Chapter 5: Sarah's Last Wish
Chapter 5: Sarah's Last Wish
The attic smelled of cedar, old paper, and forgotten years.
Mrs. Thompson climbed the narrow staircase with a flashlight in one hand and her phone in the other. Every creak beneath her feet made her heart race.
She had worked for the Royce family for nearly eight years.
She had never once entered the attic without permission.
Tonight was different.
Tonight she wasn't looking for memories.
She was looking for a journal.
The message on her phone echoed in her mind.
Find it before anyone else does.
Boxes lined every wall.
Christmas decorations.
Baby clothes.
Old toys.
Photo albums.
Mrs. Thompson searched frantically, pulling lids from containers and replacing them just as quickly.
Then her flashlight landed on a small cedar chest.
It wasn't locked.
Inside lay a folded baby blanket.
A tiny pair of knitted booties.
And beneath them...
A blue leather journal.
"There you are," she whispered.
She reached for it.
Another voice answered from the doorway.
"I believe that belongs to my daughter."
Mrs. Thompson spun around so quickly she nearly dropped the journal.
Victoria Royce stood in the shadows.
Perfectly composed.
Watching.
For a long moment, neither woman spoke.
Finally Victoria stepped inside.
"Give it to me."
Mrs. Thompson hesitated.
"You never said you were coming yourself."
"I decided not to trust anyone else."
Slowly, Mrs. Thompson handed over the journal.
Victoria brushed the dust from its cover with surprising tenderness.
For an instant, genuine grief crossed her face.
Then it disappeared.
"No one must read this."
Downstairs, life continued as if nothing were wrong.
Ruby had transformed the dining room into an "Indoor Safari."
Every chair became a mountain.
Couch cushions were rivers.
The twins crawled on all fours, searching for invisible jungle animals.
"Captain Liam!" Ruby whispered dramatically.
"I've spotted a dangerous species."
"What?"
"A wild dust bunny."
Olly gasped.
"The fluffy kind?"
"The very fluffy kind."
The boys burst into laughter.
Edward walked in just as Ruby was pretending to negotiate with an imaginary lion.
He stood silently against the doorway.
Olly noticed him first.
"Daddy!"
The word came naturally now.
Without fear.
Without hesitation.
Edward's eyes softened.
"What are you hunting?"
Ruby pointed toward the sofa.
"We've tracked a rare Carpet Crocodile."
Edward looked under the couch.
"I believe you're correct."
The twins laughed harder than ever.
For the first time in years...
Edward got down on the floor.
Still wearing a tailored suit worth several thousand dollars.
He crawled beneath the dining table.
"I think I found its footprints."
Ruby grinned.
"Careful, Mr. Royce."
"They're known to attack expensive shoes."
The boys squealed with delight.
Margaret stood in the kitchen doorway, smiling through tears.
She whispered to herself,
"Sarah... you'd love this."
Later that afternoon, Edward received an unexpected visitor.
Dr. Elaine Brooks requested another meeting.
"This isn't about speech anymore," she said.
Edward frowned.
"What is it about?"
"Grief."
She opened her notebook.
"I've reviewed my records."
"The twins didn't stop speaking immediately after Sarah died."
Edward looked confused.
"No."
"They stopped six weeks later."
He stared at her.
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying something happened during those six weeks."
Edward's mind raced.
He remembered hospitals.
Funeral arrangements.
Business emergencies.
His own numbness.
But the details blurred together.
Dr. Brooks continued.
"Trauma rarely exists in isolation."
"There is usually a trigger."
"A final event."
Edward sat very still.
"What kind of event?"
"I don't know."
"But someone does."
That evening, Ruby found Liam alone in the music room.
He was tracing circles on the dusty piano bench.
She didn't interrupt.
Instead, she quietly dusted the bookshelves.
After several minutes, Liam spoke.
"Mommy..."
Ruby glanced over.
"Yes?"
"She... cried."
Ruby's hand froze.
"When?"
"The night..."
He struggled for the words.
"The loud fight."
Ruby's heartbeat quickened.
"What fight?"
Liam shook his head.
"I don't..."
His face tightened with frustration.
The memory seemed trapped behind a locked door.
Ruby walked over slowly.
"You don't have to force it."
He nodded.
Then whispered something so softly she almost missed it.
"Grandma yelled."
Ruby felt a chill run through her body.
Before she could ask another question—
Liam covered his mouth.
His breathing became faster.
Ruby immediately knelt beside him.
"Hey."
"No more talking."
"We're done."
She picked up a toy dinosaur from the shelf.
"I think this fellow needs medical attention."
Liam blinked.
Ruby held the dinosaur upside down.
"Oh dear."
"Broken tail."
"We'd better call the world's greatest dinosaur doctor."
A tiny smile appeared.
The panic faded.
Ruby never realized...
Edward had heard every word from the hallway.
Especially the last two.
Grandma yelled.
Upstairs, Victoria sat alone in her bedroom.
Sarah's journal rested unopened in her lap.
She stared at it for a very long time.
Finally...
She opened the first page.
Sarah's handwriting was graceful and warm.
The earliest entries described motherhood.
The twins' first smiles.
Their first steps.
The joy they brought.
Victoria turned another page.
Then another.
Suddenly she stopped.
One sentence had been underlined.
Edward loves our boys more than he knows how to show them. One day I hope someone reminds him that children need presence more than perfection.
Victoria closed her eyes.
She remembered the argument.
The terrible words.
The ones she wished she had never spoken.
A single tear rolled down her cheek.
Then her phone rang.
She answered immediately.
"I found the journal."
A man's voice replied.
"Destroy it."
Victoria looked down at Sarah's handwriting.
For the first time...
She didn't answer.
Meanwhile, Ruby was finishing her shift.
She slipped on her backpack and waved toward the twins.
"I'll see you tomorrow."
Olly frowned.
"You always leave."
Ruby smiled gently.
"Everybody goes home after work."
He thought about that.
Then quietly asked,
"You come back?"
Ruby crouched until they were eye level.
"Every morning."
Olly nodded.
"Promise?"
"I promise."
The boys smiled.
Ruby walked toward the front door.
Edward followed.
"I'll drive you home."
She looked surprised.
"You don't have to."
"I know."
During the drive, neither of them spoke much.
Until Edward finally asked,
"Why do they trust you?"
Ruby looked out at the Chicago skyline glowing against the night.
"I never asked them to stop missing their mother."
Edward tightened his grip on the steering wheel.
"Everyone else did?"
"Not in words."
She smiled sadly.
"But sometimes adults try so hard to fix pain... that children think they're no longer allowed to feel it."
Edward had no reply.
When Ruby stepped out of the car, she looked back.
"Mr. Royce?"
"Yes?"
"Your boys don't need someone to replace Sarah."
"They need someone who helps them remember her without being afraid."
Edward watched her disappear into her apartment building.
He sat there long after the lights inside came on.
For the first time, he wondered if he had spent two years protecting his sons from grief...
When all they had really needed was permission to grieve together.
Back at the mansion, Victoria remained awake.
Sarah's journal still rested in her hands.
She turned to the final pages.
As she began to read, the color drained from her face.
May you like
Written only three days before Sarah's fatal accident were the words that could destroy everything Victoria had spent two years hiding:
"If anyone ever reads this, they deserve to know what really happened the night my mother-in-law begged me not to leave Edward."
