His Secret Child

by Cole Baxter

Genres: Psychological Thrillers

Synopsis

I stand at my father’s funeral, tears rolling down my cheeks. Someone puts a hand on my shoulder, pulling me into a hug. As I look into the face of a woman I’ve never seen before, she whispers something that shatters my world. “He was my father too.”

Staring into the woman’s glassy gray eyes, I pray that she’s lying. I can’t believe that my steady, dependable father could do this to me. But a hush falls over my family as my ‘new sister’ Ava spills secrets about his hidden affairs and how he bought her silence. Now she’s finally free, she wants to be a part of the family.

But as my relatives welcome her with open arms, I’m certain something isn’t right. Details of her childhood keep changing. And I catch the way she looks at my fiancé, batting her long lashes and touching his well-toned arm. Can this woman be trusted? Does anyone else share my fears? Then, with a snide smile, away from the eyes of my family, she tells me that she knows my own dark secret.

I need to stay silent to keep myself safe. Until I find a crumpled white envelope in my father’s office that makes my blood run cold. What if my father’s death was no accident? Is Ava really here to join our family, or tear us apart?

Ava thinks she knows all my secrets, but she has no idea just how far I’d go to protect the people I love…

An utterly heart-pounding psychological thriller that will keep you turning pages into the night! For fans of The Doctor’s Wife, Behind Closed Doors and The Housemaid.

What readers are saying about Cole Baxter:

“Completely addictive… Jaw-dropping… I was actually pacing around my house reading the last several chapters… If I could rate it more than 5 stars, I certainly would… The most gripping, edge-of-your-seat, breath-holding, tension-filled, and jaw-dropping book I’ve read.” Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“A completely gripping, nerve-wracking, breathtaking, suspenseful, and addictive psychological thriller… will keep you on the edge of your seat… will make you wish to throw the book in the corner… there is one unexpected twist at the end that made me gasp for air as I would never guess it!” Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“An incredible read… absolutely riveting and thought provoking. I couldn’t put it down and I can’t stop thinking about it. I will never stop recommending this book.” Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“This is a gripping wild ride of a read! It pulls you in from the first page and I read it in a few hours! Great read!” NetGalley reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“I love Cole Baxter. His books make me turn pages late into the night. This book is like being on a rollercoaster.” Goodreads reviewer, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“So many twists you won’t be able to predict what comes next. You will be hooked on this book.”Jessica’s Book Biz, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

Read more

Release date: August 20, 2024

Publisher: Bookouture

Print pages: 341

Sample

PROLOGUE

This party is the most luxurious I’ve ever seen. As I raise my chilled champagne flute to my lips, I can’t help but wonder how much all of this cost. My eyes flicker from the staff in their crisp white shirts, to the bejeweled guests, congregating and laughing under an eyesore of a chandelier. I suppose money can’t buy taste.

 The room is filled with warm bodies, and I’m happy to blend right in. He can’t see me, but I can see him, looking jovial and playing the part of gregarious host. I find it sickening. The least he could have done was offer a better champagne. I toss the swill he has on hand into one of the plants. All this wealth and he doesn’t make good use of it. I shake my head. My gaze travels the room, picking out members of the family among all the finely dressed guests. I spot her and smile, almost fondly. She’s not really like the rest of them, but in the end it won’t matter.

Tonight would be the mark of a new beginning. Fitting that it is New Year’s Eve.

I make my way around the room, murmuring here and there to various guests. No one in the family really notices me, which I’m glad for. I have a job to do. I have to set things in motion.

This would be the beginning of the end of them, and I am going to enjoy every last second of watching them fall.

One by one.

 

 

ONE

 

Next time, just say no, Rose, she chastised herself as she ducked into another room to avoid her awful aunt. It was the night of her mother’s famous New Year’s Eve party, and Rose was doing her best to hide from as many family members as possible.

She couldn’t think of a worse way to start the year, yet here she was, simply because she didn’t know how to say no to her family.

It had all started with a family dinner two weeks earlier...

