Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 98965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 495(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 495(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
The staff elevator was just beyond the dining room where a few members sat, including North and Theo. North happened to look up as I passed, and I saw his smile turn into a frown as I marched on.
We stopped at the elevator just as the doors opened to reveal a concerned-looking Sarah and a white-faced Agnes who’d gone upstairs to fetch her.
“Agnes, can you take Jared and Sarah to your office?”
“No.” Sarah stepped out of the elevator, her jaw set with uncharacteristic stubbornness as she stared at her cousin. Her cheeks drained of color. “No.” The word turned to a plea.
Jared made a hoarse sound and bridged the distance between them. He yanked her roughly into his arms. “I’m sorry, sweetheart,” he forced out. “Granda’s gone.”
“No,” she whimpered, shaking her head frantically. “No.”
“I’m so sorry.” Jared visibly forced back tears.
“No!” A wail of grief exploded out of Sarah as her knees buckled, and I covered my mouth to hold in an empathetic sob, tears blurring my vision as Jared held her up. He crushed her to him as she sobbed loudly against his chest.
I knew from Agnes that Sarah’s mother had died when Sarah was a little girl and Collum raised her. She’d lost more than a grandfather when Collum McCulloch died of a heart attack that morning. She’d lost the only real parent she’d had.
A touch at my hand startled me, and I turned to find North and Theo at my side, clearly drawn from the dining room by Sarah’s cries. “Her grandfather died,” I whispered.
North’s expression tightened with sympathy, and he squeezed my hand.
“Come, come now.” Agnes rested an arm around the grieving cousins. “Let’s go into my office.”
I wanted to tell them I was here if they needed anything, but the words wouldn’t come as I watched Jared steady Sarah while they stumbled away. My heart hurt so badly for them.
“I’m surprised the mouse has a man,” Theo muttered.
North glowered at his friend while I cut him a dark look. “He’s her cousin.” What I wanted to say was that perhaps the asshole could show an ounce of compassion for once, but I couldn’t get away with talking to a member like that. I’d sniped at North, but that was different.
Theo nodded and stared after the retreating cousins. He frowned, gazing after them for a second too long before he pivoted and strode back into the dining room.
“He … he means nothing by it. He’s just not good with emotional displays,” North explained haltingly.
“He’s unkind,” I disagreed. “I don’t understand why you’re friends with him.” Shrugging off my annoyance, I glanced back down the hallway where the McCullochs disappeared. “Poor Sarah. Collum was more like a father to her.”
North tightened his grip. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’d like to know the answer to that too,” a familiar voice said behind us.
I whirled, heart racing harder to discover Wakefield standing next to Allegra. She looked beautiful but tired, her clothes a little disheveled. She shrugged, her expression wary. “We didn’t want to interrupt.”
A fresh round of embarrassing tears stung my eyes. It was all too much. “What are you doing here?”
Allegra’s tears spilled freely forth. “I came to tell my big sister that I love her.”
Twenty-Two
ARIA
Mamma had so many outbursts in public that I’d grown embarrassed if I showed emotion or if someone else expressed passionate sentiment in front of others. However, when I looked back on the day’s events, I’d realize that maybe I’d loosened up a little from having distance from my mother. Sarah and Jared’s grief had been public, but I’d felt nothing but empathy for them and couldn’t care less what the members thought, even though my priority was supposed to be their comfort and pleasure.
And when my little sister told me she loved me after traveling to get to me just to say it, I hugged her tight in the middle of the castle hallway while she burst into tears and held on to me like she used to as a kid.
North had pressed a reassuring hand to my back and whispered he’d check in later, and Wakefield had departed with him. I’d gotten Allegra calm enough to take her to my office, and I sent for refreshments because she looked exhausted.
“I’m sorry I upset you so much,” I told her, feeling terrible that I’d put her through the emotional wringer.
Allegra wiped at her cheeks with the tissues I’d given her as she sat across from me in a guest chair. “Don’t. Don’t apologize for giving me the truth.” She sucked in a watery breath. “You know, as awful as I felt listening to your voicemail, I was kind of relieved too.”
“Relieved?”
“You and Dad have been tiptoeing around me since rehab. You deciding not to help me drop out of college was the first sign that you were starting to treat me normally.”