The Winter Bride (TSBS-2) COMPLETED

Chapter Thirty-Two

Struggles are not meant to define you as a person. Sometimes these obstacle get in your way , so you can learn a little more about yourself. If the lessons are ignored , they will continue to reappear until you do.
― Christine E. Szymanski

Ashley Davis Harris

It was a mess. A tragic mess that needed time.

Although, I yearned to comfort Neil, I could not forget the whole ordeal that terrified and shocked my whole being. Curving my resistance, I let Kate take away his brother, because I had to deal with the tragic shamble within my family.

Grandmama thought it was my fault for bringing Neil Harris into their life because now, her son was willingly dying. But she was too distraught to understand her son would have been dying even if Neil had not forced into my life. She was a wall that heed nothing logical. I decided it was better to let her grieve in her way. Honestly, I refused to spend my breath and time on her anymore than I had to for all my life. If the situation turned to what she feared, I would be putting her and her worthless grandson in the first flight back to the castle she preferred. I had enough of her overbearing presence for a lifetime.

Uncle Matthew had done a horrible thing although he was not in his conscience mind at that time. However, when he was, he chose to step into the car. It was a bitter pill to swallow that a good-natured man like him would give into a thrill that caused such a tragic accident. Now, he could not go on, keeping the thoughts of his actions at bay, torturing him day and night. Everything came out to get him, and he accepted the onslaught.

It is God's will, he said.

Nevertheless, I was not as cold-hearted as I pretended to be. I did ask the doctors to do something, but his surgery could not extract all snippets of his tumor, leading it to spread to his bloodstream. Unfortunately, there was no cure left. The doctors were sorry, and told us to be prepared.

Uncle Matthew was prepared. Before he could go, he wanted see both children of the couple he had killed. Kate and Neil thought wrong. It was Uncle Matthew who wanted to give them peace so that they could go on with their life without feeling the guilt of not knowing or doing anything about how their parents passed away.

He had been a good man until this incident that took away innocents. For that reason, I wished him peace as I let the Uncle I knew, go and repent for his sin as par the God's will.

But Papa...how can I let him be?

My mother and I came to the estate late at night, and my sisters were already asleep, unaware of the depth of involvement of our family in the Harris family tragedy. Neither of us wanted to go upstairs just yet. We went to the library where Mama opened a bottle of wine, and poured into two glasses, offering one to me.

I could never imagine how my mother was before she married my father, what kind of women she was before she was swept into the world of fame, luxury and decorum. All my life, I saw her being a pillar to Papa, never hiding their affection to each other, then why did they hide their affection to their children? Growing up, if only they expressed their emotions to us, shared their turmoils, we would not be such a disheveled family. Papa was flawed, but his intentions were never evil. He did work his way from the bottom, gave us fame and luxury, but his affections fell short when we needed them. I could not change the past as much as I wanted, but I had to get hold of my future, our future. My family's future.

The wineglass remained untouched as I thought of my father's part and how I hindered my family's future. I should had known Papa could never have malicious intent, but all I could see at that time was the sufferings of Neil. Now all the things I did to my father last week rushed into my head, hurting my heart.