I pull away from Nancy. “What am I going to do? Everything is gone, all my things. Even things from my, my—” I break down crying again. It feels like I’m losing my father all over again.
“Honey, we will figure it all out together,” Nancy says, trying to calm me down. She closes her eyes as her own tears fall. She understands the pain I am feeling.
Aiden comes up to us and pulls me away from Nancy, and into his arms. “I’m so sorry about this. I will help you figure out what happened.”
I move my face to the middle of his chest, taking three deep breaths as I try to keep myself together. I can’t break down; not yet, at least—not in front of all these people. For now, I need to find out how this happened. I wasn’t gone that long, only two days. There is no way my house could have caught on fire that fast. I checked everything, and while I was gone, Nancy watched over my house for me. My house was fine when I talked to her earlier today before I landed. So, what happened?
“It’s going to be okay,” Aiden tells me.
“You can come and stay with me,” Nancy offers.
I’m about to take her up on her offer when Aiden turns to me and shakes his head. “No, you will be coming home with me and staying there.”
What?
I can’t even think straight. My house is on fire; Nancy said I could stay with her, then Aiden jumped in, saying no, I am staying with him. There’s too much going on.
“No, Aiden. I can just stay with Nancy.” I place a hand on his chest. “Plus, she’ll help me with all of this.” I wave my hand towards my house, making my point.
“No, you will be staying with me end of story. I want to help you.”
I really don’t feel like going back and forth with him, mainly because my house is literally burning down right now, and I’m tired. Looking over at my home, I watch the firefighters working to put out the fire. The fire continues to grow instead of going out. The longer it takes for them to get the fire under control, the more my heart breaks. I try to hope that if they can get the fire out, maybe I can go in and save some things that haven’t been burned. But by the way, things are looking, this fire isn’t about to be put out anytime soon.
Aiden lets go of me and walks over to the police officers, speaking to them. Nancy takes Aiden’s place, wrapping her arms around me.
“Stay with him; it looks like he really wants to take care of you, and I don’t even think he’ll allow me to take you in the state that he’s in.”
I look over at Aiden, who has on a serious expression while talking to the officers. I wonder what they are telling him because he’s in complete business mode. I think Nancy may be right. This may not be the right time for me to try and go against him, when all he wants to do is make sure I am okay.
“Yeah, you’re right. I’ll go with him; I know he’ll take care of me. I will make sure to contact you and keep you updated. I still want you to help me, even though I am staying with him at the moment.” She agrees, and we both turn to continue to look at the fire. “Did the officers tell you how this happened?”
“No, they’re still trying to figure it out. I told them that you were out of town, so just a heads up, they will want to speak to you.” Nancy takes out her phone, messaging someone back. “It’s your mother. She said she tried calling you today, but you haven’t answered your phone. She is asking me if I have talked to you.”
Oh, my mom, I need to call her. The last time I talked to her, she told me she was going out of town traveling to get more ideas for her paintings. I gave her an update on Aiden and me and how I hadn’t heard from him since our date. Since then, I haven’t talked to my mother to give her any current updates on what’s going on, which isn’t like me.
I need to call her, but I don’t want to mess up her trip. She’s finally doing what she wants without worrying about me all the time.
I push that thought aside because I know my mother would want to know what’s going on with me. I find my phone and dial my mother’s number right when Aiden points in my direction, and the officers speaking with him turn towards me. I end the call quickly, remembering that Nancy said the cops wanted to talk to me. One of the officers nods his head at me, and all of them walk in my direction.
“Get ready, here they come,” Nancy warns me.
“Hey, these men want to ask you a couple of questions. After you speak with them, then we can go home.” Aiden stands by my side, touching my arm while he introduces both officers. “This is Officer Black and Officer Foster.”
Officer Black speaks up first. “Hello, Miss Davis. We’re sorry about your house. Sometimes these things happen unexpectedly. We want to ask you a couple of questions if you don’t mind, then you can be on your way.”
“No, that’s fine, ask me whatever you want.”
“We already know that you weren’t here during the fire. But we would like to know, do you know what could have caused this?” Officer Foster jumps in to ask me.
“Honestly, no, when I left my house, everything was fine. There was nothing that could have caused something like this.” I motion towards my house.
Officer Black nods his head, writing down what I said. “Are you sure there’s nothing in there out-of-date that you probably didn’t check?”
“No, everything is updated or completely new.”
“Okay, well, we’ll need time to figure out the source of the fire. So, we will be in touch.” He reaches in his pocket, drawing out a card to hand to me. “Here is my card, my number is on the back. If you have any questions or remember anything, give me a call.”
Aiden takes the card from his hand and wraps his arm around my shoulder. “Thank you both. She will call if she remembers anything. If you guys need to reach her, you can call me, and I will pass the message to her.”
Foster looks at me, then Aiden. I can feel his body tensing up as the officer stares at us. I glance up at Aiden, but his face is unreadable, so I try to move out of his hold, except his grip on my shoulder tightens. I look back at the officer, whose eyes are growing with concern as he watches us.
