Back In time

Thirty-Five

"Abbey, where have you been? We have been worried sick!" Agnes reached out, grabbing my soaked sleeve. "Why are you so drenched? Have you been walking in the rain?"

That long and wet walk back from the wedding venue had provided me the needed time to compose my thoughts. It was a good thing that all of them, even Fredricks were here. Right now, what I needed was nothing but the truth.

"Is it true?" I murmured, shivering from the cold.

"Is what true?" The voice that I knew to be grandpapa spoke out as he sat on the couch with a pipe between his fingers.

"Did you murder Dolittle's family!" The last strand of patience snapped. My sudden outburst shocked every person as I saw horror written on their face. Even Fredricks too, fell extremely silent.

I guess she was telling the truth.

"Did you murder them?" I pressed, not backing down in the intensity of my question. After a few moments of silence, grandpapa finally spoke up.

"Yes."

"Why would you do that?"

"She isn't my daughter to begin with. It does not matter what happens to her as long as the name of this house endures." It infuriated me as to how he treated Dolittle as a pawn. It was no wonder she had developed immense hatred for him. If I were her, I'd be the same. But, he has to know about Agnes, right? After all, we are his granddaughters.

"Then, did you know how much Agnes has suffered?"

"It is her duty." He simply said, his face recovering from the horror of my discovery, now replaced with a blank expression.

What?

I couldn't believe what grandpapa just said. Or perhaps he wasn't my grandpapa to begin with. Though they looked alike, their character was on polar opposites. It was a shame that I took such a long time for the fog to clear.

"How could you say that!" I snapped.

"How do you think we could have kept this house? If not for the marriage, we would have been living in the streets by now. Besides, I have clothed her for 16 years. 16 years! It was all because your parent's death that forced me to take up the responsibility of raising the both of you."

So that was why Agnes remained married in spite of the abuse.

My heart ached for Agnes, but that did little help to relief the fact that she too, kept these things hidden from me. By now, the only thing that could be heard was the rain pattering against the windows. As compared to yesterday, this house felt strangely foreign to me. There was no way that I could put my trust in them, not after everything.

"Abbey, please understand. We did not want to let you know because we were trying to protect you." Agnes voiced out.

"Protect me? From what!" I felt infuriated by her words, "If you had told me sooner, I could have at least been aware about the history we had with Dolittle. But you didn't. Did you know how exasperating it is to be the only one kept in the dark while every other person in this room is aware of the situation? Did you know that Nicholas was also a set up?"

"What?" A gasp escaped from Agnes, and by the looks of it, she was truly unaware about that part of the story.

I shifted my attention to Fredricks who appeared too quiet as he stood by the sidelines; a side to him that was rarely seen. Slowly, I made my way towards him before stopping just a meter away. "You knew it all along, didn't you? About Nicholas, about the plan, about everything." I croaked.