B9/Ch1: RETURN TO WELSHPORT

Evie & Matthew return to Welshport

Almost five years ago, Evie Jordan stepped off a ship from Britain onto American soil. Like many before her, she pinned all her hopes and dreams on her new life with her soon-to-be new husband Sebastian Lord. 

Those hopes and dreams brought her into a world of wealth, privilege and power that became tainted by twisted family secrets of nightmares and shadows.

Despite the trials and hardships, horrors and dangers, chaotic loves and even death, Welshport was her now home. And she thought of it now like it was the most beautiful place on earth. 

This is where she fell in love, found her strength and independence and where she became a mother to a boy she had gone to the depths of hell to save.

Her home was now their home. Motherhood made all the difference.

Today, on her return from her treacherous kidnapping to Scotland, Evie Jordan-Lord once again stood in the exact same spot in Welshport harbor. Seagulls circled, the waves crashed in big blue and white crushes of spray. The air was crisp and salty and filled her lungs just as she remembered.

Evie and a group of her friends were returning home fresh from her almost 11-month terrifying journey where her one-time husband had kidnapped her and their son. Every day Evie worried she would never see her son again. Every day she worried the dangerous cult-like hive of vampires she was trapped in would destroy everything she loved.  

But that fear was now gone and her bright blue eyes now flashed with the sparkle of power and strength of a woman with strange history behind her. She was a survivor of things unimaginable. No evil could break her down-- not ever.  

The flash of her own past put new meaning into her return this time around. This was a return to state her claim on her child's status inside the calamity of a family tree he belonged to. Evie was, now more than ever, stronger than she'd ever been.

She cuddled her son Gabriel close as the cold ocean wind whisked through their similarly colored honey toned hair. The Ship's captain bowed his head to them as he removed the safety rope to the wooden bridgeway that took them from the ships deck to the dock. Matthew was with her too, his strong hands gripped Evie's free one as she stepped up to gain balance. She looked into his eyes and saw the tender love he still had for her. Perhaps she still had it for him too.

Matthew's sister Hope followed Evie. Evie's cousin Roman and Jean Marc, two refugees from Cyfrinach Castle in Scotland came after and then Matthew-- he too on his return journey to a place filled with harsh memories that were very much intertwined with Evie's. 

As they stepped onto the street just outside of Welshport Harbor the familiar smell of the bakery down the lane wafted over. It was early morning, and villagers were already up grabbing their morning bread and milk packages. Sailors were already unlatching their boats ready for an early morning catch. 

It was all so familiar yet there was something too quiet and safe. Welshport almost seemed like a flipped version of itself: once filled with mystery and fright now a shining quaint seafront.

"We should get to the beach house." Matthew said to Evie who agreed. 

"Where should I go?" Jean Marc asked, Roman smirked patting him on the back. 

"Hopefully our new friends will have us." Roman said.

"Of course!" Hope exclaimed. "We all came back together there is no sense in us splitting up now. Jean Marc can come with me to Matthew's."

"Roman you're more than welcome to come back to the beach house with Gabriel and I. I know the family would love to see you again." Evie said to her cousin.

"Do you think Aunt Aurora will have me telegram my mother?" Roman asked. "I'm not really ready to speak with her." He added.

It was the first time Evie got a hint of her cousin's possible icy relationship with his mother Miranda, Aurora's younger sister. 

"I think we'll take things one step at a time." Evie noted. "Let's start with getting us all into a hot bath and a good meal." 

"Agreed." Hope said. "Matthew, get them home safe." She smiled to her brother. 

"I will."

"Thank you for everything." Evie said, grabbing Hope's hand and squeezing.

Hope smiled and gave Evie a hug. "Think nothing of it. Now, shall we Jean Marc? Follow me." she added as she grabbed the young daywalker's arm and looped her's through it.

***

Charlotte encounters the new comers 

As the group separated into their own smaller groups, Fatima Braga and Charlotte Lord had been gathering items at the local market. As they were about to set off for home, Fatima gazed off towards the harbor and could not believe her eyes. 

There was Matthew and Evie. Alive!

"Meu deus querido." She said in her native Portuguese crossing herself. "They've made it."

Charlotte followed Fatima's eyes and gasped with glee when she saw familiar faces. "EVIE! GABRIEL!" she shouted waving her hands with excitedly as they got into a cab headed for Bellmore Beach, Evie's home.

"They didn't hear me." the young heiress said disappointed. "I didn't think I'd ever see them again." 

"Matthew did it, he really did it." Fatima said to herself then turned to Charlotte. "He followed your vision, and he actually got Evie home. Well done, menina. You should be so proud of yourself in helping." 

"I'm happy, but please don't tell my mother or Filipe that I used my powers to link to Sebastian’s mind and find Evie. Mother warned me not to use my abilities. Besides, they wouldn’t understand and they have enough to worry about." Charlotte replied.

Fatima mimed zipping her lip and winked. "Trancado." She said, Portuguese for locked.

As the two shuffled along the cobblestone streets with groceries, Charlotte suddenly stopped when a thought came to her. An old horse and buggy passed them. "But where is Sebastian?" She asked. "I wonder if he's come back too." 

Fatima sighed "That is a mystery I will leave for God to solve. If Sebastião knows any better he will never set foot on this island again." 

"Its his home too." Charlotte reminder Fatima, in a way standing up for her cousin.

"Humph." Fatima replied, rolling her eyes.

Charotte quickly changed the subject away from the controversial Sebastian and back to those who returned "So much has changed since they've all been gone. Should we go and warn them?" Charlotte wondered.

"Let that be for Aurora." Fatima replied, correctly assuming Evie was headed home. "Evangelina will have to hear it from her own family about what's happened: the good, the bad ... and the tragic." 

As the two headed towards home, Hope and Jean Marc passed then. Jean Marc and Charlotte locked eyes. He felt a sudden pull to the young blonde; her hair shined in the morning light. He had never seen anyone as pretty as her, especially not of his own age. Charlotte slipped him a shy smile but as they passed, she got a sudden sinking feeling in her stomach that stopped her cold in her tracks.

Hope and Jean Marc continued to walk.

"What is it?" Fatima asked Charlotte.

"That boy -- something... something about him." Charlotte sensed. "Who is he?"

Fatima shrugged "I don't know, menina. Someone new. He came on the same ship as Evie and Mateaus." 

Charlotte's instinct told her there was something odd about the young man, odd and yet familiar. Something she'd eventually learn and wish she never ever knew. 

As Hope and Jean Marc made their way through the winding streets of Welshport to Matthew's apartment they passed the entrance to the grassy area that led up to Saint Catherine's church where Father Donavon Ryan was helping one of the nun's plant rose bushes. 

He saw the two newcomers walking together and smiled. 

They did not see him.

Then, like a flash of light from the sun he remembered Hope. His smile turned to a locked frozen expression of memories of young and long-lost friendships. A nun yanked on his sleeve pulling him out of his dazed state.

"Oh! I'm sorry sister, did you say something?" He said.

The nun narrowed her eyes confused "You can replace the soil now. I've placed the bush in." She said.

"Yes, of course,” the priest said. 

“You drifted off father.” The nun added. “See a spirit?” She said with a giggle.

“I thought I saw someone I knew." The parish priest replied, blushing, his mind still swimming with the vision of Hope. A person he did know, from a long, long time ago.

****

Johnathon meets with his “nurse”

Churchill Green Asylum had a quiet disposition this afternoon. The feeling of a calm sea just before ship slices through a placid glasslike surface. It wasn't a normal feeling for a mental ward of a hospital, but then again, nothing at Churchill green could classify as normal.

Johnathon DeViana sat in his hospital room that overlooked the courtyard facing Welshport Hope’s main hospital. He had been there for almost a year now, recuperating from a tragic almost life-taking event on cliffs near the infamous Lighthouse. 

Sebastian, his nephew, had saved him from taking his life. In return, Johnathon had given Sebastian information of a safe haven for those like him thanks to his coincidental friendship from decades before with Roman Ashby. They had known each other in school. 

Roman's role as guardian of this A vampire court meant Sebastian would protect him for as long as he lived, but a letter that slid through Johnathon's door flipped that entire premise on it's head. 

Johnathon walked over to the envelope with it's various posts from around the world. It was dingy. Marked with fingerprints from mail carriers from overseas and sailors who'd carried it to this point and into the village in unmarked mail bags that smelled of the ocean and it's musty deep. 

