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“I’m going to take a shower. It’d be bad for my image if people thought I was a drunk,” he said with a rueful smile. There was a new kind of easiness between them, giving Sienna an insight of how it would be to be a part of the family.
“I’ll leave you to it,” she told him, getting up. “I’ll see you later.”
He escorted her to the door and waited for her to leave. Instead of going directly to her room, Sienna decided to take the scenic route through the gardens. She stopped at the entrance, too shocked to walk further. Someone put a lot of effort into taking care of it, planting new flowers, cutting the bushes, and getting rid of any trace of the Ryder Massacre.
Her brows furrowed, unsure how she felt about it. She loved the gardens, but the recent events made it too hard for her to spend much time here without constantly being reminded of the most painful loss she’d endured. Maybe this was a good sign. It would help her fall in love with her favorite place again as well as move on.
As she followed the path, she admired the good and skillful gardening job. She made a mental note to figure out which heir was responsible for it. It was the only thing that made sense that one of them would go through so much trouble to take care of it. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t remember who she complained to about it the most.
A sound from deep inside the garden got her attention and she followed the noise of shoveling and grunting. She stopped in her tracks when she saw who was doing the gardening, never expecting it in a million years.
“What are you doing?” Sienna asked at last.
“Goodness,” her mother jumped, startled at her presence. With the sleeve of her shirt, she wiped the sweat of her forehead, then fixed her hat. She looked like a proper suburban mom who liked to spend her free time playing around with her garden.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“It’s okay, I didn’t expect anyone to come,” her mother said with a small smile. “I’ve been around here for days and haven’t seen a soul. It’s as if they’re avoiding the ghosts of their actions.”
The word about the Ryder Massacre taking place in the garden reached her mother’s ears too and yet it didn’t scare her.
“What are you doing?” Sienna asked, forming her question differently than she would’ve liked, but she didn’t want to sound too accusatory.
Her mother looked at the newly grown garden, a mere shadow compared to its old beauty but on a good way to get there. She gestured for Sienna to sit down with her on the bench next to the fountain through depicting two angels spitting water. It was a mess the last time Sienna had seen it, but now it was cleaned and refilled.
“We’re destroying the planet as it is, the least we could do is try to preserve little spots of heaven we have left,” her mother told her with a sad voice.
“Do you know what happened here?”
“Yes,” her mother said unwavering. “You were strong enough to pick yourself up and rebuild, why shouldn’t we do the same with the nature? We shouldn’t let it bear marks of human horrors.”
“Thank you,” Sienna whispered the words that carried the weight of the world. Her mother’s kind gesture was touching and helped her honor her fallen family, which she couldn’t do before.
“Do you want to help?” her mother asked, then handed her a watering can when Sienna nodded. “You need to be careful not to drown them.”
Sienna followed her instructions and tended to the young garden the best she could. After they emptied the watering can for the fifth time, her mother deemed it was enough.
They stood side by side and looked over their work. Her mother took her gardening gloves off and put an arm around her shoulders. Sienna stiffened at the beginning, not expecting to be touched, but relaxed soon after, settling into her mother’s embrace. She never had a mother figure in her life and didn’t know how to navigate through that kind of relationship, but together they would learn. Her mother seemed like a patient person, a quality that would come in useful with her daughter.
“What should I call you?” Sienna asked her the same question she asked Patrick only an hour ago.
Her mother smiled. “Mom?”
Sienna bit her lip but before she could reply, her mother interrupted her. “Let’s start with Lisa and we’ll get to mom later.”
“You’re not upset?” Sienna asked, daring a look at her.
“Not at all, honey,” her mother assured her. “I know it’s not easy on you and I know that closeness won’t come overnight, but I want you to know that we’re not going anywhere. Not without you. Not ever.”
Sienna sighed. “This whole thing is fucked up. I didn’t have time to process any of it. I mean, I lost my family and friends, then I got caught up with the Remingtons to fuck up the Carringtons only to end up being kidnapped by them which led to me developing a weird kind of relationship with them. I don’t know what to do.”
“You’re in love,” her mother observed and when Sienna turned her way, she saw a knowing smile on her face.
“I’m not,” she insisted, then elaborated, “I love them, but I’m not in love. It’s impossible.”
“Why?”
Frustrated by the topic, Sienna started pacing up and down. “Because people like me don’t get to have that.”
