Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 121153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 606(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 606(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Lilah sucked in a breath, and Ky held her tighter. “You are Phebe’s sister?” Ruth asked.
Lilah nodded her head.
“Phebe has been caring for this child.” Ruth chased the thickness from her throat and said, “Judah had recently proclaimed her a Cursed Sister of Eve.”
“No,” Lilah whispered. Bella, Mae and Maddie were watching on with sad, knowing expressions on their faces.
“Judah was going to take her on her eighth birthday,” Ruth continued. “It is in two months’ time.”
“So he did not . . . he never forced her to . . . ?” Lilah trailed off, unable to finish the question.
“No,” Ruth answered. “Your sister saved her. She locked her away to make sure she was safe . . . if she had not, Delilah would have died today like all the other helpless young.”
Lilah had frozen still. “Delilah?” she whispered, devastation lacing her tone.
“Yes,” Ruth replied. “Her branded Cursed name is Delilah. Judah named her because she looks just like you.” A cry came from Lilah’s mouth.
I cleared my throat and said, “Grace.” Lilah faced me in confusion. I pointed at the kid, who already looked completely enamored with Phebe’s sister. “Her name before my brother branded her was Grace. Phebe only ever called her that.” I pushed my hair back off my face. “She wants you to take her, raise her as your own. She saved Grace so you could give her a better life. Because she couldn’t see another child hurt the way you were”—I met Bella’s watery eyes—“the way you all were.”
Grace stepped forward and tugged on Lilah’s long cream dress. Lilah looked down, and Grace said nervously, “You . . . you are Aunt Phebe’s . . . sister?”
Lilah’s face contorted with grief, and with Ky’s help, she bent down and met Grace face to face. “You have the same hair color as me,” she said innocently, and my heart almost fucking cracked down the center.
Ky looked away, and I knew he was breaking too. Lilah smiled indulgently at the little girl. “I do.”
Grace pointed at Lilah’s eyes. “And your eyes are the same too.”
“Yes,” Lilah said in a husky voice. “They are blue.”
Grace tipped her head to the side, and she blushed. She clasped her hands in front of her. “Aunt Phebe said . . . ” Grace looked up at Ruth for approval. Ruth nodded her head in encouragement. Grace stepped closer to Lilah and said, “Aunt Phebe said you are to be my . . . mama?” The little girl swallowed. “Are you . . . is that true? Are you my mama? I never had a mama before.”
Lilah and Ky both turned their faces away for a moment, trying to control their tears. Then Lilah smiled. She cried through her smile and nodded her head. “Yes, Grace. I will be your mama.”
Grace’s smile practically lit up the darkening sky. She tentatively moved closer to Lilah, and Lilah pulled her into a soft hug. Lilah looked up at Ky, smiling so fucking big. She pulled back from the little girl and pointed at Ky. “Ky, my husband . . . He will be your papa, Grace. He will be your papa . . . ” Ky’s jaw clenched as Grace peered up at him.
“Hey, kid,” Ky said gruffly.
Grace smiled at him, and I heard Ky’s breath hitch. “You look like me too,” Grace said and pointed to her hair.
“Yeah,” Ky rasped. “The same hair and eyes too, kid.”
Grace looked back to Lilah. “Is Aunt Phebe going to live with us too?”
Grace’s question was like a bucket of ice-cold water over the happiness Lilah had found. Stephen crouched down next to Grace. “Aunt Phebe has had to go away for a while, Grace. She wanted you to get to know your new mama and papa first.”
Grace nodded her head like that made perfect sense.
“Do we have a house?” Grace asked Lilah. “Aunt Phebe said that you would have a home. With a bed.” She paused, then said, “I have never slept in a real bed before. Just on a mattress on the floor of the children’s quarters. The prophet told me I would sleep with him very soon, in his bed. A real bed, but that has not happened yet.”
Lilah flinched at Grace’s words, and it took her several seconds to pull herself together. I pushed back vomit at the thought of what Judah had planned to do with the kid. “Yes,” Lilah said breathlessly. “We have a home . . . with a room that I think has been waiting just for you.”
Grace laughed in happiness and Lilah stood, looking over at her sisters with an overwhelmed expression on her face.
“Come on, kid, we’ll show you your new house.” Ky bent down and took Grace in his arms. Lilah, Ky and Grace walked away, Grace staring up at them in complete fascination.