The writing was familiar, Johnathon recognized it right off as Sebastian's.

He quickly ripped the envelope open and read the letter:

"Johnathon,

I'm writing you from a safe place; not the place you sent me to as it has been destroyed. Gone for good. Evie, no doubt, will give you all the details and poison more against me once she does. I don't expect anything less of my ex-wife. If this is news to you -- I regret breaking it this way. I wish it hadn't gone like it did, not in a heap of collapse and flames, but so be it. This is fate. I want to thank you again for sending me here, or at least, giving me the information about it so that I could decide to come or not. Your friend, Roman, he did not, however, live up to your kind words of friendship. He betrayed us in the worst way possible."

Johnathon's eyes narrowed at the word often used in Sebastian's text "us". Who was "us"? He and Sebastian? Someone else? Johnathon was not clear. 

The letter continued: 

"After many weeks of hoping to have Evie understand where she and I belonged, Roman -- her material cousin-- helped her escape with Gabriel and Matthew. Yes. Matthew found us. To be honest, I had a feeling things wouldn't work out for me with Evie here. Perhaps my hopes were too high. But thanks to you I met a world that will fulfill me for decades to come. 

Evie -- she must be home now. Perhaps you'll see her with my son. I need you to watch over them Johnathon. We've had our differences, you and I over Jacqueline and the child she lost, but we are family, true Lords. Evie has abandoned that aspect of her life and returned with Matthew and my son — MY son. 

I hope I can count on you to do something for me. Watch her. Stay true to the bonds of our family name. Soon, I'll return. And there will be more for me to say. And Johnathon, if you do this, trust when say you will be handsomely rewarded. 

Lastly, Uncle, we aren't exactly the best of friends or even close but since we've shared that moment on the ledge of the cliff near the Lighthouse you've come to be someone I feel understands me and would wish me the best. And so, I'll tell you I've married again. My new wife, The Countess Dominique Doshall, and I are very happy. I hope you'll meet her. Soon.

With that, give my love to my son. And thank you.

Your nephew Sebastian."

Johnathon crumbled up the letter in his hands into a ball. He felt sick to his stomach. When he had told Sebastian of the world his friend Roman had found himself in, he had never, ever intended Sebastian to take his family with him. The idea, Johnathon thought, was that Sebatian would go there alone -- stay forever-- and leave his family free of his cursed life. 

And most of all, leave Jacqueline's hungry gaze. 

Aside from that, Sebastian's ask troubled him -- to watch over Evie. To be Sebastian's proxy ghost felt strange to him but could also be quite lucrative if he pulled it off in the right way.

As these thoughts built in Johnathon's mind, a nurse walked in. She had medication for him, the only medication that kept Johnathon's mind clear and in one piece. It was the only way he could live now, even if it were still behind the walls of an asylum.

The nurse noticed the balled-up letter now on a desk. 

"You shouldn't leave garbage lying around." She said, pretending to throw the balled-up letter into a waste basket but putting it in her pocket. "Your meds." She added handing him a tiny cup. 

Johnathon knocked back the medication without water and swallowed hard. 

"You have too many rules." Johnathon joked. 

"They're not mine, they're your doctor's and if you ask me they've been doing wonders for you. He's asked me your progress. I've given you good marks." the nurse smiled.

"You always do." Johnathon grinned as he pulled the nurse into a long kiss. Her coco-toned skin began to fade into an immaculate color of warm caramel. Her hair, those dark locks of honey, burned into a deeper beautiful chestnut brown. Her eyes like the color hazel, now vanished into a dark warm amber hue like an autumn leaf. 

The nurse was transformed into the shapeshifter witch Jacqueline Grey. They had reunited. 

"Do you think I'll ever get out of here?" He asked her after their passionate kiss that turned her back into herself.

"It'll be soon I hope. So that we can move on with our lives. Together." She replied. 

"Dr. Pascal trusts you. I think he'll listen to you if you suggest that I leave soon." He said.

She scrunched her nose. "We'll have to be careful. He's not like Dr. Ward or even Nik Jordan. He's a true psychiatrist, trained on the mind. Any kind of game will be like looking through a glass window, he'll see right through it. Give it time." Jacqueline said. "My magic is hindered thanks to Mary and the Witch council, so I can't snap and make things the way I want like I used to. I have to be careful how I use it." She reminded him as she straddled him as he sat in a chair.

"I know. I'm just glad we've found each other again. I want to start fresh." He answered as her arms looped around his neck. 

They inched in for a kiss. Passionate and free of inhibitions. Finally something in her told her he was the one. But it did help that Sebastian was gone, far way to parts unknown. She could finally focus on finding her own happiness, albeit with a mental patient as it were. 

"I have to go." she whispered as her whole body transforming quickly back into the nurse. She kissed him again and adjusted her name tag reading Isabela. Then quickly left his room back to work behind her pretend face. 

Now alone, she dipped into a quiet side office that had yet to be filled by a staff member. She pulled the balled-up letter from Sebastian to Johnathon from her apron pocket and flattened it on the empty desk. Her eyes scanned quickly reading what her former lover had told her current husband.

When she was finished, she lifted her head and stared out of the window facing the main hospital and the village beyond that -- her mind digesting what she had just read, Sebastian's request for Johnathon to be Sebastian's eyes and ears around Welshport when it came to his family. And then, the gut punch admission he was married to someone else. Yet another woman clouding his mind away form her.

Her heart sank but she had to be realistic.

Sebastian was not hers. And in truth, Jacqueline learned the hard way that he would never truly be hers, not now, Not ever. And especially not when Evangeline Jordan-Lord still walked the earth with breath in her body.

Jacqueline couldn't help but smirk at this. Knowing that no other woman would ever truly have Sebastian's heart like Evie did. 

"Good luck, to the new Mrs. Sebastian Lord." She whispered, her voice sarcastic in tone. "You're going to need it."

She crumbled up the letter again in her hand and it suddenly ignited into fire. When she opened the burning paper had turned to ash and it float up from her hand into the air and slowly dissipated into thin air like her love for Sebastian. 

She dusted off her hands and left the empty office inside of Churchill Green.

Her life, like Johnathon's, would now turn a new page. 

****

Reunion at Bellmore Beach 

At Evie’s house on Bellmore Beach, Aurora Ashby-Jordan flicked through the pages of a book she was reading by the hearth that warmed her on the cool afternoon. Her mind was trying to focus on the story, a tale of loss and heartbreak and the reconnection of a lost of. She could identify with its storyline in more ways than one especially in her own life in the last 9 months.

Right as she licked her fingers to peel one page from the next to move on, a car drove off in the front drive spewing pebbles into the law. Aurora had been too focused in her story to notice the car drive up. She looked out the window and saw no one. 

Then a knock on the door.

"A taxi?" She thought to herself as she went to the door.

Pulling open the lily-white door a beam of light hit Aurora's eyes from the sky just above the ocean in the distance. Her eyes hadn't adjusted yet when she heard a familiar voice.

"Surprise!!" 

It was Evie! In the flesh with Gabriel in her arms, and Matthew at her side. Aurora yelped with glee and yanked her daughter and grandson in her arms holding them tightly not wanting to let go for even a second. All the time they had been gone, she knew Matthew had gone to find them, albeit discreetly. She worried for them day and night. She wished she could write. She wished she could use some sort of telephonic service to get to them -- something, anything but never had the chance.

"Oh!! My Sweet Darlings!!!! Please come in! COME IN! Why would you knock at your own door???" Aurora said as pulled Evie in by her hand into the front parlor of Evie's own home.

"We wanted to surprise you." Evie said, her face lighting up to see her house again. 

Then a fourth person walked in behind Matthew, an even bigger surprise: Roman Ashby, Aurora's nephew, son of her sister Marissa. 

"No." Aurora said with a grin. "It can't be. Roman??? Roman, my god is it you?"

He nodded. "Hello Aunt Aurora." Roman eyes twinkled with childlike shyness. Aurora rushed over and pulled him into hug just as tightly as she did with Gabriel and Evie. 

"I can't believe it! How did you two find each other? Please! Please! Everyone sit down, tell me everything!" Aurora said.

Little Gabriel lifted his little hands and signed to his grandmother "Papa went away. No more papa." 

Aurora's face dropped and she signed back as best she could "Papa went away?"

