Chapter 43
Sawdust. F**king sawdust? What the hell? I felt like I was going ot pass out. I must have looked that way too, as Bradley rushed to my side and pulled me into his arms, enfolding me in a hug so tight I could barely breathe.
“What the hell is going on?” I wailed in despair, tears now streaming down my face. I wasn’t normally a crier, but my good god, this was just too much.
I held to Bradley as tightly as he was holding me, sobs wracking my body. He was whispering words of comfort to me, kissing my forehead, my temple, my face, in an effort to calm me. I buried my face in his chest, as he ran a hand up and down my back in the age old soothing motion. I almost expected him to say ‘there, there‘. Thank heavens he didn’t, or I would have been tempted to punch him.
When I finally pulled myself together and pulled back out of Bradley’s arms, I got a glimpse of Jenna’s face. Dazed and confused is the most accurate term I could think of to describe it.
“Anna, what’s going on? I don’t understand.” Jenna’s panicked voice filled the room. Her eyes kept flicking between me and the now open urn sitting on my desk. “Why would you open your mother’s urn? That doesn’t make sense.”
I just shook my head at her, not yet able to articulate my thoughts, my fears, and my own confusion.
Thanks to Bradley, I didn’t have to. He quietly directed Victor to put the lid back on the urn and put it back in the cabinet, then to get on the phone and call Sean, Spencer and Tony. “Tell them to get their asses over here, now!” He then picked me up in his arms and carried me to my room, leaving Jenna standing there, as confused as before.
Bradley sat on the love seat in my room, cradleing me in his lap, all the while placing soft kisses to the top of my head. “It’s going to be okay, Red. Please trust me on that. Everything will be okay.” His whispered words, spoken with love and concern helped to calm my emotions and finally allow my brain to function properly.
“Lee, I’m freaking out right now. What the hell is going on? Somebody, anybody, needs to say more than ‘I can’t say anything‘. That is no longer acceptable!” My voice came out as shaky as I felt. My whole life has changed in six days. “Are you going to tell me what is going on? If not, who the hell will? Because somebody, I don’t care who, has to tell me why there is sawdust in what is supposed to be an urn for my mother’s ashes!”
“I’m sorry, Red. I can’t tell you that.” Seeing my face start to cloud with fury, he quickly
1/4
+25 Poin
Chapter 43
continued. “I can’t tell you, but Sean, Spencer, and Tony can. They will be here soon. Be patient
a little longer, okay? No matter what, I’ll make sure you have answers tonight. Will you trust
me, please?”
I met his beseaching gaze with one of my own. His held nothing but love, concern and
sincerity. Slowly, I nodded my head, willing to trust him yet again. “I need to talk to Jenna. Can
you ask her to come in? And give us some privacy? Please.”
He hesitated to agree, but relented. His cell phone chimed with a text notification. After
reading it, he removed me from his lap and set me on the loveseat, placing a kiss to my temple. “I’ll send her in.” Then he left the room closing the door behind him.
I took the opportunity to go to the bathroom and relieve myself. I spent a few moments
looking into the bathroom mirror, examining the ravages left by my crying. My eyes were
red–rimmed, with dried tear streaks running down my cheeks. I splashed cold water on my
face in an attempt to wash them away. I held a cold wet wash cloth to my eyes seeking relief
from the burning redness.
Back in the bedroom Jenna was now seated on the love seat with a glass of wine in each
hand, one of which she passed to me as I sat beside her. I smiled a bit as I spied an almost
full bottle of the same wine sitting on the side table beside her. I took a deep drink from my
glass, then another. At the rate I’m going I’ll be sloshed before the evening is done!
“So,” Jenna started off our talk. “Are you going to tell me why you opened your mother’s urn?
No offense, Anna, but that’s just a tiny bit insane.”
“The thing is, Jenna. There are no ashes in the urn.” I began to explain, getting interrupted by
her loud cry of “What? No ashes?”
