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| Nik & Lear in Lear’s Office |
In an afternoon glow of sunlight that covered him in a bright yellow warmth, Lear Lockwood sat at his cluttered desk sorting through papers and documents he had locked away in several of his office cabinets. He'd been a lawyer for over ten years, still a novice to most, but he'd worked hard all those years to become quiet the experienced litigator, especially being connected to the Lords through his aunt Rebecca.
He was their courtroom shark.
As Lear sorted through his paper, dressed in his dark woolen suit and deep green tie, he finally came across the large tan envelope that housed the forms he was looking for: copies of Cora Taylor's adoption forms.
The documents that were crafted up many years ago by the person who brokered the deal between his father Henry Lockwood and the Murphy family were legal but the entire affair of the adoption of Maggie Lockwood, Cora's birth name, had been done by a black-market baby dealer who worked with Henry to find the right family who'd pay good money for a baby.
Money Henry desperately needed to pay off loan sharks hungry for their returns.
This dark history of Lear's family had not been known to Lear until recent years when he went in search for answers and found that Cora Murphy was indeed his missing sister and that their father had done this terrible thing to. Lear's hatred for what he believed Rebecca had done to his father, supposedly cutting him out of the Lockwood fortune, overshadowed the truth in those documents, but the time had come where this anger had to be lifted off his shoulders much like the fog lifts from the sea in the afternoon.
Lear sorted through those documents, making sure they were all there, and prepared to show them to Cora finally proving to her who she really was, his sister Maggie, not Baxter's sister Cora, although she truly was both. His main objective was to prove to Lucas, the man he was in love with, that he could be the kind of person who rights the many wrongs of the past and turn the other page on all of this. Lucas wanted Lear to be the man he thought he was: Honest. True. Virtuous.
Giving these papers to Cora was Lear's first steps to reach Lucas' high pedestal. But his sorting of papers quickly came to a halt as Dr. Nikolas Jordan entered his office.
"Lear?"
"Dr. Jordan! Come in!" Lear replied, shuffling Cora's documents back into the large tan envelope. "What can I do for you?"
“I hope you’re not too busy.” Nik said, his eyes dating to the papers Lear was quickly hiding away.
“No, no, not at all. Please come in. Is everything alright?”
Nik lifted a brow, his family’s business had been all over the papers, he knew Lear knew.
"I’m sure you’re aware of everything that’s going in town."
Lear sighed "Yes."
"My family really needs your help. I’d even say in desperate need. My sister is in a lot of trouble." Nike said.
Lear replied with a pregnant sigh again "I can’t imagine what she’s going through. What could I do?"
"I was hoping well... We're hoping you'd represent Evie, Matthew and Mary in this ridiculous trial happening soon." Nik explained.
Lear's eyes widened at the notion.
"Me? You're asking me to represent them in a literal witch trial? Doctor, I don't know! First of all this seems incredibly farfetched by any legal terms, and I would find it very hard to believe any judge in the country would take it seriously. Your sister and her friends would probably find themselves released as soon as the charges hit the judge's desk."
"I would hope you're right, but we don't think it'll come to that. We've heard the mayor who been spearheading this hysteria has one of Maine's highest ranking state prosecutor's here on the island reviewing a law that's been on the books since the puritan days. It's never been repealed. So, technically, a judge may have to take this to trial based on that law. He's found loopholes to force it to court. They're in real danger, Lear. We've seen what the punishment is and if they continue to go down this road and all three are found guilty, then, my sister is done for."
"I see." Lear said, sitting back down at the cluttered desk the sun once again hitting his face with a bright glow behind him causing a shadow to outline him in silhouette.
"There might be some kind of issue with me being the person who represents them, after all, I was the lawyer responsible for taking Gabriel away from Evie when she went to the asylum. The state might call for me to be removed."
"You were defending the Lord family. Gabriel is back in Evie's care, and she is a Lord by marriage. I am very certain Jacob and Rebecca would want you to defend her and Mary for that reason alone. Mary is Charlotte's mother, another Lord connection to this stupid trial that is only going to cause a sensation and more scandal. I'd bet everything I have that the Lords want this to end -- and end fast. You're the one who can do it." Nik said.
