Page 49 of In All My Dreams

Mrs. Foster lets out a snort and claps her hands together. “What are you doing with all that anyways, Ian?” She points at the bag of snacks that he placed on the countertop.

“The fireworks are about to start,” he says and looks down at his watch. “Well, now they’ve probably already started. We’re going to take Auden down to the dock and watch them before she has to go to bed.”

It’s almost as if all of the air gets sucked out of the room when Mrs. Foster lets out a startled, strangled-sounding breath.

“How many times do I have to tell you not to take that little girl to that lake!” She snaps at him before pointing a finger at me. “I didn’t call you back here to start up this nonsense again with my son. You hurt him enough when you pushed him away all those years ago! Do you know how broken he was because of you? You don’t get to waltz in here and take him from me like you did Ire—” She shakes in anger across me, her finger inches from my face with a look of pure hatred in her eyes.

A look I’ve never seen out of her normally kind eyes.

“Mom, Georgia hasn’t done anything wrong. You’re completely out of line talking to her like this,” Ian says sternly, a poor attempt to get his mother to calm down.

“You’re supposed to be here to help your father. Not lusting after my son again! You have a daughter to think about now, Georgia. Donotmake the same mistake with yours as you did with mine.” She gives Ian a pointed stare. “And you! You should be focusing on your patients, not playing hooky to hang out with this one. Isn’t Auden proof enough that she’s moved on, Ian?” She looks me up and down with disgust before stomping out of the house and into the dark night, slamming the door hard behind her.

We watch in stunned silence as she disappears from view, heading to their house on the property that sits behind the manor.

“Ian,” I say quietly as he says at the same time, “Georgia, I’m so sorry about her. Don’t listen to anything she says. Irene’s death has turned her colder and colder throughout the years. It’s like she doesn’t know how to exist in my happiness because Ree won’t ever have any for herself.”

Ian steps around the island and cups my face, gently forcing me to look up at him. “Don’t listen to her, Georgia. We know this is real. I don’t care that you moved on after I abandoned you. None of that matters now. The only thing that matters is us. You, me, and Auden. Never forget that.” He leans down and presses a kiss to my forehead before pulling away and looking at me as though he can see directly into the broken, shattered pieces of my soul. “Tonight, I promise to tell you everything, Georgia. No more secrets. Once you know everything, you’ll be able to decide what this is moving forward.”

The look we exchange isn’t filled with the typical type of tension we usually share. This look, this one is full of questionsand sorrow for each other, while also being congested with lies and secrets we’ve refused to say out loud.

I take one last look out the window, at the spot where Mrs. Foster disappeared out of sight. I understand the instinct to protect your child, so I’m not upset about her going off on me about hurting Ian. We’ve both left our fair share of scars on each other over the years.

But what I don’t understand is how she knew that it was my fault that Irene died. The only three people who know the truth about that day are myself, Irene, and my mother.

And two of them are dead.

So how does Mrs. Foster know?

Before I can really sit and think on that, Auden comes strolling into the kitchen with Horton snuggled in her arms.

Ian pulls away from me and gives Horton a few head scratches. “Ready to go see the fireworks?”

“Yes, yes, yes!” Auden shouts, scaring Horton out of her arms. We all laugh as he struggles to get traction on the tiled floor before he runs out of the room. “I guess Horton doesn’t want to see the fireworks,” Auden says with a shrug. “Oh well, more snacks for us! I already saw some of the fireworks from my bedroom window, so we gotta hurry!”

22

Georgia

Now

Fireworks explode in colorful bursts across the lake as we are all sitting on the yellow quilt and staring out into the sky in awe. The fairgrounds aren’t far from the manor, so the fireworksare still loud enough to make Auden jump every time they send a new one into the air.

Auden is sandwiched between Ian and I. Our fingers stay linked together behind Auden’s back. Each small caress of his thumb across the back of my hand makes my own body feel like the fireworks are inside of me instead of bursting across the lake.

I haven’t been able to escape my own thoughts, ever since Mrs. Foster lectured me and accused me of taking Ian from her the way I took Irene from her.

How did she know about Irene’s death being my fault?

I glance over at Ian. His eyes are distant, like he’s also stuck in his own head. I wonder what he thinks of Mrs. Foster’s accusation. He doesn’t know why Irene really died, but after our truths and secrets spill out tonight, he will.

Does he feel closer to his sister’s spirit being this close to the lake, the same way I feel closer to my mother when I see the willow tree she died under?

Or does he refuse to acknowledge his loss still, all these years later, because it’s too hard for his parents to cope with their daughter’s death?

Part of me wants to dive into the lake and join Irene instead of telling him the truth. Another part of me can’t wait to get this lifelong secret off of my chest. The moment the real story passes from my lips...our entire life changes.

For better, or for worse.

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