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’mgrateful 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 inmyhouse.We’rethe 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 Ipossibly 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.
“Thank you,” said Scarlett, glad to hear that was the first thing that came to the officer’s mind rather than her grandmother’s alleged kidnapping of her and Beni.
Brayden was up next. The officer’s eyebrows narrowed at his green Clair de Lune passport, and his lips pressed into a thin lineas he examined the marriage certificate Scarlett held out to him. The abrupt change in his demeanor was a shock after he’d been so warm to her.
