main parking area. We put the car in park as several people begin walking towards us. Oh god.
Wesley is the first to get out of the car, followed by Ronan and Asher. Liam lags behind a bit, and when I try to get out, Vincent forces me back into my seat. I glare at him, but he only shakes his head as he watches the guys intently.
“Who are you?” a man with a long brown beard asks.
“Just take a look at them, Anthony. You know who they are,” a red-headed woman hisses.
“You are not welcome here!” another woman shouts.
All the guys stand tall, unmoving, when my mother walks through the crowd. More like she walks, and the crowd practically separates for her.
“I invited them,” she says as her eyes scan the guys before she frowns.
“G,” the redhead whispers so loud that even I can hear her. “You may have doomed us all.”
She gives her a tight smile and holds her hand.
“Trust me?”
The woman sighs before nodding, and Vincent climbs forward to get out of the car, grabbing my hand so I follow behind. When my feet land, I hear a soft gasp escape, several people before my mother smiles, opening her arms for me. I run to her immediately, reveling in the feel of her arms around me. We stay that way for an awkward amount of time for everyone else, but I don’t think it’ll ever be enough for me.
“Are you all staying the night?” she asks.
I nod. “Just tonight. Some of us have to return to Salem in the morning.”
She looks disappointed by that, but she nods nonetheless.
“Where one goes, you all go?” she guesses.
I smile and shrug.
“Good. That’s the best way to keep you safe,” she says as she cups my cheek. “C’mon, I’ll show you all around.”
My mom’s arm loops through mine as she begins walking us through the grounds, introducing me to anyone and everyone she possibly can. She also introduces the guys as mine. Not my boyfriends, not my friends. Just that, “This is my daughter, and these men are hers.”
I kinda like it.
She points out the community garden, the little schoolhouse and all of the communal areas like sitting areas, fire pits and walking trails leading into the forest.
“So, are the rumors true?” I ask. “Are you a witch?”
We climb the short steps up to a cottage and my mother shakes her head from side to side like she’s contemplating how to answer.
“Yes and no. The rumors you’re no doubt referring to are false for that time of my life, but after living here for over sixteen years, I’ve adapted practices, yes.”
“This is your Coven?” Ronan asks.
She turns to look at him and smiles.
“This is my family.”
Pushing the door open, she pauses, turning to me.
“There is someone who couldn’t wait a second longer to meet you.”
This puts all the guys on edge, and I feel them practically surround me.
“Jonathan?” my mom calls out in the house.
A tall man, at least six foot five, steps around the corner of the cottage, his feet freezing when he sees us all on the front porch. He has green eyes, darker than mine or my mother’s, with black hair that has been pulled into a man bun and a trimmed beard. There is a touch of grey encroaching in to show his age, but it’s the kind smile that spreads across his face that helps put me at ease.
His eyes move from me to my mom before settling back on me. My heart is pounding in my chest, my breaths quickening as we just stare at one another. Something inside me knows exactly who he is immediately. Maybe he feels the same way too, because he practically sprints to me.
His arms wrap me up, lifting me into the air and spinning me in a circle. I wrap my arms around his neck as I hold on tightly, and he speaks into my shoulder. I can’t quite hear him, but when he sets me down and looks at me, he repeats himself.
“Skyla,” he rasps. “Is it really you?”
I smile softly and shrug my shoulders.
“Is it really you? Are you—”
“Your father,” my mom interrupts. “Yes.”
He smiles down at me before realizing we have an audience. He doesn’t look surprised. No doubt my mom has already told him how their daughter grew up to be a trollop. No, I’m sure that’s not what the conversation was. She’s seemed quite accepting thus far.
“Jonathan Proctor,” he says with his hand extended to Liam.
He smiles and takes it, shaking as he speaks.
“Liam Walcott.”
Jonathan…my dad, still weird to think about, raises his eyebrows in recognition as he moves through the guys. The next to offer up his hand is Wesley, then Ronan, lastly being Vincent and Asher, of course. Wait, Proctor? As in…
“There she is,” Rachel smiles as she makes her way out of the cottage, wrapping me up into a hug.
“Are you—”
“Your aunt?” She smiles. “Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask.
She gives me a dry look. “How should that conversation have gone? Welcome to my store. I recognized you instantly, you’re a spitting image of your mother with a touch of your father, who happens to be my brother? Oh, and by the way, your mother isn’t actually dead and has been heartbroken every day she hasn’t been in your life? But keep it to yourself?”
“She’s right,” Liam says. “That’s a mouthful.”
Ever the comedic relief, everyone chuckles at that as Jonathan makes a sweeping motion.
“Please, come inside.”
