His Redemption, Her Legacy

Part 25

'Not forever does the bulbul sing
In balmy shades of bowers,
Not forever lasts the spring
Nor ever blossom the flowers.
Not forever reigneth joy,
Sets the sun on days of bliss,
Friendships not forever last,
They know not life, who know not this.'

-Khushwant Singh, Train to Pakistan
***

Hayworth Estate;

Scarlet cooed, holding her granddaughter in her lap.

Anne looked at her with sparkling eyes, pushing back the bouncy curls that fell carelessly down her forehead.

“So, the Prince defeated the dragon, and escaped the dungeon.”

The little girl clapped her chubby, little palms with excitement; her crooked teeth peering from behind her wide smile.

“You liked the story, didn’t you?”

Anne looked at her with a small frown, causing Scarlet to chuckle.
She had been doing that a lot since she started trying to learn new words.

Her innocent curiousness was what made Scarlet’s day bearable. She was the sole ray of light in the darkness that now surrounded her life.

The days were dull and monotonous, leaving her with nothing but a profound loneliness. She sometimes envied Zachary, for being able to escape the guilt.

She often wondered what his last thoughts had been…
Had he been thinking about her? Did he even remember the good times? Or was he too plagued by the bad ones?

She felt a familiar ache in her heart, thinking about the fateful night.
Had she known that it would be the last time she would ever see her husband, she would have persuaded him to stay.
It would have been difficult, but certainly better than seeing his cold, lifeless body, lying alone in the corner of the library…

How desolated and scared he must have been?

A shudder ran through her body at the thought.
Why hadn’t they let their bitterness go?

Why did he have to leave her like this?

She doubted if things would have been better, had they forgiven each other...Probably not.

And now, she had to survive here alone.

After making him the centre of her entire life, for such a long time, Scarlet couldn’t help feeling adrift.

What was she supposed to do now?

She had devoted years of her life to blaming him. But now that he was no longer there, she felt a strange emptiness.
So, that had been all that her life had amounted to, after all.

Her only solace was her granddaughter.
She looked at her with none of the judgement that the others seemed to carry in their eyes.
With her, she was able to forget about all the pain, even if only for a few moments.

However, she knew that at the end of the day, she had to enter her chamber alone- with nothing but her own demons to accompany her.
__________________________________

Emma stood outside the parlour, looking sympathetically at her mother-in-law.
It was only after a moment of hesitation, that she entered.

Scarlet’s gaze snapped towards her; eyes filled with a strange acceptance.
She turned her head to Annie, with a soft smile masking her sadness,

“Your mother is here. I think it is time you went to bed.”

Anne registered her mother’s presence and squirmed, extending her hands towards Emma.