I could tell she needed to stay busy, so I allowed her to fuss over me, tuck me into bed, and I drank the juice and water she left on my bedside table. This continued on through the night as she checked on me, brought me chamomile tea with honey, and mothered the shit out of me.
This was the first time ever we were freely allowed access to each other, to the food, and to the rest of the house. We freaking loved it. By the time morning arrived, when I woke feeling refreshed, Mary already had the locks and alarms changed. She'd also switched our phone numbers and was in the process of obtaining Blake's death certificate so we could get all the assets put legally into my name.
"New lawyers will handle it all,” she said. “I believe you are the sole shareholder left in the company, and the only legal heir, so it should be a simple enough process.”
I nodded, swallowing the last bite of my scrambled eggs. Thankfully, this morning my stomach was cooperating, and I had to wonder if it hadn’t been the stress, more than anything else, that’d had me so off food before now. "Okay, great. It's good that his body was found."
She’d told me all about it last night, and I’d read the news articles. No doubt Dylan had thought of ease of discovery when he'd disposed of Blake so publicly—lion's cage at the zoo, of all places. My brother’s final moments were as a lion’s chew toy, and according to the report Mary got, there really wasn’t that much of him left, except the skull, making a positive ID on the bastard straightforward. Dylan was nothing if not creative, and honestly, it should freak me out that he could cold-bloodedly murder someone. But I had no issue with that side of him at all.
Protecting your own was exactly what I’d always wanted from a family, and now my baby would have that tenfold. Delta Five played for keeps, and they would fuck anyone up who tried to hurt their inner circle.
"The police do want to speak with you," Mary warned me. "It's an open investigation, but if the murder went down the way I expect it did, their interest will dry up quickly."
Yeah, Delta money made a lot of shit disappear. Neither of us would be surprised if the “loss of interest” happened before the police even showed up on my doorstep. "Tell them I'm fine to chat whenever they want. There's surely no way they could suspect me. I haven't seen my brother for weeks."
Thanks to Blake erasing all signs of him being at the hospital, I was going to live happily ever after, no longer caught in his bullshit.
There was honestly no better revenge than that.
29
The next morning, Mary woke me with a stunned look on her face. She was clearly in shock again, but not quite as intensely as when she'd found out I was pregnant.
"What's wrong?" I asked, pushing myself up.
"There was a delivery for you."
I blinked at her, still a little disoriented. "Okay, do I need to sign for it?"
She shook her head. "No, but you should come and see it."
Now she had all of my interest. Dragging myself out of bed, I moved slowly at first, allowing my ribs and injuries to warm up. As desperate as I was to see this delivery, I had to pee and brush my teeth first, but I didn't waste time on anything else. As I hurried down the stairs, holding on tightly to the handrail, Mary was right behind me.
When I rounded the curve of the staircase, allowing me to see the large front foyer, I stopped dead in my tracks. "Oh my god."
I just stood there blinking at the sight, wondering if I was imagining shit. But, nope, I was seeing it all very correctly.
The entire room was filled with plants in a variety of pots.
The sights and scents of so many different sizes and species was the most incredible and intoxicating thing I'd ever experienced, and as I slowly made my way down the rest of the stairs, I started to recognize some of the plants.
"Edible flowers and trees," I murmured. "I don't..." My throat closed over, and I couldn't finish.
Mary handed me an envelope, and my hands trembled as I took it from her. "Dylan?" she asked.
I swallowed hard, feeling overwhelmed. After fumbling with the envelope, I pulled out a thick, high-quality card, and I knew immediately the masculine slash of writing had been done by Dylan himself.
For one of my favorite days.
I read the line over and over. It was a simple one, no declaration of love, but it meant so much to me that he thought about the day we'd spent in the forest together, learning and laughing. Before he’d known about the baby. Before there’d been any obligation to form a pseudo-family with me.
"There are pine trees over here," Mary exclaimed, and I was reminded she had asked a question.
"It's from Dylan," I confirmed sounding teary. "At camp, he taught me survival skills, including what edible plants could save your life. Most of them weren't there in the forest, since it’s winter, but... I think this is every plant he taught me about." From the most beautiful wildflowers to herbs to fruiting shrubs.
It was so thoughtful, and it meant so much more to me than if he'd just filled the space with bunches of roses. This was a literal representation of a moment we’d had together.
Mary clapped her hands together. "How romantic. I'll hire a gardener to plant them all somewhere once we’ve ripped out a few of Blake's backyard monstrosities."
