The curtain was covered in orange flames. The flames had spread across the room.
Coughing from the black smoke that surrounded me and made my eyes burn, I crawled across the floor to the doorway. I opened the door to find that the hallway was covered as well.
“Help!” I screamed. “Somebody please help me!”
“Suzy,” a voice called. “Climb out the window.”
Doing as I was told, I ran blindly to the window, feeling the heat from the flames. I tripped and fell through the glass.
* * *
“Suzy,” Jessie confessed. “I am the reason that your parents died, and I am sorry. I will never make you cry again…I promise.”
My best friend picked up a large log, and swung it at my head.
“Jessie, no!” I screamed before everything went black.
Chapter Seventeen:
I sat up screaming, “Jessie, no!”
The room was dark from the night, and sleeping next to me had been Jessie. But my screaming had caused him to awaken.
“Susannah, what is the matter?” he asked, stroking my hair.
“You-you killed Suzy,” I said turning to him. “Never make me cry again huh?”
“Oh, my God.”
“Jessie, you killed my real parents, and knocked me out so that I would forget.” Paused. “Why?”
He was quiet; he had removed his hand. “For the reason that I love you.”
“If you love me then, why on Earth did you-”
My husband covered my mouth with his hand saying, “They were going to murder you so I got rid of them, and then took your memory away so you would not hate me.” Paused. “Then, I hunted you down for six years.”
I bit his finger hard. He yanked his hand back.
“You liar!” I yelled. “Why would they murder me?”
“So you would not get the fortune and Daniel would,” Jessie calmly explained.
Daniel? My brother who was the handyman was in on the plan of killing me. I could not believe it. Peter! Peter smith was my cousin.
I turned to Jessie. Jessie who had been my best friend who had really been my fiancé was now my husband.
“Jessie, it cannot be true,” I insisted, grabbing hold on his hand. Giving my hand a squeeze, he answered, “It is.”
“How did you know all this?”
“My parents did not know it, but I found the secret room in the library, and found out that we were betrothed.
“Thinking that it was the most enthralling thing ever, I snuck over to Peter’s to tell him. But on my way there, I passed a window, and heard your parents. Then, caught the place on fire but disappeared around the back. That was when I woke you up,” he stated.
I just sat there with a loss for words. How could this be? My parents wanted to murder me so that the family business would go to Daniel.
It was all beginning to come clear to me. The family business went to the oldest child, whether it was male or female, on the child’s nineteenth birthday. Being a female, my husband would take that responsibility. What better to have the son taking the business rather than the son-in-law? By my death, my biological parents would be making Daniel the future owner.
Thanks to Jessie, I became the daughter of a rich family, Daniel was the handyman to him, and my parents were…well, dead.
“You knocked me out to put a stop to my sadness, and so that you would not have to confess?” I asked him.
“Yes, I did not want to risk ending our friendship,” Jessie confessed. “I was afraid that you would hate me if you found out the truth.”
“Hate you? Jessie, you saved my life…and….”
“And what?”
I leaned over, and whispered, “My happiness.”
“So you do not hate me?” he questioned, leaning towards my face.
“How could I hate you?” Paused. “Jessie, you are my best friend.”
And I love you I finished silently. Knowing all this made me love him even more. Only problem was that I could not tell him that I did. For the reason that I had never told anyone that I loved him or her before, except well, my parents.
Unexpectedly, my husband jerked his hand away. Then, hastily crossed the room. “Susannah.” He exclaimed, “I do not want to be your best friend.”
“I do not understand.”
Could it be that he were telling me that he did not love me anymore?
“Darling, I want to be the love of your life.”
I wanted to tell him that he already was, but something was holding me back. “Jessie, I am sorry,” I told him. “But I know how I can make it up to you.”
“How is that?” he asked with curiosity rising in his voice.
“Come back to bed and I will tell you.”
“Yes, madam.”
