Chapter Twenty-Three
CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE
The train pulled out of the Clair de Lune station.
Less than twenty-four hours after marrying Brayden, Scarlett was on her way back to Soleil.
Her throat was thick as her grandmother and Lachlan disappeared from view, but Brayden coming back with her, as her husband, distracted her from some of her anguish.
His presence next to her was comforting, even if the evolution of their relationship was giving her whiplash.
Enjoying their newfound love without rushing into a visa marriage would’ve been ideal, but there was no question—she’d rather have him like this than not at all.
She hoped they could go a few days without unearthing another major roadblock to their long-term happiness.
Beni pulled out a deck of cards and shuffled them on the table in front of them. “Want to play knights and knaves?”
“Sure,” said Brayden.
“I’ll play later, maybe,” said Scarlett. “I have some reading I want to do first.”
As they started a game, she reached into her bag, pulling out one of her mother’s diaries.
When she’d gone to her room to pack up her minimal belongings, Scarlett had looked at the box of Sabina’s journals with regret, wishing she could take them all back with her.
She’d spent twenty minutes rifling through it, trying to get a sense of how many years the diaries spanned.
Finding one dated the year of Sabina’s death, she’d stashed it in her bag along with a journal from the year she was born.
Then she’d taken the rest to Brayden’s room and set them in his bureau, figuring they’d be safe there while she was away.
Now she opened the older of the two journals she’d taken. Her mother’s messy cursive script was familiar from the handful of birthday cards she’d given Scarlett, which she kept safe in a drawer at home.
Scarlett read a couple of entries at the beginning. The mundane was beautiful in her mother’s words. Scarlett savored Sabina’s observations of social events in Soleil, chuckling to herself at her accounts of lords and ladies, a couple of whom she knew in present day.
Her heart ached as she read entries about herself as a baby.
It was obvious her mother loved her so, even through the trials of being a new parent with a spouse who was often absent.
Sabina had accepted help from a nanny during the day, but she’d insisted on doing all the nighttime care herself rather than getting a night nanny like most of the Soleil upper class.
As a result, many of her entries mentioned sleep deprivation on days when Scarlett had been up in the night several times.
She’d never known how her mother had cared for her.
Then her heart skipped a beat as she spotted her stepmother’s name.
Laylani Ashworth sat next to me at the state banquet last week, and I think she’s my new favorite person.
Jules was sitting at the other end of the table when Lord Leon made some idiotic remark about Jules marrying me despite me being from Clair.
He was looking down at my chest as he said it, implying in the grossest way possible that Jules had married me for my looks.
Laylani overheard the comment and told him he wouldn’t get the time of day from any woman on the continent if he wasn’t a lord.
I’ve never been so pleasantly surprised.
Nor have I had someone from Soleil stand up for me that way.
Except for Jules, of course. Laylani and I spent the rest of the dinner talking.
She’s quite funny. She invited me to attend fashion week with her in a fortnight, and I look forward to seeing her again. I need more friends here. Real friends.
After that came several journal entries detailing Sabina’s efforts to publish in a Soleil-based scientific journal. There was no mention of fashion week, nor how it had gone.
Scarlett picked up the newer journal, ready to read some of her mother’s last entries. Another mention of Laylani immediately jumped out to Scarlett.
I’m pregnant again, and I couldn’t be happier!
I wrote to Mam to share the news and to ask if it’ll be a boy or a girl.
The tests will tell me in a few weeks, but I don’t want to wait.
I told Laylani, and she offered to come over and help me decide which room to remodel for the baby.
Scarlett will love being a sister, although I’m sure she might not like sharing attention!
Scarlett wanted to scream at her mother to keep Laylani away. Pregnant? She’d never known her mother got pregnant again. She flipped to the last page and nearly stopped breathing.
I don’t know how to heal. I keep telling myself I was lucky.
The car crash could have killed me, and the idea of Scarlett being alone in the world without me…
I’m grateful to be alive. But losing the baby this way, I feel so heavy.
Her whole life was ahead of us in my heart.
But she’s gone. I only had her for the fourteen weeks she was in my belly. I’ll never be the same.