Evie grabbed the little boys hands and kissed them.

"Its a very long, long story." Matthew added, squeezing Evie's shoulder.

"I can imagine so. We hadn't heard anything from you and -- well we feared the worst. What did he do this time, honey??" Aurora added her face softening feeling a terrible story about to be shared.

"Sebastian..." Evie paused as if she couldn't believe what she was about to say. Her mind flashed back to the dark room she was held in. Sebastian's cold demeanor. The way he almost felt like a stranger and how alien he was to her. She flashed to the fight with Sinead, the fall from the window, the terrible smoke in the secret passages the feeling the she'd never find Gabriel again after he'd been taken and almost used as some sort of ritualistic sacrifice. It all felt overwhelming.

"It's ok." Matthew said as Evie buried her face in the crown of her son's beautiful honey brown hair.

"Sebatian held us captive in this place in Scotland. It was horrible. I didn't know if I was going to get out alive. He took Gabriel from me and hid him; there was this awful plan for Gabirel. Sebastian and this woman. This vial woman who'd only wanted Gabriel to--- I can't even say it."

"What?" Aurora asked, her eyes wide as saucers. 

"Aurora, she wanted to kill Gabriel." Matthew said. "In a strange, dark, sacrifice. Sebastian fell into this woman's web and agreed. We don't exactly know if he understood what was really going on. Eventually, we got free with the help of Roman."

"WHAT!?" Aurora shouted. "What kind of people was this? Why would Sebastian ever, EVER want to hurt his son?"

"He's not the same. She's used him, she's changed him. Even worse than Jacqueline tried to. There were others there. Like him and this woman. They all wanted us dead." Evie recalled.

"When Hope and I finally got to Evie and Gabriel things had already turned towards the worst and we were all lucky enough to get out in one piece." Matthew added.

"Hope?" Aurora asked.

"My sister. She went with me." Matthew said.

"Sister? -- you have another sister?" Aurora asked again, her mind still trying to put things together as she only knew of Matthew's late sister Alice.

Matthew chuckled "That's another story for another time too."

"The good news is we're here and we're safe." Evie added.

"YES! And you!" Aurora said pointing to her handsome nephew. "How did you get caught up in this? How did you find them?" She asked.

"They found me." He said, his warm dark eyes sparking with happiness to be back with his family. "After Uncle Richard died and all of you left things in England got very complicated for many of us. Including myself and my mother. So, when Evie found me, I was living there, in that place -- working so to speak, for years. The family that I owed money to had me working it off in that Scottish mansion, a castle really, and I had to be there doing things for them and with them. I'm not proud of what I did, not a thing, but I owed them a lot of money." Roman said.

"Are you alright?" Aurora asked. "Now, I mean, do you need help with paying off your debt? Because the family is in a better place now. Everything has slowly gotten better. I've been able to keep myself afloat, and Evie, of course I won't speak for her, but she has a substantial amount of money now that I'm sure could help." 

Evie agreed. "I've already offered."

"No, no. As I mentioned to Evie when she offered, my debts were paid off years ago. I just had no where else to go. So I stayed there within that household. It wasn't until Evie and Gabriel came that I realized what I was doing was -- well for lack of a better word - foolish. I didn't need to live there and do the things they wanted me to. I had a family out there and fate came and reminded me of that." Roman said.

Matthew patted Roman's back and smiled. "He was a huge help. Without Roman I don't think we would have gotten out alive." 

"What I still don't understand, well there's a lot I don't understand about all this, and maybe that's for the best, but what are the odds that Sebastian would find you there? Its seems so --- deliberate." Aurora asked.

They all turned to Roman who seemed cornered, he shrugged "Random luck." He said, lying. He wasn't sure he should reveal his former friendship with Johnathon DeViana, who was the person who sent Sebastian to Scotland and to Cyfrinach Castle. No yet anyway.

Gabriel began to sign again "Papa." 

Aurora smiled and turned to Evie "So? Sebastian?" 

Evie sighed. "He's alive. But, he's no longer the Sebastian I hoped would fight those dark tendencies. He tried, I'll give him that, for years he tried, but I think now it's over. He's fully given himself to the thing he's become. I don't know if we'll ever get him back."

"Did he hurt you?" Aurora asked.

"No, no, not physically, at least. But he and I will never be the same. I don't think I can ever trust him if he ever comes back. But I don't think that's likely." 

Aurora sighed and grabbed her daughter's hand and squeezed as if to feel if it were real, one more time. Roman, for his part, knew that as Gabriel was the mixling at some point Dominique would seek him out again. The child was one of a kind, as far as everyone knew, and her hold on life would not last forever. The powers from the dead Count transferring to her would last but Dominique's lust for control over herself and the curse laid on her would most certainly give her hope to find the mixling again. Using Sebastian's love for his son would almost guarantee their return here -- someday. 

"Matthew I don't know how to thank you for putting yourself in danger for Evie. I know that Roman would have helped her but I'm sure you being there, with Hope, made all the difference." Aurora said.

"Like I've always told her," Matthew said turning to Evie as their eyes met. "I will always protect her no matter what. I just feel it in my heart that that's what I am here for."

Evie's eyes welled with tears, she swallowed hard, it was a feeling of guilt for having pushed away someone who loved her so much. She wanted to be an independent person, following her own passions and her own life with her son but she didn't realize that that didn't mean she had to push Matthew away in the process. He wasn't the type of man who would make her choose between her independence and love, he of all people, was the kind of man proud enough to let her do her own thing and yet still love her. 

She saw him now, selfless, kind and generous. A man that could truly be a good role model for Gabriel. A man who could teach him to be a stand-up person, honorable, gentle, compassionate and fearless. 

Their love would need mending, as all love needs after traumatic events, but Evie hoped in her heart that there was still room for him in hers. Matthew, of course, would always be there for her when she was ready. He saw her as his person. The one. 

"Come, let me get you all something to drink. Roman, will you help me in the kitchen?" Aurora said, a surprise to Roman.

"Oh! Um, of course." 

***

Aurora reconnects with her nephew Roman 

As Matthew and Evie settled in the parlor with Gabriel, Aurora and Roman stepped into the kitchen that was only a room over. She cleared a tray that had a large vase with roses in it and placed a pitched of cool tear and some sparkling glasses. She grabbed a lemon and began to cut slices and placed them on a perfect white plate. 

"Is there something I should add to the tray?" Roman asked, trying to figure out why Aurora would ask him to help with such an easy task.

"No." Aurora smirked. "I wanted to speak with you alone. Your mother -- I know you haven't spoken to her in a very long time. She's told me. Will you tell her you're here?" Aurora asked of her sister Marissa. 

Roman bowed his head. He wasn't sure he would.

"Darling, you need to tell her. I'm sure she misses you." Aurora instructed.

"I'll write her." She said.

"Yes, you should. I can't imagine how beside herself she must be after all this time. Its been years you've seen or spoken to he, right?" Aurora asked.

"I haven't seen her in years, yes. The Doshalls kept me from everything I was before. We'd write every Christmas while I was in England and she was here in the states but once I got tangled up with the Doshalls...well that stopped."

"Years! That's too much for any mother. Please, darling, write her and tell her you're safe and you're here with us. I know she'll feel better knowing you're finally with family." Aurora said.

"I will Aunty." He replied as she handed him the tray with tea and lemon slices.

"Wait." She said as he turned to go back into the parlor. "Your father, have you told him you're here?" 

Roman's face froze. He hadn't seen his father ever. His mother Marissa had left Welshport when she was 2 months pregnant with Roman to live in England near Aurora and her own growing family. Marissa and Roman's father were never married and had only been short-time lovers. The man had known Marrissa gave birth in England but never imagined the child was his. She was married at the time, and he was just starting a relationship with someone else. They were having an affair. 

Aurora had always known the truth, and Roman's father's identity. Roman knew too. But no one ever told the father. This was Roman's first time back in America since he was 2 years old. He'd come only once to visit his late maternal grandparents who lived in Boston. But he'd never been to Welshport. 

"Are you going to reach out to him?" Aurora asked.

Roman froze again and wasn't sure how to reply. Aurora sighed and patted his cheek with her soft hand "One thing at a time." She said.