Rachel steps in first, followed by me, my mother, and all of the guys. I move to one of the several couches in the living room, taking a seat as Vincent and Asher quickly claim the seats to my left and right, ever my guard dogs. Liam, being the goof he is, doesn’t mind sitting on the floor in front of Vincent and Asher, as Ronan and Wesley stand on either side of the couch, flanking us all.
My dad takes a seat on the other couch, dragging my mom into his lap. He begins nuzzling her neck and she smiles, giggling and pushing him away as he only drags her closer. I can’t help but smile as I watch them. They look so at peace, so in love. I hate that I lost my mom for all of these years, but it helps a little to know that the years without each other have been filled with light and love.
“Ugh, get a room,” Rachel grumbles as she comes out from the kitchen, a lit smudge stick in her hand as she begins waving it around the room, and more specifically, my guys.
“You’re in my house.” My dad reminds her.
“Yes, and you have company. You can maul your wife later.”
He sighs dramatically in a way that reminds me of Liam before he lets my mom sit beside him instead of on him, though it’s clear she preferred it the other way. As Rachel comes up to us, she sprays something out of a bottle at Asher, Vincent, and Ronan as if they were misbehaving dogs.
“What the fuck? Again?” Asher snarls as Vincent stands to his feet.
I yank at his arm, forcing him to sit, which he does so begrudgingly.
“Smudge spray. Cinnamon, moon water, black pepper, vinegar and rosemary. Sorry. Someone had to do it, your auras are practically leaking into the house. None of us need that shit,” Rachel says.
“You’re not sorry,” Asher grumbles.
“You’re right, Putnam, I’m not.” She smirks.
“Okay, that’s enough,” my dad says before Rachel rolls her eyes and puts her things down, taking a seat beside her brother.
“So,” my mom starts.
“Sooo?” I question.
Awkward silence descends around the room for several seconds before Liam blurts.
“How are you alive? I mean, we all thought you died in a boating accident when Sky was three.”
My dad grips her hand, and she nods with a sad smile.
“I did, kind of, and yet, I lived.”
We all give her puzzled looks and she looks at her husband before continuing.
“I don’t need to explain to any of you how the Brethren works. Based on the amount of Elder rings in this room, it seems you know perhaps more than I.”
All but Vincent glance down at their ring and nod morosely.
“When I was engaged to Henry Parris, there was another who vied for my hand.”
“My father,” Asher guesses.
Her gaze locks on Asher before nodding. “The resemblance between you two is quite frightening.”
He frowns like that’s offensive. “I’m sorry, trust me, I wish I’d have taken after my mother.”
My mom smiles sadly. “She was one of my best friends. I was heartbroken to hear about her death.”
Asher nods as she continues.
“Christopher had decided that he wanted me instead, and tried to convince his father, Luther, to switch brides. Give Isabel to Henry, and me to him. Thankfully, he didn’t approve.”
“Thankfully?” Ronan questions. “You preferred Henry?”
She nods hollowly at Ronan. “Henry is a nasty son of a bitch, but he doesn’t hold a candle to the evil inside Christopher.”
I feel Asher’s eyes on me as I look at him and remember that day in his father’s house. My back practically burns like the wounds are fresh at the reminder.
“Christopher didn’t like that,” Liam guesses.
My mom shakes her head. “He and Henry would play this…game. They’d tie me up and—”
“We know the rest,” Wesley says with a sad shake of his head. “I’m so sorry you had to live through that.”
She gives him an appreciative smile and nods.
“That went on for…months. I was desensitized, floating through life, until one day I met Jonathan,” she says as she smiles at him. He grins down at her, giving her a quick kiss to the cheek. “Literally, we ran into each other at the grocery store, of all places. He knew who I was immediately, and I knew he wasn’t a part of the Brethren. Fate kept pushing us together, running into each other at a park, at the dry cleaners, even restaurants.”
“I may have been keeping tabs on her, a little,” my dad admits.
“Stalking is the proper word,” my mom corrects.
He scoffs but doesn’t deny it. “She was so beautiful. I could see she had a pure heart, but it was shrouded in darkness. She was trapped, and…something told me I was the one that could save her.”
“We fell in love,” she says, staring into his eyes. “And I fell pregnant with you.”
Her eyes meet mine, and I turn my head to the side softly.
“I’m sorry to ask, but how do you know Henry is not my father? If you were married to him, and he and Christopher were both forcing themselves on you, isn’t it possible one of them could be my father?”
Ronan and Asher look at me with panicked expressions and my mother shakes her head.
“Christopher was forbidden from seeing me while he and Isabelle were conceiving…you,” she says as she points to Asher. “And Henry is sterile.”
“What?” I ask.
My mom nods. “We’d been in the process of conceiving for months, consensually or not, and I wasn’t getting pregnant. We went to specialists who deemed him unable to father children.”
