Page 153 of Demise

“One of my favorite memories,” he says, his eyes glossy with memories of the past.

“He even dressed up as a doctor, paid off the real one, and delivered you himself,” my mom laughs, smacking my dad’s chest.

He lets out a gruff laugh, shrugs, and looks at me.

“I wasn’t going to miss your birth or the chance to hold you, even for just a second, for anything.”

I can’t help but smile at that, the picture they’re painting, the tones their voices carry. It sounds like there was so much love, so much joy in our lives together, whenever we could have it.

“On your third birthday, I snuck away with you to visit Jonathan. He gave you a tricycle and was pushing you on it at a park in Boston. I didn’t know I was being followed by Christopher, but…I was, and he saw. He put everything together, sent his little informants to dig up information and took it all to Luther and Henry. I think he was hoping they’d kill Jonathan, but instead Luther just wanted me dead.”

“I had a vision that day.” Rachel admits.

“A vision?” I question. “Like psychic stuff?”

She shrugs as she continues. “It was your mother on a boat with two men. It was dark and ominous and I knew death was lurking in those waters.”

“So, Rachel and a few of her friends met me and placed a protective spell over me.”

“And it worked?” Asher asks dubiously.

My mother doesn’t take offense, instead she smiles at him and shrugs.

“I’m still here, aren’t I?”

My guys all share disbelieving looks, but it doesn’t really matter if they believe it or not.

“True to Rachel’s vision, Henry and Christopher took me out on a boat late one night before Henry held my head underwater. I tried to fight back but he was so strong. For a moment there, Christopher even tried to stop him, saying he’d hide me. He was hysterical and I thought maybe I’d have a chance out of there. I wasn’t scared to die, I was scared I’d never see you or Jonathan again,” she says as she looks at me.

“But,” she says as she clears her throat. “Henry reminded him it had to be done, and Christopher was the one to hold me over until my body went limp and he shoved me into the water. At least, that’s what I think happened. The next thing I knew, I woke up borderline hypothermic in the back of Jonathan’s car as he drove me to a hospital in rural Massachusetts.”

“How could you have survived if your body went limp? If you had that much water in your lungs, you must have stopped breathing,” Ronan asks.

“What I’ve come to find over the years is we are not always supposed to know everything that happens or why it does. Sometimes, we just have to be thankful for what we can, and understanding for what we can’t.”

“And then…you came here?” I ask.

She nods. “Jonathan bought this land before you were born. We had a dream to have a self-sustained piece of paradise, just the three of us. But Henry moved you away to live with Steph, and I knew you were in good hands. I also knew that no matter how much it hurt, it would have been selfish to put you in danger by taking you. If they’d have caught us…I don’t know what the Brethren would have done to you as well. I just…not a day goes by that I don’t regret not taking you. Before you left or while you were in London. I tried to do what was best for you, but I—”

Her voice cuts off on a sob and she shakes her head before looking up at me.

“Sky, baby. I’m so sorry. I know you can’t forgive me, but I love you so much. I’ve loved you from the moment I took that pregnancy test. There isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t think about you or talk about you. And now you’re here, right in front of us,” she says, her bottom lip quivering as she smiles. “Feels something of a blessing, right, Jonathan?”

“And then some,” he agrees.

I don’t realize I’m crying until Vincent intertwines our fingers, squeezing gently. Rachel cocks her head to the side curiously and it sets Vincent off.

“What?” he snaps.

She doesn’t jump or react like most would. Instead, she just shakes her head.

“It’s just interesting. The most negative of you all, the one carrying the most death, the most guilt, is the first to provide comfort and support. Practically absorbing her own hurt and putting it onto your shoulders.”

“I’m just holding my girl’s hand,” Vincent says dryly.

“Yeah? That’s it?” Rachel challenges.

He narrows his eyes at her as I stand and close the distance between the two couches. When I come to stand between my mom and my dad, I slump to my knees on the floor and cry. They both dive to the ground, wrapping their arms around me on either side as we all fall apart together. Just the three of us, like it always should have been. A family. My family.

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