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“But really, Mum, how do you feel about all of this? You know, socialising with the Lovechildes.”
“It’s surreal. They have every reason to hate me.” She took a moment to think. “But I’ve had to turn myself inside out, too. It’s easier being despised than pitied. At least for me. I’ve grown so used to people sneering at me that, when they smile, it feels fake.”
“You think that they’re only letting you in because of pity?”
She shrugged. “Maybe. Who knows? Though Caroline tried to act cool, I sensed guilt, pity, and all those hard to define emotions.”
“Did she cry?” I wished I’d been a fly on the wall.
The whole family had been at Merivale the day I’d arrived with my mother, and one could have cut the air with a knife.
Savvie had been ready to punch my mother in the nose and had to be held back by Declan, while Ethan had looked like he might froth at the mouth. I really couldn’t blame them, seeing her involvement in the death of their dad.
She’d then followed my grandmother to somewhere private behind a closed door.
Looking distant, my mother shook her head.
Intuition told me that her conversation with Grandmother had shaken her. But stoical to a fault, my mother’s walls were up—a trait passed down by her mother, because I’d seen that same cool, hard-to-read expression on my grandmother’s face often enough.
Not like me. I was falling to pieces. My heart was shattered over Drake.
“Grandmother’s going through a lot. There’s that crap with Reynard Crisp. And now the cops are poking around. Something to do with the remains of a close friend of hers being discovered.”
My mother responded with a faint but worrying smile. “I get this feeling Caroline’s covering up a lot of stuff.”
I frowned. “You better not try to mess up her life again. I hope this isn’t another vendetta.”
“Big words, darling.” She slanted her head. “No. I’m too tired for revenge. I’ve had my moment of glory.” She sniffed. “I’m just fascinated. Aren’t you?”
“Maybe.” I sighed. “I love my grandmother, and I don’t want any harm coming to her.”
Frowning, my mother studied me closely, like I’d admitted to taking acid before an exam. “You love her?”
“Well…” Was she jealous? Her shocked expression showed a lot more than it normally did. “She’s taken me in, Mother. After everything. And she treats me like an equal. She’s taken a personal interest in my studies. She was genuinely worried about me during this latest shitshow with Rey. Yeah, I love her. And she’s helped me become an independent woman who no longer goes around hating the world.”
Looking pensive, she nodded slowly, as though seeing the real me for the first time.
“Why? Does that freak you out?” I had to ask.
“It makes sense.”
Was that the makings of a sad smile I spotted on my mother’s face? Was she regretting something?
There we were, in Harrods, lost in a deep and meaningful when Savvie came bounding along. She wrapped her arm around me and nearly swung me around.
Nice to see you too.
She wasn’t so upbeat with my mother. But all in good time.
“Fancy seeing you here.” She looked from me to my mother. “Why don’t we grab a juice or something just as boring and healthy?”
I laughed. She was chipper. Pregnant and full of life.
My mother looked a little lost. Another new expression. She’d never shown that kind of weakness. Or was she, at last, becoming human?
“You, too, Bethany.” Savvie wore the makings of a smile, which was the warmest she’d been so far towards my mother.
I could only assume my grandmother had smoothed the air between them.