It had been a dinner she was forced to attend like always. And it was especially hard considering her new fiancé was obliged to come with her as well. They had all been seated around her mother’s grandmother’s dining room table. Her mother was always proud to have the family gather around the antique table, seated in the heavy, cherry wood chairs. The table was, of course, set with the family heirloom china that was probably worth several thousand dollars. Her mother always preferred it when hosting any kind of family meal. And of course, everyone was required to dress as though they were attending dinner with the queen. Rose had worn a blue silk dress and heels, which her mother had claimed was barely passible.

There had been no turning down the invitation to dine with them.

Her mother didn’t like hearing no for an answer, and Rose never actually learned how to do so in the first place. Her family could be pretty overbearing, to put it mildly, and she would love nothing more than to completely distance herself from them.

She was already on a great track to achieve that. She finished college, unlike her brother, and had a job of her own, unlike most of her family, who had never worked a day in their lives. To be fair, her mother had charities she occupied herself with, but her younger brother, who wasn’t that young anymore, was still trying to ‘find himself’, which in reality meant he did nothing, spent all his time drinking, partying, traveling, spending family money. Despite her family looking down on her for working in a publishing house, with no six-figure salary to impress their society friends, Rose couldn’t be prouder of her job. At least she wasn’t wasting her life in front of a TV like him.

Her brother might call her bitter, but she simply felt different to them. She had always felt different. And yet, despite that feeling, she knew she could never fully break free from them. No matter how much she wanted to. No matter how much she needed to.

One of her ex-boyfriends had called her a doormat during one of their fights, and that really stuck with her over the years. She couldn’t remember the exact color of his eyes anymore, or how his voice sounded when he was all playful and loving, but that line definitely stuck.

And the worst part was that there was a chance he was right. There were certain people in her life she couldn’t turn down no matter what was asked of her. And they knew it, took advantage of it. Especially her mother.

That was precisely why she ended up at this dinner party with her parents and her new fiancé. That was how she ended up being expected to attend a New Year’s Eve party when she really wanted to do something, anything, else. Because she couldn’t say no to her family.

Luckily, Adrian, her fiancé—she really liked using that word—wasn’t anything like the members of her family. She could spot him now, politely making small talk with one of her brattier cousins, his black hair falling into his gorgeous brown eyes. Her fiancé was a classically handsome man. He stood at about six foot two, and he had one of those golden brown tans all year around, and a strong chin that gave his boyish good looks a masculine edge. Rose thought she was the luckiest woman on the planet to have become engaged to him. And even if he knew her true nature, he never took advantage of her. He was loving, and caring, and he supported her no matter what. He loved her without judgment.

That truly made him stand out from all the rest. He was different, not simply from her family, but from all her previous boyfriends as well.

In her youth she’d dated a lot of Ivy League brats trying to please her parents, only feeling miserable in the process. Then Adrian came along, and her entire perspective changed. He managed to stick with her through all her family dinners without any complaints. No matter how uncomfortable they tended to get, because her brother had no filter, and her mother got overly dramatic after a few glasses of wine, not to mention how her father treated everyone as though they were his employees, Adrian stuck by her side like glue on paper.

It was refreshing, to say the least. She just hoped that the trend would continue no matter what. Especially while her father was eyeing him with open distrust.

Ever since she was a teenager, and tentatively dipped her toes in dating life, her father hated every boy she brought home. He immediately distrusted them and wondered about their true motives. In other words, he was convinced all the boys who were dating her only did so because of the family name, because they were after her money.

“You might think these boys like you,” he’d told a tearful fifteen-year-old Rose, after practically pushing a boy from her class outside of their house, “but they’re vultures. They’re only after the money. Make sure you check the silverware before you go to bed. There’s sure to be a few pieces missing.”

That screwed her up mentally. Which was why she built all these walls around her heart. He was the reason she learned to hide who she was, even from prospective lovers, so she could be sure they were with her because of her personality, not the number of zeroes in her bank account.

Rose wasn’t proud of the fact she’d done the same with Adrian. It took her some time to share the truth with him, but luckily, he hadn’t held that against her. He understood the necessity of her doing so, and even laughed with her on how well she’d hid it from him.

