Chapter 28
Eliza
Jasper remained stationed next to Darius as he talked to the police and repeated to them what had happened to Hester.
It was heartbreaking to watch Darius relive the nightmare when he spoke about his company going under after spending every spare penny to their name trying to find a cure for Hester and failing.
His eyes grew distant, as if he was unable to cope when he recounted the process of burying the love of his life himself and then the horrific night that followed, eventually unable to stay with her and the guilt he felt when he had left both her and Jasper behind.
Though everyone seemed to feel for the mentally troubled man, Sowerby remained stiff and cold with Darius throughout, understandably still angry with him for leaving Jasper. When asked about it, Sowerby had his own heartbreaking tale of secrets.
“You knew?” Darius asked his old gardener.
Sowerby nodded. “As you’re aware, Hester and I were great friends and spent a lot of time together working in the conservatory.”
Darius clung to every word, almost as if hearing Hester’s name gave him strength.
“She told me when she realized she wasn’t going to make it.
Confided that she wanted to become one of her plants and be buried beneath the soil.
She asked me to check in on Darius and Jasper to ensure they were doing okay.
She had managed to get me another live-in job at another large estate.
” Sowerby cleared his throat, pulling off his dark newsboy hat to run his hands through his short gray hair.
“By then, the majority of the other staff had left, with only a few still remaining, and my quarters were empty. I wasn’t supposed to stay, but I couldn’t leave her quite yet, knowing she was so sick.
Whenever I couldn’t sleep, I would go to the conservatory and do the upkeep, set up Hester’s area so it was all ready for the next day, mostly just filling bottles with neem spray as that’s all she had strength for by then.
One night, I couldn’t sleep again and went to the conservatory.
You were already inside. I watched as you refilled the hole.
I knew she was really gone. You were burying her where we had just cleared everything and planted the corpse flowers.
It was her most prized plant of all of them.
” He breathed out a sad laugh. “She always had a sense of humor. She’d known the whole time I planted them that that’s where she had chosen to be buried.
You didn’t even understand the irony of her resting under the corpse flowers. It was perfectly her.”
He wiped his wet eyes before continuing.
“I left. That night I had a dream that Hester was frantic and upset, but none of it made any sense. I came back in the morning to find them arresting Jasper.” He was so choked up that he had to collect himself for a few moments before speaking again.
He looked at Jasper with loving eyes. “Good thing I did too.” He rubbed his eyes.
“I could’ve killed you, Darius. I would have, had I seen you. I still want to,” he admitted.
“You knew all along, and you never told me.” Jasper’s face was lined with hurt. “You let me believe she was still alive this whole time,” he said angrily.
Sowerby’s head dropped, unable to look directly at Jasper.
“I didn’t want the same thing to happen to you that happened to him.
” He pointed accusingly at Darius. “There wasn’t much left of you when I found you; I couldn’t bring myself to do another thing that would bring you pain; you should’ve seen yourself.
What if you lost it like your father? You refused to leave the manor, and I couldn’t afford anything else. I did the best I could.”
“You should have told me she was dead—and in my house,” Jasper bit out.
“I cared about you, Jasper; that was all I knew. I was a gardener, not a psychiatrist; I didn’t know what the hell I was doing.
” He raised his voice. “And you know what? I’d do it all over again in a second if it meant I kept you sane.
At first, I didn’t tell you about your mother because I assumed Darius would come back for you.
But after a few weeks, he sent a letter from both of them, and I didn’t know what to do but wait it out. I’m sorry.”
“I’ll never be able to thank you enough for what you’ve done,” Darius said softly to Sowerby, who glared at him.
Jasper took Darius to the hospital with the police.
After matching DNA from the bones to the blood found on Jasper’s shirt the night of the incident, they confirmed that the autopsy of Hester did reveal her to have sulfhemoglobinemia, an incredibly rare condition that, because of her diagnosed kidney disease, was diagnosed so late it had caused her death.
In a morbid way, Hester belonged among her rare plants; she was one of them.
Jasper and I hadn’t spoken other than him quickly asking me to stay at the manor until he returned, to which I agreed.
