Page 71 of Once Upon a Midnight Dreary
Gabriel clutched the blanket, ready to push it off, then halted.“Where did this come from?”
“I thought you grabbed it at some point in the night,” she said, pulling her fingers through her tangled hair.“Didn’t you?”
“I didn’t.”
She stilled.They both stared at each other in silence.Each knowing there was another force at work.But who?Certainly not Lenore.
A shiver raced through her.
He set aside the blanket and got to his feet, his body stiff from remaining there on the sofa.Neither one of them wanted to acknowledge how the blanket appeared.
“How’s your ankle?”he asked.
She flexed her foot.Dull pain lanced through her.“Still hurts.”
“You rest there.”He picked up the tray.“I’ll prepare breakfast and bring it up.”
“That’s not necessary.I can walk—” She rose.The moment she put weight on her foot, she realized her mistake and sat with a hiss through her teeth.
Gabriel gave her a pointed look.“Stay.I’ll be back to get you.”
He gave her no other choice as he left the room.Victoria leaned back in the cushion, listening to the quiet of his room, her senses on high alert.There was something different about this house this morning.Something not quite calm.She wasn’t surewhatshe sensed only that there was a thrumming wave undulating, ready to crash.Was it Lenore’s doing?Or was it something else?Was there some deep-seated horror embedded in the walls only now trying to seep out?
She had the truth now.She knew how Lily and Lenore died.Just as her father knew.It must have been why he decided to leave in the middle of the night.Perhaps her mother sensed it, too, and could no longer tolerate the sinister pulse of the manor.She was willing to leave it all—including her prize-winning garden—to give herself peace of mind.
Of course, Victoria did not know this for certain.It was mere conjecture.But if she put herself in her mother’s place without knowing what had happened here all those years ago…well, she would likely want to put it behind her forever.
Sell it.Burn it.Tear it down.Just get rid of it.I never want to return.
The memory of her mother’s words came back to her.Her father, though, had refused to do any of those things.They never returned and instead remained in Crown Hollow.
Thinking of that now, her inheritance, she glanced up at the coffered ceiling of Gabriel’s bedchamber and thought about everything that had happened to her since the day she received the letter from the solicitor.Was there some hidden meaning in her inheritance?Did her father want her to find the truth?Did he want her to finish what he could not?
Her mind drifted back to his journal.There must be an entry she had missed.She needed to make her way to her room and look at the journal once again.
She glanced at the bed and saw something resting in the center of it.Pushing herself up, she kept the weight off her foot as she hobbled toward the bed to get a closer look.
In the center was a faded blue ribbon.Frayed on the ends.As though it had seen better days.When she picked it up, she noticed it was damp.Her heart clawed its way to her throat.Lily?
“I gave you the blanket,” the small voice said.
Gooseflesh erupted on Victoria’s arms as she turned toward the voice.Wet footprints led from the door to where the ghost girl stood behind her looking up at her with wide, blue eyes.
“You looked cold,” she added.
Words froze in her throat.The girl’s gaze landed on the ribbon in her hand.
“You found my ribbon,” she said.
Victoria held it out to her.The girl eyed it, then looked back up at her.
“You can keep it.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.“And for the blanket.”
The girl’s pale face lifted to her, wide eyes brimming with a quiet yearning that twisted something in Victoria’s chest.For a heartbeat, she thought the child might reach for her hand, seeking comfort.The memory of her question—Are you my mother now?—rose like a ghost of its own.She had sidestepped it then, thinking it kinder not to answer.But now she wondered if silence had only deepened the girl’s loneliness.
A noise stirred in the hall.The girl’s gaze darted toward it.“I have to go now.”
