Chapter 8 - Secrets in the Dark
Z
The glass shattered against the flagstones, but Hazel didn't even look down. She stood amidst the glistening shards like a warrior on a battlefield, breathing deeply, her chest rising and falling in steady, powerful rhythms.
Eli stepped forward, stepping carefully over the broken glass, and slipped his jacket off his shoulders, wrapping it gently over Hazel’s bare arms.
"You okay?" he asked softly.
Hazel looked at him, her dark eyes flashing with a combination of lingering adrenaline and profound, overwhelming relief. "I'm better than okay," she whispered. "I'm free."
I stepped out from behind the brick pillar, my face wet with rain and tears. "Hazel."
Hazel turned, seeing me standing there in my damp coat. For a moment, I feared she would be angry that I had followed her, that I was intruding on her moment. But she didn't scold me. She walked straight toward me, wrapped her arms around my neck, and pulled me into a tight, desperate embrace.
"I'm sorry, Mom," she sobbed into my shoulder, her voice muffled by my coat. "I'm so sorry for everything I said. I'm sorry for locking you out."
"Oh, baby," I wept, kissing the side of her head, holding her as tightly as I used to when she was a little girl. "You don't ever have to apologize to me. Never."
We held each other there on the rainy terrace while the music resumed faintly inside the manor. When we finally pulled apart, Hazel looked at Eli, who was standing a few feet away, his hands back in his pockets, looking strangely distant.
"Eli?" Hazel called out. "Come here."
Eli hesitated, then stepped under the shelter of the awning. "I should probably head home, Mrs. Mave. My hands are starting to throb pretty bad, and—"
"Eli, stop," Hazel commanded gently. She walked over to him, taking his hands in hers, completely unbothered by the rough medical tape covering his fingers. "Why didn't you tell me about Mason?"
Eli looked down at his shoes. "About what he said in the garage?"
"Yes," she whispered. "You carried that for two weeks. You carried his voice for me."
Eli swallowed hard, a lump forming in his throat. "Because... because I knew if I told you before tonight, you would think I was just doing it out of pity. Or because Mason made me promise. But that's not why I made the dress, Hazel."
Hazel tilted her head, her gaze locking onto his. "Then why did you make it?"
Eli looked up, his dark eyes vulnerable, completely exposed under the dim yellow patio lights. "Because I’ve been in love with you since sixth grade," he said, his voice barely audible over the patter of the rain. "I loved you when you were dancing in the kitchen making pancakes. I loved you when you were crying on the porch after the funeral. And I loved you when you were hiding in that dark room. I made the dress because I couldn't bear to see the world pretend you weren't the most extraordinary thing in it."
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Hazel stared at him, her breath catching in her throat. The rain fell around them, forming a shimmering curtain that isolated them from the rest of the world.
Slowly, without saying a word, Hazel reached up, placed her hand gently against Eli’s jaw, and leaned in, pressing her lips against his.
