Page 92 of Monster Among the Roses (Fairy Tale Quartet 1)

“She recognized you,” I insisted, stepping closer. Ezra put up a hand to ward me off, but I ignored him, my focus on his sister, whose blue-blue eyes were full of pain and confusion. I shook my head, harboring plenty of my own pain and confusion. “How the hell do you know Gloria?”

There was no reason at all for her to ever have met Gloria, but there was no denying they’d definitely recognized each other.

Isobel blinked. Then she straightened. “Wait, what?” She shook her head, turned toward where Gloria had been standing, only to whirl back to me. “That was Gloria?”

I nodded, my confusion growing. “Yes. Who did you think it was?”

“I…I…” She shook her head before blurting, “She said she was your girlfriend.”

chapter

TWENTY-EIGHT

My lips parted. “My…what?”

Isobel’s eyes were large and horrified. “She...she…”

“When the hell did you meet Gloria?”

“At the hospital,” she rushed her answer. “I came to visit. She was there with your mom. She said…she said...”

I shook my head, then pushed Ezra aside so I could see her better. “You came to the hospital?” My voice cracked and eyes misted. “Really?” My lips trembled, wanting to smile, except…except everything was still so wrong.

Isobel bobbed her head up and down. “I wanted to come the first day, but you didn’t ask me to. I wasn’t sure if you wanted—”

“Of course I wanted you there,” I hissed before clenching my teeth. “But I didn’t know if I should ask. You said you wanted space, and you acted as if you never wanted to leave your house again. It felt selfish to ask you to come.”

“I would have,” she said, wiping tears from her cheeks. “I wanted to, and when I finally did, she was there. She was there with your mother, and you hadn’t asked me to come at all.”

“I didn’t ask her to either,” I insisted. “I didn’t even tell her what happened. She just found out and showed up. She and my mom were close. I didn’t feel as if I could send her away, not when my mom wanted her there. And then she offered to sit with Mom while I went home and washed up. I needed a moment to recoup—just a few hours—I swear, I was only gone a few hours.”

How could Isobel have come to be with me during the few hours I’d been gone?

“When I saw her, a stranger I’d never met before sitting with your mother while I hadn’t even been invited…” Her entire expression crumpled as she admitted, “It hurt. It shattered me.”

I drew in a breath and shook my head. “Isobel.”

But she lifted a finger, asking me to let her keep talking. “And then, when I asked who she was, she said she was your girlfriend, and…and…”

“And you just believed her?” I asked, disappointed and upset. I’d suffered twice as much as I should have these past few days because she’d taken the word of a complete stranger over everything I’d ever said to her? I wanted to rage at her for doing that to me.

Tears trickled down her cheeks. “She was there,” she insisted, “sitting with your mother as if she belonged. And she already knew who I was. She didn’t have to ask. She took one look at my scars and said, ‘You must be the daughter of that rich man he’s been working for.’ She told me you’d only been kind and complimentary to me because you didn’t want to get fired. She made it sound like you’d just been playing me the whole time because of your job and the situation you were in. And I…I…”

Sighing, I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. “I’m going to kill her,” I said to myself. Gloria was dead to me.

“How did she know who I was?” Isobel demanded, her voice breaking. “How did she know about my scars?”

“I told my mother,” I admitted, feeling small. “I told my mother about you, how you didn’t like to leave your house after you’d been hurt in a fire.” Then I shrugged helplessly. “And Gloria is her friend.” I didn’t admit that Gloria had been there when I’d told Mom about Isobel. It felt worse to admit that, and besides, it didn’t matter that much. Gloria had found out because of me, and she’d used the information against Isobel to hurt her.

Shaking my head, I focused on the woman before me. “I still don’t understand why you didn’t at least confront me about this. She’s done this kind of thing before. She’s lied to keep other women away from me. If I’d ever thought you two would meet, I would’ve warned you not to believe a thing she ever said. I would’ve been able to fix all this. But you didn’t even tell me about it. I begged you to tell me what happened, and you refused! Jesus Christ, Isobel, why didn’t you just tell me? Or…or get her name. Or—”

“I did go back to get her name,” she said softly. More tears trailed down her cheek. “I left that hospital room, ready to confront you and demand the truth, but I got halfway down the hall before I realized I at least needed to know her name if I was going to talk to you about her. So I turned back.”

I wanted to wipe her tears away and pull her into my arms, and yet I wanted to push her back and yell about how much she’d broken me. So unnecessarily broken me.

Pulled in two directions, I narrowed my eyes. “So what did she tell you her name was?”

Isobel shook her head, and another tear slipped down her cheek. “She didn’t. When I reached the doorway, your mom had just woken. She saw...saw Gloria and smiled at her, then reached for her hand. Then…then she thanked her for being there and told her she was such a good daughter, and she couldn’t wait until you married her and made her a daughter in truth.”

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