The Scarlett Legacy (Woodland Creek)(5)

There. She did it again. Evie almost shouted at her that Parker wasn't a boy once again.

Turning around, Evie shrugged, keeping her face unreadable. "I don't know."

Liar.

Parker had always been the one.

One day she would marry him, but there was no way she could tell her mother that. Not now.

"Tell me the truth, Evie.”

"Why do you care? Wes and Olivia will give you grandchildren soon."

"You’re my daughter. I love you. I want to make sure you don’t make a mistake."

"I'm an adult. Do I have to tell you everything going on in my life?"

Adelaide's smile faded. Her blue eyes held Evie's, making her suddenly wish she hadn’t just said that.

"Yes. You do," Adelaide said. "Shame on me for caring about your safety."

"What are you talking about?" Evie felt a warning in her gut. She'd never heard her mother talk like that.

My safety?

What did she know? Evie never told anyone about her nightmares. She almost shivered as they stood there in the darkness of the foyer.

Why did she always want it so dark in the house? And now she seemed to be waiting in the shadows to catch Evie disobeying her rules.

Moving in with Parker was sounding better each moment she stood there under her mother’s judging eyes.

“Well?”

Adelaide stepped past her, brushing Evie’s cheek with a warm thumb before stopping at the front door. She opened it and stepped outside into the cool morning.

"Come with me, Evie."

Evie was hesitant. She watched Adelaide's slim frame stand on the front porch that wrapped around both sides of Scarlett Hall. She looked like a model in a painting just then. The lush green landscape before her was beautiful, the pond standing between her and the forest that wrapped around the property. In the midst of the scenery, Adelaide she stood out in an odd way.

Evie followed behind her. Her entire body tensed when she stood beside Adelaide and glanced at her face. She quickly looked away the moment she saw tears trailing down her cheeks.

She wanted to ask her what was wrong, but she chose silence. Her mother had her way about things, and would tell her in her own time.

"Do you want to know a secret? One that I was too afraid to even tell your father?"

Evie glanced at her. Adelaide’s tears streamed now. Now she had to know.

Sighing, she wrapped her arms around her mother’s waist. Evie rested her head on her shoulder. They hadn’t embraced like that since her father’s funeral only a week ago.

“Yes. Tell me what’s wrong.”

Adelaide tilted Evie’s chin up so that she could peer into her eyes.

Evie swallowed. Her mother’s blue eyes looked especially bright and eerie in that moment.

"Then come with me and I will tell you everything."





THE TREES SEEMED TO SWAY to Adelaide’s stride as they entered the forest that surrounded Scarlett Hall. Sometimes she reminded Evie of an ethereal creature from a fairy tale; tall, beautiful, and lithe.

The world couldn’t touch her.

When Adelaide took off her shoes, Evie peered at her, curiosity on her face.

“Take off your shoes.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes. Leave them by that tree, beside mine.”

Her mother sauntered through the grass barefoot, her hips swaying with each delicate footstep.

Evie stood there, staring with her mouth parted, the lines in her forehead creasing.

What is going on here?

Evie took her boots off, and now her feet squelched along wet leaves, mud, and tiny twigs.

Evie kept her hands in her cardigan’s pockets. The further they went into the forest, the more she knew she wouldn’t make it to her first class at all.

“Don’t you feel it, Evie?”

Evie looked at Adelaide’s back. She thought a moment, wondering if she felt anything different. Truth was, she did.

She sucked in a breath of the cool sweet air, trying to make sense of the sensations that washed over her as they went deeper and deeper into the forest. They went so deep that the canopy of leaves above started to block out most of the sun. It almost felt like the evening even though it was only eight o’clock in the morning.

“I guess so,” Evie said, frowning at whatever strange sensation she felt. A strong urge to stop overcame her. She wanted to rest her head on the tall green grass, close her eyes, and forget about the world.

She didn’t like it.

“Good. Come take my hand.”

Adelaide turned around and held out her hands for Evie. Evie pulled in a long breath, filling her lungs, and stepped closer so that she could hold Adelaide’s hands.

Her hands were cold, so cold that Evie pulled away in shock.

“What the hell, mom? Your hands feel like ice.”

Adelaide snatched her hands back to her. “Your hands aren’t any warmer, Evie. Stop being a baby and hold on for just a moment.”

Frowning, Evie did as she was told. Soon her face paled as their hands began to heat, making her entire body warm up.

“See?”

She looked up to see Adelaide smiling.

“Yeah,” she said. “You have too many tricks up your sleeve.”

“Perhaps,” Adelaide said. “But you do too.”