Scarlett waited, but Gus didn’t finish the thought.
“I adore you, Scarlett. I’ve loved you forever. But…I can’t keep on like this either.”
“Like what?” Scarlett felt as though her heart were in her throat.
“Thinking that it will change. Every time we get closer, you throw up another wall.”
Scarlett was as still as a statue. There was something in his voice. Something she did not want to hear.
“What are you saying?” Her voice was a breath that only a vampire could hear, and he heard her.
“Perhaps you aren’t the only one who needs to consider the options outside of Mystic Cove.”
He rose, placing his napkin on the plate. He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead and said, “I love you, Scarlett Oaken.”
“Oh,” she said so utterly frozen inside she couldn’t speak. Before she could formulate a thought or a word. He was gone.
Her fingers shook, and she rose. Something was burning at the back of her eyes, something was clutching her chest, something had stolen everything that she was and jumbled it up. She didn’t know what to do or say.
“Oh,” she said again. And again it was a mere breath. “Ohhhh…”
She walked out of the restaurant in a daze. Someone said something to her, but she didn’t hear them. She couldn’t hear anything beyond the pounding of her heart and the rush of blood in her ears. She wasn’t quite sure where she was going…she simply walked.
“Ohhhh,” she said. “Ohhhh.”
She wasn’t sure how long she walked before she felt a hand on hers and it took her several moments to recognize Lex.
“Are you all right?” He asked. She didn’t so much hear him as read his lips.
“My mom,” she said. “Please.”
He led her to the car and occasionally she heard the deep murmur of his voice but the words didn’t make it past the pounding in her head. When he pulled onto Oaken property and started driving past the grove, she opened the car door.
“Scarlett,” he shouted as he slammed to a stop.
She glanced back but didn’t stop. “I…”
She walked into the trees, letting her fingers run over the barks and leaves. When she reached the center of the trees she’d planted, her own personal heart in the grove, she laid down and let the magic of the place overwhelm her. She knew Lex had followed her. She knew that he walked away eventually. She knew that she’d scared him. And that when he left, he walked towards the house and not back to his car.
So, she wasn’t surprised when she felt Harper lay down next to her. She was followed by Gram and then Maye. Luna squeezed between Harper and Scarlett while Ella placed her head on Scarlett’s thigh on the other side. Her girls curled around her, whispering to her and telling her stories, and finally singing her songs. It was the ABCs, the Scooby-Doo theme song, Twinkle, Twinkle, and pieces of a half-dozen Disney princess themes. Eventually, even Mr. Jueavas, Aunt Briet, and the cousins joined in. Finally Lex.
When the tears started, Scarlett wasn’t sure exactly why she was crying, but she knew that nothing had ever hurt her more. She woke the next morning and found her mother sitting with her alone.
“Are you ok?”
“I…don’t think so.”
“Is it Gus?”
Scarlett nodded.
Maye’s face was full of a thousand memories of the two of them.
“Do you know what you want?”
Scarlett considered. But she didn’t know. Did that make her some sort of indecisive tease? When she delved into her heart, she felt the hole that had been left by falling in love and having it fall to pieces. She felt the place where Gus belonged, but she didn’t know what it meant.
“Your grandmother told me what she saw in your path,” Maye said. “The last time.”
Face-planting into love. More children. A different life than she had now. Had Scarlett been too afraid to take hold of her path? Had the knowing been whispering to her and she was too willful to listen? Had she…ruined that future?
“That’s still there for you, Scarlett.”
She wished she could believe it. But all she could say for sure was that someone who meant more to her than almost anyone had left because she’d hurt him.
That was a burden she wasn’t prepared to carry. She knew she would though. She’d carry it, and it would be ok. Because, the next morning, Luna would crawl into Scarlett’s bed, snuggle her close, tell a story, and the day would be bright. How could it not be when Scarlett was lucky enough to be a mother to her girls?
The End
Hey! Thank you so much for reading Scarlett’s story. If you enjoyed it, I would be so grateful for a review. Reviews mean a lot to writers like me as well as to readers.
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Now available: Banshees and Babysitters.
Scarlett and her daughters are recovering from all they've been through since their family fell apart and then being sucked into two murder investigations. Scarlett is further devastated by her life-long best friend leaving town, and she's showing the strain.
Things just get worse when Scarlett's barista and babysitter senses the impending death of one of their worst customers. Trouble compounds when the suspect is none other than Scarlett's ex.
Order it here.
The anthology Witch or Treat also has a short story from Harper’s perspective. You can order it here.
ALSO BY AMANDA A. ALLEN
The Mystic Cove Mommy Mysteries
Bedtimes & Broomsticks
Runes & Roller Skates
Banshees and Babysitters
Spellbooks & Sleepovers (Coming in October)
The Zinnia West 1950s Mysteries (co-written with Christina Hill)
Zinnia West & The Corpse Served Cold
Zinnia West & The Corpse Burnt Crisp
The Rue Hallow Mysteries
Hallow Graves
Hungry Graves
Lonely Graves
Sisters and Graves
Yule Graves
Fated Graves
Ruby Graves
The Inept Witches Mysteries (co-written with Auburn Seal)
Inconvenient Murder
Moonlight Murder
Bewitched Murder
Presidium Vignettes (with Rue Hallow)
Prague Murder
Paris Murder
Murder By Degrees
Curses of the Witch Queen
Fairy Tales Re-Imagined
Song of Sorrow: A Prelude to Rapunzel
Snow White
Kendawyn Paranormal Regency Romances
Compelled by Love
Bewildered by Love
Persuaded to Love
Other Novels
These Lying Eyes
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 by Amanda A. Allen
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof
may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever
without the express written permission of the publisher
except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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