The maids recolled in shock. In all their years caring for Blanche, they had never seen such raw hatred flash across her face.
Panic–stricken, they crowded around Jeannette, raining blows on her–but none dared go so far as to kill her.
In the cavernous mansion, Jeannette’s screams echoed, shrill and desperate. “Help… someone, help me…”
Bruises blossomed across her pale skin; her face was battered and swollen. Eventually, she broke down, sobbing her pleas. “Please, Blanche, I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I made it all up, I just wanted to upset you, that’s all!”
“Please, have mercy…”
The maids hesitated at her cries, but with Blanche silent and unmoved, none dared disobey.
Suddenly, Healy burst in, shouting, “What are you doing? Get away from her!” He shoved the maids aside with wild fists and threw his arms around Jeannette, shielding her. “How dare you just attack someone like that!”
Eddy followed close behind, and the maids, terrified, stammered in hushed voices, “I–It was Mrs. Blanche who told us to…”
Healy’s eyes blazed as he turned on Blanche. “Mom! Why do you keep picking on Miss Jean? You’re as cruel as the Wicked Witch in all those stories!”
“If you hurt Miss Jean again, I don’t care if you throw me the biggest birthday party or buy me the biggest cake–I won’t forgive you!” He planted his hands on his hips, glaring at Blanche, his voice ringing out in the hall.
Blanche felt her heart shatter–her own son siding with Jeannette, twisting the knife deeper. Her face was expressionless as she looked to Eddy, her eyes dull and empty. “Is it true? What she said?”
Eddy had no idea what had sparked this chaos or the fight, but seeing Blanche so distraught, he hurried to her side, gently steadying her. “Let’s talk about all this after we’ve eaten something.”
But Blanche shoved him away, her eyes wild with grief. “Did I kill our daughter Clara?”
“Was she… was she born without a heartbeat?”
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21:46
With each tortured word, tears streamed down her cheeks.
She remembered: she’d lost her strength and fallen down the stairs. Just a moment before, her baby girl had kicked inside her–how could anyone claim the child was born with no heartbeat?
She couldn’t have passed on her weakness, couldn’t have doomed her daughter.
Eddy stared, stunned, at Jeannette cowering in the corner. His face was usually unreadable, but now his eyes turned sharp and murderous–he looked at Jeannette as if he could tear her apart with his bare hands.
This was his fault, he realized, for being too soft–for letting Jeannette hurt his wife.
I
“Get out! Get out of this house! If I ever see you here again-” He couldn’t risk Jeannette saying anything more to wound Blanche..
Healy quickly took Jeannette’s hand, wiping the blood from her face with trembling fingers. “Miss Jean… I’ll take you to the doctor. I’m sorry for what my mom did to you.”
A faint, triumphant smile flickered across Jeannette’s lips as she shot Blanche a cold look, then left with Healy.
Watching her husband and son both rushing to Jeannette’s side, Blanche felt nothing anymore–her heart had gone numb.
She grabbed Eddy by the collar, desperate for answers. “If you won’t tell me, I’ll find out myself.”
She stared hard at him, searching his face for any sign of the truth. Eddy’s dark. eyes brimmed with a deep sorrow she’d never seen before. He gripped her shoulders, his voice thick with emotion.
“We still have Healy,” he whispered, his gentle words cutting through Blanche’s
heart like a blade.
I
“So it was me? I passed on my weakness? I killed our little girl?” Blanche collapsed into Eddy’s arms, wracked with agony.
Eddy held her tight, lost and helpless. He loved her, wanted to comfort her–but he couldn’t bear her pain for her, and it broke him inside. “It’s not your fault,” he whispered. “Medicine just isn’t advanced enough yet. One day, we’ll have Clara back, I promise.”
“Why didn’t you tell me the truth?”
Chapter 146
“If you had, I would’ve let it go–I wouldn’t have pushed…”
Blanche realized, with a surge of horror, that her own frail health might have. doomed the baby in her womb. She struck Eddy’s chest, her voice ragged and wild.
“I hate you–I hate you!”
“Blanche, please–Blanche…” Eddy’s panicked cries were the only sound left ringing in her ears.