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I woke up to the feeling of arms sliding under me, lifting me. Apparently, I had fallen asleep on the couch in the main room. The clean scent of men’s soap and sterile hospital lingered in my nostrils as I looked around. Everything was dark; it was late.
“Shhh, it’s okay, I’ve got you,” Jasper cooed, lifting me. “I’m sorry. It took longer than I thought.”
Feeling the firm warmth of his body holding me as I looked up and took the man in, it felt surreal. I couldn’t believe everything he’d been through, and still, he remained so strong.
I moved my legs, trying to stand. “It’s late. You’ve got to be exhausted.” I knew I was.
He didn’t let me out of his arms and continued holding me against him. I moved away. The poor man had been through enough; the last thing he needed was to take care of me. I wanted to talk to him and clear the air between us so badly, but it could wait.
“Don’t go, Eliza.” His rough whisper brushed the skin of my forehead. Not one of his stern commands but a plea. “I don’t want to be alone tonight.” His mahogany eyes suddenly made him look so fragile, so breakable, and I realized that he was struggling even though he wasn’t showing it.
I needed no further encouragement. I wrapped my arms tightly around his warm neck, pulling myself up until my chest was smashed against his, my chin resting on his hard shoulder, not letting a wisp of air get between us. I was home.
He easily lifted me then and carried me up the stairs, pausing in the hallway outside of his room. He needed me tonight, and even if we didn’t have us figured out, I needed him too. We needed each other.
He walked into the room and moved to the right side of his bed, gently setting me down and pulling the cool, thick cotton sheets over me. “Thank you. For everything,” he whispered, bending down. He pressed his lips to my forehead, threading his fingers into my hairline before stepping away.
Still, in a cloudy, exhausted daze, I jumped when he tossed a pair of boxers and a T-shirt on top of my legs. “Close your eyes,” I whispered.
He glared at me but didn’t say a word. I waited until his back was to me, pausing to be a hypocrite and staring for a second when he pulled the shirt over his head and revealed his broad, muscular back.
“Okay,” I said with a small smile once I was changed and had thrown my clothes off my side of the bed in a pile.
The locket clanked against the floor from inside my pocket.
Shit. I needed to return that to Hester somehow.
After a moment’s thought, I decided that I would just leave it in Jasper’s room.
It wouldn’t make any sense to him, and he probably wouldn’t realize it was his mother’s…
Maybe I should just tell him and risk him being upset that I took it from her.
He’d probably think I was an idiot for not realizing her body was buried there after I pulled her locket from the soil—something I had been struggling with feeling myself lately, though I supposed I could cut myself a break for not assuming a garden was the resting place for a corpse.
Jasper lay down, wearing only plaid boxers, causing the bed to dip slightly.
He slid under the covers, pulling the white, airy comforter up to tuck us both in.
The room was dark, causing everything to be painted a dark blue where the lights from the night sky illuminated it.
Jasper tucked his hand under the side of his face, mirroring me.
For a while, we simply soaked in the closeness of the other, the comfort of knowing we were together in the same space again.
“I’m sorry.” I broke the comfortable silence, my words barely a whisper.
His brows pulled together. “You don’t have anything to be sorry for.” Little flecks of light were reflected in his eyes.
He was being kind. I had a lot to be sorry for.
“I thought you did it,” I confessed with a heavy heart.
“A lot of people did.” He rolled onto his back.
I pushed up on my elbows and leaned over him, forcing him to look at me.
“It’s not okay. I know you. I know it’s not been a very long time, but I know you, Jasper.
You’d never hurt anybody you care about even though you want people to think you’re tough and uncaring; I know that’s not true.
I let the rumors sway what I knew. I’m sorry. ”
His eyes turned on me. “That’s not true at all; I would hurt anybody who ever made you sad.”
I blushed at his words and the serious look on his face. “Thankfully, that’s not true, or you would be very busy, I’m afraid.”
He leaned up to get closer to me. “Yes, it is true, Eliza. I meant what I said before. I will never let anyone hurt you ever again, and if by some minuscule chance I can’t prevent it, I promise you, I will hurt them far worse—by any means necessary.”
His threat whispered across my lips. Somehow, we had gotten so close that I could see the little dots of stubble beginning to form on his cheek and chin.
His dark eyes locked on my lips.