The idea of a sister filled Scarlett with longing. Glancing at Brayden, she imagined the joy they might one day experience if they got pregnant, and the nightmare of having that joy stolen by a random accident. She took a deep breath and read onward.
I’ve been so sad and in so much pain. I’ve been oddly lethargic the past couple of days.
I’m trying to go through the motions with a smile on my face, because I don’t want Scarlett to see how much I’m suffering, but it’s hard.
Laylani has been so kind, staying with me almost constantly and helping me keep my chin up.
But she’s not family. I can’t be totally open with her.
Jules is always at work. Thankfully, my mam will be here soon, and she can help me get some space to grieve without frightening Scarlett. I need to get better for Scarlett.
It was bizarre, knowing how close Laylani had been during her mother’s darkest hours. What would Sabina think if she could see Jules had married Laylani after she passed? It made Scarlett seethe, and she set the journal down to run her hands over her face.
“What’s wrong?” asked Beni from across the table. “Your face is so pale.”
She looked up at her brother. Was he old enough to know this?
The diary had said nothing and everything.
After reading it, Scarlett was certain Laylani had killed her mother.
The odd lethargy she’d described had immediately reminded her of her own drug-induced coma.
Beni would think the same if she let him read it.
“He can handle it,” said Nori.
Scarlett tapped Brayden on the shoulder and pointed to the page she’d just read. He leaned closer to read the journal, and as he read, he let out a loud sigh.
“That’s difficult to read.” He gripped her hand, his expression filled with sadness. “You should show him.”
Without being told, he’d intuited her internal debate.
She handed the journal over to Beni. “This is my mum’s last journal entry before she died. You might not know this, but when she died, everyone believed it was sleeping sickness.”
The color drained from her brother’s face as he scanned the page. “You almost had a sister?” He read onward, his jaw tense. “My mum was there. She did this too. She killed your mum.”
“I think so,” Scarlett said. “I’m sorry if that’s a lot, but you deserve to know the whole truth.”
Brayden squeezed her hand under the table, giving her strength and comfort.
Beni’s expression was stoic. “There’s nothing for you to be sorry for. Is this enough to change your mind about going back home while she’s there? Should we go to a hotel or something? I already thought it was weird you want to live with her, but knowing she killed your mum…”
Scarlett shook her head. “I want to stay with her, because the closer we are, the easier it’ll be to keep an eye on her and get more proof.
We have the test results from our urine proving unnecessary drugs were in our systems, but we need more.
We need something on Laylani, not just the doctor she hired.
I need an opportunity to search her things. ”
Beni didn’t look convinced.
Scarlett continued, more anger in her voice.
“Besides, she’s in my house. We’re the Heroux heirs, and I’m not going to let her keep us out of our own home.
I’ll get a bodyguard, and there’s no way she can hurt us with Brayden there.
I’ll sort it as fast as I possibly can. Believe me, she won’t be living there long. ”
Beni’s brow furrowed, just like their father’s had when he was unhappy about something. “It’s ridiculous to go back there when we ran away only a few days ago.”
“Everything is different now,” said Scarlett. “I’m on my guard, and she won’t get the better of me again.”
“And you have me,” said Brayden. He held his free hand up, and tiny streams of flame flew out of his fingertips as if his hand were a firecracker.
“That’s so cool.” Beni’s expression melted into a grin. “I am glad you’re here, man.”
Scarlett threaded her arm through Brayden’s and leaned into him. “Me too.”
After their train had pulled into the Soleil station, warm air blew across Scarlett’s face as she disembarked.
Her heart pounded as they walked to the passport check with their soul lights hovering over them.
She’d believed her grandmother when Manon told her no one without a soul light would see hers, but she still felt an irrational desire to flee as they approached customs.
Beni walked through first with no issues. The officer, a middle-aged man with bags under his eyes, didn’t notice Riley. Scarlett’s tension eased.
“Lady Heroux, it’s good to see you out and about,” said the officer as Scarlett approached, with Brayden at her side. “I was sorry to read about your illness in the news.” He glanced at her passport before handing it back to her.