Chapter 27

CHAPTER 27

“Oh, my dearest Leilah. What had he done to you?” Marina softly asked Leilah as Penny tended to some of the wounds Josiah had inflicted upon her.

“The injuries I find less severe, but the dosage of deadly nightshade he had fed me I found a bit more unpleasant,” Leilah chuckled with her eyes closed, allowing Penny to tend to the wound near her eyebrow. “I saw some strange things, for a moment I could’ve sworn there was a large spider dancing with a top hat after I drank the tea. I was unaware of the severity of hallucinations.”

“Spider with a top hat?” Marina laughed as she shaped the image in her mind. “That sound quite dreadful.”

“He was rather friendly if I must say, my Lady,” Leilah laughed. Marina smiled at the return of the old Leilah. The vomiting had somehow omitted a large amount of the deadly nightshade from her system, causing her to survive the situation.

“I made coffee,” a voice said from the doorway. Marina turned around to see possibly the largest surprise of the entire day. Charlotte was holding a tray, having made coffee for all.

Marina hadn’t seen Charlotte the entire day, her whereabouts unknown. She couldn’t help but dread that perhaps she was unaware of her husband’s arrest. She stared at Charlotte, unaware if she were to feel sorry for or afraid of Charlotte.

As Charlotte placed the tray in the centre of the conversation, Marina noticed Nancy gently touch the arm of her mother.

“Mama,” she whispered, not wanting to draw much attention to what she was about to discuss with her mother. “Papa was arrested on murder.”

Marina felt a shock in her spine, surprised at how blatantly her cousin portrayed the news to her mother. She felt a tension overcome her as she awaited some wail or shout in response, possibly a slap from Charlotte if she thought Marina to be the reason for her husband’s removal.

“Oh, what a pity,” Charlotte bluntly replied. “Why don’t you invite Frederic over, I remember him to have such a nice singing voice. I think it to be fitting if you were to play piano and he to sing for us.”

Nancy briefly gave Marina a shocked looked, and Marina shared the look in response. This, of all instances, had to be the oddest thing to have happened.

“Of course, Mama,” Nancy smiled. “I’ll have a letter sent over to him.”

“Good,” Charlotte nodded, handing a cup of coffee over to Leilah who was still in the care of Penny. Leilah was hesitant to take it at first, already suffering the fate of poisoning through tea, but took it anyway. Something about the calm demeanour of Charlotte erased any suspicion in her actions.

“I’m sorry about the nasty things I said to you, Leilah,” Charlotte commented. Marina could see it took a lot of effort for her to be humble toward her worker, for her to swallow her pride and admit her mistakes. “And toward you, Marina.”

Marina smiled up at her aunt who had somehow, during the strange events, had a shift of personality. It was difficult for her aunt, she could see it, and there would undoubtedly still be circumstances where her tongue might get the best of her. But the change had already start to set in.

“Mama,” Nancy said softly, causing Charlotte to turn in the direction of her daughter. Before Charlotte could reply, Nancy jumped over to Charlotte in a large embrace. Charlotte appeared shocked at first and somewhat hesitant, but allowed herself to feel the warmth of daughterly love. She placed her arms around Nancy.

At the sight of this, Marina was quick to excuse herself from the conversation. Griffin grasped her hand, giving her a worried look, unknown where she was headed. She smiled at his as a symbol of reassurance, before venturing down the corridors of the Cromwell. The house that had always been her home, even if the walls briefly held a tyrant.

Marina stood at a wooden door; her hand lifted to knock. It took some mental convincing before she was able to deliver three knocks to the door.

“Come in,” Marina heard her mother said from behind her bedroom door, and Marina complied.

She found her mother stood at the window, a handkerchief in her hand. She didn’t turn to look at Marina, her eyes pierced on the piece of cloth she held. It was the very handkerchief Marina’s father had forgotten at her mother’s house when the two had entered their courtship long ago. Her fingers twirled the slight embroidery that spelled out his initials.

“You’re a good lady, Marina,” she said as she lifted her head to stare out the window. “Your father would have been so proud of you. You’re like your father, through and through.”

Marina smiled at the comment, it was a large compliment to Marina as she had always looked up to her father.

