“No? I thought you were enjoying this,” he says, his voice hoarse with desire.
His voice raises goosebumps on her skin. She knows if he continues to touch her, she’ll lose control entirely.
“I don’t want to,” she insists without hesitation.
She feels surprised by her own words.
“I thought I wanted to lose the child, and if we make love, the child may be lost,” she thinks, “So why am I pushing him away? Is it my maternal instinct? In my heart of hearts, do I actually want to have this baby?”
Waylen’s pupils narrow a little as he tries to control himself and suppress his desire. Leilani knows how strong his s.e.x drive is, and she wants to explain her refusal.
“I’m just exhausted,” she says, “And I still feel a bit unwell.”
“What do you want to do?” Waylen asks.
She subconsciously backs away as his voice tickles her ear.
“Are you afraid that I will touch you?” Waylen asks a note of sadness in his voice.
“I’m just exhausted,” she repeats, “I don’t want to make love right now.”
“Did I say that we have to make love?” Waylen asks, approaching her slowly, “I just want to carry you back to the bedroom and make sure you can have a rest.”
Leilani blushed with embarrassment.
“You don’t have to be shy in front of me,” he whispers.
“Who’s shy?” Leilani snaps, pushing him slightly, “I can walk by myself; thank you very much.”
Waylen Bamford watches her back as she walks away and wonders why she’s behaving so strangely. Leilani pretends he’s not there as she walks to the bedroom. Though she hasn’t eaten anything in the last day, she doesn’t feel the slightest bit hungry. She is sleepy and just wants to lie on the bed. Her eyelids feel heavy, and her head feels fuzzy.
The wind blows through the cherry trees, and the blossoms drift to the ground. Leilani calls Waylen and turns and walks toward her; the petals crushed underfoot release a sweet smell into the air. Suddenly, a tall and handsome man appears. He carries a short knife and stabs it into Waylen’s heart.
Waylen’s face pales with pain and shock. He clutches one hand over the wound and reaches for her with the other. He takes a large petal and presses it over the wound like a bandage. Suddenly, the petal turns to blood in his hands and drips onto the ground.
“Leilani—” he gasps, “Leilani— You mustn’t leave me alone. You belong to me forever.”
His blood soaks the petals on the ground. When Leilani looks down, vines have started to grow. They snake their way around her legs and slowly climb her body. Gradually, they constrict around her, suffocating her. Then the vine suddenly grows a thorn over her heart, as the vine tightens its grip the thorn slowly pierces her chest.
The man holding the knife comes closer, and Leilani recognizes him as Charles Peters. He is abnormally grim. In his hand, the blade drips Waylen’s blood. There’s a large black hole in his chest.
“Leilani, I will take you away from here,” Charles says, “You belong to me now.”
“No, I don’t want to go,” Leilani screams.
Suddenly she opens her eyes. She looks at the sunlight pouring in to her bedroom, but the dream still feels more vivid than real life. She realizes she’s panting and clutching her chest. When Charles stabbed Waylen in the heart, she felt the pain in her own chest. Leilani sits up and smooths the wet pillowcase. She wonders if the water is sweat or tears.
“What a strange dream!” she thinks, “What can I mean? Do I miss Charles so much I’ve started seeing him in my dreams?”
“Mrs. Bamford?” a maid gasps as she comes into the room, “What’s wrong?”
“I’m fine. I just had a dream,” Leilani replies.
She looks at the gauze screen on the window. The sun is burning fiercely, and it’s already high in the sky.
“What time is it now?” Leilani asks.
“It’s already noon,” the maid answers with a worried expression, “Do you feel unwell? I called you for breakfast several times, but you never responded. I thought you were ill, but then I came in and found you sleeping. I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“I’m fine,” Leilani says with a barely suppressed yawn, “I just wanted to sleep in a little.”
“Mr. Bamford called,” the maid says, “When we told him you were still sleeping, he asked us to have his lunch sent to him.”
Leilani nods, then stretches her arms above her head and sighs. Though she’s slept for many hours, she stills exhausted.
“Miss Summers,” a voice calls from beyond the bedroom door.
“Why is Miss Summers here?” Leilani asks.
“She said she left something here,” the maid responds.
“What did she leave?”
“I don’t know. She said that it was essential, but she wouldn’t tell us what it was,” the maid says worriedly, “Should I ask them to be quick? Or maybe ask them to be quieter?”
“No, it doesn’t matter,” Leilani says.
She lazily covers her mouth and yawns deeply. Since learning about the pregnancy, she has continuously been sleepy.
“Do you want to get up and eat something, Mrs. Bamford?” the maid asks, You didn’t have breakfast.”
Leilani shakes her head and asks the maid to leave. She feels like she can barely keep her eyes open, and she wants to sleep again.
Leonie doesn’t find anything in her former room. She walks out in a snit and begins to search for other places in the house. When she comes to Leilani’s old bedroom, a maid nervously stops her.
“Miss Summers, you can’t go into there,” the maid says, “Although Mrs. Bamford has moved into Mr. Bamford’s bedroom, some of her important belongings remain in her old room.”
“My things are just as important,” snaps Leonie, “Why not help me try to find them?”
“What things did you lose, Miss Summers?” the maid asks anxiously, “I can help you find them.”
The maid twists her skirt nervously. She’s afraid that Leonie will accuse her of stealing the item since she’s the one who used to clean her room.
“No, you can leave. I can look for them alone,” Leonie replies.
The maid doesn’t know what to do. On the one hand, Leonie is one of Mrs. Florence Bamford’s favorites, but Waylen has expelled her from the house. Leonie quickly grows impatient with the maid’s hesitation.
“What’s wrong?” she snaps, “Are you afraid that I’ll steal something that belongs to Mrs. Bamford?”
“No, of course not,” answers the maid, staring at her shoes, “I’ll leave you now.”
“Wait a minute!” Leonie calls over her shoulder, “Where is Mrs. Bamford?”
“She hasn’t gotten up yet,” the maid answers.
“She hasn’t gotten up?” Leonie asks, surprised, “You mean she’s slept all night and all morning?”
The maid nods curtly.
“Where is Waylen?” Leonie asks, scheming, “Will he be coming back to the house to have lunch?”
“Mr. Bamford heard that Mrs. Bamford is sleeping, so he won’t come back,” the maid replies.
Leonie sighs. A lunch with Waylen would be the perfect opportunity to set her plan in motion. She glares at the maid.
“You can leave,” she hisses.
The maid quickly runs away. As soon as they leave, Leonie slips into the room and shuts the door behind her. She rummages through the drawers of Leilani’s makeup table and overturns a box on the tabletop.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
Leave a Reply