Unfortunately, her father remained adamant that Adrian wasn’t for her. His animosity only intensified after Rose shared that the two of them were going to be married. And trying to point out to him how Adrian was a very successful lawyer with plenty of money of his own made no difference. Her father was convinced that everyone was obsessed with gaining the kind of wealth he’d spent his own life building. He couldn’t comprehend that some people were fine just being comfortable, like she and Adrian were.

Eventually, Rose stopped trying to convince her family she made the right choice. Apart from those dinners, they didn’t see each other much in their day-to-day lives, so their opinions didn’t really matter.

With all that in mind, Rose still couldn’t fathom why her mother insisted they gather and go through those extremely painful dinners at least once a month. Including everyone’s birthdays, holidays, and anniversaries. Rose thought she was seeing too much of them. Part of her felt bad for thinking like that. She felt like a bad daughter, but it couldn’t be helped. She simply didn’t fit into their life, their lifestyle. Sadly, instead of letting her go to live her life the way she saw fit, they held onto her and wouldn’t let her go.

Rose had been dragged in as usual when, at her mother’s last get-together. Her mother had pulled her away from the conversation she’d been having with her father to ask whether Rose had heard what she was saying to Adrian.

“I asked, when will you be here on Sunday? I need your help with last-minute adjustments.”

That was such an excuse. Her mother never needed her help with organizing one of her parties. Thelma Blaisdell’s parties were legendary, and always the talk of the town. It was considered prestigious to be invited to one of them.

So, it was obvious she had a different agenda.

“Actually, I wasn’t planning to attend this year. Adrian and I wanted something more private, maybe to travel instead.”

Her mother had immediately stopped eating. The horrified look on her face spoke volumes. She looked at Rose as though she had suddenly grown three heads. As far as her mother was concerned, Rose had said the worst possible thing in the world.

“What do you mean you won’t come?” she asked incredulously. “You’ve attended every party I’ve thrown since you were five years old.”

And now, Rose was thirty. Perhaps it was time to break such a tradition. Besides, it wasn’t like she particularly enjoyed them. On the contrary, she hated them. The New Year’s Eve party meant the entire family—not just her immediate family, but all of the relatives—would gather under one roof for one night, and her cousins were never that kind toward her.

“We have other plans,” Rose was adamant, looking at Adrian for help.

Her mother’s gaze immediately swung to Adrian, her eyes filling with crocodile tears. Rose squeezed his hand to reassure him, but the sight of a crying relative would make anyone uncomfortable enough to give in. He didn’t yet understand that her mother would break out the tears for any minor inconvenience or imagined slight.

“Perhaps we could swing by and stay at least for a little bit,” Adrian offered, completely caving in.

“Thank you, Adrian,” Rose’s mother said taking a sip from her wine.

Rose groaned inwardly. This is my fault. She hadn’t warned Adrian that her mother wouldn’t play fair.

As her mum smiled and shuffled off to flag down one of the hired waiters to refill her glass, Rose whispered, “Why did you do that, Adrian? I really wanted to go someplace else with you.”

“It looked like it mattered to your mother for you to be there.”

It had looked like that. Her mother cared about appearances, but substance, not so much.

“Please don’t be angry with me.”

“I’m not.”

“They’re your family, and they love you. And besides, it’s one night. We will have a lifetime to dodge all the family dinners or over-the-top parties,” he reassured.

“Okay,” she grumbled, kissing his cheek as he excused himself to the restroom.

 

So there she was now, on New Year’s Eve, hiding in the cavernous kitchen of her parents’ house, thinking about how she’d even ended up at this party she hadn’t wanted to attend. She couldn’t stand to have the same conversations with all her cousins over and over again. Everyone wanted to know if she and Adrian had set the date for the wedding yet. Why couldn’t they just let her enjoy the engagement for a while?

Rose looked around the kitchen, noticing it was full of all the best quality stainless steel appliances, with marble countertops, and chic-looking cabinets. Not that her mother ever made use of anything in this room herself. She had a personal chef for that. Tonight, though, everything was provided by a top-notch catering services in the city. Nothing but the best would do for a Thelma Blaisdell event.