“I’m sorry for all the trouble I had caused this year, Mama. But I can confirm all my strange behaviours are in the past,” Marina said as she slowly started to near her Mama.

“Your strange behaviours allowed me the answers to what happened to my dearest husband,” her mother replied, still not having looked over to Marina. “I think it’s time for me to let go now.”

“Papa would have wanted that,” Marina said as she came to a still next to her mother, her hand gently closing over the handkerchief her mother was holding.

“He also would’ve wanted you to follow that duke,” her mother said, finally turning to face Marina. Marina noticed a couple of tears building up in her Mama’s eyes. “You remind me slightly too much of your Papa and I. Dearly in love. I think I feared you face the same pain of separation; thus, I was hesitant of the courtship.”

“I promise to spend a long life alongside her, my Lady,” Griffin’s voice said from behind the pair, causing both to turn around and notice the duke standing at the doorway, his arm leaning against the frame.

Marina wanted to chuckle at his appearance, he was likely still slightly paranoid and had followed her. Her mother looked over at Marina and then at Griffin. She started making her way toward the doorway.

“Just make sure of what tea you consume, Your Grace,” she commented before sliding past Griffin, leaving Marina and Griffin to laugh together.

“I missed laughing with you,” Griffin said as his chuckles came to a hold. He gently took Marina’s hand into his.

“If I dare admit, Your Grace, I find your sense of humour rather amusing as well,” Marina laughed. Before she was able to continue their banter, she felt a kiss plant on her forehead and felt herself break out into an undeniable blush. She smiled up at Griffin like a child given a sweet.

He smiled back at her, gently removing a strand of hair before leaning in for a proper, gentle kiss.

“Our whole life ahead of us, this was just a small unfortunate chapter,” Griffin said as he broke from the kiss, his hand still gently placed on the cheek of Marina. She smiled up at him.

“An unfortunate chapter that brought me you- so I have few complaints, Your Grace. We have a whole life ahead of us, correct, but I do hope to spend it with you,” Marina replied with a large, heartfelt smile. She hadn’t been able to wear a true smile in what felt like a century, but now that was all she wore.

Griffin held out an arm for Marina to grasp onto, and she did so delightedly. The two of them ventured gleefully down the corridor of the Cromwell house, no longer fearing Josiah to turn every corner and make their lives hell. The Cromwell felt like home again, and this home was filled with love.

As Marina and Griffin turned the corner to tend to the drawing room, they noticed a small girl run down the halls as Nancy was playfully chasing her. It was Leilah’s youngest daughter, who was shortly followed by the older daughter joining their little game. Nancy smiled up at the pair as they neared.

“Just don’t fall!” Leilah shouted from inside the drawing room. “You don’t want to look like Mama!”

“Well, Leilah, I think I did a rather good job in caring for your injuries,” Penny commented sternly, offended at the mention that Leilah could look “bad”. Leilah laughed in response, tapping Penny gently on the shoulder. Philip sat next to her, looking at her as if she were the only one in his entire world.

Marina admired the love shared between Leilah and Philip for a moment, before turning to realize Griffin was looking at her with the exact same gaze that Phillip gave Leilah. She smiled, feeling like the luckiest woman to have walked the earth. Griffin planted another forehead kiss on her head, once again causing her cheeks to turn a rosy shade of pink.

“I’m so grateful to have seen your love story,” Leilah smiled as she looked up at Marina and her counterpart. “I just wouldn’t prefer nearly dying again to have it work out as it should have long ago.”

“Well, Misses. I can assure you that you won’t have to do that once more to ensure love to bloom as it should,” Griffin laughed.

“You do hear that, my Lady?” Leilah asked Nancy who had run in with Leilah’s two daughters. “I hope the Baron to be a bit easier in confessing love than the Duke of Darrington.”

“I can assure you of that,” Charlotte scoffed with a smile. “He has been caught up with Nancy from the moment they met.”

“So, it’s just us now, Charlotte,” Marina’s mother said. “The two of us with no husband?”

“Indeed not, Louisa. But we do have a fair share of money now that they are gone,” Charlotte said rather bluntly, causing Marina to be unsure if it was a joke or truthful.

“So, what’s next for the Cromwell house?” Leilah said as she looked around the room’s inhabitants. Griffin smiled at Marina.