"Nikolas, this isn't going to be easy. I've read the papers. Not only has the mayor gone off the deep end, but he's feeding Baxter Murphy with more and more fuel to anger this entire town over all this. Ironically, its Baxter's column that's bewitched Welshport into believing all of this hocus pocus. If the town believes these three are responsible for the deaths at the Full Moon Celebrations, I'm going to have the hardest time convincing them otherwise considering what everyone already thinks they know and saw." Lear explained.
"That's why you're a good lawyer. You're already on it without even being asked to be."
"Nik... I don't know."
Nik took a breath and unbuttoned the top of his coat. The stress of the entire week had been a strangle hold on him, his coat wasn't helping. "Please." He replied to Lear.
Lear stood there for a second and looked down at the documents in the tan envelope of Cora's adoption. He had once held off in helping someone get out of a situation that would have changed their lives. Now was his opportunity to help again ... this time he wasn't going to pass it up.
"I'm telling you this won't be easy, but I'll do what I can."
Nik suddenly lit up like the sun and reached over and shook Lear's hand thanking him over and over.
The job would indeed be difficult. But if anyone could untangle this noose around the three accused witches it would be Lear Lockwood.
****
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| Aurora & Gabriel arrive at Tirymor House |
At Tirymor, the final repairs to the damage done by the mob on the night of the full moon were being done. Walls had been repaired, artwork that had been torn from their perches returned and broken furniture quickly removed and replaced in any room affected.
Rebecca Lord-Casador, sat in one of the freshly painted rooms under the sparkling light of three chandeliers above her whitening red hair. She read from a prayer book Father Donavon Ryan had given her and her 5-year-old grandson Fabian sat at her feet putting together a large puzzle of Tirymor House itself.
"Where's my room?" Fabian asked, staring at the half-done puzzle of the mansion he lived in.
Rebecca lifted her eyes from her book and glanced down "Hmm, that's the east side of the house, my darling. Our rooms are all on the west side. See?" She said pointing "This picture is actually showing the windows of this very room, right there on the left."
"Oh! Yes I can see us!" The little boy giggled pretending to see himself in the puzzle with her grandmother.
"Can you now?" She laughed. "Oh yes, there we are. Hello Fabian! Its Granny!" She giggled waving to the puzzle.
Fabian laughed at her silliness and waved too "Hello granny"!
As the two bonded in the room, the head-maid entered. "Young Fabian's play date is here ma'am."
"Did you hear that honey, little Gabriel is here."
"GABRIEL!!" Fabian shouted, happy to hear his little cousin had come to play.
As Rebecca stood from the sofa she turned towards the room's door expecting to see Gabriel entering with his governess and sign language teacher Cora Tyler, but instead and to her surprise, Aurora Jordan entered with her grandson in her arms.
Gabriel lit up, his face showed so much happiness to see Fabian and Rebecca. He'd grown to love them so much. Aurora smiled at his happiness. In all the terror in the world, the little boy was a beacon of light for all of them. She placed him on the floor and in her best sign language signed to him "have fun."
Gabriel, in his best sign, signed the letters of Fabian's name.
Fabian rushed over and signed to Gabriel too in the few signs he knew "Play. Come. Play."
"Aurora, it's good to see you." Rebecca said as the chicly kissed on either cheek.
"Likewise, Rebecca. Tirymor is looking wonderful. I'm so happy to see that everything has been put back together."
"For the most part. And Cora? Is it her day off?" Rebecca sked sharply.
Aurora sensed Rebecca's coldness. The snark had never left Rebecca's tone towards Aurora since the day she found her with Caspian in bed together so long ago. And despite the circumstances of Caspian's possession and controlling Aurora's mind, Rebecca had remained somewhat jealous of Aurora's connection to her now husband all this time. It didn't matter that Aurora had moved on with her life with Gregory. The sting of Rebecca's frosty demeanor lingered on like a winter that would never end.
"In a way, yes. I gave her the afternoon off because I needed to speak with Caspian. And you." Aurora said
"I see." Rebecca replied sitting back down and closing her book. "If this is about the situation with Evangeline, I can assure you, we will stop at nothing to help her. The entire ordeal is absolutely preposterous, and I won't allow that poor girl to suffer any more than she already has. I gave her my word when I brought her the keys to Bellmore Beach. I intend to always protect her as she is a Lord, married in or not, she is a Lord. Gabriel's mother will always, Aurora, always find sanctuary here and within this family."