Even amongst the bustling activity of the catering staff in the kitchen, Rose’s thoughts turned back to her nosy relatives. It wasn’t that they were especially happy for her. To most of her cousins, a wedding meant free food and drinks. Although they were all rich, they were all extremely cheap. And her mother would be in charge of everything, of course. Rose couldn’t stop her, even if she tried, and the day wouldn’t even be her own. Her idea of a perfect wedding would be a quiet, small ceremony in a beautiful garden or maybe by a lake, but her mother would find that idea appalling. Instead, she’d be forced down the aisle in an overblown production that was more for her mother than for her.

Rose had the same answer for all of them. They hadn’t set a date yet. And that was true. Ever since Adrian proposed to her a few weeks ago, on their six-month anniversary, they hadn’t spoken about it.

To be honest, Rose didn’t mind having a long engagement. She also wouldn’t mind eloping, although she was aware her mother would never forgive her for something like that. Rose would marry Adrian anywhere. She didn’t need all of the frills her mother would force upon them. They could get married in a swamp for all she cared as long as she got to marry him. Adrian was the man of her dreams, the man of most women’s dreams she was sure, and despite her surprise when he proposed to her after a few short months of dating, her heart knew he was the one for her.

“So, did you and that boy set a date yet?” Rose’s father asked, coming into the kitchen, his scotch glass empty in his hand.

Rose inwardly groaned. She’d been found. “Not yet,” she replied, her eyes on one of the women filling a tray with finger foods to take out to her mother’s guests. She was amazed at how skillfully she arranged the tray to resemble a flower. She glanced over at her father who was searching the counter for the harder liquor, she assumed. Rose knew he wasn’t a fan of champagne.

She couldn’t quite decipher his expression; however, Rose believed her father looked pleased at her words. Of course, he was. He didn’t like Adrian. He had already informed her that he fully expected Adrian to sign an extensive prenuptial agreement if he wanted to marry her. Rose still had no idea how to broach that subject with Adrian. She didn’t want it to appear as though she didn’t trust him. It was just that she couldn’t say no to her father.

Her father had always been a formidable man. He was very old school, upper-class elite, the kind of man other men generally looked up to and tried to model themselves after. He was strong and charming, always drawing people’s attention with his charisma. He was smart as a whip too, and despite their differences, Rose had always strived to be more like him than her mother. Along with that, he had always been strict and very wary of any man who came calling on her. She doubted there was a man alive he would approve of as a partner to her; however, since she became an adult, he was always willing to let her make her own decisions, as long as she took precautions along the way.

Rose noted now how her father looked sallow and unhealthy. She felt a slight tug on her heart, wondering if it was because he was stressed and overworked. He had always been a workaholic and was rarely at home. And being seventy-seven barely slowed him down. Now, she had to wonder if something more was going on. Tonight, especially, seemed to have him fired up.

Did something happen? she wondered. Should I even ask? He probably won’t tell me if it’s work-related though. Maybe I can find out after the party. She decided to leave her thoughts about his health alone until later as she refocused on their conversation.

“You will be the first to know when we do set a date,” Rose added, hoping to reassure him as she opened the door for one of the waitstaff who was trying not to spill a tray of champagne.

Her father snorted. “I know I’ll be your first call since I’ll be paying for the damn thing.”

“Actually, Dad, I don’t expect that. Adrian and I will pay for our own wedding.”

A red flush crept up his neck, and he was about to reply when Mother appeared at the door, aghast to see them standing in the kitchen. Her abrupt entrance nearly caused the woman with the skillfully arranged tray of finger food to drop it. Rose quickly intervened and caught the edge of the tray before it all fell to the floor.

“Thanks,” the woman murmured before escaping out to the other room.

“Why are you hiding in here?” her mother snapped. “I need you back out there, entertaining the guests. Do I really have to do everything around here on my own?” she added in exasperation.

“Relax, Thelma, we were just catching up.”

“What were you talking about that couldn’t be discussed in front of the rest of our guests?” she questioned.

“Your daughter informed me she wants to pay for her wedding on her own,” he ratted her out.

Rose couldn’t believe they were having this discussion in the middle of the kitchen with the waitstaff trying to work around them. It was humiliating.

Her mother looked appalled. “That is out of the question. I will take care of everything, and your father will pay for everything, and that is how it will be.”