***

Shocking news in THE GLOBE

Back in the parlor, Gabriel had gone down from his mother's lap and was playing on the floor with a newspaper he had found on the coffee table. He was pulling it apart and throwing page after page all over the place. Matthew shook his head and grinned and began to help Evie clean it up when he came face to face with a the shocking headlines on the front page. 

"Evie, look." He said showing her. “Churchill.”

Evie gasped as she read the headline about the divisive mayor of Welshport and she recalled what Matthew told her he saw outside of Churchill’s home in the middle of the night.

Suddenly, Aurora and Roman reentered with the tea.

"Mum, what -- what's happened??" Evie asked as she showed the headline to Aurora.

The headline read: "CHURCHILL MEMORIAL PLAQUE CEREMONY, MAYOR ELECT CRAMER TO PRESIDE" then below that another headline stuck out "A LORD SENTENCED FOR DEATH OF LOCAL DOCTOR"

"Where's Nikolas?" Evie added, thinking quickly about her doctor brother and connecting the dots.

Aurora sighed. "Darling, Nik is fine, Nik is ok." Aurora said, as Evie breathed a sigh of relief. "But a lot has happened since you've been away. There are some big changes that I should tell you about, but don't read it from that paper. Its not all clear in Baxter's words." She said, noting Baxter's way of embellishing in his columns. 

Matthew turned to Evie who's heart still felt like it was about to explode as she handed the newspaper to Aurora.

What had Rebecca done, and to whom? 

Then another shock. Matthew's eyes looked towards the staircase as he saw feet coming down. Then legs, of a man. Then a torso, then arms. then the strong chiseled face of Eden Sydney, the assistant district attorney that prosecuted Evie in the botched witch trials.

"Darling, I ---Oh!" Eden said. "My god, Evie, Matthew! You're home!! You're all Home!! WELCOME BACK!!!" Eden replied moving down the rest of the staircase as Aurora looked over uncomfortably. 

"Wh-what's going on??" Matthew asked. 

"What is Mr. Syndey doing here?" Evie asked as a race of ideas sped through her mind as to why this man was upstairs in her home calling her mother darling. 

Evie looked Eden up and down, studying his very comfortable clothing choices, to her it meant Eden had been there. Perhaps over night. 

"I'm sorry, I wouldn't have come downstairs in such a way had I known you were back. It all must be terribly confusing." The prosecutor noted.

"Very." Evie replied almost sternly.  

"Evie, sit down, I'll explain everything that's happened, and the newspaper and Nikolas -- everything. But its going to take a long time." 

"Please do." Matthew replied in an equally shocked tone as he picked up Garbriel from soft carpeted parlor floor.

Roman looked around confused. He had no idea what he was about be dragged into. 

"I should let you all talk in private, I'll go back to my ---" Eden said, then paused, "Ill head to town." He corrected. "Aurora, I'll see you soon." He added as he kissed her on the head quickly making his awkward escape. 

Evie turned to Matthew who came to her side with Gabriel in his arms. Even as they went through hell in Scotland, the horrible truth was, the shadows of secrets and lies had never stopped casting their spells over everyone at home in Welshport. 

Evie and Matthew were in for a wild, wild ride as Aurora took a deep breath and signed. 

"Well, let's start from the beginning. We were all worried, terribly worried, that you were in danger but with no way to know for certain. There was a note in what looked like your writing and we hoped that the truth was you left with Sebastian willingly. Although, in our heart of hearts we knew it felt strange for you to leave us that way, without saying goodbye. Matthew of course, knew better. We're very thankful that you went after her, and at the same time very thankful you were all safe from what happened here." Aurora explained, still rather cryptically.

Evie and Matthew shot each other looks. Perhaps they were safe from the drama in Welshport, but certainly not what had happened in Scotland.

"While you were gone life went on -- we had to keep living -- the good and the bad. Unfortunately, there was a lot of bad. People got hurt, there were deaths and Eden and I found each other in that whirlwind of chaos. 

"And Caspian? You two were getting closer before we left." Evie recalled.

Aurora looked at Eden with pause.

"Mum, I think you should tell me everything." Evie said. 

Aurora looked up at Gabriel who playing in Matthew's arms. His little happy face gave her the strength to start the story, to tell the tale of what happened while he and his mother were trapped in Scotland. 

"It's so hard to know how to start." Aurora answered with tears in her eye. "Taking me back into all that pain and suffering -- it's almost like a dream that we all even survived." 

Matthew sat on arm of the sofa Evie was sitting on that faced her mother. One arm holding Gabriel, the other reaching for Evie's shoulder "Just start from the beginning like you said. The whole truth. Just remember its all over and you're safe, here with us." 

Evie nodded "I'm beginning to worry." she said sensing her mother was about to open a pandora's box of truth. 

Aurora sighed and began, as Roman walked over and sat next to her. His hand on her knee to comfort his aunt who was visibly shaken on having to recount the shocking last few months of their lives.

"You're right Matthew. I'm here. I'm safe. I'm alive and truthfully, I have Eden to thank for that because I could have been gone. You see, it started shortly after Matthew left town in search for you. All the Lies. All the Betrayal and yes, the deaths..." 

Aurora finally began to tell the tale of what happened in the time they were gone in Scotland. This would be a tale of unimaginable horrors that lead to shocking deaths, a trail of broken hearts and most shocking of all, the fall of the Lord Empire as it was for 5 generations. 

                        

B8/Ch10: THE LONG WAY HOME

Cyfrinach burns 

The morning had finally broken. The sun was set low in the eastern sky lifting slowly over Goodwick, Scotland as Cyfrinach burned with fire that matched the tones of a dawning world.

Down at the bottom of the trail that led from the castle to the village, Sister Anna had fallen asleep in the grass awaiting the friends she had made and sent into the castle. She prayed all night for their return. The morning dew stuck to her black and white habit like honeycomb. 

She stirred when she heard yelling from up the hill. Her senses waking her too with the smell of fire.

She sat up, soaked to her skin from the moisture in the air, and saw a group of people rushing down the dirt path with a ferocity that made her stomach knot. 

As they approached, Sister Anna saw Matthew and Hope, her heart began to race. They'd made it!

"WE HAVE TO GO!" Matthew shouted to her as the others finally crowded around the nun.

"What happened??? Is it fire? I see smoke!" Anna said, her mind in a tailspin.

"We have to GO! NOW!" Matthew shouted at her.

"The church, we can kind in the church, all of you, quickly!" Anna replied.

The group continued to rush through the brush and grass down through small paths made by from the night before. They got to a cobblestone street that led into the village. Early rises in town watched in wonder as the sky above filled with smoke. They watched but did nothing. There was a sense of liberation about their frozen nature as the group quickly flickered through the village streets. 

Anna felt the difference instantly. It was as if a fog had lifted and revealed a joyous, bright new day. As her mind raced unsure of what had happened, the nun ushered the group to safety. She pushed the heavy church door open and everyone rushed in except Jean Marc.

"Hurry, child!" She said to him. "Take shelter."

Looking in through the door of the church, the young daywalker had many gifts from Dominique but stepping into a holy place was not one of them. The sight of a crucifix was stuff of folklore and did nothing to his darkened soul, any vampire knew the crucifix no danger to them, but the power of spirit, the power of truth, the power of hope and love within the walls of a shrined place like a church was deadly in ways no one, no story, no gothic book had ever told. 

The holy world that continued to reign amongst the believers that drew in goodness was a deterrence and could withered any creature of the shadows after a prolonged exposure. The crucifix was as dangerous as kitten to a shark, but the power and energy of the spirit was an unbearable veil the curse of Jean-Marc's kind would not survive.

"I -- I can't." Jean Marc said.

"He, he's one of them." Roman said at the door of the church. "We can't abandon him now, he's helped us escape. What should we do?"

Anna's heart went from racing to practically stopping when she realized the child was vampire. She could not comprehend how he was out in the light.  She stared at him, his beautiful pale face almost made him look like a porcailan doll. He's eyes were dark and haunting yet not frightening. His dark hair was perfectly combed even in the frantic state they were all in after the escape. She walked up to him and reached to cup his chin in her hand. He turned from her, a nun could not touch him. 

"Is he full?" She wondered, pulling her hand back. "He's in the light." 

"He's what they call a daywalker. A special gift the countess gave him when she created him. But this place is still off limits." Roman explained.

"Is there a basement? Or anything where we can hide him?" Matthew added returning to the church door.

"No." Jean Marc said. "I can't be here, nothing at the church." His face softening with worry and abandonment. 