"Thank you, Rebecca. I have no doubts about that, and I am grateful for that. We all are. In fact, we've reached out to your nephew Lear for help."
"Lear. Well, he's a good lawyer. I should have thought about that too. Well done." Rebecca said, reaching for a glass of water with lemon on the side table under a crystal coaster. "Would you like some?"
Aurora declined and sat down next to Rebecca. "That's actually not why I decided to come here instead of sending Cora with Gabriel. I need to speak with you and Caspian about what happened with Asha and Gregory."
Rebecca gulped. "Go on."
"Caspian, I'd like him to be here when I explain. You see I called him the night of the full moon catastrophe because I needed to see him, I later discovered you'd all been taken hostage and taken to the caves. But the matter is still very much at hand." Aurora said.
"He's unfortunately not here, Aurora. He's off to Augusta."
Aurora tilted her head, confused "Augusta?"
"Yes, he was kind enough to deliver an approved manuscript for the publishing house to one of the printers. I'd expect him home in a day or two."
"He delivered the manuscript himself, not one of the company's pages?" Aurora replied skeptically.
"Isn't it the strangest thing? He needed to get out of town for a bit. You know, freshen up his senses after everything that happened and decided to give us at the Publishing House a helping hand. It was actually quite sweet of him, to show interest in the family's business." Rebecca said.
"Of course." Aurora replied. "Well, then I should go. I'll send Cora back for Gabriel after dinner time."
"Aurora, you can still tell me what you need to. I am his wife."
Aurora stood up from the sofa and realized Rebecca's body language had stiffened. Something about the entire story of Caspian leaving on a simple errand that normally someone the company paid as a delivery service could have done seemed odd to her. It was clear to Aurora that Rebecca was lying and that perhaps Caspian was somewhere in the mansion.
It wasn't worth pushing, for Aurora's sake. She'd have to find Caspian on his own a different time to tell him their son, not daughter, was alive and missing. That Asha and Gregory had conspired to take the child at birth, lie about its death, and give it away. All for Gregory's own selfish gain at keeping Aurora to himself and literally vanquishing any ties Caspian and Aurora had together.
"It's fine, I can always come back and speak to you both when he's returned, enjoy the boys, Rebecca." Aurora said with a kind smile.
Rebecca stood up and the two women again gave each other double kisses, one on each cheek.
Jane, who stood at the door the entire time, escorted Aurora out.
The boys continued to play together on the floor. Rebecca sat back down. She felt a twinge of guilt rush through her body. Something in her told to her to keep Aurora far away from Caspian, as far away as possible. She was sure, whatever the beautiful woman had to tell her husband would be yet another nail in the coffin to the marriage she was struggling to keep together -- fate on the other hand, continued to try and break them apart.
Rebecca opened her prayer book, and an ironic verse popped out at her "do unto others as you would want done to you."
Rebecca quickly closed the book and tossed it to the side and sighed. Her lies, she knew, would one day catch up to her.
****
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| Eden meets Timothy at his office |
Back in the village at another office in town across from Lear's with just about the same amount of clutter strewn across several desks, Mayor Timothy Churchill stirred the milk into his coffee with a nervous jolt in his wrists. He had sparked such wild accusations and gossip in town setting a plan in motion that had led up to the Governor's office in Augusta -- it felt like a longshot but if he wanted to be the Churchill family member that returned Welshport to the place his ancestors had helped found, the trial against Mary, Matthew and Evie was a good start.
Standing at a makeshift coffee bar within the Mayor's office was state Barrister Eden Sydney. A tall man with a regal Roman nose and chiseled face. His whitening beard scratching and thick surrounded two pouty perfect crossbow shaped lips.
He was a man whose reputation on law had sent him to the highest of offices within the state and brought him the strange occurrences in Welshport Island to his desk.
Eden turned to Timothy with a bewildered look on his face and sipped from the white coffee mug letting the steam sweep across his brow.
"I don't know Tim, I've prosecuted many cases where old laws took precedent, but this one is over 200 years old and not only that it's based on old superstition and not anything tangibly legal." Eden explained.
"Yet it's the law. The three accused are accused of the crime of witchcraft, yes something we all thought was just a part of folklore and silly fairytales, but there are eyewitnesses to Mary Goode's use of it. She killed someone Eden, an assistant of mine. This is real." Churchill explained.
