Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75142 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75142 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 376(@200wpm)___ 301(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
We kissed again, drowning in each other. It was crazy to think that we’d be married at the end of the year. Cole and Lila were having a small ceremony this summer that I would be a bridesmaid at, and then she’d be one at mine. I couldn’t wait for all of us to be coupled up.
The only person I wasn’t sure about was Amelia. I still had hopes that she and Ash could work it out … for her sake, of course. Personally, I thought she could do better, but she’d loved him her entire life. I’d have to wait and see how they could come back from what had happened at the wrap party.
“Okay, lovebirds,” my dad said with one hand in the pocket of his linen pants and the other around my mom’s waist.
“Leave them be, Charlie. I’m happy for them,” Mom said.
I beamed, leaving Maddox’s side to hug both of my parents. Dad had moved back to Savannah for the first time since I had been a kid. He and Mom weren’t officially living together since he’d opened a new art studio in town, but they might as well have been. I’d never seen my mother so happy. Or my dad really either. I believed in second chances. And if anyone deserved it, they did.
“I’m so glad that y’all are here for my big day,” I said.
My mom swished her big ballgown. “I’m ready for your triumph.”
We all linked elbows and then entered the back of the theater. We were quickly whisked away to our seats to watch. Maddox kept his hand tight in mine the entire time. I couldn’t stop shaking, watching my masterpiece and waiting for it to all be a dream.
But at the end, the audience applauded. They came to their feet for a standing ovation. I forced back the tears that came so easily. I was meant to be here.
I was swept into the crowd of industry professionals. Everyone wanted a minute of my time. And I was happy to oblige. Maddox disappeared at some point. Too many people for him. But I always knew where he was, and we worked like this.
Everyone thought it was genius that, at the end, I hadn’t told whether or not Rebecca had actually killed her husband. It was left up to the imagination. And everyone had their own theory. They were as bad as the town gossips back home in Savannah. Half believed she had done it, and half believed he’d overdosed on his own. I smiled and let them come to their own conclusions.
My mother loved being in the spotlight as well. When I’d asked her to come, I’d been afraid that people would be mean to her. I’d warned her that it might be traumatic to have to continue relive it over and over, but my mother wasn’t anyone else. She was perfectly comfortable in every setting. She had no fears that these people could do anything to her that hadn’t already been done.
My mom finally extracted me from the crowd, and we headed back down the boardwalk. Maddox and my dad strode a few steps behind us. Maddox had started going to my dad’s new studio every weekend, and I loved to see their friendship grow.
“Mom, I wanted to … thank you.” I smiled at her. “For giving me the journal, for trying to fix our broken relationship, for letting me make the movie.”
“I’m so glad to have my daughter back. I did it all for you.”
“I know,” I said with a smile. “But also, for you.”
My mother smiled, soaking in the Mediterranean air. “Maybe a little for me.”
“Edward kept us apart for so long. It’s horrible to say, but I’m glad he’s gone.”
“Me too. He was not the man that I thought I knew. I never would have forgiven him if he’d hurt you.”
“I hardly ever saw him,” I said. “He was gone every summer.”
“Yes,” she said softly. Softer than I’d heard her in an age. “But you were starting to look like me, and he noticed.”
“What?” I asked in confusion.
“Don’t you remember? You came up for Marley and Lila’s dance recital the summer before you turned twelve.” Her voice was calm and controlled, but her eyes were bright. They asked me to remember.
“I think so. He died that summer, right?”
“He took one look at you and knew that you were going to grow up to look just like me. He saw the young woman I’d been when we first met. A child. Another man’s child.”
“Mom, what are you saying?”
She squeezed my hand tight. “I’d do anything to protect you, Josephine.”
Our eyes met, and I nearly froze in place at the look on her face. She’d said those words to me before, but I’d never given them much thought. In all of the time that I’d worked on this movie, I’d tried to show both sides. I wanted the audience divided on what had happened between Rebecca and Edward. The division made it viral and intense.