"I don't know where to take him." Anna confessed, sounding hurt she could not help the poor boy.

"I'll take him to the Inn." Hope replied. "I'll stay with him." 

"It's too dangerous, what if they come for you?" Matthew added.

"Don't worry about me, I can take care of us." She said with a smirk. "Come, today we'll hide together."

Jean Marc's 14-year-old face lit up. He felt finally apart of a group that loved him, no matter what. Someone, Hope, was about to risk her own life to be with him and hide away. He hoped that they'd be safe but in his young heart he knew for her kindness to be with him he would do everything to keep her just as safe.

Hope looped her arm into his and the two carefully rushed off into town while Anna ushered the others into the church and locked the large, wood doors behind her with a large wooden slab that fell from one wall to the other in a large thud that echoed throughout the church.

Now, the escapees stared at the freshly locked church door and wondered had they escaped the dark, dingy prison of Cyfrinach and replaced it for the more beautiful, magnificent prison of the Goodwick village church. 

****

Sister Anna at the docks 

Later, down at the shipyard in Goodwick village, the sky in the distance that was once black with smoke from the castle now blurred with a blue undertone. The gray smolders still lifted into the air but the fire, at least from this distance, seemed to be weakening inside the Castle Walls.

Sister Anna, in a fresh habit, walked along the dock with a basket of food. She could see the faces of villagers were different, their skin almost brighter with the gleam of a new hope that came as the castle and it's court of supposed Saints lost their power over this tiny little fishing place. 

She came to a sailor and his crew who were tying ropes around giant steel cleats mooring their beautiful ship. The sails were being carefully lowered and folded away for another day out at sea. 

"Excuse me," Anna shouted over the crashing of waves off out to the beach. "I was hoping you could help me."

The sailor looked down at the nun and smirked "I don't think there be anything here for a good sister of the church, now ma'am. But I can try."

"I Need help, you see a group of my friends need safe passage to America." She said.

"America! A bit further than we've sailed in a while. Whereabout?"

"Maine." She said.

"Maine...." He thought, scratching his sun scorched face. "America, eh? Close to Nova Scotia. How many?"

Anna thought for a second she counted six then wondered if she should add herself. She looked around the little village, her whole. A place she'd lived all her life. A place she once believed she'd never leave. A place that still needed her now that a new dawn had come.

"Six. Maybe seven." She said. "Six adults and a child." 

"It won't be cheap." The sailor smirked with the dark teeth and long dingy beard tied in a knot at the bottom. The winkles around his eyes and forehead made of leathery sun browned skin gave him an older look, but his little grin showed his relative youth. 

Anna looked in her basket and placed it on the dock's withered wood floor. She could see through the slats the water below washing it's blue jewel toned beauty over the black rocks. She removed items that she was taking back to the church for the escapees to eat and under was items of solid gold, money, and jewelry from the church's coffers sparked in the sun.

"Will this be enough?" She asked stepping aside so the sailor could see.

"Aye!" He replied happily, the items glittering in his eyes. "Where'd a sister like you get all this?" He asked coming down off the boat to inspect his new treasures.

"It doesn't matter. What matters is that this is enough to get my friends in need back to America. They have to be out of Scotland by tonight." She said.

"Aye, my mates and me-self can handle that. None of this is stolen now, is it? We be sailors of the big blue but pirates we're not!" He warned.

"It's for you and your ship-mates sir, if you're willing. That's what you need to know." she replied.

"Sister, the likes of you can't be a liar, can ya?" He smirked. "Alright. Tonight then. Have'em here at seven in the evening. We'll be ready to ship out then." 

The sailor reached for the basket of items, but Anna slapped his hand away. He bounced back and looked at her crossly. 

"Seven it is. They'll be here." She then grabbed half of the treasure and handed it to him. "The rest of this is yours at 7pm." 

"A businesswoman, are ya!?" The sailor chuckled. "Seven pm sharp." 

Sister Anna nodded and grabbed her basket and walked off stockily back towards the village happy with her deal. 

****

Matthew & Evie at the Church 

Back at the church while Anna bargained for a safe travel back to America for her friends, Evie covered Roman with a blanket she found in the cupboards. He had fallen asleep in the pews under the glowing light of one of the large candle chandeliers that glowed dimmer as the night drew near.

She smiled as he looked so innocent, his whole past vanquishing like a ghost as he slept there like a child. She wondered how her cousin could have gotten into such a mess, how he'd found himself in this debt to the Doshalls, but she also remembered it didn't matter now. They were gone and he was there with her. Reunited.

Evie then turned and saw Matthew cradling Gabriel to sleep. Another smile broke across her tired face. It warmed her heart to see her son safe in arms she trusted. A rush of love came over her. 

Matthew had risked his life to come for her and her son. She no doubt believed he never thought twice about it.

She walked over quietly to Matthew and sat down next to him. They were on the one step of the that led up to the white walled alter under the ivory faced statute of the Virgin and child.

"How'd did we get here, huh?" She whispered as he handed her the sleeping boy. 

"How far should we go back?" He joked.

"Matthew, I don't know how I could ever repay you for doing what you've done. You and your sister could have been killed, and you both chose to come here, all the way here to help us. You risked both your lives. Thank you." 

Matthew put his large hand on her cheek; she nuzzled it warmly. He gave her a half smile and leaned in and kissed her. "How could I not come?" 

She shrugged “If you didn’t come, Gabriel would have been…” Evie chocked up at the thought of the diabolical plot on her son, his life being snuffed out for the sake of a vampire’s. 

“Shh— don’t think of it. It didn’t happened. You stopped it from happening and any minute now we’ll be out of here heading home.” Matthew noted.

“Home.” She repeated. Then she sighed, melting into the thought of her own bed, her own home. Her own life.

She scooted closer to him on the step as the statute stared down at them. She melted into his arms, their heartbeats seeming to beat as one. 

There were so many unanswered questions remained, so much yet unsaid. 

But finally, for the first time in what felt like a century Evie truly felt safe — there in Matthew’s arms. She wondered too if they actually did make it out of their sacred prison could she truly find herself with Matthew again— permanently?

****

Cyfrinach in ruin 

A black car sat in the driveway of the crumbling smoldering castle with its engine humming. Its sleek shiny hood reflected the doomed blackened sky filled with smoke from Cyfrinach. The leather seats were slick and shiny, ready for the travelers who were fleeing the village and perhaps Scotland itself. 

Thick chested Kildare packed several bags into the back of the car and opened the back doors just as the veiled Countess and her new consort Sebastian Lord exited the main entrance of the now crumbling castle she had called home for decades and decades.

At the bottom of the front steps she looked back through the lace of her black veil and watched as the final clouds of black smoke lifted into the blue sky. Her father dead. The entire clan dead. Her whole life now changed forever. She was a countess of a court of one. 

For his part, Sebastian's eyes turned the other way towards the sea and down towards the village. He wondered where Evie and Gabriel went. He wanted to sense them, to use his every going telepathic strength to locate them --- but he felt a block. There was something not allowing him to take his mind to find them. He turned and saw Dominique staring at him.

"You feeling ok madame?" Kildare asked of Dominique who was recovering from blast in the garden.

Dominique turned to Kildare from Sebastian and nodded. Then she put her gloved hand to her facial wounds from the explostion. She knew they'd heal quickly. After a good nights sleep, she'd be good as new.

"We should be going." Kildare said.

Dominique now saw Kildare as her most trusted confidant now that Roman was gone, he could see her eyes, gray in the light of day, looking towards the furthest part of the castle where there was a basement where the last of her clan had been destroyed. 

Kildare knew instantly what she was wondering. How did it get to this? 

"We should go." Kildare repeated. "Arameed is meeting us in the location you requested." 

She nodded back, "Sebastian." She added holding out her hand.

Her new loyal husband grabbed her leather gloved hand and helped her down the final few steps to the pebbled driveway. She entered the car, slid across and Sebastian followed. She could tell his mind was somewhere else. As his new wife she was already adept at his idiosyncrasies, and she was sure to scramble any thoughts of Evie. Dominique was to be the only female his mind occupied.

The car puttered down the drive alongside the same dirt path the escapees took on their way to freedom. Sebastian's green eyes followed the path as it reflected in the glass of his car window, a reflection that didn't have his face in it. 

"Why are you worried?" She asked him. 