"And the others? What were they seen doing?"
"There wasn't anything we actually saw them do at the caves," The Mayor's aide Nathan Cramer added. "However, they were there with Mary Goode and we know we can get testimony of equally strange things surrounding Mrs. Jordan-Lord and Mr. Winterborn. Mr. Winterborn's ability to survive months at sea after his fishing trawler went down in the mid-Atlantic. A fellow sailor that survived on a piece of debris said he saw Winterborn drown. Mrs. Jordan-Lord survived being buried alive -- dug herself out even. We can get people to swear to these things on them. The Mayor asserts this as the basis of their own actions of Witcraft -- strange miraculous survival of things no other person could have without the help of magic...thus breaking this 200-year-old law."
"Nathan," Eden replied astonished with the accusations "you don't actually believe people will come forward to testify that they believe those actions are based in dark magic, do you? Strange -- yes! But witchcraft?” Eden scoffed. “I've always learned that the easiest and most complete answer is always the simplest. There has to be a simple explanation for both of those situations and what’s more it’ll be difficult to convict. Mary on the other hand, well, she's as good as convicted after what people saw."
"There are three accused, and I want three convictions. They're a coven." Timothy added.
"Covens. Live Burials. Mysterious survivals at sea…Witches! My god, man, I did not spend all that time in law-school to come here and prosecute ghosts and goblins no matter what anyone thinks they saw." Eden replied.
"But it's the law, you're here to uphold the law, I don't think it matters how long ago it was written. Isn't that correct?" The mayor added.
Eden sighed. "I suppose."
"We know we can get testimony Mr. Sydney. That won't be a problem." Nathan added.
"This is going to be a very strange case to lock down, and testimony is key. Have you vetted any witnesses?" Eden asked.
"No." Timothy replied. "We have their reports here from the police and awaited your arrival to be sure nothing was tainted by outside influences on my office. We want this case asl clean as a white cloud. I want these convictions, Eden."
"I still don't fully understand your angle here, Tim? Why? Why are you doing this? What about the deaths that occurred throughout this time? Have those murders been solved? Why am I here chases witches when I should be here prosecuting the person who killed those people?"
"You are! We believe the three accused are directly responsible to what happened the night of the Full Moon Celebrations. Their magic has to be, must be, absolutely is, connected to what happened. The beast we all saw that night was not nature made. They're responsible and I want them taken down. For good." Timothy said, as a red-headed secretary with green eyes and very skin as pale as a winter's day entered with a fresh pot of coffee.
She walked over silently and placed the carafe on the coffee bar and refilled the cream and sugar. Her body facing away from the three men discussing the coming trial, yet her ears fully plugged into the conversation as she fiddled with the coffee accoutrement slowly.
As the men continued to discuss, she moved a silver tea kettle that had been on the corner of the table over to where the coffee was and in the mirrored reflection of the kettle a reflection showed the face of Jaqueline Gray who'd shapeshifted into Timothy's red-headed secretary.
Jaqueline's anger had boiled over the night before when she and Sebastian fought, and a knife was accidentally plunged into her by Filipe. Her miscarriage weighing heavily into her soul pushed her potent revenge into over-drive and she wanted to be sure everyone she hated was punished.
"Again, Mary I can see getting taken down, but the other three---" Eden began before Jacqueline as the secretary interjected.
"I apologize sir, but I just wanted to say that I know that Evangeline had been into these dark arts too." Jacqueline said, pointing the finger at her direct romantic rival.
"Is that so?" Eden said.
"Do tell Miss Crawly." Timothy said, calling the secretary by her name and Nathan quickly grabbing a pen and paper to take down notes.
"Well, she has spent two stings in two different mental institutions, and she'd often talk of ghosts at Tirymor. When she supposedly died, she put a spell on herself making herself look dead to get her out of the mental hospital, of course she had to be buried and when she was, she found her freedom." Jacqueline said, lying.
"Those are very dangerous extremes to go to just to be free from a mental institution." Eden replied.
"And yet, they're true." Jacqueline replied.
"It did happen Eden." Timothy replied with a brow raised. "How do you know this for sure Miss Crawly?"
"My sister was the nurse who attended her while she was at the hospital. My sister was tormented by Evie the whole time she was there, to the point where my sister took her own life while being bewitched by her. I can testify to all of this." Jacqueline replied, pushing more lies.