Taking charge of the situation, I snatch the card out of Aiden’s hand, trying to ease the tension in the air. “Thank you, officers. I will contact you if I remember anything or need to ask some questions.”
Black looks like he wants to say something to me, only he doesn’t because of the way Aiden is looking at him. Foster touches his shoulders, shaking his head no, and both leave after saying goodbye.
“It’s getting late, and I think you should get home and get some sleep,” Nancy says, hesitantly after seeing what just transpired. “They’re going to be awhile trying to get that fire out. I will stay for you.”
I guess she can handle everything from here; there’s no need for me to stay.
“Come on, let me get you home and into bed,” Aiden suggests.
I hug Nancy and tell her that I will contact her tomorrow. She reminds me to reach out to my mother and to not worry about anything. She will handle everything here and give me an update later.
I follow Aiden back to the vehicle. Once we’re in the car, I look out my window and watch as we pass by my house.
“It’s going to be all right, Edith. Stop worrying; I have you now.”
One by one, tears fall from my eyes onto my arm as he wraps his arms around me.
“I have you now,” he whispers to me again.
“I’ll show you to your room so that you can get some sleep,” Aiden says. We’ve pulled up to his house and are walking inside.
My mind feels like it’s on overload, making it hard to think straight. I don’t want to be left alone tonight. I know we are supposed to be taking things slow, and so far, we have been doing great in doing that. However, just for tonight, I want to put that aside and be wrapped up in Aiden’s arms in his bed. I need a distraction, or I’m going to break.
I grab his arm, pulling him to stop. “No, not tonight. I don’t want to be alone. Can I sleep with you?”
He takes his time
studying me. I bring down my walls so he can see me. See the fragile state that I’m in, and how right now I shouldn’t be alone. He understands the message I’m sending without me having to say the words out loud. He turns down another hallway in the opposite direction to a door at the end of the hallway.
He ushers me in, closing the door behind us. He dims the light and walks over to his closet, taking off his shirt and grabbing some clothes. “Here, your clothes have already been sent to your room, so you can wear mine tonight. The bathroom is over there; if you want to, you can go on and take a shower. I will be out here if you need me.” He rubs his thumb on my cheek. “Take all the time you need.”
Taking the clothes from him, I walk into the bathroom. I don’t feel like taking a shower, but I know I should. I know I need to wash this day away. Looking in the mirror, I see that my face is red, and my eyes are swollen from all the crying I’ve done. Sighing, I turn on the shower and get in. I get underneath the water, laying my head against the wall. The first wave of emotion I feel cracks my interior walls. I don’t hold back anymore. Rather, I let go of all the feelings I’ve held inside since seeing my house burn down, triggering my emotional breakdown. I slide down the walls, curling up into a ball, and let myself have this private moment to cry.
Aiden didn’t come in to check on me, for which I am thankful; I needed that time for myself, with no interruptions. Tugging on the shirt and shorts he gave me, I go back to the bedroom. He’s already in the bed waiting for me when I return.
He looks up at me, giving a warm smile, and pulls back the covers, signaling for me to get in by patting the bed. I walk over and slide in beside him, and he turns off the lamp and reaches for me, wrapping his arms around me.
Everything is silent as we lay there in the dark; the only thing I can hear is Aiden’s heartbeat, along with my own breathing. I try to keep my thoughts from adventuring off into worrying about what I will have to deal with tomorrow. Still, I can’t seem to shut my mind off.
“Can’t sleep?”
I shake my head. “My mind won’t shut down. I keep thinking about everything that’s happened and me having to start over now.” My voice cracks, and I can feel another wave of tears about to fall. “What will I do, Aiden? Everything is gone. I’m going to have to move back in with my mother or Nancy to get myself back on my feet,” I cry out. “And the things I had in my house of my father’s . . . all of that is gone. . .”
He runs his hands through my hair. “You don’t need to worry about anything. I will take care of everything for you, no need to go live with your mother or best friend. You’ll stay here with me.”
“I can’t have you doing all of this for me. I don’t even know how I will pay you back.” I don’t know what I did to deserve a man like this. So willing to help me get back on my feet without any issues. It feels like a dream. “My mom would be happy to have me come back and live with her until I get back on my feet.”
“I want to help you, and I’m going to. There’s nothing you can do about it; you will stay here with me, and I will help you with everything. There is no need to worry about your mother and best friend when I can take care of all your problems.” He kisses me on my lips, pulling me closer to him. “Now, let me help you.
That’s hard for me to do, allowing someone other than my mother or Nancy to help me. I will feel guilty if I let him help take care of everything.
“Okay, let’s do this. If I let you help me, then I have to pay you back.”
He rolls onto his side. “No, you don’t need to pay me back. I’m doing this because I want too.”
“We have to come up with something. I’m only going to feel like I am taking advantage of you, and I’m not comfortable with that,” I say.
He sighs. “Don’t look at it like you are taking advantage of me. Look at it as someone who cares about you just wants to help you out, with nothing in return.”