“So, he knows he’s not my father?” I ask.
“Yes, when I was pregnant, he knew it couldn’t be his. I tried to hide the pregnancy as long as I could while Jonathan and I came up with an…exit strategy, I suppose. I was discovered before we could actually pull it off. He nearly beat me to death.” She laughs on a sob before banishing it away.
“He told me we’d tell everyone that it was his. That way he’s producing an ‘heir,’ and I get to keep my lifestyle. Like I wanted it,” she adds.
“What happened?” I ask, desperate for more.
“Obviously, I told Henry I’d stopped seeing Jonathan, but…we made it work. I’d take you on a walk and he’d meet us in the park, or we’d drive out of state to have lunch, as a family. You even called him dada when you were just under two.”
“One of my favorite memories,” he says, his eyes glossy with memories of the past.
“He even dressed up as a doctor, paid off the real one, and delivered you himself,” my mom laughs, smacking my dad’s chest.
He lets out a gruff laugh, shrugs, and looks at me.
“I wasn’t going to miss your birth or the chance to hold you, even for just a second, for anything.”
I can’t help but smile at that, the picture they’re painting, the tones their voices carry. It sounds like there was so much love, so much joy in our lives together, whenever we could have it.
“On your third birthday, I snuck away with you to visit Jonathan. He gave you a tricycle and was pushing you on it at a park in Boston. I didn’t know I was being followed by Christopher, but…I was, and he saw. He put everything together, sent his little informants to dig up information and took it all to Luther and Henry. I think he was hoping they’d kill Jonathan, but instead Luther just wanted me dead.”
“I had a vision that day.” Rachel admits.
“A vision?” I question. “Like psychic stuff?”
She shrugs as she continues. “It was your mother on a boat with two men. It was dark and ominous and I knew death was lurking in those waters.”
“So, Rachel and a few of her friends met me and placed a protective spell over me.”
“And it worked?” Asher asks dubiously.
My mother doesn’t take offense, instead she smiles at him and shrugs.
“I’m still here, aren’t I?”
My guys all share disbelieving looks, but it doesn’t really matter if they believe it or not.
“True to Rachel’s vision, Henry and Christopher took me out on a boat late one night before Henry held my head underwater. I tried to fight back but he was so strong. For a moment there, Christopher even tried to stop him, saying he’d hide me. He was hysterical and I thought maybe I’d have a chance out of there. I wasn’t scared to die, I was scared I’d never see you or Jonathan again,” she says as she looks at me.
“But,” she says as she clears her throat. “Henry reminded him it had to be done, and Christopher was the one to hold me over until my body went limp and he shoved me into the water. At least, that’s what I think happened. The next thing I knew, I woke up borderline hypothermic in the back of Jonathan’s car as he drove me to a hospital in rural Massachusetts.”
“How could you have survived if your body went limp? If you had that much water in your lungs, you must have stopped breathing,” Ronan asks.
“What I’ve come to find over the years is we are not always supposed to know everything that happens or why it does. Sometimes, we just have to be thankful for what we can, and understanding for what we can’t.”
“And then…you came here?” I ask.
She nods. “Jonathan bought this land before you were born. We had a dream to have a self-sustained piece of paradise, just the three of us. But Henry moved you away to live with Steph, and I knew you were in good hands. I also knew that no matter how much it hurt, it would have been selfish to put you in danger by taking you. If they’d have caught us…I don’t know what the Brethren would have done to you as well. I just…not a day goes by that I don’t regret not taking you. Before you left or while you were in London. I tried to do what was best for you, but I—”
Her voice cuts off on a sob and she shakes her head before looking up at me.
“Sky, baby. I’m so sorry. I know you can’t forgive me, but I love you so much. I’ve loved you from the moment I took that pregnancy test. There isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t think about you or talk about you. And now you’re here, right in front of us,” she says, her bottom lip quivering as she smiles. “Feels something of a blessing, right, Jonathan?”
“And then some,” he agrees.
I don’t realize I’m crying until Vincent intertwines our fingers, squeezing gently. Rachel cocks her head to the side curiously and it sets Vincent off.
“What?” he snaps.
She doesn’t jump or react like most would. Instead, she just shakes her head.
“It’s just interesting. The most negative of you all, the one carrying the most death, the most guilt, is the first to provide comfort and support. Practically absorbing her own hurt and putting it onto your shoulders.”
“I’m just holding my girl’s hand,” Vincent says dryly.
“Yeah? That’s it?” Rachel challenges.
He narrows his eyes at her as I stand and close the distance between the two couches. When I come to stand between my mom and my dad, I slump to my knees on the floor and cry. They both dive to the ground, wrapping their arms around me on either side as we all fall apart together. Just the three of us, like it always should have been. A family. My family.