Chapter 44
Blanche froze, unable to comprehend what she was seeing.
Eddy and Jeannette were wrapped in each other’s arms.
For the first time, she felt a surge of hatred toward Eddy. Her hand gripped the curtain so tightly that she nearly tore it down, desperate for the crowd of reporters outside to witness the scandal she’d just uncovered.
“Mom, let me carry Grandma’s ashes.”
Blanche turned at the sound of Healy’s voice. He had already made his way to her side, slipping past her legs.
A jolt of electricity shot through her mind, dragging her back sixteen years-to the day she’d caught her father in the throes of an affair, an image that had haunted her dreams ever since.
And Healy was only five.
She couldn’t let him experience that same nightmare. Blanche pressed a gentle hand to his shoulder, halting him. The curtain slid from her grasp, falling back into place and hiding the scene inside.
Just then, Jeannette clung to Eddy, only for him to shove her away. He was fighting some feverish agony, veins bulging on the back of his hand, his eyes burning with a violent, predatory red.
“Eddy, let me help you-” Jeannette’s words made it clear: whatever was tormenting Eddy, she was behind it.
He lunged, wrapping his hand around her throat, pinning her against the wall.
Jeannette’s face turned bright red as she struggled for air, her feet barely missing Sheila’s urn by inches.
Blanche crouched in front of Healy. “You’re still too little to carry
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Grandma’s ashes, sweetheart. When you’re older-when you’re a strong young man-you’ll lead the memorial for her.”
“But Mom, please,” Healy whined, restless and curious, wanting nothing more than to see what the ashes looked like. “I’m already big! I’m strong!” He wriggled free, pushing at Blanche. Fresh out of the hospital, she was too weak to restrain him. His hand had just brushed the edge of the
curtain when a loud crash sounded from within.
Someone in the crowd gasped. “Who’s in there?”
Hedwig, holding Healy tight, rushed into the room. The reporters, picking up on the commotion, shoved past the security guards and surged in after her.
Blanche stood at the doorway, her eyes sweeping the room. The two shameless culprits were gone, but what remained was a pile of white ashes, scattered across the floor, surrounded by broken shards.
“My mother’s ashes!” Blanche cried out, pushing through the crowd. She collapsed to her knees, gathering the ashes in trembling hands, wailing in anguish. “No-!”
The reporters caught every moment, even broadcasting it live.
{This is heartbreaking! Who would dare desecrate Mr. Simmons’ mother-in-law’s memorial?}
{Where’s Mr. Simmons? He loved his wife more than life itself-where could he be?}
{Ashes scattered, urn broken-such disgrace! We have to find out who did this!}
Online, viewers poured out sympathy for Blanche, and condemned
whoever shattered the urn.
“What are you waiting for? Get a new urn, now!”
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“Clear everyone out-now!”
Loraine arrived, taking charge and restoring order.
Blanche, devastated, let Hedwig help her up. Hedwig tried to comfort her. “Don’t worry, sis. No matter who did this, my brother will make them pay.”
“But where is he?”
Blanche shook off Hedwig’s hand. People didn’t just vanish. She
remembered that the back of the room, hidden behind a curtain, had a door leading out.
Even after her mother’s ashes were carefully gathered into a new urn, Blanche couldn’t forgive what had been done. She wanted nothing but revenge-her eyes saw nothing else.
She pulled the back door open. A narrow path twisted through the garden. She stumbled down it and found herself face-to-face with Eddy’s
Rolls-Royce.
She crept closer, immediately hearing voices from inside.
“How dare you come on to me at my mother-in-law’s memorial?” Eddy’s voice was thick with fury.