It was obvious her wishes for her own wedding weren’t up for discussion, she thought as her mother grabbed her father’s arm and drifted back out of the kitchen to the party.

Rose followed them and practically collided with Devon, her younger brother.

“Have you published any more biographies of the rich and famous?” he mocked.

She rolled her eyes. “You know we don’t publish those kinds of books,” she replied somewhat defensively.

She was an editor at a prestigious publishing house. She really loved her job, reading great books all day. Having a front-row seat watching so many amazing writers turn ideas into lavish worlds was a dream come true. It really got under her skin when her brother or anyone else from her family tried to diminish her work.

Of course, her brother hadn’t picked up a book to read in years, well, at least not one that didn’t pertain to some game he was playing. He read everything he could get his hands on for video games, but when it came to traditional books and to her job, he did nothing but criticize. She brushed past him now, trying to find Adrian in the crowd.

It was exhausting avoiding people all night while trying to rescue Adrian from all her prying relatives.

“I am so sorry for my family; I know they’re insufferable,” she muttered as she tracked him down and rescued him from yet another nosy relative.

He chuckled. “You know, you say that every time we’re around them.”

“That’s because it’s true, I’m sorry for their behavior.”

Part of Rose still waited for that moment when Adrian would say he’d had enough, and run for the hills. So far, that hadn’t happened.

“You have nothing to be sorry for, Rose. You’re not your family. Besides, I’m marrying you, not them.”

She wished that was true, and knew that reality would be something else entirely.

As soon as it was appropriate for them to leave, Rose and Adrian did so. She never did get to ask her dad about his health, but the party was still in full swing well after one a.m., and she was exhausted. It had felt like that night would never end, which was why it was that much sweeter snuggling in bed with Adrian, falling asleep in his arms.

She had no idea that once she woke up, nothing would be the same again.

 

TWO

 

The next morning, Rose was in the kitchen making breakfast when her phone started ringing. It was her mother, which was odd. Normally, her mother refused to speak with anyone before noon. Rose was tempted to let it go to voicemail, but something told her she needed to answer.

“Hello?”

“Rose. I need you to come home, right now,” she said, her voice strange.

Rose was taken aback. Something was very wrong. “Why? What’s happened?”

Her mother didn’t reply. Rose’s heart raced. She’d never heard her mother at a loss for words before, and the silence on the other end of the line was deafening.

“Mom?”

“Your father’s dead.”

All of a sudden, Rose couldn’t feel her legs. The world turned topsy-turvy. “I’m on my way,” she managed to choke out.

Driving erratically and running several red lights to get there, Rose arrived at her parents’ house, but the coroner’s office had already taken her father away. Rose begged her mother to tell her what happened, but her mother couldn’t reply, simply staring into space and shaking her head.

Rose’s mother, Devon, and Rose sat in the dining room, sharing breakfast as though it was a normal day. Her mother insisted that they all needed to eat.

Rose couldn’t stomach anything but agreed to it because she knew her mother would be more talkative if things were just as she wanted them to be.

“Mom, what happened?” Rose asked.

“I wasn’t there, dear.” Her eyes welled up almost instantaneously. “One of the maids informed me they’d found your father unresponsive in bed. I had them call the paramedics and they called the coroner.”

Rose knew her mother and father hadn’t slept in the same room for decades, so she wasn’t surprised someone else found him.

“Did they say anything? How did this happen?”

“They still don’t know. I wondered if it was a heart attack, but we won’t know anything until the autopsy.”

Rose found that funny in a macabre way. Many people would swear Charles Blaisdell Junior never had a heart in the first place. So, for him to have a heart attack… well, it struck her as darkly humorous.

My father is dead.

Just thinking about him being gone made her stomach feel full of knots. She couldn’t imagine the world without her father in it. He had always been such a formidable presence in her life that anything else felt completely unreal. And yet, here she was.

It was impossible to her that he could die so suddenly. She had seen him last night. And although he had looked sallow and unhealthy, clearly tired, perhaps sleep deprived, he hadn’t looked deathly sick. She’d seen him looking much worse when burning the candle at both ends to meet deadlines. She’d always admired how much he pushed himself to achieve the things he went after, even to the point where he compromised his own well-being to get there. So it seemed unbearable to think that he was gone from some bizarre illness.

