The Beast's Substitute Bride

Chapter fifty-one

"I will need to speak to Silas" I announced to them.

"Don't do that" Papa said quickly.

"Why?"

"Silas is irrational and it's worse now because of the failed mating. It'll be wise for you to steer clear of him until he gets out of whatever foul mood he is experiencing. Like I said, everything will blow over. There's no need to bother yourself"

"Okay" I said still not convinced that I shouldn't talk to Silas. I'll do it either ways.

"Promise me Paisley" he could read my mind now?

"I promise papa" I forced out and he smiled at me.

"I'll be leaving now. I want to get back to Kamiko's place before afternoon"

"Are you going to come back home?"

"Yes. But not now" I had thought a lot about it and realized I still needed some time away from the house. I will return much later.

"Okay child. Please stop by as often as you can"

"I will" I hugged them tightly and kissed them on their cheeks before I stepped outside again.

I encountered fewer people on my way to the pastry shop.

It looked cleaner now and all the over grown weeds were cleared out but I frowned when I entered inside. The shop was empty. It was very strange because it was at this time, there were usually a lot of customers making their orders for fresh pastry.

"Paisley" someone squealed and I chuckled when I saw Waverly. We hugged each other tightly and she pulled away to look at me.

"Asides from losing weight, you look beautiful as ever" I rolled my eyes. Everyone was going to mention my weight.

"I'm so happy to see you too" she laughed loudly and slapped my arms lightly.

"I missed you. We all did"

"Where is Bellamy and how is your family"

"She had an emergency"

"Is everything okay?"

"Yes. She mentioned a sprained ankle or something like that" she waved the discussion away.

"She'll be upset that she didn't get to see you. We took permanent shifts here just so we could catch you incase you stopped by"

"Why didn't you just come to Kamiko's place"

"I personally felt like we'll see you when it was time. I didn't want to push. Just wait until you came to us"

"The shop is empty. Why is that? No pastries today?"

She sighed deeply. "We've had a lot in the last few days and a lot of leftovers"

"Why is that? Is there a new pastry shop?" If that was the case then we needed to do a lot of work to get our customers back. The other shop must have gotten the edge because we have been unopened for so long.

"The customers aren't coming in anymore honey because of what happened with the failed mating. Some have stated clearly that they do not want to be associated with anything that concerns your family"

Ouch. It was this deep? Why didn't anybody say a thing. I really needed to see Silas and have a proper conversation so he can talk to the villagers and let them know there was nothing to fear.

"How has Nevaeh been dealing with this?" It must be really hard on her. She really loved the shop so much and out a lot of effort into building it to a great success. But why didn't she say a word to me?

I sighed. I've been so lost in my grief that I didn't even care about what must have been going on in her life and she didn't want to tell me so she wouldn't add to my stress.

I needed to talk to her too and maybe apologize for being a tad bit selfish even though it was totally necessary.

"She was really excited to get back to baking but the lack of response bummed her. She was sad for a few days but she had quickly gotten over it. She doesn't bother to bake anymore"

"Why? How could she abandon her biggest dream?"

"It's really sad. She doesn't even come to the shop anymore"

"What? She hasn't come here today?"

"No. Not for a few days. I do some few pastries in case we get any customers"

"Mama said she was here at the shop" she shook her head.

"I've not seen her today or in the last few days. I tried calling her number but it wasn't connecting. She must be really depressed about what's happening and decided to take sometime off" I felt terrible now but also confused.

If she wasn't at the shop, then where was she.

"I'll have to be on my way now. I'll stop by again and I'll try to speak to Nevaeh and see what we could do to bring back the shop and our customers"

She smiled. "I believe in you and I totally can't wait for that"

I hugged her again and left the shop. I wondered if mama and papa knew about the situation at the shop or was she hiding it from them.

Or maybe they knew and didn't want to tell me because they didn't want me to worry. It didn't make sense. It wasn't something they should be keeping from me.

Immediately I left Edel's place, I was going to have a talk with Silas. Fuck what papa said. All the hard work we had put into that shop couldn't go down the drain just like that. There had to be something we can do.

I walked down to Edel's place with fast steps. I wanted to be done with him quickly and see Silas before the afternoon. Thankfully, there were also few people on the road that either didn't recognize me or didn't care.

His front door was locked but his car was in the driveway. Meaning he was inside. I wondered if I should return back home or just do it and get over with once and for all.

I took the spare key from where it was under the front door mat and opened the door.

"Edel" I called out but there was no response. Out of habit, I dropped my bag on the dining table and I was about to move towards the stairs when a white paper with my last name boldly written on it.

I frowned. What was this and why was it here?

I picked it up out of curiosity and opened the folded paper.

Written boldly at the top of the paper was Nevaeh's name on a hospital test result.

It was positive. Nevaeh was pregnant. But why was the result in Edel's house.

"Paisley" I turned to see Edel with a guilty expression on his face.

"Who is that?" I heard a familiar voice.

Nevaeh came down the stairs with my dressing gown that I left in Edel's house.