Though Gabrielle looks innocent, Andrew scowls at her.
“You drink it for me if it’s so healthy,” Andrew challenges.
Gabrielle grits her teeth. She knows it’s risky to take part in this meal, but she needs to persuade him to finish eating it. She grabs the bowl of soup and raises it to her lips. It has an oily feeling as it slides down her throat, and she fights the urge to vomit. After several sips, Andrew is satisfied, and Gabrielle returns the bowl to the table.
Andrew eats slowly. As he works on his food, his face becomes pale, and a light sheen of sweat stands out on his forehead.
“Mr. Clifford, you look awful,” Gabrielle says, “Maybe you’ve overeaten. Do you want me to bring you something else?”
Andrew clutches his chest and follow at Gabrielle.
“Did you put something in the meal?” he asks.
“Of course not,” Gabrielle answers.
“Then, why do I feel awful?” Andrew snarls, “If it’s as you say, and the food is fine, you finish the rest.”
Gabrielle freezes and nervously fiddles with the hem of her dress. She’s scared that Andrew is onto her, and she knows she has no choice but to do as he says. Still, his order is dangerous.
“What are you afraid of?” Andrew hisses, “Do you want to play with the hydropathic belcheri instead?”
“No! I’ll finish it,” Gabrielle says quickly.
She eats with small, dainty bites and tries to keep the disgust off her face. When she finishes eating, she smiles brightly at Andrew. He scowls at her good health and gives her a warning look.
“Help me to get some rest,” he commands weakly.
Gabrielle helps him up, and he leans heavily on her as she walks him to his room. He collapses onto his bed and falls unconscious as soon as his head hits the pillow. Gabrielle rushes to the nearest bathroom and forces herself to throw up.
The raw kidney bean is poisonous. Mixing lily and pork is also bad, and the mushrooms she gave him are dangerous for people with delicate hearts. As a whole, the meal exacerbates angina and causes risks to general heart health.
Gabrielle purges everything from her body and rinses her mouth in the bathroom sink. Then she removes a mold of a finger from her pocket. While Andrew is lost in unconsciousness, she uses the mold to open the safe in his bedroom.
Just before dawn, a Maybach races down the road, raising a swirl of dust behind it. As it roars up to the gate, the noise disturbs the nocturnal silence of the Bamford house. Upon seeing whose car it is, the maids drop everything they’re doing and rush to greet him.
Waylen opens the door and steps out of the car. His hair is messy, and his face looks tired. Three buttons on his shirt have been loosened, revealing the muscles of his upper chest. The young maids blush as they look at him.
“Sir,” Robert calls out, following Waylen from the car.
Waylen has been drinking all night, and he walks unsteadily.
“F.u.c.k off!” Waylen scowls, waving Robert away.
As Waylen enters the house, he trips on a suitcase waiting by the door. He curses under his breath.
“It’s Mrs. Bamford’s suitcase,” a maid explains.
“Where is she?” Waylen demands.
“She’s upstairs packing,” the maid replies.
“So Leilani has made up her mind to leave,” Waylen thinks sadly, “She must be packing everything she owns so she never has to come back.”
Contrary to the maid’s words, Leilani is not packing. She still hasn’t finished the recording for the diorama. She clears her throat again but finds that the words don’t come. She tests the recording device over and over, recording the same test words. She briefly considers just talking to Waylen in person, but she quickly discards that idea.
“If I can’t even bear to say anything to the recorder, how on Earth can I face Waylen in person?” she wonders aloud.
Waylen. His name seems to stop her mind from working. She sighs and puts the recorder down.
“Why can’t I say a word?” she wonders, “I have so much to say to him, but as soon as I start the recorder, the words seem to stick in my throat.”
Leilani looks at her watch. It’s five in the morning. Although it’s still early in the day, she’s behind schedule. She only planned to spend ten minutes on the recording. She takes a deep breath and deletes the tests and failed recordings.
“Waylen, I’m gone,” she said into the recorder, “I didn’t want to explain anything.”
“No, that won’t do,” she thinks, “It sounds too arrogant.
She starts again, “Waylen, by the time you hear this, I’ll be gone.”
“No, that won’t do either,” she thinks, “It sounds too sad.
By the time a maid runs upstairs announcing Waylen’s return, she’s been recording for over an hour. Leilani hurries to hide the diorama in a drawer. She wants Waylen to find it, but only after she’s left. The recording contains an explanation of everything, and she’s scared that he won’t let her leave if he learns the truth beforehand.
The air in the dining room is thick with the smell of alcohol. A large ice bucket filled with several bottles of wine sits on the table. Some of the bottles have already been opened. Waylen leans back in a chair, swigging directly from one of the bottles.
Andrew frowns. She crosses the room and snatches the bottle from Waylen. He’s reluctant to let go, and some of the wine spills on her arm.”It’s too early in the morning for that,” she scolds.
Waylen glances at her, and his eyes are bloodshot; they look crimson.
“Who do you think you are?” he slurs.
Leilani doesn’t know how to answer that. She wants to say she’s his wife, but she can’t—they’ve already signed the divorce papers. Even though the divorce won’t be official for six months, she’s leaving today. In a few hours, they’ll be married in name only.
Leilani doesn’t answer. Waylen sneers bitterly and grabs the bottle back.
“She won’t even admit she’s my wife,” he thinks bitterly.
Leilani puts the bottle on the table heavily and grabs his hand with hers. He takes another bottle and begins swinging.
“Waylen, it’s our last day together,” she said softly, “Can’t we end things on a good note?”
Waylen’s expression remains indifferent, but he stops drinking.
“You don’t want me to remember you like a drunk, do you?” she asks, “Can’t we try to get along, just for today?”
Though they’ve been together for over three years, they’ve never spent so much as three days at peace with one another. Waylen looks up at her, and his eyes reveal some complex but unreadable emotion.
“Can’t we forget the unpleasantness and stop hurting each other?” Leilani continues.
Leilani wants them both to forget the misunderstandings, the awkwardness, and quarrels, of the past. She wants the remaining seven hours to be happy.
“What do you want?” Waylen asks thickly.
Normally his eyes are bright and full of power and mastery, but now he looks drunk and powerless. He wants to trust her about Andrew, and he wants to believe that she’s carrying his child, but he feels like he can’t read her. Every time he tries, he feels he’s left with more questions than answers. She’s like an unsolvable puzzle.
“How about I ask the kitchen to prepare a nice breakfast for us?” Leilani suggests.
“And who exactly will I be having breakfast with?” Waylen asks with a dark look.
“With your wife,” Leilani says determinedly.
The bottle shakes slightly in Waylen’s hands. After a long silence, he nods and orders Robert to make the necessary preparations. When Robert returns, he speaks directly to Leilani.
“Mrs. Bamford, the dough is ready, and it’s time to start the sauce,” Robert announces.
Leilani looks confusedly between Robert and Waylen.
“How about making pasta for your husband one last time?” Waylen asks.
“Okay,” Leilani agrees without hesitation, “Come with me?”
Leilani reaches her hand out to him, and he grabs it in his. Then he puts down the bottle and takes her other hand too. Their fingers intertwined, and their palms are pressed against each other.
Though Robert has asked most of the kitchen staff to clear out, the few remaining cooks look admiringly at the couple. Robert stands unobtrusively in a corner and takes pictures of the couple. Through the lens of the camera, they look like a perfectly matched pair.
Leilani is showing Waylen the correct way to cut the ingredients. Though Waylen is bad at cooking, he’s handsome, and the photos look great despite his lack of talent. Robert imagines that Waylen will want to store these photos in his safe too.
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.