ARIANA'S POV
I felt a wash of shame just thinking about this and was moved to tears. I knew all these had happened when we were children and Flora probably didn't even remember this but how was I to know that all these had not motivated her to commit suicide?
It was beginning to seem like I had been the villain in Flora's story. She had probably hated me while I was busy thinking she got everything from my parents.
That was true anyway. My parents loved her more.
My mom did not notice the change in my mood and went on talking about the good times we had all had and how I had tried to protect Flora so many times,
ROBERT'S POVI was trying to make sense of all that was happening around me. It seemed we were becoming a family and very fast at that. I knew I should be happy but I was rather destabilized. I was still stuck where I was these past weeks. How do I reconcile my love for Flora and the happiness I was feeling with Ariana?The truth was that I had loved Flora more than life itself. She had been my reason for existing. I had never met a more down to earth person and someone willing to follow her dreams. Eager to escape the shadow of her sister's success in the business world, Flora had buried herself in literature. Her parents had supported her anyway. But it was not an easy feat.She had been kind the first day I met her and had talked with me like a normal person. Girls usually saw me as a trophy to be won but she had seen me differently.Now, I was seeing a different side to Ariana and realizing that underneath her facade of a cold person only concerned with business, she was a nice wo
ROBERT'S POVI hit the floor with a loud thump and banged my head on the stool I had been sitting on momentarily clearing my head. Damn! Damn!! Damn!!! I frantically searched for my phone in my pocket and speed dialed Rufus, sharing my location with him, then I blacked out.I woke up the next morning in my bed with a terrible hangover. I rushed to the bathroom and vomited twice, my head banging with unbearable migraine.I had made a complete fool of myself last night. I swore to myself that I would never touch another bottle again. My memory was foggy but I remembered clearly that I had thought Emily was Flora. Ugh! How had that managed to happen? But a light bulb suddenly went up in my head! Yes, I had mistaken Emily for Flora but in my drunken state, I had had the willpower to refuse Flora! That was a win.I quickly took a shower and popped two aspirins to make the headache go away. I needed to return to the country. So much for morning’s first light. I resolved to go back and make
ARIANA'S POVI understood that Rob deserved to be sad about Flora's death but understanding was not the same as watching your husband sniffing your dead sister's clothes and crying. I had thought I had made peace with his love for Flora but in that moment, it became clear that I was wrong. I would never be able to accept that. Flora's ghost will always have a place in our bed.I fled down the hallways looking for an escape from that torturous scene. As I ran, the scene continued to play over and over again in my head. The sound that had come out of Rob was guttural. He was in pain. He was hurt. I could tell that he was longing for her with the way he placed that red dress close to his nose.
ROBERT'S POVI wanted to run after Ariana and tell her that she was wrong, beg her to stay and hear me out but I was rooted to the spot, holding that red dress in my hand. I watched until Ariana became a dot in the distance.By the time I was exhausted emotionally and returned to the drawing room, I met a quiet that was frigid. Margaret had questions in her eyes and when I asked after Ariana, she told me she had no idea where Ariana had run to.As it grew dark, I began to worry and even told them I was going out to look for her. Nate was still in his bedroom. He had refused to come out since and Margaret had gi
ARIANA'S POVI never knew Flora kept a diary. I remember her telling me that diaries were cheesy and an easy way to let everyone know your secrets. But if Flora had a diary, I wanted, no scratch that…I needed to read it.If it had made Nate know Flora was his mother then it most certainly contained information about other important issues.“I have been lied to my whole life?” Nate yelled.“Calm down little man”, Rob said to him.“Who am I? Why couldn't I have simply been told the truth? I can hand
ARIANA'S POV“You really want to read that now?” Rob asked me.I sighed, closing the diary and letting my shoulders fall. “I don't know…I do deserve the truth though”.He nodded his head in understanding. “But…but what if it changes the way you see her? The memories you have of her?”“Robert…can I ask you something?” I said.“Sure, go on”.“Okay, here goes. When you cam
ARIANA'S POVI had no idea there were tears in my eyes until I read the last sentence in the diary. It's a good thing I still have that gun kept on echoing in the recesses of my memory. It was like someone had put it on loop such that it would not stop.I was soon sobbing loudly, my heart breaking into a million tiny pieces, every fragmentation birthing several others. How had I been blind to Flora's depression? I remember the day we had gown to the dressmakers to try on my wedding gown vividly but I had been too wrapped up in myself and in the dreaminess of marrying Robert S
ROBERT'S POV I was scared. I could not remember a time in my life that I felt this way. I was curious about that diary but I knew that nothing on God's green earth would make me read it. I didn't want to know anything more than I knew.Flora had obviously been mentally tortured for her to go to the extreme of killing herself and I did not want to blame myself for her death. I had pleaded with Flora and begged her to understand that marriage between us would not work. And I had never known about her pregnancy. Why should I be blamed?I was preparing to go home and join Ariana but I needed to have a conversation with Nate.He was still so little and I knew he would not really understand everything going on around him but I needed him to be abreast with happenings. I wasn't ready, however , to tell him I was a father. Admitting that would be accepting the responsibility of being his father. And it scared me shitless. Ariana was still rebuffing me and I was scared that she would run i