10
Sylvie
Dawn light lit Sylvie’s way as she walked along the trail toward Mumberton Castle. Her clogs were unsteady on the gravel path but Sylvie was filled with a very rare sense of certainty. She could smell cedar and salt, a reminder that the sea was near. At the top of a rocky incline, she stopped to catch her breath, turned to take in the view of the River Esk and the hills below.
Reconnected with her sisters, Sylvie felt strong. When they had fallen asleep on either side of her, she had stayed in her body, made herself breathe slowly in and out. Cleo slept on her back, ever alert, likely scanning even as she (lightly) slept, her breaths slow but shallow. Emma burrowed in, a warm and trusting animal, seeking warmth.
If Simon broke her heart, she would not be alone.
This knowledge helped Sylvie understand the invisible channel she’d used to escape her emotions. When she felt too much, she’d fled into her girlhood self, the one who was protected by Emma and Cleo. Lying between them in the Gatekeeper’s Cottage, she felt that girl and her adult self come together. She didn’t have to fly. She was a thirty-five-year-old librarian who couldmarry or not marry, who could love and lose her love. She could abide, because she could return to the place where her sisters’ hearts kept time with hers.
Sylvie kissed Emma’s temple and then Cleo’s cheek. She left them asleep and went into the reading room Simon had made for her. She smelled of Emma’s perfume and Cleo’s cigarettes. Sylvie sat cross-legged on the couch and openedThe Bed Book.Of course, there was no note from her father, but Sylvie turned the pages, reading about every bed in Sylvia Plath’s imagination. She reached the “Bird Watching Bed,” a bed depicting a hammock between trees. In the sky above the children watching birds, she saw a note in Simon’s handwriting.
Dear Sylvie, Someday you will find this note, and know that you are beloved.
—
As Simon had promised, there was a secret door covered with ivy along the northern wall of Mumberton Castle. Sylvie reached the door and pushed—it was unlocked. With the beam of her cellphone, Sylvie illuminated a narrow tunnel. She found her way to a spiral staircase. The stairs were slippery and Sylvie felt claustrophobic. The air seemed dense and dark inside this seldom-used space. At the top of the creepy circle of stairs, she opened an egress with relief, taking a big breath and finding herself in a corridor painted red.
Sylvie rapped at the door to her right.
She heard footsteps; it was Simon’s gait.
“Hello?” said Simon. He turned the doorknob. “Sylvie?”
Here he was—Simon, his sleepy eyes, his beautiful body, the mouth that opened hers, that brushed her skin, the tongue that electrified her, that brought her body pleasures she had never thought possible. She wanted to gather him to her, to press himagainst the wall, kiss him hard…. Simon, who had remembered what Sylvie’s father had written inThe Bed Book. Simon, who had made her a library, had given his heart, had trusted her with his most shameful truth. Sylvie didn’t want to run anymore.
She slipped off her coat and stood before him.
“I’m here,” said Sylvie.
And she was.
PART NINE
SECRETS & SMOKE
1
Cleo
Cleo sat up in Sylvie’s bed. She stretched and made her way into the bathroom. On the mirror, Sylvie had left a note in pink lipstick:See you at my wedding.Cleo blinked. So Sylvie was going through with it. “Emma!” she called. “Sylvie’s getting married!”
“What? What time is it?” said Emma, sitting up in her stained and rumpled dress.
“It’s ten—we only have an hour.”
“Sylvie’s getting married?” said Emma. “Did I dream that she was done with love?”
“I thought I was coming here to ruin everything,” said Cleo, borrowing Sylvie’s toothbrush and lining it with a British toothpaste called Macleans. “And I wasright.Simondoeshave dirty money. But honestly? I love him anyway.”
“Cleo, do you really think Simon will let me rent Mumberton Castle? How much do you think it would cost? We only need the Indigo Suite….” said Emma, rubbing her eyes.
“I think it’s actually on Airbnb,” said Cleo. “But I bet Simon will give you the whole thing, including that librarian with the eye shadow,” said Cleo. “Maybe if you and your family stayed, he couldgo back to Miami and live the dullest happy life imaginable with Sylvie and all her dusty books.”
“Maybe,” said Emma. “Maybe he’ll pay off Cassidy Rose, too!”
“Oh God, why not?” said Cleo. “Emma, I seriously can’t believe you fell for that.”