"You're saying Evie put your sister under a spell? For what?" Eden inquired.
"It was the only way she could get around the medications being given to her. Evie made my sister give her too much medicine and she fell asleep and then the spell worked. The medicine made it seem like my sister killed -- a real-world excuse to cover for the sleep spell. Evie went to sleep; people thought the drugs killed her and she freed by way of fake death. My sister is the victim here. That's all." Jacqueline added, again lying.
"There you have it." Timothy replied to Eden. "They're all guilty."
"You're making my life very complicated Tim, very, very difficult."
"Thank you, Miss Crawly." The mayor said, excusing Jacqueline in disguise.
Outside the office, she smirked evilly knowing that the way to hurt Sebastian most was to hurt the woman he truly loved and hopefully get her convicted and executed. Jaqueline's hunger for revenge now put blood on the hands of Mary and Evie for the miscarriage. A very dangerous twist in fate for them all.
"I still don't know what's in it for you Tim, why go after these three? What's the deal? Some kind of election you need to win?" Eden asked.
Tim smiled and shook his head. It was much more than an election; it was retribution and the righting of many decades of wrongs.
"My family name has been all but erased from Welshport history. The Lords are responsible for that, and they need to finally be held accountable for the terrible and monstrous things they've done to my family and this town. This is the beginning of the end for them - the hell that they've unleashed and secrets they've held will die just like the witches. Evie Jordan-Lord and Mary Goode are the first blocks in House of Lord I'm chipping away at. And soon, Mr. Sydney, very soon, that house will fall, and mine will rise again."
Eden's eyes narrowed. The air in the room felt stale and cold. Something had changed in his mind about Timothy, a man he saw as a good friend, clever. moral. Something was off, something different in his eyes even. The years locked away on Welshport Island away from the mainland where real life was much faster paced and felt a world away from the shadows and fog that clouded not only the air above the island but perhaps the islanders minds too.
To Eden, Timothy Churchill was just another victim of the superstitious lore that the locals had very much allowed to absorb themselves in.
"Well, then, looks like we'll be putting on a trial Tim. Don't embarrass me." Eden replied.
Timothy smiled and sat back in his Mayor's chair with a grin that matched a cat that ate the cannery.
As Jacqueline walked back into the office where the real secretary was she morphed back into her actual body and surprised the woman sitting at her desk filing papers.
"What? Who are you? What were you doing back there!??" Miss Crawly shouted.
Jacqueline narrowed her eyes and moved her hand over the woman's face almost touching it. The woman's eyes glazed over and Jacqueline begin to whisper in her ear:
"Say no more, say no less, let your mind fall into regress. Open to the things I show, what you see is now what you know."
And with a snap of her fingers Jacqueline vanished into thin air leaving the lies she told in the room with Eden and Churchill now feeling like real events in the secretary's mind: planted falsehoods that she'd testify to and set Evie and Mary up for a devastating trial ahead.
****
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| The Lord Family mausoleum |
As the night sky filled with plumes of clouds off the coast of Welshport Island an orange sun sank into the dark purple sky shadowing everything in it's wake.
The wind tosses the ocean waves into the Northshore Cliffs pushing sea mist into the air and over into the nearby St. Thomas' Cemetary.
A cloaked figure walked the stoney path of the cemetery dodging the Gaslamp light that seemed to float in the darkness. The person knew where they were going, undeterred by the eerie darkness and coldness of the night.
Through a patch of graves dedicated to the children of the Garland family, one of the first five families to settle on Welshport, the person could finally see the final destination: The Lord family mausoleum.
The cloaked figure went on through the Garland family burial plot leaving behind footprints in the wet grass arriving slowly and somewhat apprehensively to the gate of the very large stone mausoleum. The person reached into the gate and lifted the latch surprised that it was not locked and entered.
The mausoleum resembled a Roman temple with six stone pillars holding up a triangular roof with a large dome that could not be seen from below. Eight beautifully carved Angles were perched in the center of the exterior triangle above the pillars surrounding the carved name of LORD.
The shiny golden door too had angels carved into it, but it was locked... to the untrained eye that is.
The Lord family ancestors, for reasons unknown to the current family, had created a switch in the golden doorhandle -- this secret latch could be felt from underneath doorhandle and when lifted slightly and to the right, carefully, the door to the mausoleum would unlock.
