Thirty-Six Wedding Lanterns All For My Younger Sister Chapter 10
Julian stopped me before I could open the envelope.
“Our wedding night matters more. Everything else can wait.”
He swept me into his arms and carried me straight to our bedroom as the household staff and Mr. Whitaker looked on.
The next morning, pale winter sunlight slipped through the curtains and fell across me.
When I opened my eyes, Julian was already awake, his chin propped on one hand as he watched me.
He handed me the envelope his dad had given me the night before.
“Now you can open it.”
Inside was the address of a rose garden and a key.
“What does this key open?”
He gave me a mysterious smile.
“Come with me.”
He took my hand and led me up to the attic. Then he pointed to an ornately carved wooden chest.
“That. Open it.”
I gave a soft huff.
“So dramatic.”
—
Inside the chest was a smaller jewelry box.
Nestled inside was a pair of vintage sterling-silver bangles. They weren’t especially valuable, but they looked exactly like the pair Grandma had left me.
Tears immediately filled my eyes.
Julian took them out and gently slipped them onto my wrists.
“These are worth more to you than any fortune, Maya.”
“From now on, you won’t lose anything you cherish ever again.”
That afternoon, I turned on my old phone.
There were more than a hundred missed calls and three hundred texts—from Mom and Dad, my brother, Chloe, and Evan.
Dad had sent more than anyone else.
He’d always been stern and distant, a man who rarely had much to say to me.
His messages went on for pages. The first few were angry, but the latest ones contained words I never thought I’d hear from him.
Dad: [Maya, I saw the video from your wedding. I’m glad you’re doing well.]
Dad: [Maya, I was wrong. I shouldn’t have hit you.]
Dad: [Will you call me? I want to apologize to you properly.]
Dad: [I put your $45,000 aside for you. Send me your account information and I’ll transfer it.]
—
Dad had always been cold toward me and never said anything sentimental.
My entire life, he’d been the one telling me to apologize to Chloe. He had never once apologized to me.
I stared for a long time at those messages filled with well-wishes and affection.
But what good did any of it do now?
It was all too little, too late.
I deleted every message and tossed the SIM card into the trash.
A month later, my brother flew in from the States.
He’d somehow found my address and was waiting outside the villa when I came out.
“Maya, I finally found you.”
“You moved all the way to Australia without even talking to the family first. Do you have any idea how much Mom and Dad miss you? They barely eat anymore. They’ve both lost several pounds.”
I gave him a humorless laugh.
“I would’ve loved to talk to them. When exactly did they ever give me the chance? When did anyone in that house ever listen to me?”
My brother fell silent.
“Mom and Dad are getting older. I didn’t want to put them through a trip this far.”
—
“I just wanted to ask if you could come home and see them.”
“If you can’t right now, that’s okay. Even a video call once in a while would mean a lot.”
He hesitated.
“And Maya… could you talk to Julian about that project Evan’s company is involved in? Ask him to give them a chance.”
“Chloe put all her wedding gifts into Evan’s startup, and every bit of it was lost. That project is all they have left.”
“They’re talking about divorce. If Julian is willing to move forward with the project, they might finally get back on their feet.”
I looked at him.
“I knew it. None of you Bennetts ever cared about me.”
“You really came here for Chloe, didn’t you?”
My brother immediately looked flustered.
“That’s not true, Maya.”
He started talking faster, but I cut him off.
“You came all this way and didn’t ask me once how I’ve been. All you’ve done is ask me for one thing after another.”
“Do you really think of me as your sister at all?”
He froze for a moment, his brow tightening.
“I’m sorry, Maya. I was wrong.”
—
“I am worried about you. Why else would I come all this way?”
I pulled open the villa door.
“Leave.”
“I’m never going back. The day all of you threw me out was the last day I was ever coming home.”
He grabbed the door, looking anxious.
“Dad only said that because he was angry.”
I smiled faintly.
“How can you call it something said in anger when he’s been saying the same thing for twenty years?”
“Say something often enough, and it stops being something you said in anger. It becomes what you really believe.”
“Didn’t you always say I was the one who did as I was told?”
I closed the door and stopped responding.
Mr. Whitaker called security and had my brother removed from the property.
As soon as I stepped inside, Julian’s dad waved me over with a bowl of soup in his hands.
“Maya, I tried a new recipe today. Come taste it.”
Julian’s mom took off her apron.
“I stood right beside him reading out every step. It actually turned out
—
pretty well. Go wash your hands. Dinner’s ready.”
Julian scooped up a spoonful of soup and held it to my lips.
“Open up, babe. This might be the one masterpiece to come out of Dad’s terrible cooking.”
Snow was still falling outside.
The soup warmed me from the inside out.