The Way Back Home

Chapter Thirty Nine: Bread and Roses

Something in the back of her mind, similar to Tom's voice, told her that he would be an amazing father one day with offspring of his own. As for Emmy herself, she couldn't imagine being a mother anytime soon.

They had a thousand other things to consider before even entertaining the idea of a family or marriage...

She saw the newly repaired watch on his wrist shining in the evening light, which Emmy could consider as her own token of devotion to William Schofield.

He slowly shifted Elle into one arm, allowing Will to reach with his free hand to hold Emmy's palm to his cheek, pressing a kiss to the strong pulse of her wrist. His ocean eyes focused on his lady with undeniable warmth.

I love you. His lips silently mouthed to Emmy.

I love you too. She reciprocated with no hesitation, also speaking with only her pink mouth without her voice.

Awhile later, Emmy sat at the parlor table with Cici as they both knelt in front of the young girl's schoolbook. Cecelia being only seven years old, the book itself was a simple one filled with pictures, but the child was having trouble sounding out words and stringing them together into sentences.

And Emmy, with her library background, had seen plenty of children from the Richmond schools come through at various reading levels.

As Molly and Will set the table for dinner, Emmy sat patiently with Cici, Elle innocently playing with a couple of her dolls on the floor.

"Just go by each word, like I showed you, Cee. You can do it." Emmy knew the girl was on the verge of giving up, but kept all her patience intact, locking herself into 'helpful librarian/teacher mode'. They both pointed their fingers to each word as Cecelia took her time.

"Th...the... f—flow—flower... bloom...blooms...in spr...spring. The butter...butterfly drinks...the flow—flower's...nec...nectar." Cici giggled as she finished the last word, grinning a gap-toothed smile.

"Great job! Now, let's finish this page, and I'll tell you and Elle a bedtime story tonight." Emmy pointed the tip of her finger to the next sentence as Elle silently walked over to the young woman and climbed into her lap, displaying her own bond with their uncle's American paramour.

Emmy wrapped her arm around Elle, the small child playing with the promise ring on her finger, and her other arm placed around Cici's shoulders as the older girl stepped carefully through the final sentence on the page.

"The...the spi--- spider...sits... in the web...wait—waiting to catch the butterfly." Cici finished the sentence and she clapped her hands happily, earning a proud squeeze on her shoulders from Emmy.

The brunette woman closed the book and set it on the table amongst Cici's other schoolwork. As she helped to organize the books back into a neat stack, Emmy glanced down at a children's volume of nursery rhymes... and the title on the open page caught her eye and a bout of nausea twisted in her stomach.

The Spider & the Fly...

And for a split second, she heard the sound of Erik's dark mocking laugh in her head and on the book's pages, rather than the illustration of the title characters... she saw herself in the center of the intricate web, bound in a spread-eagled position, helpless to move and her tormentor slinking toward her with the intent to consume all of her until nothing else remained, not even bones to be picked over...

With no hope of anyone coming to her rescue...

"Aunt Emmy?" Cici's voice broke through the woman's thoughts as she felt Elle climb out of her lap. Emmy looked over at the older girl who was gently tugging at her woven braid to get her attention. "Mummy said it's time to eat."