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Savage hangs up and takes a deep breath. “She’s sending it now.”
“That’s good,” Sasha says. “Mimi will be so happy to share that with you.”
Savage opens his mouth, but whatever he was planning to say gets lodged in his throat. He hangs his head and breathes fitfully for a moment, while I rub his back and look at Sasha through tears.
“Ady, she’s at peace,” Sasha says. “She wants to see you and Laila together. She wants to hear you sing to her. She wants to kiss you and hug you. But then, she’s excited to get to see Jasper and my dad again. So, please, don’t make a tearful plea for her to stick around. This isn’t about you. It’s about her.”
Savage inhales a deep breath and raises his head. “I understand,” he says softly, resolve settling in his jawline. “I’ll make sure Mimi knows I’ll be okay.”
“Good. Thank you.” Sasha rises and extends her hand to her cousin. “Come on, sweetie. Maybe you can carry her around the house, so she can point out all the little nooks and crannies where she and Jasper fell in love.” She looks at me. “Did Adrian tell you this is where Mimi met her husband, Jasper—when Mimi’s mom worked here as a live-in housekeeper?”
“He told me a little bit,” I say. “But no details.”
Sasha says, “Mimi and Jasper were both sixteen when they fell in love here, in this house. She got pregnant with my father, so they ran off together to get married, against the wishes of Jasper’s family. In fact, Jasper’s family disowned him.”
“Oh, no. Did they ever come around and accept Mimi and their baby?”
Sasha shakes her head. “They never did. They acted like Jasper, and his family, were dead to them.”
“Oh my gosh.”
“Even after Jasper died, way too young, they didn’t help his young widow with her two young sons—my father and Adrian’s. They pretended Mimi and her two little boys didn’t even exist.”
“That’s terrible.” I look at Savage, suddenly understanding his motivation to purchase this sprawling house for Mimi, during the last weeks of her life. He wanted revenge against Jasper’s family, obviously. He wanted Mimi to get the last laugh against her cruel in-laws. He wanted Mimi to be the mistress of this grand home, if only briefly, and perhaps get to enjoy a torrent of memories, too, about the beginning days of her love story with Jasper.
“Jasper’s family tried to pay Mimi off to ditch Jasper,” Sasha says. “But when she refused, they tried to pay off Jasper to leave Mimi and deny the baby was his. Jasper was their first-born son, and, apparently, they’d had an heiress in mind for him, ever since birth. But Jasper and Mimi said they’d rather be poor, but happy together, and that’s precisely what they were.”
Savage motions to the grandeur around us. “And now, fuck ‘em all. Mimi owns their fancy fucking house. She sleeps in their fancy fucking bedroom. She’s queen of this entire fucking castle, and they can all rot in hell.”
Twenty-Four
Savage
“Mimi,” I whisper, plastering a smile on my face as I race to her bedside, past her caregiver, Stuart. How did I not realize how much my grandmother has been deteriorating during our recent phone calls? Now that I’m seeing Mimi in person, it’s clear how pale and whittled away she’s become. No wonder Sasha looked downright pained when I talked cluelessly last night about my plan to cook raviolis with Mimi in her fancy kitchen tonight. Based on the way Mimi looks right now, it’s clear I’ve been willfully blind these past few weeks. Seeing what I wanted to see.
“Ady,” Mimi breathes with an exhausted smile, as I lean down to hug her.
“Merry Christmas,” I whisper into her white hair. “I love you so much, Mimi.”
“I love you, too,” she whispers. “Forever and always, my sweet boy.”
When we disengage, Mimi’s dark eyes find Laila, who’s standing tentatively a few feet away, her body language suggesting she doesn’t want to intrude.
“Come,” Mimi says. “Sweet Laila. Welcome.”
Laila steps forward, swallowing hard. Somehow, she manages to squeak out a heartfelt little “Merry Christmas, Mimi,” before bending down and taking my beloved hummingbird into her warm embrace. “I’m so happy to be here,” Laila whispers. “I love you so much, Mimi. I already do.”
It’s more than my already beleaguered heart can take. I turn away and breathe deeply, determined to stuff my emotions down. But when I see the faces of Sasha and Mimi’s favorite caregiver, Stuart, reflecting my own heartbreak back to me, I lose it. With my back to Mimi, as Laila continues chatting with her, I put my hands over my face and try to regain control.
“Are you and Adrian happy?” Mimi says behind me.
“We’re so happy,” Laila replies. “We couldn’t be happier.”
Mimi exhales, like the weight of the world has been lifted from her tiny shoulders. “Ady?”
