“Yes. I will hold ontoyou,” Gregory said. “Hold on, and never let you go.”
A quiet wailing caught her ears. At first, she feared it was Vivian, or Martin, or even the Widow in her rage. Then it grew closer, louder, and Hanna relaxed.Sirens. Finally.When they stopped, to be replaced by footsteps, she knew the ordeal would finally come to an end.
The Widow heard it, too. She struggled harder, thrashed and clawed at the floor with ghostly fingers that could find no purchase there. “Get me out! Get me out of here!”
“Police! We’re coming in! Throw down any weapons and put your hands in the air!” shouted a voice from above.
“We’re in the basement! I have to keep my hands on his wounds or he’ll lose too much blood!” Hanna called.
As the men and women in uniform stormed down the cellar stairs, their flashlight beams cutting through the darkness in the hidden room, Stuart Marsh smiled.
18
Beyond the Sky
Gregory checked the bandages on his arm. The wounds had continued to heal nicely after the doctors had repaired them, but his shirt and suit coat cost too much to bleed on by accident. No blood had spotted through the gauze, so he tugged his shirt into place. The coat went over it.
He looked himself over in the bathroom mirror. Neat. Professional, not like a man who had nearly bled to death in his basement weeks before. The sparrow-shaped cufflinks looked impressive on his cuffs.
The doors to the boardroom had opened while he freshened up. Shareholders had begun to mill towards the entrance as meeting time drew near. Gregory had already checked over the projector and presentation before the first of them had arrived. Martin had done an impeccable job of setting it up, as usual, but Gregory believed verifying it renewed his responsibility to his actions. By ensuring the machine worked, and the proper file was loaded, he could blame no one else if anything went wrong.
Julia Dawson had paused by the coffee maker to pour herself a cup. He smiled when he saw her and joined her at the sideboard. “Julia! It’s so good to see you. You’re looking well.”
Her smile had shed the weight of shame he’d seen when he first met her. “Gregory! You, too. How are you feeling?”
“Better. A few stitches, a little time to recuperate, and I’m better than ever.”
“Thank God. When I heard what happened… Your own mother. I’m so sorry.” She held her coffee cup in both hands. He noticed a distinct absence of ring on her left hand.
Gregory shook his head. “That’s not my mother. Vivian has always been that, to me. Darlene never managed to earn that title.”
“No. I suppose she didn’t. Between what she did to you, and what she did to your brother?” Julia winced with sympathy. “We were all shocked to hear that Robert was being arrested. More shocked to hear why. You’ve lost so much in the last few years. There’s just no words to tell you how terrible I feel.”
“There’s no need for them, but thank you. How areyoudoing?” he asked.
“Better than I was at first.” Julia took a sip of her coffee. “It’s hard to leave someone you’ve been with for so long. Even when they treat you badly. But my heart is slowly turning around. I’m taking control of my life. The prenup was found to be in bad faith. Steven’s behaved badly, so it’s unlikely he’ll get custody. He has no claim to any of my father’s holdings, which will all go to me and the children.”
“That is the best news I’ve heard so far today.”
“I hope you’ll have even better news by the end of this meeting. Gregory…” Julia paused, then said, “I can’t apologize enough for what Steven did to Hanna. I’ve called around and corrected the perceptions of her everywhere I could. I only wish I’d done so sooner.”
“It’s all right. Hanna has told me more than once that it was worth all the trouble if that was what it took for you to get away from him.”
“She’s a better person than anyone deserves. I’m grateful to have met her.”
Gregory smiled softly. “Me, too. Looks like we’re about to get started. Ready to go replace a board of directors?”
It was a bad day for bigots.
* * *
“I really loved that rose garden,”Vivian said as she stared out the window. “It had tremendous charm and looked beautiful when it bloomed. I suppose they’ll plant a new one when they’ve finished.”
In the garden below, a team of workmen dug out the rose bushes and turned the soil in search of the remains Marion Pritchard had buried there. They would be interred in proper graves, tucked into sacred ground as they should have been to start.Properly buried after long, happy lives, not hidden in the garden for all but the sparrows to forget.
Hanna set a hand on Vivian’s shoulder. The elderly woman had lost too much weight, between the trauma and the pneumonia that followed in its wake. They had nearly lost her, and Hanna blessed the doctors who had nursed her back to health every day.
“Probably. The heritage group that wants to buy Greenhill Hall says it’s not a proper English house without a rose garden. In the meantime, I see you have your own,” Hanna said.