Would it have made a difference if she’d said something to him about his health last night? Rose stopped those thoughts. If she started thinking along those lines, blaming herself for what happened, she would completely lose her mind.

“He seemed okay last night when we left,” Rose murmured, still trying to wrap her head around his death.

“He was fine,” her mother replied. “Said he was really tired and was going to bed. That was the last thing he ever said to me.”

Her mother began to cry as though she’d just realized again that her husband was gone. Devon soon followed, wrapping his arm around their mother. Rose felt tears sting her eyes as well.

As they sat around the dining table, Rose realized how much work was ahead of her: organizing the funeral, dealing with all her father’s affairs, since she knew that her mother wouldn’t be capable of handling anything important. Rose also knew she would have to manage everything on her own. Devon would be no help at all.

An image of her father came to mind. It was how he had looked last night, after their chat in the kitchen, and she felt a stab of anguish.

Why did you have to die?

I wish we’d had a more pleasant conversation.

I wish I’d told you I love you.

To him, that night had been business as usual. He was always a generous host, exchanging a few words with each of his guests, making sure the evening went smoothly. Rose recalled that around midnight he’d given one of his famous inspiring speeches. Rose had to admit it was a lovely speech. No doubt Mom had written it for him. She always had a hand in writing them.

And now, he was gone from their lives just like that, so suddenly, and Rose didn’t know how to process it; her mind felt numb.

“Did you call Dr. Moss?” Rose asked, recalling the name of her father’s doctor.

Her mother nodded and sniffled as she wiped her tears on the linen napkin. “Of course, he is the one who suspects Charles had a massive heart attack.”

Rose hadn’t seen the doctor here at the house, but she suspected he must have given her mother a tranquilizer before departing. Despite her tears, she was unnaturally calm. It was completely out of character for her often dramatic mother.

Devon still hadn’t spoken a word. His tears had subsided, and he’d risen from the table only once to fix himself a drink. Now he sat, drinking whiskey, staring into his glass even though it was barely ten a.m.

“We need to discuss funeral arrangements. Do you think Father left us any instructions?” Rose asked, attempting to get things in motion for what needed to happen next.

Rose’s mother looked annoyed for a moment, but whatever was on her mind didn’t come out, as she was interrupted by the incessant ringing of the doorbell.

“Where are they?” a voice Rose knew all too well asked from the front hall.

Rose groaned. They have arrived. The relatives. Rose looked at her mother questioningly. Who had called them?she wondered.

Her mother ignored her look.

Melinda Blaisdell, her father’s youngest sister, swept into the dining room with such confidence one would think she owned the place. Following close behind her was her only son, Joey Oldman, and his current wife, Nancy. Joey had been married five times before, or was it six? Rose had stopped keeping track after Michelle, the nineteen-year-old nursing student who had been as sweet as pie. She hadn’t lasted more than a month. Last Rose heard she had moved to California just to get away from him. Secretly, Rose was glad someone had tipped her off to Joey’s extra-curricular activities. She was too loveable to have to live with Melinda as a mother-in-law, let alone with Joey as a spouse.

Rose couldn’t believe her mother had called them. And at the same time, she wasn’t surprised they were the first to show up, not because they were compassionate and wanted to offer their support in such a trying time but because they were vultures, circling over the body of her father who hadn’t gone completely cold yet, most likely looking for spoils.

Sadly, there was no love lost between Rose and her father’s youngest sibling.

Aunt Melinda—not that Rose was allowed to call her that—had never liked her, and over time, that feeling grew mutual. Melinda was a short, sixty-year-old woman who’d had the same hairdo since Rose was little: a strawberry-blonde bob, small brown eyes, and very sharp features. Somehow, she was even more overbearing than Rose’s mother, although that was hard to fathom.

In contrast to her, her son Joey looked like the thug he was. He and Rose were the same age, and it had been a pretty big scandal in the family when he was dishonorably discharged from the military. Rose was never exactly sure what it was he did, but from the whispered conversations between her parents, she was pretty sure he’d stolen weapons and sold them for cash. Of course, it might not have been weapons exactly, but it had been something along those lines. What else did the military have that would be worth stealing? Rose had no idea, but Melinda threw a bunch of money at the officers and hired big-name attorneys, and Joey was released from his service, but with the dishonorable discharge on his record instead of going to jail.