He kisses me, stopping me from saying anything back to him. I run my hands through his hair as his lips leave mine, moving down. He leaves a trail of kisses from my face to my neck. I pull back, noticing that things are heating up fast. He rolls onto his back taking deep breaths.
“Sorry about that. I got carried away, I was only trying to get you to stop fighting me on helping you.” He reaches for me again.
I laugh, kissing him on the lips, then lay my head on his chest. “Thank you for helping me and for the distraction.”
“You’re welcome.” He laughs, kissing my forehead. He pulls on the covers, wrapping it around us. “Don’t worry about anything. I’ll take care of it all, you’ll see.
I slowly drift off to sleep safely in his arms. There’s no doubt in my mind now. I am starting to have feelings for this man. When I thought I would never have a second chance at love, he comes along, swiping me off my feet. I don’t know what I did to deserve him, yet I’m glad he’s here.
“KNOCK, KNOCK, MISS.”
“Um, hold on.”
I’ve been in the shower for the past two hours, trying to stall before I have to get out and face my problems. When I woke up this morning, everything that happened yesterday came flooding back to me. My house is gone; it burned down to the ground, from what Nancy texted me this morning. Nothing of mine could be saved; all of it burned up in the fire, including some of my father’s things he left me. She told me that the police and fire department think faulty wiring may have caused the fire.
I told Aiden what she told me, and he thinks that could be a possibility. He told me to give them more time to continue their investigation to check and see if their theory is correct or not. But in the meantime, he felt like it was best if I went to take another shower to help me relax, and then I could meet him downstairs for breakfast.
That’s where I’ve been; here in the shower, trying to wash away all my worries and problems. I know that Aiden said he would help me and that should put me at ease, but it doesn’t.
“Miss.”
I toss back on my clothes from last night, not caring about my appearance.
I sigh. “Coming out.”
I step out, and a lady who looks to be a couple of years older than me, maybe even more, stands before me.
“I am sorry to interrupt you, but Mr. Delfino would like you to join him downstairs for breakfast,” she says softly.
“Oh, okay. Thank you for delivering his message. Tell him I’ll be down soon.” I pull my hair into a ponytail and look over at her again, noticing that she hasn’t left. She looks nervous, and now that I think about it, the whole time she spoke to me, she looked down at her feet and not directly at me. “Hey, are you okay?”
She looks up at me, seeming surprised that I’m talking to her. She stands there, not saying a word while I look at her. I can tell that she’s contemplating what she should say. The woman seems to be afraid to say anything to me.
“Yes,” she whispers.
I didn’t expect her to answer.
“What’s your name?”
She looks over at the door, then back at me.
“Grace.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Grace, my name is Edith.” I walk over to her, offering her my hand.
She grins at me and shakes my hand. “I know who you are. Mr. Delfino told me all about you.”
Dropping my hand, she steps back from me, rubbing her hands down the sides of her dress. I find this whole exchange odd. Why is she acting like this? I’m thinking about asking her what’s wrong, because it’s clear this woman is scared of something, or more like someone.
I’m about to come out and ask her when she looks down at her watch. “Oh, I need to go down and help out in the kitchen. If you need anything, let me know.” She moves swiftly towards the door, leaving the room.
I race after her, watching her run down the hall and make a left turn. I turn down the same hallway, and she’s gone, disappeared like she was never there to begin with. I look down the halls and check each room I pass, hoping I will find her.
Where d
id she go?
Looking around with no direction, I go down another hallway, and another. This house is like a maze, and I end up getting lost. I should have asked her where the kitchen is; then I would have had the chance to ask her some more questions and try to figure out what’s up with her. For a minute there, I thought it was probably me making her feel so uncomfortable because of my mood. But she looked at the door in fear, like talking to me would get her in a lot of trouble.
I reach a dead end and throw my hands up in the air. At this rate, I’m never going to find where Aiden is. Hopeful he’ll notice how long it’s taking me to come to breakfast and he’ll come and find me. Until then, I’ll just keep walking around, and hope that I run into someone who can point me in the right direction.
I pick another hall to go down, observing everything around me. The inside of this house is nice. I find a painting on the wall of Aiden’s father and mother. They are dressed up formally with his father sitting in a chair and his mother standing behind him with her hands on his shoulders. Then there’s a painting next to theirs of his father with a different woman and a child. I know it’s not Aiden, because I’ve seen pictures of what he looked like as a kid. However, this kid shares the same features as Aiden. I almost feel like I recognize this boy.
This must be Aiden’s brother.
I lean in, trying to get a closer look at the painting. A hand touches my shoulders, causing me to scream.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” Aiden takes my hand, kissing the back of it.
“You need to say something when you’re closing in on me or something. You scared the crap out of me.”
He laughs as I lay my head on his chest, wrapping my arms around his waist.
“I tried; you didn’t hear me calling your name. You were so focused on theses.” He points to the paintings on the wall.
I go back to look at the painting with the little boy. “Who’s that in the painting? You both look alike; you both share the same features from your father. Is he your—”
Roses Are Red (Edith's Fatal Love Trilogy Book 1) Page 9