"I fear for my son." he sighed. "Our son." He corrected, although in his heart the "our" belonged to Evie and himself. "I don't know what she'll tell him of me." 

"Although I see nothing special about Evangeline as a woman, I will admit her devotion to our Gabriel is admirable. I won't take that from her. That being said I don't see her poisoning him against you." Dominique replied.

"I can only hope you're right." Sebastian replied. 

Dominique could sense a sting of regret from her new husband. The power she held over him was strong but it seemed to thin as the days went on. The new countess wondered now just how long she could hold on to him and more importantly how his guilt would affect the path to their future.

She slithered over the black leather seat of the car and lifted her veil almost like a bride at the altar. She tilted her head and kissed him on the lips, her hand with it's cold leather clove, caressed his jaw and his face to hers. He kissed her back, the sweet taste of her lips on his tongue made his heart skip a beat. 

"I do thank you for what you've done for me. You've given me a lease on this life." He said wiping his mouth. 

"We've given each other a new lease." She repeated. "What you had before, your life in America was limited. Together we have the world at our fingertips, and I intend for you to see it and live the way you should have lived all your life all this time. Like royalty. I promise you Sebastian, this is just the beginning." 

"I don't know how I can enjoy myself without Gabriel. I have been so absent from his life for all these years, am I to just be a ghost to him now? A phantom in his dreams of when he thinks of his father?" 

"I won't let that happen." Dominique replied as the car turned down into the village. "He's our son and he belongs with us. Maybe not now, but he'll be with us. I promise you that." 

"How? How can you promise that? I won't take him from Evie -- it's too damaging." He offered.

Dominique once again saw the glimmer of the goodness in Sebastian. His apprehension of taking what she thought was rightfully theirs-- hers-- could put a damper on the plan for Gabriel's life. She needed the mixling to live, it was still far off, but eventually she would fall prey to what happened to Alexandre. Time would take her beauty. Time would take her strength and at some point, time could take her life. Dominique would find herself at the mercy of whomever she chose to succeed her IF the mixling's life force was not used.

This was a matter of time, not conscience. She would get what she needed for her life to last forever, but in due time. The flames of the destruction of Cyfrinach had barely cooled, it was too soon to rip the curtain back and take the mixling for herself. 

Not yet.

Not now. 

"Evie will see the light at some point. She has to. She can't imagine herself as the mother of this child, a child that is so important of our way of life, and pretend his father was never you. We are his rightful parents. He belongs to us, and when the time comes, my darling Sebastian, we'll be reunited with him. I have many, many ways of getting what I --- " she paused "what we deserve." 

"I won't allow you to hurt anyone." Sebastian said, as the car turned a corner in the village passing the church where his son was being held.

Sebastian snapped his head to the church sensing something there. The white walls were bright with the sun's heat. Something made him look there. Something made him watch the church in his car window get smaller and smaller as they went passed it. He could sense that his whole heart was in that place. The woman he would never not love, the child he would have given his life for. 

In the end, his life took a different path. Could he ever find a way back to them? Could he ever find a way to a future where he could live amongst them after all he had done. Flashes of his time with Evie went through his tortured mind: How they met, their first walk in the lush gardens of Tirymor House, their first kiss and the first time they made love. Even the bad things swept in, like his murder, their disastrous time at Lockwood Thicket as they tried to rebuild their relationship only for it to blow up in their faces with Alice Winterborn's exposure of his darkness. Even his frantic digging up a frozen over grave to find Evie buried alive thanks to the obsessed with Jacqueline's games. 

All of those experiences gone now, only history and memories in his mind that were to be rebuilt with his new wife who sat beside him in their leather seated sleek black escape care. 

Dominique noticed his neck, craned to the side observing the church. She reached over and grabbed her new husband's hand and squeezed pulling him out of the memories of the past. 

"No one will be hurt." She replied, her eyes back under the black veil were blank and hypnotic. It was like sterling out into two black whirlpools of constellations and stars swirling into nothingness. She knew she could not promise that. But she did anyway - he was under her complete control.

As the car went out of view in the village and up a road that lead though the highlands of Scotland a blast was seen from the west wing of the castle basement where the last of the vampires were sleeping, hiding away from the deathly rays of light that they could not live under. 

The daywalkers escaped but the night dwellers faded into the fire of the blast. 

The Saints of Goodwick were gone. Castle Cyfrinach emptied and filled now with more fire, more smoke and ash. Its stone walls now returned to history and the villagers who'd go in at some point and remove all proof that a deadly vampire cult had ever taken refuge there. 

****

The long way home 

It was seven in the evening. The was sun lower in the sky and was setting soon. It cast a glow so beautiful that Goodwick looked new. A sparkling gem on the coast of Scotland with it's little homes floating in a sea of green hills. Gas lanterns lit snakelike streets and the windows of cottages all along the shoreline dotting up the side of the seawall and down the slope of the emerald hills sparkled in the dusk.

Evie, Matthew, Hope, Roman, Jean Marc and Gabriel, carefully walked up a long wooden plank with ropes along the side to the mid-sized ship that would take them back to America. 

Free.

Sister Anna walked with them helping with a few sacks of goods for them to eat and some clothes to wear during what would most likely be a hard trip back. 

"Thank you for all you've done." Hope said, hugging Anna. "I wish you'd come with us."

Anna looked back at the village, her eyes watered. "This is my place. Here. The new Goodwick will need all of it's children to rebuild. This is truly a new day." She smiled.

"'A new day', I like that." Hope answered. "Will you remain in the church alone?" 

"I suspect we'll finally get a priest here at some point. Now that it's safe. Clergy knew not to set food on this land when those so-called Saints occupied us. The evil kept the good away. That curse has lifted now, thanks to all of you." 

"Anna, you've done so much good here. You've risked your life not only for us but for your town and I truly hope things will be better here, not just for you and the ones who live here but forever and always." Hope replied as she pulled she kind nun into a hug.

"Thank you." 

"We should be setting off now sister, time to pay the piper." The sailor replied from above in the ship.

Hope stood back as Sister Anna reached for her basket that was much lighter than it was when she first came to the docks. She lifted the small white towel and showed him the rest of the treasures from the church coffers. 

"Your payment." She said. "Do not make me regret what I've done by giving you this. It's all the church had." She said.

"On my life, I'll do as I've promised. They'll reach their destination, sister. Sailor's honor." he winked taking the glittering bounty and sharing it with the rest of his crew.

With that promise, Anna took to the plank and went back down to the docks. Her eyes teared up and tears fell down her cheeks watching the ship prepare to leave her in the village. 

Evie stood on the bow of the ship holding Gabriel in her arms. She noticed the brightness of the town before her. It seemed so innocent, no one would believe what had haunted the hill just above in a smoldering cloud of fire and smoke since the second and last blast occurred in the castle basement. 

Gabriel signed to her "Daddy"

Evie signed back "Daddy misses you. We go home now." 

"Home?" Gabriel signed. 

"To Grandmother and Uncle Nik" the mother signed back. 

"And Fabien?" Gabriel signed. 

Evie giggled and signed back "Yes, and Fabien." 

"Daddy." Gabriel signed again looking over to the village. "Where is Daddy?" 

Evie grabbed his little fingers and kissed them; they were cold as the cool autumn air took the warmth from all their exposed skin. She did not answer him this time. She didn't want to keep saying that Sebastian was fine, or that he would come soon, or any kind of cover-up as to not upset the child. His green eyes were so loving and caring, and she could tell by his quivering lower lip that he missed his father already but, this had to be done. Their freedom from the shackles of Sebastian's darkness and deep seeded sinister side was bound to happen sooner or later. 

Evie was happy it was former. 

Evie then felt a thick hand cup her shoulder. It was Matthew. His large brown eyes seemed warmer than ever. She had broken their relationship soon after the witch trials, that now seemed a lifetime ago. Perhaps, she thought, she was too hasty. She did love him, she told him this, but at the time she loved Sebastian too. She could not make a choice between them, so she chose to focus on her son.

Fate had other plans and Evie found herself on the bow of a ship escaping a kidnapping by the very man she believed would never hurt her again. 

"Are you alright?" Matthew asked as Evie turned back to the village as the castle in the distance burned away.

"I will be." She said. "We will be." She added. 

"Dare I ask?" He wondered. 