The cloaked figure was keen to this, and with a flick of finger was able to enter.
Inside, the cloaked figure lowered his hood, it was a man. He stood there in the damp main atrium of the large mausoleum and looked over several of the panels below his feet. He read the names of the Lord Family members to himself, they were all buried there in several chambers and crypts just below his feet. There were also two large tombs above, that of the first Lord's to land in Maine, CALGARY LORD and his wife EUGINIA.
The man then slowly passed those two large tombs and entered a secondary chamber where the rest of the family was. A slick marble panel with many names came to his eye, especially the very last name: ALBERT J. LORD.
The cloaked man, turned to his lift and saw another smaller panel with just one name. Under this, in a crypt all alone was Sabrina Spencer-Lord.
In the shadowy reflection on the mausoleum's marble wall was Christopher Wesley.
Christopher stepped over to Sabrina's crypt and stared down at it. He reached into his pocket and lit one of the small candelabras on the wall with matches he had brought with him. He stared down and said a prayer silently to himself.
Then, as Chris' head was bowed in prayer, a light began to shine from behind him that was much brighter than the candelabra on the wall. This was no ordinary glow, this seemed like a solar spotlight of white light coming at him.
Chris quickly turned and there she was the spirit of Sabrina standing there floating in an invisible breeze. She looked as if she had never died, had there been no light surrounding her, she would have looked of flesh and blood just like Christopher.
Chris smiled, oddly unafraid, and walked to Sabrina who was floating just above a stone bench dedicated to Vivi Lord, the youngest daughter of Albert and Rebecca. Sabrina motioned for Chris to come closer to her and sit with her on Vivi's bench. Chris complied.
"Sabrina." he whispered. "It's really you."
Sabrina flashed a ghostly smile, happy to see the face she had not in over 10 years.
"It took you long enough David." She said, revealing Christopher true identity.
Christopher winced as if that name was a dagger to the heart "I've given that up, I've given up everything associated with --- that person." He answered.
"Is that why it's taken you so long to come home? You don't want to remember who you are?" She asked, her voice echoing in the stone walls around them.
"It's too painful. Everything that I was, everything that happened to you and to me. It was all too much. David is dead. He's dead to me." Chris replied.
Sabrina's sunny smile quickly melted away hearing Christopher's words. He had returned to the place he was born but he, in his heart, was not the same person. The David she adored, loved, married and had a child with was sitting right in front of her and yet they could not touch, and she could not call him by the name she knew.
"I wish I could make things better, I would. I would do it right now, I'd change everything for you." Sabrina said. "But the truth is, we can't. Not on this side of the vail, and not on yours. We have to deal with the darkness and the light of our lives to move on and heal. No day is done without seeing the sun set, and no day begins without it rising."
"I know what you're trying to do." Chris ginned. "You were always good to make a person see through their own bullshit."
She laughed.
"But this is more than just bullshit." he added. "I've had to give up the life I led because of things I could not confront. Your death was too much for me and I could not go on."
"You left Sebastian." She replied, the words again stinging him in his heart.
"That is the worst part." He said. "That is the part I'll have to life with all my life no matter what my name is. He's truly one of the reasons I returned. Perhaps the most important."
"How will you explain yourself? To him, to the family? They'll want to know." Sabrina asked.
"I don't really know yet." Chris said. "I think I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."
Sabrina lifted a brow, "Deal with it soon, David. Very soon. Too many years have gone by and too much has happened for you to continue to hide in the shadows of your old name or your past and my death. It’s time to restart and get yourself back into the world that you belong to. I am so happy you're home, so happy to see you and to see that you're so well. And..." She paused to think "And I'm so happy that you've found someone else."
"Geneieve." He whispered.
"I know her. We've met."
"She's mentioned." He smiled.
"David, you can let go now, of all of the things that happened here and back then. I know that for a long time, there was even vengeance in me, something in my own spirit roaming this place that wanted to seek it, but I've learned, at a very slow pace, that it would hurt more people. I wish I could take back what I did to poor Charlotte, but I can't. One day I hope she'll forgive me. But that is the key: forgiveness. We need to forgive."
