Chapter 8 - The House on Blackstone Road
Winter came early.
Snow covered Providence in December.
The old greenhouse on Blackstone Road disappeared beneath white branches.
Tom’s grave had been closed.
Gene remained in custody.
The newspapers found newer scandals.
For the first time since Ryland met Margaret, silence felt possible.
Then Dominic found the house.
Not the burial site.
Another property two miles farther down Blackstone Road.
It had once belonged to Carlo Dane’s sister.
Records showed Vincent Savino purchased it through a trust thirteen years earlier.
Ryland had never known.
They drove there after Christmas.
Emily insisted on coming.
The house was small.
Abandoned but maintained enough to prevent collapse.
Inside, dust covered old furniture.
No electricity.
No heat.
In an upstairs room, they found something neither expected.
Children’s books.
Teen magazines from 2008.
A blue backpack.
Emily stopped in the doorway.
“That’s mine.”
She walked toward it slowly.
The zipper was broken exactly where she remembered.
A faded astronomy patch remained sewn on the front.
She sank onto the bed.
“How did Vincent get this?”
Ryland searched the room.
Inside the desk was another envelope.
Margaret’s handwriting.
For Emma, when she comes home.
Emily opened it.
The letter was dated fourteen years earlier.
My beautiful girl,
Vincent says we may have found where you were, but he says we have to be careful.
I hate careful.
Careful is a word people use when they are asking mothers to wait.
If you ever read this, I need you to know something.
I did not stop looking.
If someone told you I abandoned you, they lied.
If someone told you your father was a thief, they lied.
If someone told you you were safer without me, maybe they believed it, but they still took a choice away from us.
I love you.
Come home when you can.
Mom.
Emily could not finish aloud.
Ryland sat beside her.
“This was supposed to be the place.”
“What?”
“A reunion.”
Emily looked around.
Vincent had prepared the house.
Fresh paint once.
A bedroom.
Food-storage shelves.
Photographs.
He had intended to bring Emma back here temporarily.
Something had stopped him.
In the closet, Dominic found medical documents.
Margaret had suffered another cognitive episode fourteen years earlier.
At almost the exact time Vincent’s investigator located Emily with the Harts.
A note from Vincent explained.
MARGARET NOT STABLE ENOUGH FOR CONTACT.
GENE WATCHING HART FAMILY.
WAIT.
Emily stared at the word.
Wait.
Her entire childhood after seventeen had been built from that word.
Wait until it’s safe.
Wait until Margaret improves.
Wait until Gene stops watching.
Wait until Vincent finds a cleaner solution.
Years had passed.
Safety had become permanent separation.
Ryland looked sick.
“My father believed he was helping.”
“I know.”
“That doesn’t make it right.”
“I know.”
Emily took his hand.
“He left me a room.”
Ryland looked around.
“Yes.”
“I hate him a little.”
“That’s fair.”
“I’m grateful too.”
“That’s also fair.”
They stayed until sunset.
Before leaving, Emily took the blue backpack.
Everything else remained.
Two days later, Margaret had a severe fall.
No broken hip.
No head injury.
But the hospital frightened her.
She became agitated.
She called for Tom.
Then Emma.
Then Vincent.
Emily stayed beside her for twelve hours.
Ryland brought food.
Lucia arrived with blankets and immediately took command of the waiting room.
It was the first time Emily met Ryland’s mother.
Lucia Savino was sixty-four, elegant, small and entirely unimpressed by her son.
“You’re too thin,” she told Emily.
“Mom,” Ryland said.
Lucia ignored him.
“She is.”
Emily smiled weakly.
“I’ve had a difficult few months.”
“Then you need soup.”
She turned to Ryland.
“Get soup.”
“There’s a cafeteria.”
Lucia stared.
Ryland stood.
“I’ll get soup.”
Emily laughed despite exhaustion.
Lucia sat beside her.
“I’m sorry about your father.”
“Thank you.”
“And your mother.”
“She’ll recover.”
“I know.”
Lucia took Emily’s hand.
“My husband carried guilt like it was a second skeleton.”
Emily looked at her.
“Did he tell you about us?”
“Not enough.”
“He said there was a girl he couldn’t find.”
“Toward the end, he talked about her often.”
Lucia’s eyes filled.
“He was ashamed.”
Emily swallowed.
“I don’t know how to feel about him.”
“Good.”
Emily blinked.
Lucia continued:
“Dead people get turned into saints because they cannot disappoint us anymore.”
“Vincent disappointed people while alive and dead.”
“That sounds more accurate.”
Emily smiled.
Lucia glanced toward the hallway where Ryland had disappeared.
“My son thinks responsibility is the same as love.”
“What does that mean?”
“He believes if he can protect everyone, nobody will leave.”
Emily became quiet.
Lucia squeezed her hand.
“Don’t let him turn you into another responsibility.”
The words stayed with Emily.
After Margaret was discharged, Ryland became more protective.
Too protective.
He arranged private transportation.
Extra staff.
Security.
Emergency contacts.
He began checking Emily’s schedule.
Not controlling where she went.
But knowing.
Always knowing.
One evening, she stopped him outside Bolavia.
“You need to stop.”
“Stop what?”
“Managing us.”
“I’m not.”
“You absolutely are.”
“Margaret needs—”
“This isn’t about Margaret.”
Ryland went quiet.
Emily stepped closer.
“You’re afraid something will happen.”
“Yes.”
“So am I.”
“I can reduce that risk.”
“No.”
“You can reduce some risks.”
“You cannot turn life into a perimeter.”
Ryland’s jaw tightened.
“I watched Gene reach her facility.”
“And now Gene is in custody.”
“There are other people.”
“There will always be other people.”
Ryland looked away.
Emily understood then.
“You think if something happens to me, it means you failed.”
He said nothing.
“Ryland.”
“Yes.”
“That isn’t love.”
His face changed.
The sentence hurt.
Emily took his hand.
“I’m not saying you don’t love me.”
He looked at her.
It was the first time either had used the word.
Emily’s eyes widened slightly.
“Well.”
Ryland almost smiled.
“You started it.”
“Apparently.”
She exhaled.
“I love you.”
Ryland stared at her as though she had struck him.
Emily touched his cheek.
“But you don’t get to earn me by preventing every bad thing.”
He closed his eyes.
Then kissed her palm.
“I love you too.”
“Good.”
“Now cancel the second car that follows me to work.”
“One car.”
“Ryland.”
He sighed.
“Fine.”
“And tell Dominic.”
“Dominic will be thrilled.”
From inside the restaurant window, Dominic raised both thumbs.
Emily laughed.
Ryland looked murderous.
The following Sunday, they visited Margaret.
She was having an exceptionally clear day.
She looked at Ryland.
“Are you going to marry my daughter?”
Emily dropped her fork.
“Mom.”
Margaret ignored her.
Ryland answered carefully.
“If she’ll have me.”
Emily stared at him.
Margaret nodded.
“Good.”
Then:
“Don’t ask her in a restaurant.”
Ryland frowned.
“Why?”
“She hates people watching.”
Emily slowly turned toward her mother.
“How do you remember that?”
Margaret smiled.
May you like
“A mother remembers important things.”
For once, nobody corrected the timeline.
