run away, just the two of us. And we won’t stop until the ocean’s at our toes.”
Something warm unfurled inside of her. Maybe it was love. Maybe it was hope. But it was
comforting and exciting and big. It was the tingle she felt in her heart whenever she was around
Lucian.
***
It seemed appropriate that it rained the day Evelyn said good-bye to her mother. Tears from heaven
clung to the tinted glass of the limo as they drove out of the city. Evelyn hadn’t asked where they were going. She hadn’t said much of anything since waking up that morning.
Funerals were something she’d only seen from afar, cars snaking through crowded city streets,
people dressed in colors of mourning. She wasn’t sure why people celebrated death, or perhaps they
were celebrating life. Pearl hadn’t lived a life of greatness and she hoped it would all be over soon.
Lucian seemed to think this was something she needed. Maybe he was right. Her world was small,
filled with only a handful of people. Pearl had been there from the beginning, and losing her was like
saying good-bye to a part of herself.
When they arrived at the estate, Evelyn was confused. Lucian didn’t offer explanations. He simply
held her hand and gave her a comforting squeeze from time to time.
Dugan parked the car and greeted them with a somber nod. Other cars lined the long drive, and she
hesitated when she realized they wouldn’t be alone. Lucian’s strength enveloped her as he guided her
into the house.
Lucy, dressed in her maid’s uniform, but with a black armband, opened the door and softly
whispered her condolences. Evelyn’s shoes clicked over the marble tile and the silence struck her as
odd. She knew they weren’t alone.
Beneath her sleeveless black wrap dress, her skin prickled. She didn’t want to see Pearl again. Her
mother’s lifeless eyes had haunted her for days, and Evelyn just wanted to forget. They approached a
set of French pocket doors that led to another den, and Lucian turned to her.
“Are you ready?”
She hadn’t known what to expect so there was no way to prepare. She nodded and he slid the doors
open; the soft whisper of aged wood and gears wasn’t loud enough to bring her back to earth.
She turned and sucked in a breath. In front of the large paned window was a polished coffin. The
wood was dark and glossy. Brushed pewter rails ran along the trim. Her eyes devoured the detail of the
casket so as not to see the body lying inside. There was no one else in the room.
He took her hand and helped her cross the threshold. With each step, her world closed in. The walls
fell away and her vision shimmered. Where was Pearl?
They stopped walking and she realized it was because she was crying. Lucian gave her a few
moments and then, drawn, like a butterfly to a bloom, she stepped closer to see the woman before her.
No, it was not Pearl. It was her mother.
Gone were the lines of time and marks of tension in her face. Her skin appeared slightly flushed,
vibrant in a way that Evelyn didn’t recognize. Her hair was done and her lips held a serene pose. Her
fingers were clean, and wrapped in her palm was a beaded crucifix more valuable than anything her
mother had ever held.
Evelyn’s lips parted as she took in this image of the woman who raised her. She was dressed in a
divine pink suit. An ivory blanket covered her feet. She looked like a sleeping angel. She looked . . .
peaceful.
Her fingers trembled as she slowly reached to touch her. A gasp echoed in her ears as the coldness
beneath her fingers penetrated her foggy mind. She looked so young. This was how she should have
appeared in life, Evelyn decided. It was astounding, how happy seeing her mother this way made her.
Never before had she seen Pearl at rest, she realized.
For as difficult as Evelyn’s life had been, Pearl’s was as well. She’d fought every day against a
monster no one else could see. The monster had won, but perhaps this was Pearl’s victory. Rest.
Eternal, uninterrupted rest.
“There is an ancient Chinese belief,” Lucian said quietly. “That when dragons collide, pearls fall
from the sky.”
A dragon had destroyed her mother, and now she looked like a fallen angel. “Thank you for doing
this for me,” she whispered through tears.
He squeezed her hand. “If you’re ready, the others will join us.”
Again, she wasn’t sure what to expect. She nodded silently.
Lucian left her with her mother and opened the pocket doors. Isadora was the first to enter. She
stepped into the room with ethereal grace and came to Evelyn’s side. Her kiss was soft upon her cheek
and her hands warm.
“I’m so sorry for your loss, Evelyn.”
Evelyn nodded. Isadora’s perfect long fingers grazed Pearl’s hands, and she watched in awe as
Lucian’s sister shut her eyes as though praying for a woman she never met. It was strange, seeing