"How can I? I was accused of your murder and almost prosecuted for it, had I not vanished, I would have surely been found guilty. It took me years, Sabrina, years of hiding and soul searching and realizing that Jacob had tricked me into thinking I did what HE did. I wasn't brave enough to face him then and for along time, but I am now. I am. For you. For Sebastian. For all of us." Chris explained.
"And what will that serve? More animosity within the family? How will you heal from that? By covering up your anger with... with what? There is nothing on this earth that can cover up the anger you feel, and I can tell you, when the time comes for you to be on this side with me and we reunite, it will weigh on you. It will always weigh on you. I made that mistake when I pressured Charlotte into helping me and I regret that. Don't make the same mistake I did with Geneveive." Sabrina explained.
"But he killed you." Chris reminded her. "How can I allow him to get away with murdering the woman I loved and the mother of my child?"
"His day will come. I promise you that, but it cannot come at your hand. The universe and time take action when they see fit. They may wait -- but they always come through."
"Genevieve wants me to forget all of this too." Chris said.
"Good." Sabrina replied without a beat "Listen to her. Keep her. She may be the gateway to your happiness, real happiness now that I can't be here with you and watch our grandchild grow."
Sabrina, who's face was frozen in time as a young 33 year old had known all about Gabriel's birth, the little boy was the ray of light she needed to let go of the anger of her death. For this little child who she loved so much from beyond the grave, she forgave. And now it was Christopher's turn, by whatever name he called himself.
"I'd love to meet him. I'd love to see him!" He said.
"And you will."
"My god how I've missed you. I know that I can see your face in Genevieve's every time I look into her eyes, but it's not the same. I've missed you all these years. I've missed your kindness and the sweet way you'd sing to yourself when you thought no one was listening. I've missed your perfume and the smell of your hair on your pillow."
Sabrina's eyes welled with ghostly tears as she could feel again, his love. His true love.
"David, I've missed you too. Every second I've been gone. But, I don't want you to live this way anymore. Secretly hiding behind lies that were told. You deserve to be seen and known to everyone. I promise you, there is nothing to hide from anymore. take this second change and run with it."
"You really want me to do that? Even if its with Geneveive?"
"Especially so. She really cares for you."
"She does. And she looks so much like you. It almost hurts to look her in the eyes and not think of you," he admitted slowly reaching for her translucent face.
Then as they stared into each other's eyes, a wind blew out the candelabra and then suddenly the lit again. Sabrina turned to the candles knowing this was a sign to her from the powers that be.
"Listen, it's time for us to part. I must go, but let Genevieve’s reminder of me just be the universe sending you a message that I’m alway in your heart."
"It’s impossible for me to.” He replied of such a cruel way for The universe to have sent him Sabrina.
He stepped closer to his late wife’s ghost, he wanted to kiss her, hug her, hold her just one more time, but the chill in the air told him it was time for her to go.
“I want to stay with you a little longer, please." Chris said reaching for her ghostly hands that he could not feel.
"David, its time." She repeated.
"Will I see you again?"
She tilted her head unsure of the answer. There was no rhyme or reason to when she would appear or how she would appear. She didn't choose these encountered. Since she was free of the anger she held and finally passed over into the other side, she truly had no control over the times she could appear to her family. It was granted to her by a higher power. This time, in the mausoleum, the higher being knew it was needed.
"I wish I could tell you soon, but I don't know. But that is a good think, love. Find your happiness back where you belong here in this town near your family and find our son. Meet our grandson and love and protect them at all costs." Sabrina explained.
"I wish I could go with you." he said.
"No, you have a lot of work to do here. You need to reunite with Sebastian, David. You need to find him and be there for him. He is going to need you very soon." Sabrina warned.
"Where is he? Everyone here seems think he's gone."
"No matter what anyone tells you about him, he's still your son. No matter what has happened to him. Never ever give up on him." Sabrina said.
"I would never do that." he answered. "Not again. Please... tell me where I can find him. At least just so that I can see him again. Face to face."
Sabrina smiled and began to fade. She would not give him all the answers. He would have to find their son and see what he was -- what he had become -- for himself.
"Do not forget about Sebastian." She said, her voice trailing off.
"Sabrina, please... don't go yet. Please Sabrina, I love you! I want you to know that I love you! Please!! Sabrina, SABRINA!!"
Then she was gone but not before cold air brushed across his lips and heard her ghostly voice one last time:
"I love you too.... Christopher."
