Page 71 of In All My Dreams

I spent my whole life thinking my mother hated me, but this entire time, my mother’s ghost has been trying to warn me.

Don’t trust—don’t trust Mrs. Foster.

Protect—Auden.

My mother has been trying to protect me, not torture me.

The revelation is like a punch through my heart. It hits so hard, I nearly fall to my knees as they threaten to buckle underneath me.

But I can’t afford to buckle under the weight, not when my daughter’s life hangs precariously in this monster’s arms.

I shake off the invisible weight of my heart shattering, steeling my nerves for whatever comes next.

“Why are you doing this to us?” I ask, my voice surprisingly calm despite the nonstop hammering of my heart.

Maybe if I keep her talking, it’ll buy us some time.

Time for Ian to get my message and come back from wherever the hell he disappeared to.

I should have told him Auden was his daughter.

I shouldn’t have waited.

What if—what if he never gets to hear her call him Dad?

I’m such a fucking idiot.

The worst type of coward.

I send a silent prayer that he makes it here in time, that he hears my message, that he gets to hold his daughter and know that she’sours.

Mrs. Foster scoffs. “You know why I’m doing this, Georgia. Your mother killed my daughter to save you. It’s your fault my Irene was taken from me. You may not have been the one to push her under, but it’s your fault she was in this lake that night. I can’t punish your mother any further than I already have,” Mrs. Foster says cooly, but I can see the effort she’s making to keep her own emotions in check.

My mouth opens in surprise before I snap it back shut. “You have it all wrong. It wasmewho sleepwalked into this lake. Irene drowned trying to save me. My mother had nothing to do with it other than covering it up to keep me safe.”

Mrs. Foster shakes her head, a maniac smile tugging on her lips as she adjusts under Auden’s weight again. She won’t be able to hold her much longer; her strength is already waning.

Where are you, Ian?

“I felt so guilty for killing Caroline. It was supposed to be you who drank the lemonade. I wanted her to know what it was like to lose her only daughter. It was supposed to be you. But when she died, I felt like you had suffered enough. Growing up without a mother, that seemed a fitting enough punishment. But then, Ifound her little diary. The diary that told the true tale of what happened to my sweet Irene.”

I give her a puzzled look.

“Oh, you haven’t read that far yet? Let me sum it up for you. Your mother pushed Irene into the water to save you. You sleepwalked into this same lake, and my sweet Irene followed you in, trying to save you,” she spits out.

“Irene grew tired, and she started to use your body as a life raft. Your whore of a mother pushed her off and left her to drown in this lake. I didn’t know the full story until after you left Crane when you were off to college. But when I read it, read the truth, I knew you needed to be punished, too. I just wasn’t sure how.”

I take a small, hesitant step closer to Mrs. Foster. “Then kill me, not my daughter. She’s innocent. She’s done nothing wrong. It’s my fault Irene is gone. Take me, please.”

Tears are streaming down Mrs. Foster’s cheeks. I can see the wet trail in the moonlight.

“You don’t have to do this,” I plead. “Take your revenge out on me, not my child.”

Mrs. Foster shifts her weight again. “Oh, no, Georgia dear, this has been my plan from the beginning,” she says. “You see, I kept tabs on you as soon as Ian came running back to Crane with nothing but his duffle bag and broken heart. I couldn’t let you get away with destroying both of my children.”

A fierce, fiery glare erupts from her eyes as she stares me up and down.

“Imagine my surprise when I went to see you just a few months later and saw that you were expecting a child of your own. I had planned to confront you for breaking my son’s heart. My boy would have given you the world, and you spit on his affections. How dare you think he’s not good enough for you?You!Ha! The girl who caused the death of his own sister. I wentthere to tell you that I knew Irene’s death was your fault and that you needed to stay away from my son.”

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