Rose figured he might have been better off if he had gone to prison for whatever he did back then, because after Joey got out of the military, he chose a life of crime for himself. Everyone knew how he made his money and chose to ignore it. Except for Rose’s father, which was why he and Melinda had not been on good terms for years. They tolerated each other at family gatherings, but that was all.

Rose couldn’t believe they had the audacity to show up here, pretending they grieved over her father. Then again, knowing what type of people they were, she should have expected as much.

Melinda kissed Rose’s mother on the cheek, doing the same with Rose’s brother, expressing her condolences before sitting down. She barely nodded in Rose’s direction. Ever since Rose could remember, Melinda had acted in such a manner toward her. She had always wondered about the source of her aunt’s animosity. It was a sore spot for her to think about.

Joey and his wife did the same as his mother, giving Rose a nod, but hugs and kisses to her brother and mother.

“Hello, Auntie Melinda,” Rose greeted, feeling quite defiant all of a sudden.

Her aunt completely ignored her, looking at her mother instead. “Thelma, how are you holding up?”

Aunt Melinda had lost her husband pretty young in her marriage. She chose not to remarry because she did not have to, or so she’d claimed. Her late husband had left her plenty of money so she could live the rest of her life quite comfortably all by herself. Those were her precise words. The idea of marrying someone for love or companionship was clearly lost on a woman so miserable. She’d also chosen to take back her maiden name, which Rose had always thought was because she hadn’t really cared for her husband in the first place.

“How I must,” Rose’s mother replied with a dramatic sigh.

The pills Dr. Moss gave her must have been wearing off, Rose concluded.

In the next half an hour the rest of the family showed up as well, and Rose didn’t have a moment of peace to speak with her mother about their next course of action. That only proved what she thought before; it would be all up to her to deal with everything.

Unfortunately, the rest of the family thought so as well, but on their terms. They all had opinions. They all wanted to be in charge and steer Rose in the ‘right’ direction, so to speak, and help Rose’s mother deal with this great loss.

Yeah, right.

It was hard to concentrate on anything, especially under those circumstances, thanks to all the noise coming from different sides.

Aunt Melinda tried to take charge, saying Charles was her brother after all, and she knew him best, but Rose was having none of it.

Eventually, she barricaded herself in her father’s study, just to get some peace and quiet. Realizing where she was, and how strong the scent of her father still lingered in the air, she started sobbing.

She and her father had always had a very difficult, complicated relationship, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t loved him. That didn’t mean she wouldn’t miss him like crazy. He was the foundation of her family. He was the captain who steered the ship in the right direction, and Rose feared that without him, everything would go to hell.

Feeling absolutely miserable, Rose texted Adrian to let him know what happened. He’d called her immediately and told her he was on his way. She was grateful that he was so caring and attentive to her, especially at a time like this.

About an hour later Adrian arrived and found her rummaging through her father’s desk. She hoped, if somewhat naively, that her father had left some kind of instruction for them in case this happened. He hadn’t. At least not there in his study.

“The masses are getting restless,” Adrian joked coming into the room and kissing her.

“How long have you been here?” she asked, furrowing her brow.

“About half an hour. I would have come to find you sooner, but your relatives were rather clingy.” He shrugged.

Rose rolled her eyes. “I can’t deal with them anymore. Clara wants to sing at the funeral, and three different cousins have demanded to give the eulogy, but only if the other two are refused,” she complained. And those were the sanest requests she’d received during the day.

“Just say no to them, and do everything as you see fit,” he advised.

“That’s easier said than done,” she grumbled. Rose wasn’t good at confronting people.

“How are you?” he asked, before making a face. “That was such a stupid question. How else can you be?”

Rose shook her head. “I don’t mind you asking, it’s just that I honestly don’t know how I am,” she replied.

She supposed she was primarily in shock, but she was sure that wouldn’t last long.

“Well, no matter what, I’m here for you.”

She buried her head into the crook of his neck. “I know you are.”

“I love you, Rose.”

“I love you too.”