“That’s right. No ashes. The urn is filled with sawdust.” I still couldn’t wrap my head around it. Really, who could?
“I don’t understand. Why would there be sawdust instead of your mom’s ashes? That doesn’t make any sense.” Her upset and confusion matched my own.
“I don’t understand either. But all I could think of is what Bradley said the other day. That there
were things going on that he couldn’t tell me about, but he asked me to trust him. And
Spencer making the suggestion that I should get married almost immediately. And how
readily Bradley agreed to it. Then today, finding out Lydia was connected to me through my mother’s side of the family, and the fact the vipers know all about Graystone International.”
I paused long enough to take another big sip of wine, almost laughing when Jenna immediatel topped up both glasses. I guess if I’m getting sloshed, she’s getting sloshed right along with me. Now that’s a true friend.
2/4
+25 Points
Chapter 43
“That still doesn’t explain the sawdust in the urn.” She stated in a matter of fact manner.
“You’re right. It doesn’t. But when I got thinking about all that other stuff, and about how Sean
would put Adam in a safe house long enough to build a case against him and the other three,
something just clicked in my head. Like how there wasn’t a lot of information on mom’s accident. Like how Uncle Caleb just disappeared within days of delivering the urn to my grandparents. Like how my grandparents didn’t seem to show a lot of grief at mom’s death,
even how Sean didn’t appear to be devastated when mom died. Then I got to thinking about
how Sean knows how to protect people. How to hide them to keep them safe.”
A glimmer of comprehension lit up Jenna’s face. “You’re saying what exactly?”
“Well, I’m not really saying anything. But I am speculating a whole lot. What if my mother is
still alive? Hidden someplace to protect her? What if Uncle Caleb is with mom? And if that’s
the case, why the extreme measures? If that’s the case, why lie to me all this time and let me
think my mother was dead? I mean, faack, that’s just sick and cruel.”
In my mind, allowing me to think my mother was dead was cruel beyond belief. Why would
anyone who loved their child do something like that? “And what is so damn important about
my twenty–fifth birthday that everything seems to revolve around that date? None of this
makes sense.”
Jenna and I sat in silence staring at each other, drinking our wine and thinking. Honestly, part
of me hopes that I’m just imagining things, making something out of nothing. Because the
thought that I may have spent the past four years grieving the death of my mother in vain was
to much to comprehend. On one hand, I would be estatic if my mother was still alive and
living her best life, even if it was in hiding. On the other hand, I am going to be royally pissed if
I find out I have been lied to this whole time!
Raised voices disturbed me from my thoughts. Jenna and I both jumped, startled by the anger laced shouting.
“I f**king told you three that it wasn’t right to keep this from her! Do you have any idea how
this is going to mess with her head? She is going to be so pissed about this that she may
never forgive any of us! ” The absolute disgust and anger in Bradley’s voice was clear for all to
hear.
“I told you why we had to do this. Her grandparents agreed. You know damn well that Lydia
and Alan had put a hit on Iris. If you think for one second I was going to risk her life, you’re
wrong! I promised Iris’s parents I would do everything in my power to protect Iris, and that’s
what I did! Anna was safe until now. You know that. Now we have to get her the hell out of Halifax and away from Alan and Lydia for the next four months!”
3/4
Chapter 43
+25 Polet
“She should have been told, damn it! This is going to ruin her. You all should have trusted her,
she wouldn’t have given anything away, she would have kept the secret. That woman is f**king brilliant. She figured everything out in less than a week. Do you think she wouldn’t.
have been able to handle this without being lied to?”
“It’s what Iris and her grandparents thought was best.” responded Sean in a calmer voice as he attempted to deescalate the situation.
Spencer’s voice broke in to the conversation but was so quiet that I couldn’t make out what he was saying, but whatever it was drew a snort of disgust out of Bradley.
I’d heard enough. I flung the bedroom door open and stalked into the living room, Jenna hot on my tail. I wanted answers, and I intended to get them..