She lifted Gabriel up, the almost 4-year-old slipping through her arms. "You can ask me anything, you know that."

Gabriel then fell out of her arms and ran over to Jean Marc who was slowly learning sign language. 

"What do you think happened to him?" Matthew asked, surprising Evie. She expected him to ask about their relationship.

Evie sighed, her hands nervously tugging at the collar of the coat Sister Anna gave her. She nervously tried to cover the bite scars on her neck. "I don't know." She said. "He chose Dominique and her world of smoke and mirrors not truth and reality. Its what Dominique the only way she could keep him tightly wound around her finger. That’s something Sebastian will have to come to terms with in his own when it all unravels." 

"So you think he survived? That blast we heard, it's taken down that whole area of that wing of Cyfrinach where we left them." Matthew noted.

Evie smiled "Sebastian is a lot of things, Matthew, most of all a survivor. I believe that of his new wife too. They're out there somewhere and I’m sure they're going to make each other very happy — or kill each other. Frankly I have to let it go, it’s time." She said.

"It?" Matthew asked.

"Him." Evie replied with a sigh. 

"Evie," Matthew said after a beat, his voice suddenly changing in tone. His eyes so loving and caring showed so much emotion and trust in her. He wanted to kiss her, he wanted to hold her. He wanted to feel her next to his own body to be sure she was real and there in front of him and not some dream that he was having. 

"What is it?" She asked as wind blew into her hair just as the boat began to slip back out to sea.

"There is so much I've been wanting to tell you and there has been so much we've been through — together. I want you to know that nothing will change how I feel about you. I will always, always, be there for you. I will always protect you and Gabriel, no matter what. I love you." He said. 

Evie’s eyes softened as Sebastian’s memory suddenly faded into the distance of her mind like the fog over the ship they were only slowly drifted into swallowing up the castle and Goodwick behind them.

“And whatever happens next,” Matthew continued “this love will not die. Not the way other loves have died. Even if we never ever see each other the way we did in the past, it will always remain." 

Evie's eyes watered. She knew that of him. Matthew was true. His heart was always on his sleeve and he kept his true feelings for her always out for her to take. She could only promise him one thing, that she would never ever take him for granted. Right now, on this ship back to America they were the best of friends. 

Evie, knew however, that the future was close by and they were destined to connect again because deep in her heart she did love Matthew more than she was leading on. But her fear to love was stronger than anything she could withstand. Her fear to love is what truly held her back. Her trauma over Sebastian's tormented love of her made her weary, made her hold back, made her second guess her feeling for Matthew. 

"Matthew," she said, her body trembling now in the shimming light of the setting sun "I love you too, but I ..." he paused unable to get the words out and just pulled her close into his arms to warm herself. 

"Shhh," he said. "Its ok. You don't have to say anything else right now. I just want to sit with those words for a moment." He smiled. "I'm not asking for you to make me feel anything hopeful. I just needed you to know where I stand and why I did what I did by coming here." 

With hearing that, those words Evie fell into his hug deeper and they held each other as the ship carried them further out to sea. 

Roman shivered in the corner of the ship as he saw the village he called home for many years fade into the past. He worried for his own life, not because he felt that it was still in danger but because it had been years since he had been apart from the cult he lived among. His life had not been his own in many years. 

He was still such a young man and now, he could live freely in his own skin without the haunting darkness and control of Dominique, the countess Doshall.

"Are you exited?" Hope asked him as she wrapped herself in a blanket that Anna had given her. 

"Excited?" He asked.

"For America." Hope said. "It must be a dream come true to finally see the other side of the world."

"Oh," Roman said. "I've seen America before. When I was a child my mother and I would go back and forth in those early years to visit my grandparents." he said.

"Your mother is Evie's mother's sister, is that right?" Hope asked trying to keep the family tree straight.

"Yes." Roman said. "Miranda Ashby. She came to England with Aunt Aurora when Aunt Aurora was to marry Uncle Richard." 

"I see. And your father?" Hope asked. 

"American too. Mother came to England while pregnant with me... he stayed in America." 

"Oh, well he'll be happy to see you." Hope replied.

"I don't know." Roman said. "He doesn't know about me."

"OH!" Hope exclaimed. "But you know of him?" She asked, the wind drying out both of their lips. 

"I do." He smiled. 

"Will you seek him out?" She wondered. 

Roman smiled then shrugged clearly uncomfortable with the idea. He wasn't sure about anything except that he was now on a ship headed for a place he had never lived in for more than summer visits and had not seen in over 2 decades. There was a small thorn of fear sticking in his side, it stung, it burned but it also made him excited to feel it. 

It was an entirely new sensation for him: to feel his own feelings of excitement and nervousness and hope. They were his and they were true.  They were not controlled by someone else, fabricated to fulfill a master's desires. They weren't designed to capture something or someone else in a web of lies. He finally felt things -- for him and only him, no one else. 

As light drizzle began to sprinkle down on the escapees staring into the big blue in front of them under a gloomy Scottish sky -- they all felt truly free. 

****

Return to Welshport 

At the very same time as the ship coming from Scotland sliced through the icy waters of the North Atlantic, life in Welshport had not become frozen in time as many would have hoped.

The world continued to turn, the days and nights shifted like alliances between friends and foes, lovers and enemies. Secrets on branches of the Lord family tree snapped devastating the lives of neighbors and friends who continued to live amongst havoc in the village.

Dr. Nikolas Jordan stepped out of a taxi cab and walked a few steps around the black shiny car to open the other passenger side door. He extended his hand and Danielle Holten grabbed hold of it.

She reached back into the taxi and grabbed a bouquet of flowers. Fresh white roses they marched the pale color of her coat.

"Would you stay for a bit? You can keep your count." Nik asked the driver.

"Yes sir."

Nik and Danielle grabbed each other's hands and began their way down a sloped hill of St. Thomas' cemetery. They walked passed crumbling tombstones of old names forgotten by time. Danielle felt a chill up her spine as they came to the freshly dug grave they came to see.

She teared up and knelt down placing the flowers down. 

"The headstone is almost done." Nik said. "It'll look nicer once it's placed." 

"Yes." Danielle sniffed. "I feel so responsible." 

"No," Nik said taking her into his arms. "You did nothing wrong. What happened was -- wasn't your fault Danni. You know that don't know? Deep inside you have to know that." 

Danielle shook her head and wiped her tears with a pink handkerchief she pulled from her coat pocket. 

"If I didn't come back here to settle my mother’s estate maybe none of this would have happened." She said.

"But you did come back and it did happen. That doesn’t make what happened your fault, because you did nothing wrong. Do you hear me? I promise you; it's not your fault." Nik said.

A cold wind blew across the cemetery and Nik pulled Danielle into a hug. He held her in his arms as she shivered in the wind. "We should go." 

She agreed and the two went back up the hill to the awaiting cab.  

Leaving the grave and the white roses of their loved one alone again in the autumn sun. 

**

"GRUB!!!" A Police guard shouted as he rolled a cart with several food trays loaded on to it.

"Back away from the cell doors, you lot, and get ready to eat." Another, more strapping guard said as they walked along with the guard with the food card.

"BARNS, step back!" The food guard announced as he opened the jail cell to slip the inmate’s food in.

"RAFFERTY, step back!" The same guard shouted as he went to the next cell.

"ANDREWS, step back." Another inmate in the Welshport jail was called to receive his food.

"LORD!" The food guard called. But the person did not move from the front of the cage. 

"LORD! You were asked to step back." The bigger guard  repeated. 

The person, named Lord, did not move.

The second guard's eyes narrowed, he slapped his nightstick on the bars causing a loud clang to echo into the hall of the jail. Ironically, the same jail cell that held Evie, Matthew and Mary only half a year earlier during the witch trial.

"BACK UP! Or you don't eat." The food guard shouted. 

The person, named Lord, finally listened and backed away from the bars allowing the food guard to open the gate and slip in the food tray.

The bars slid closed and Rebecca Lockwood-Lord-Casador grabbed the food tray in her jail cell and threw it across her tiny room smashing the food against the hard concrete walls.

The other three inmates all began to laugh and cheer her on. 

The food guard rolled his eyes, the other walked back up to the bars and snarled at her.

"You'll have to eat it off the floor then." he said.

Rebecca sat down on her bed and folded her arms across her chest and said nothing. 

