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CHAPTER46
JAKUB
One month later.
“Is this it?” Konrad asks as we take a right turn into Mortlake Cemetery in London.
“Yes, this is the place we’ll find her,” I reply, checking the address on my phone for the hundredth time since we picked up the rental car from the airport.
It’s been a long journey to get here, and I don’t just mean from Ardelby Castle. Until a few days ago, I wasn’t certain if I wanted to see her grave. Then I realised that this trip wasn’t just about me and my needs, but those of my family too, and I wasn’t about to turn my back on that. Not after we’ve come so far together.
“Her grave is situated in the far corner of the cemetery beneath a willow tree,” Leon confirms, checking the map we were sent detailing the exact location. “Ready?”
“You?” I ask him.
“I’m good,” he replies. “Kon?”
“Yeah, me too,” he nods, opening the door to the car and stepping out onto the gravel.
We’re still working on communicating our feelings better and it’s been a long, bumpy road but day by day we’re getting there all, thanks to the woman who sacrificed everything for us.
There won’t be a day that goes by when I don’t thank the universe for bringing Christy to us and no matter how painful the journey, I will never regret it.
With a steadying breath I pick up the bunch of white lilies and follow my brothers through the graveyard. It’s well-tended, the grass clipped short. There isn’t a piece of litter in sight. Just knowing she’s resting somewhere so well looked after eases the ache in my chest a little.
“There’s the willow tree,” Leon points out, as I rub the heel of my palm over the centre of my chest.
Cutting a right, we head along the shingle path towards it. It’s an impressive tree, with a thick, circular trunk, the ends of the branches grazing the grass below. In summer when the branches are covered in leaves, I’ve no doubt it would make the perfect place to hide beneath and talk to the dead in peace and quiet. A lot of people find cemeteries creepy, I don’t. The dead have no power to hurt you, it’s the living who you need to watch out for. Pushing aside the curtain of branches, I rest my gaze on the marble gravestone, a fresh bunch of roses already resting against it.
“Looks like someone beat us to it,” Leon says, his voice thick with emotion.
“Christy,” I whisper, dropping to my knees and running my fingers over the epitaph engraved into the stone. I stare at the words, my fingers running over the grooves before reading it out loud. “If I am the phantom, it is because man's hatred has made me so. If I am to be saved it is because your love redeems me…”My voice trails off as a deep sense of peace settles inside of my chest. “Thank you for finding her for me.”
“You’re so welcome, Jakub.”
I lift my gaze from my mother’s name carved into the marble gravestone to the woman I love as she steps out from behind the huge trunk, her red hair lifting in the breeze as she looks at each of us in turn. It was a miracle she even found this grave, and honestly I never expected my mother to even have one, let alone be buried in London. Perhaps somewhere deep down inside my father had the tiniest glimmer of humanity which allowed him to do this. I suspect she was buried so far away because he never wanted to be reminded of that humanity. Either way, I’m glad to have found her even if the only real memory I have of my mother is her smell.
“Christy,” I repeat, my heart lurching as I stand
“I’ve missed you all so, so much,” she whispers before running into my open arms.
“Fuck, you’ve no idea how crazy we’ve been without you,” I respond, burying my nose in her hair and swearing to myself that we’ll never,everbe parted again.
* * *
“Areyou positive they’re not going to fire a bullet in our brains the second we enter the club?” Konrad asks, scrubbing a hand over his face as he looks up at the club’s name,Tales, lit in bright red neon lights above the door. “Because I’m pretty sure coming back from the dead only works once you know. I’m not about to tempt fate again, it was a close call the last time.”
“Beast said that he locked all the guns away and stuffed the key down his arse crack, and Kate said she’d rather cut her own tongue out than go searching for it. So I think you’re safe,” Christy replies, grinning.
Her smile is like the midday sun in summer and I bask in the glow of it. How lucky are we to be here with her like this? I won’t ever take this gift of a new start for granted for as long as I live.
“You’re so damn beautiful when you smile, do you know that?” I say, taking her hand in mine before Leon can pull her back into his arms.
“Arsehole,” he mutters with a smirk, before grasping Christy’s face in his hands and kissing her until she’s breathless and panting. “Two can play at that game.”
“Three,threecan play that game,” Konrad adds with a wink as he holds open the door, and lightly slaps Christy on the arse as she passes him by. “Just wait until we get you home.”
“All in good time,” Christy responds. “First my sister.”
