My Cherie Amour (Fully Posted)

Chapter 48

It was twilight at Solomon's River. Despite the approach of night, Blaise saw that the area hadn't been touched perceptibly by time.

He was concealed, at present, by a thicket of beech trees. Their elaborate, multidimensional carvings, which surpassed hearts-and-plus signs pairings, called for him to touch. Running his fingers down the trunks, he admired the casts of owls, hummingbirds, squirrels, and other wildlife. It wasn't long, however, until he heard the snapping of twigs.

As he peeked around the girth of a tree with several hummingbirds, he saw Cherie standing in the sea of bluebells. They were on opposite sides of the river, in keeping with Mirela's dream, and the twigs he heard snapping were broken by a third party.

"Thank you for coming, Laurie," Cherie said. She wasn't speaking loudly, but this part of the forest was prime for carrying sound.

He had no trouble hearing.

"I almost didn't," Laurencia said.

Chills ran up Blaise's spine. He wasn't used to this curt Laurencia, and she seemed out of place in the forest. Her outfit was that of the modern, fashion-forward woman. He found her terrifyingly stunning in her full, dramatic makeup and a tailored power suit. By contrast, Cherie was barefaced and wearing a faded jacket and jeans. Appearances suggested that she was out of her depth, like a child matching wits with an adult.

But like a prodigy whose gifts make up for their lack of experience, Cher's much stronger than she looks, he thought.

"Since you got my message, you know I want to talk about me and Blaise," she said. "I want to clear things up."

Laurencia folded her arms. "What's there to 'clear up', Cherie? My boyfriend brought his fling into our house, paraded her under my nose, and humiliated me in the process."

His awareness of Cherie's sensitivities made him ache for her, but he resisted the urge to defend. This was what they'd expected, and her taking the heat was in the plan.

"I assure you that when he introduced us, Blaise and I weren't involved," Cherie said. "And when we first got together, I thought you two were over. I even had him wait a while before we started dating. I didn't want to be a rebound." She moved a little closer. "He told us different things, Laurie, presented different versions of his life. We didn't question it because we both wanted him, and we wanted him badly."

The guilt that had made its own home in Blaise revived, for in none of what Cherie said could he find dishonesty.

"Men are weak," Laurencia spat. "They see someone with a halfway decent figure and lose all their sense. Women like you are weak too. Why continue to spend time with him if you'd broken up? Were you that desperate to keep him around?"

"Laurie, Blaise came into my life first as a friend, and any friend I make I consider to be a friend of mine for life—whether, I should mention, they feel the same. Just ask the people I grew up with."

"You're wasting my time," Laurencia said. She shook her head. "What was the real purpose of asking me out here, huh? Were you hoping to ease your guilty conscience?" She scoffed. "You and Blaise deserve each other." And with that, she whirled on her heel.

"Laurencia, wait!" Cherie yelled, her voice cracking and echoing through the air. "My heart is broken too!"

The other woman froze, and she slowly turned around.

From his hiding spot, Blaise thought he heard his own heart pounding in his ears.

"He needed you more than he wanted me, Laurie, and he's more bound to Karina than he is to either of us."

"How dare you," Laurencia said. "You don't have the right to speak her name."

Of all the responses Blaise imagined, he hadn't banked on that.

"She was his wife, and I was his girlfriend. You're just the little fool who thought she meant something. He probably kept you around for the labor."

Blaise's throat went dry. This was still part of the plan. These barbs were signs La Llorona's rage would soon overpower the limits of humanity. But on a separate, more intimate level, he knew Cherie had to be in pain. For all of her generally easygoing manner, he knew she had great pride, and for most of their relationship, that pride had been under siege.

"You may be right," Cherie said. "But that's the funny thing about loving someone. It's not dependent on them loving you. You might know that as well as I do, Laurie—"

At this, Blaise braced himself.

"—because he told me he never loved you."

There was a loud boom, like that of a thunder clap, and then there was a powerful wind. Pressing himself against the hummingbird carvings, Blaise watched Laurencia lunge at Cherie. The latter moved like quicksilver across the bridge of rocks, and in doing so, secured her place on his side of the river. Noticing her speed, he gained a new respect for her childhood Olympic dreams.

A guttural screech came after this, and Blaise shuddered at the cry of a banshee, of a woman scorned seventeen-fold.

"Insolent little girl," said a voice that was doubled unto itself. "It's time you paid for your sins."

As many transformations as Blaise had witnessed, it was nothing compared to this. Levitating, Laurencia flew across the river like a ball shot out of a cannon.

Meanwhile, Cherie, who Blaise knew was pretending to be tired, trudged toward his thicket of trees.

Now a few feet away from the riverbank, Laurencia descended to the ground. Shaking violently, her form seemed to flop of its own accord onto the earth, and a blinding white light began emitting from it.

This was the small window of time that Cherie had to escape, both to honor his instructions and gather reinforcements, so Blaise was not upset when she sped back the way she came. He did gulp, however, once she disappeared, as this meant that he had to call on his courage, step out of hiding, and engage with the entity to come.

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