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| 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.
***
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| 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.
****
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| Johnathon meets with his “nurse” |
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.
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,
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.
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.
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.
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.
"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.
"Do you think I'll ever get out of here?" He asked her after their passionate kiss that turned her back into herself.
"Dr. Pascal trusts you. I think he'll listen to you if you suggest that I leave soon." He said.
"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.
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.
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.
Her life, like Johnathon's, would now turn a new page.
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| 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.
"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."
"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.
"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.
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."
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| 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.
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| 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.
"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.
"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."
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.
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.
