Chapter 41 Beth
Beth
I know I’m in shock because everything happening is taking place in slow motion.
I hold my hands up to my face. Maybe this is a nightmare?
I fold my hands together. It’s real. I’ve never been so terrified in my life.
A huge tree narrowly missed crushing us all, and now we need to get out of here.
The dining room, once a sparkling haven, is now a blend of destruction and the raw power of the fallen tree that has reshaped it.
Roxy sits in her chair at the end of the table, and Jamie sits next to her. Across the table from me, Amelia stands blinking.
“Roxy! Jamie! Amelia! We have to go, now!” I yell.
Amelia runs out of the room, but Jamie remains frozen in her seat. I run to Roxy, and she points to her arm.
“I’m stuck,” she says, eyes wide with fear.
I see part of the tree, a large branch, has pinned Roxy’s arm to the table. Somehow, I find superhuman strength and lift the tree branch.
“Move, Roxy, now,” I say, holding the branch.
She pulls her arm out from under the branch as my strength gives out. I notice a large gash on her arm as I grab her by the shoulder. “We need to get out of here.”
Roxy nods and stands up, finally ready to go.
“Jamie, come on,” I say, taking her roughly by the arm.
I hurry from the room as the ceiling groans again under the weight of the tree.
As we make it to the foyer, I hear another deafening crack, and I know the entire trunk has crashed through the ceiling.
I can’t believe how close we all came to dying, right there, in the opulent dining room now in ruins.
By the time I usher Jamie and Roxy into the living room, Amelia greets me, her navy dress torn and disheveled, her expression a mix of shock and disbelief. She is staring at the piano where Brett’s body lies covered by a sheet, like a sleeping ghost. What a catastrophe.
“Jamie, Roxy needs medical care,” I say, hoping to snap her back to life, back to her career.
Jamie nods. “Yes, of course. Roxy, let me see that arm. Please.”
“OK, but I think I need to lie down,” Roxy says, dropping to the floor.
Roxy’s dress is covered in blood now, and Jamie makes quick work of ripping the bottom of her dress to make a bandage.
Outside the wind has stopped, but that clearly doesn’t mean we’re out of danger.
I hope another tree doesn’t decide to smash into us, its roots, firmly entrenched in the earth for decades, breaking free tonight.
Jamie tends to Roxy’s arm as Ryan and Greer rush into the room.
“Is everyone all right?” Ryan asks, hurrying to Roxy and Jamie. “Roxy, what happened?”
“A tree fell through the ceiling,” she says. “My arm was pinned.”
“She’s going to be fine, but it will need medical treatment,” Jamie says.
Greer walks to Jamie’s side. I watch as they have an awkward embrace. “I’m glad you’re all right. When we heard that loud crash, well, I thought the worst. We’ll get through this, Jamie.”
And as I watch their love story hold firm, I get angry. Greer doesn’t know the worst of it, though, because he left the dining room before her full confession. He doesn’t know that Jamie left Sunny to die in the pool. That she could have saved her.
“I love you,” Jamie says, and they kiss.
I turn away, disgusted, I guess, with who Jamie really is, and was.
“Honey, could you go to our room, get my medical bag so I can treat and wrap Roxy’s arm? She’s going to need stitches,” Jamie turns back to the patient, patting Roxy’s shoulder.
“Yes, now that you two lovebirds have reunited, I’d love to stop bleeding out,” Roxy says, the drama queen returning.
“Be right back with it,” Greer says and disappears into the dark house using his phone’s flashlight to show the way.
I wouldn’t want to go back down those hallways.
The hole in the roof has allowed dust and debris to circulate through the house, I’m sure, reaching us here in this room now. My chest is tight with dust inhalation.
“OK, all right, everyone is alive, thank God,” Ryan says, visibly stunned. His hair is a mess and his tie is missing. He wraps an arm around my shoulders. “Beth, are you sure you’re OK?”
I’m likely in shock. “Fine, yes, it could have been much worse. Where are the kids?” I ask.
“We need to find them,” Ryan says. “I’m worried the house isn’t structurally stable given what’s happened.
We need to keep everyone in this original part of the house—here in the living room is best—until the roads are cleared and power is restored and we can call for help.
I never should have allowed Roxy to invite all of you here.
This weekend has ruined everything. I tried to warn you. ”
“What? Warn me? I haven’t spoken to you for decades.
What are you talking about?” I ask, but Ryan takes off down the hallway without answering.
I follow behind him, holding on to the back of his coat for comfort and closeness.
As we walk through the darkness, the air thick with dust, I wonder what Celeste and Zach have overheard tonight.
Were they listening to our dining room conversation?
I wonder what Ryan has heard, what he thinks, what he knows.
There’ll be time for that, I suppose, but first we need to find my daughter.
As we pass by the dining room my eyes try to make out the shape of the table, but all I can see is the large silhouette of the tree.
And something else through the haze of dust and tree limbs.
It’s a face, a woman’s face, staring at me from on top of the table.
She is lying on top of the tree, on top of the table. Oh my God.
“Ryan!” I yell. “Someone is there. In the dining room!” I yank on his jacket, and he finally stops.
He shines the light of his phone into the room, and a surreal sight appears amid the swirling dust. I catch a glimpse of a woman with long blond hair, green eyes, wearing a green dress and a sparkling tennis necklace.