Page 81 of Forgotten Secrets

Epilogue

One year later

Morag held her new baby girl, Mazelina, in her arms as she and her sister and cousins paid a visit to the secret garden.

Fia was pregnant again, and held the hand of her daughter, Oletha. She helped the little girl to sniff all the beautiful flowers that made the garden come to life and seem so magical once again. Maira had a daughter named Sable and Willow’s nine-month-old girl was Siusan.

Willow’s sister by marriage, Hazel, and another Follower of the Secret Heart, Sister Adeline, were there visiting as well.

“Hazel, you and Morag have done wonders with this garden,” said Willow, picking up her daughter who was crawling in the dirt.

“Hazel always did have a magical touch when it came to gardenin’,” said Morag. “And when I’m often back in Scotland visitin’ with my family, she and Sister Adeline keep the flowers watered and the weeds pulled.”

“It looks amazin’,” said Fia, picking a flower and giving it to her daughter.

“Tell me, Morag,” said Sister Adeline, fixing her wimple. “What made you decide to name your daughter, Mazelina?”

“She named it after the woman who supposedly mentored her,” said Maira.

“Mazelina did mentor me,” scoffed Morag, never having been able to convince her sister and cousins that she had really seen the woman.

“I’ve only heard that name once before,” said Sister Adeline. “It was the name of Imanie’s sister.”

“Ye ken her?” asked Morag, very excited. Now, perhaps, someone would believe her.

“Oh, I never met her personally,” replied the nun. “But Imanie mentioned her from time to time. It seems Imanie made her sister a member of the Followers of the Secret Heart, right before Mazelina mysteriously died.”

“Died?” Morag couldn’t believe it. “Nay, she’s still alive. I talked to her. She mentored me.”

“Mayhap ye dreamed it,” said Maira. “After all, the three of us saw Imanie in our dreams many times and still talked to her that way.”

“I’m sorry, Morag, but it couldn’t be her you speak of,” said Sister Adeline. “After all, you couldn’t have ever even known her. She died years before you girls came to live at Rothbury.”

Morag didn’t want to hear this, because it was only going to make things worse for her. Now, her sister and cousins would never believe her.

“Oletha, catch the ball,” said Maira, tossing a ball to Fia’s daughter, but the girl was young and couldn’t catch. The ball rolled off into the bushes.

“I’ll get it,” said Morag. “Sister Adeline, will ye hold my baby?”

“I would love to,” said the nun, taking the baby in her arms. Hazel walked up and they both smiled at the child and talked gibberish to her.

Disheartened to hear that she must have imagined being mentored by Mazelina, Morag pushed aside the bushes to get the ball. That’s when she saw something in the dirt that didn’t belong there.

“My heart brooch! I found it,” Morag called to the others. When she looked back down to the ground she saw something else she had never noticed before. Under the thick shrubs was a broken wooden cross, lying on the earth. She picked up the cross and wiped off the dirt, seeing something etched into the wood. “Fia, Willow, Maira, come here quickly.”

“What is it?” called out Fia. The girls left the children with Hazel and Sister Adeline and came to see what Morag wanted.

“Look!” Morag held out the wooden cross that had the name Mazelina scratched into it. “Imanie must have buried her sister here under the bush. And I have a feelin’ she was the one Imanie told us that died after she made her a member.”

“I think ye’re right,” said Fia.

When Morag looked back over her shoulder, she gasped. In the shadows of the garden behind the bush stood not only Mazelina but also Imanie.

“Please tell me the rest of ye see what I see,” said Morag softly, hoping now the girls would believe her.

“What do you mean?” asked Maira.

“It is Imanie and Mazelina,” Morag told them. She pointed to the bush. “They are standin’ right there.”