**

Further off towards Bellmore Beach, Evie's beach house gifted to her by Rebecca herself, Aurora hurried around searching for a small little blanket she knew she had left on the sofa in the front room. She scurried around searching under chairs, behind pillows, near a baby's crib and finally found it in a toy box. 

"Oh!" She scoffed. 

Aurora then went back into a Gabriel's nursery and picked up a teddy bear. She cuddled it like a child and worried about Evie and Gabriel and where they were. 

"You found it!" A male's voice said.

"Of course it wasn't in the toy box, it was in the crib." Aurora chuckled. 

"AH!" the man smiled. "I knew it wasn't lost." The man said of the bear.

"I just wish I could hold him just as I'm holding the bear." Aurora said tightly squeezing the teddy.

"I know imagining Gabriel out there somewhere hurts, but does some of that hurt go deeper. Are you also think of..." Aurora interrupted him.

"Our son?" She said of the child taken from her. "Yes. I think of him too every day. He's out there. Somewhere. Just as My daughter and grandson are. I just want them all home. I want everyone single one of my children here with me." She said with tears in her eyes.

The man smiled sweetly and reached over for Aurora's hand. They held hands and realized they'd gone through hell to get where they were. So many lives had been changed so many worlds had been destroyed but they were together. 

"I love you Aurora." the man said.

"I love you too Viktor." Aurora replied to the man once known as Caspian Casador, now going by his true name, Viktor Holten and staying with her at Bellmore Beach.

**

Off in the distance, passed the sea on the mainland in Maine, a train pulled out of its station in a town called Collinsport. The train was headed south, far away from Maine and the secretive and dangerous world that was Welshport Island. 

"Papa, can I read that?" A young boy asked his father who was going over paperwork for work.

"This is not for you to read." The father answered. "Not yet. One day this business will be all yours son, and then you can read over these manuscripts and contracts all you want." 

"When is one day?" The boy asked curiously. 

The father lowered his work file revealing the face of Jacob Lord smiling at his son Fabian. "Not for a long time. Once we get where we're going maybe I'll give you a little idea, but now, just read your storybook, ok?" 

Fabian agreed and picked up his book and started reading it as if he were working like his father was. The two Lords were leaving town without Celeste. The trouble of their family following them every step of the way.

Jacob looked out of the window as the train curled along the crooked Maine shoreline. He could see Welshport and Goode Islands off in the distance. He noted to himself how small that place was and yet when he was on the island it felt so much like the biggest place on earth. He had bigger plans for himself now, however. The world he had built for his family had seemingly crumbled down a pulp -- his exile from the "land of the Lords" was a long time coming and the empire his father and his father's father and his father's, father's father built was now in someone else's hands.

Temporarily, in Jacob's mind.

The two Lord men were now on a train trip to parts unknown after what occurred while Evie was away.

It would not be forever.

**

As the smoke from a train's smokestack lifted into the sky above a winding track that hugged the side of an evergreen cliff, Celeste stood at a large window in the mansion of Tirymor now alone. She could see the smoke in the sky from the train but did not know where it came from.

She held herself, tears falling down her face. She had been abandoned by the family she married into. But it wasn't her fault. None of it was. What had happened was all beyond her control and now she was left to pick up the pieces, all the shards of a world blasting apart in front of her face. 

"Ma'am, someone is here to see you. A doctor." Jane said from the doorway.

"Alright." Celeste answered. 

"Mrs. Lord, how are you?" A doctor said entering into the glittering drawing room of the mansion.

"I'm fine Doctor, thank you. How's my brother." She asked, identifying the doctor as Johnathon's new psychiatrist at Churchill Green.

"He's doing better. The last time you I chatted, last week, he was getting better but now I do believe we've made much more headway into his treatment." 

"I'm pleased." Celeste said pouring the doctor tea that Jane brought for them.

Now that they were alone, the doctor slipped over to Celeste's side of the sofa. He reached for her face and they kissed passionately on the sofa.

"I've been waiting for this all day." He said.

Celeste smiled and wiped her lipstick off his lips. She felt guilty for it, she was still married to Jacob although months and months of turmoil had destroyed their marriage, but she needed this new man. He was strong and he felt so good to her.

She reached for his face and kissed him again just feet away from the large painting of Albert Lord, the man who built this life she was now living in. 

**

On the other side of town, a woman closed the door to Dr. Peter Ward's office. She read again the paper he had given with excitement. 

She was pregnant. She was having a baby with the man she loved: Aaron. Cora couldn't wait to tell.

Across the garden courtyard between Welshport Hope Hospital and Churchill Green Asylum a nurse made her way up a path and into the Asylum. She was there for her shift. She slowly made her way up a flight of stairs and into second story hallway and into a ward for the lower risk patience. 

She grabbed a tray of medication and followed the corridor into a bedroom where Johnathon DeViana was sitting in a chair staring at a table with an unopened letter that had just arrived. 

"I've been waiting for you all day." he said to the slender blond haired, blue eyes nurse.

He came over and took his medication and tossed it into the waste basket in front of him.

The nurse smiled and went into his arms. They kissed.

In the refection of the hospital room's window, the nurse blond nurse showed her true face, that of Jaqueline Gray-DeViana. 

**

Back in the village a man and a woman held hands in a small private ceremony. 

The bride's dark hair hid under a white veil; the groom watched over her with tears in his eyes feeling that he was having a Deja vu.

The 14-year-old maid of honor and the 14-year-old best man looked across the aisle to each other on their respective sides and smiled. 

It finally felt good for them too.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife." Father Ryan announced. 

**

"Mayor." A woman said, handing paperwork over to the mayor of the village. "You'll need to sign this." She added.

The mayor looked down at the forms and smiled. They were his inauguration paperwork affirming his place in history.

"Thank you." The mayor said as he signed his name "Nathan Cramer." 

He handed the papers back to the woman, a secretary, and put down his glasses on to an old paper with the obituary of TIMOTHY CHURCHILL. 

**

Over two blocks, in a small house where Filipe and his mother Fatima lived Mary Goode stood watching over a pot of boiling water, she was heating to make dinner with. Her mind was somewhere else. She thought about everything that had happened to her since the witch trials and wondered had it all been a giant case of karmic whiplash for the sin she'd kept secret for more months than she could count.

"Is dinner almost ready? This little one is getting hungrier and hungrier." Filipe said stepping into the kitchen holding their little adopted son Caleb.

She looked at the beautiful child and the tears could not be held back, she burst into tears and sat Filipe down. 

"What is it honey? What's the matter?" Filipe asked, his heart pounding in his chest.

"I have to tell you something." She said in a whimper.

Filipe adjusted Caleb in his arms holding him tighter. He looked at Mary and waited almost holding his breath for what she had to say.

She reached over, eyes bloodshot and puffy, and grabbed little Caleb's fingers and squeezed them.

"Mary, what's the matter?" Filipe asked, his worry turning to panic. 

She stared at them both as the water boiled over the pot and splashed over the burning range. She jumped out of the chair at the table and stared into the water that bubbled and burned. Her reflection in the water showed a woman on the verge of losing everything if she confessed the realization that came to her during the witch trials about Caleb.

He was not legally adopted. He was kidnapped from his birth parents Aurora and Caspian. 

But aside from that, there was something much, much worse that happened. Something Filipe had not known and something that would change his life forever. 

In her reflection of the cooling water saw her finger come up to her lips and shushing her to secrecy. The vision startled Mary and she screamed and jetted backwards towards the other side of the kitchen.

"My god Mary! WHATS GOING ON!!" Filipe shouted as Caleb screamed with the noise.

Hearing the commotion, Charlotte entered and grabbed hold of her mother. "It's ok. It's ok." She whispered.  "I'll take her upstairs, she's burning up." Charlotte added.

Filipe watched as Charlotte hurried out of the kitchen with her mother and went upstairs with her. His heart sinking with despair not knowing what to do.

Charlotte helped her broken mother Mary onto the bed. She lay back as Charlotte helped her feet up.

"Don't tell him what's happening." Charlotte said. "Not yet. First we deal with the child, then we tell him." 

The time since Evie, Matthew and Hope were in Scotland had not stopped the lives of Weslportonians for carrying on just as they did before. Secrets continued to build, worlds continued to crumble. Rivalries continued to ruin relationships and devastating betrayals continued to destroy lives. 

Evie and Matthew were about to return to family in friends in turmoil. This was only the beginning.