Make Them Regret It Chapter 44
In the fifth year, I returned to New York.
The estate was the same, but the guards at the gate no longer recognized me.
Lighthouse had grown to twice the size it was when I left.
The walls were still low. Every door could still be pushed open from the inside. After dark, the lights under the eaves came on, one by one.
The housekeeper told me that over the years, many people had lived there.
Some healed and went back out to start new lives. Some went to college. Some stayed behind and became the ones who answered the knock on the door at night.
The little girl who had been six was taller now.
She ran over, wrote her name with practiced ease, and pressed a whole bar of chocolate into my hand.
“Sister Blythe, this time it’s a whole one.”
I smiled and took it.
On the back hill, roses covered the slope.
I placed a crystal I had brought back from my travels before the stone, then opened the jar of cherry wine that had been buried for five years.
As the fragrance spread, I felt like I could hear my sister-in-law laughing.
I poured a cup for each of them.
Beside Gia’s stone, I placed a piece of candy.
“Nonna, I saw the sunsets in Florida.”
“Mom, Grandmother is doing well.”
“I managed to brew the cherry wine.”
“The infirmary at Lighthouse has saved a lot of people.”
“Gia, Auntie has taught many children how to write their names.”
The wind rose from the foot of the mountain, stirring my clothes.
I sat by the graves until dawn.
This time, I didn’t dream of the chapel.
When the sun came up, the dagger at my side gave a soft chime.
I hoisted my pack and stood up.
There were still so many places beyond the mountain I had never seen. I still didn’t know how much time I had left.
But I wasn’t afraid anymore.
I knew the night would pass, and that doors could be opened.
And I knew that from now on, no one would ever again decide for me whom I should love, whom I should forgive, or to whom I should hand over my life.
I walked down the mountain path, roses blooming on either side.
Behind me were their names.
Ahead of me was my life.
This time, I live only for myself.
The End