Chapter Thirty-Seven
Olivia
One year later
“Come on, we’ll be late!”
Amelia grabbed my hand and tugged me toward the tall wrought iron gates of the cemetery. Dec and I looked at each other and smiled. “It’s fine, Amelia,” Dec said, ruffling her blonde hair. “We’re almost there.”
We walked through aisles and aisles of graves until we reached Callum’s marble headstone. Amelia looked down at her watch. “Just in time. It’s ten-thirty, and he was born on this day at ten-thirty, right?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Happy birthday, little brother,” I said softly.
Upon Dec’s suggestion, we’d started a new tradition this year. Instead of mourning for days every time the anniversary of Callum’s death came up, I’d decided to celebrate his life instead. So from now on, every July 16th was going to be spent remembering Callum and everything that was great about him. Of course I was still going to be sad on the anniversary of his death every year, but I hoped a new tradition like this would help me heal more.
We’d decided that we would fly to California and visit his grave at the exact time of his birth, say a few words, and put a little slice of birthday cake down. Then we’d have a big family dinner later on, where all his favorite foods and drinks would be served.
Oh, yeah—I had a proper family again. When Dec and I returned from the Starling Islands last year, his family had welcomed me with open arms, especially Amelia. She was still sick when I first met her, but after a year of her treatment program (still paid for out of my mother’s bank account, thanks to me and her lawyer) she was much better. The experimental treatment had worked wonders, and we could barely keep up with her nowadays. She was so full of life and energy. It made me sad that she’d never get to meet my brother, but seeing her bright smile and eyes reminded me of him. It made it all a little easier.
My mom rotting away in prison also made things a little easier. Her trial had been extensive (and thankfully kept out of the media), but two months ago she’d finally been sentenced, and she was currently serving her time in a Californian prison. Given the nature of her crime and the length of her sentence, she was probably never getting out. Not that she deserved to.
Her plan had been exactly what Dec and I managed to surmise—she was pissed after Dad died and left her with only a small portion of his fortune compared with what Callum and I inherited. So she decided to get rid of both of us kids. She knew she couldn’t do it all at the same time, because it would look suspicious, and so she played the long game. She murdered Callum a year and a half after Dad’s death, and then she waited. She invited me to go on her reality show—or guilt-tripped me, more like it—as part of her plan to start making me sick, while also floating the idea of us seeing each other once a month, so she could continue with making me sick.
At the same time, she also ensured she got herself a new husband; someone whom she thought was so desperate for money to help his sister that he’d do anything. She assumed she would be able to get Dec to legally adopt me, and six months after that, she would’ve killed me. People would’ve been sad, but not all that surprised. After all, by that stage they would’ve heard all about my ‘frequent sickliness’. Then, after my death, the inheritance which once belonged to Callum and me would pass to Dec, who would immediately lose control of it to Mom, given her sly, manipulative ways.
Bitch.
Too bad for her, she got caught. She really should’ve seen it coming. There was probably no such thing as the perfect murder, and there was certainly no such thing as two perfect murders. Either way, we didn’t have to worry about her ever again. She was gone, and her sham marriage to Dec had been annulled on grounds of fraud almost immediately after our return to the States last year.
“Should I light the candle on his birthday cake?” Amelia asked, looking up at me with those pretty blue eyes of hers. She had the exact same eyes as Dec.
I smiled. “Sure.”
As she lit the red candle, the sight of the little flame stirred a memory in me, and I was mentally transported back to the islands a year ago. Back to where I met Dec, and back to the final episode of Wed At First Sight, where those flaming bamboo torches lit the darkening air around us. That damn show was so stupid, but if we hadn’t agreed to go on it, we probably would’ve never ended up together like this.
As predicted after the live speech Dec gave that evening, Isobel and Mark won the viewer vote by a substantial margin. We’d stayed good friends with them, and we still saw them every few months, seeing as they lived in upstate New York near Isobel’s mom. I was still in the city running my jewelry business, along with Dec, who’d moved to the city fulltime to run The Library and live with me, so it was only a short drive north to visit them. Isobel seemed a lot happier now that her mother was living in a really good place, and she and Mark were engaged now.
I was a lot happier, too, for obvious reasons.
“Do you want to say something, Liv?” Dec asked, squeezing my hand.
I nodded and took a deep breath. “Callum, baby brother…you would’ve turned eighteen today. You would’ve been an adult, and you would’ve been about to head off to college. I don’t know what you would’ve picked to study, but I do know you would’ve aced it. You were always the smarter one out of the two of us. And I was the wild, silly one, right?”
I smiled and wiped my eyes, needing a minute to compose myself before I kept going.
“I know you were probably laughing from wherever you are when you saw me on that silly reality show, right? Don’t deny it—you always mocked reality TV. So did I. Remember how we used to sit and watch stuff as a joke sometimes, and just mock it and giggle over it? I know you were doing that, and I love picturing you doing it. I’m glad I went on the show, anyhow. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have gotten together with Dec, and we wouldn’t have figured out what happened to you. I hope…I hope you’re a bit happier now, knowing that we know. Everyone knows.”
Amelia squeezed my free hand. “Why don’t you tell him what you’ve been doing?” she asked in a hushed voice. “I bet he wants to know that.”
I nodded. “I thought you might like to hear what I’ve been up to. Seeing as I got all that show publicity last year, my jewelry business has been doing really well. It’s hectic. Audrey works for me fulltime now, because she helped so much with the website while I was on the show. So she manages the site and does my internet marketing now. It’s awesome, working with my best girlfriend. William tries to help as well—he’s living with us now, and he always flies around squawking random words at us when we’re trying to work. Oh, and I’ve also just designed a new range for men, too. I named it the Callum line, after you, because it was inspired by the things you used to like. I brought one of the pieces for your birthday.” I leaned down and placed a thick engraved silver ring on his grave. “Happy birthday, Cal.”
“Happy birthday,” Dec echoed in a murmur. He put an arm around me and squeezed me tight, and I closed my eyes for a moment, basking in the warm glow I felt from his mere presence. I’d never felt safer than I did in his arms. He would always be here for me, protecting me from everything he could. And as for the other things life might throw at me that he couldn’t protect me from, he would at least be here for me, supporting me throughout it all.
Amelia leaned down and put the slice of cake next to the ring. Then she blew out the candle and stood back up. “Are you okay, Liv?” she asked, eyes wide with concern.
I nodded slowly and smiled. “Yeah. I’m okay.”