Finding Julian (20 page)

Resting me on the sofa, Seven hurried
into his bedroom and brought back out a blanket, cloaking it around me.

“I’m going to call the police,” he said
in a whisper.

My lips trembled so much I couldn’t get
out a word. I simply nodded at him.

Several minutes later the cops arrived,
along with Aunt Bev and Mackenzie. They wrapped their arms around me, grateful
I was okay after hearing what had happened.

Detective Walters also showed up. He
couldn’t believe they’d missed out on the fact that Rachel had covered up
having twins, but it was all over now. She was arrested and Gavin was…dead. Not
exactly a happy ending, still, it meant justice had been served for both my
father and for Mr. Cornwell. I couldn’t believe how dramatic my trip to
Narragansett had been—from a funeral to solving murders. It was quite a story,
and I was glad to be alive to tell the tale.

Chapter Thirty-One

Mom arrived in Narragansett the
next day
like she said she would. She was beyond
shocked at all that had taken place over the past couple of weeks, and very
upset with me for keeping it from her. There was definitely no way I could
convince her I wanted to stay in Narragansett now, especially since I was still
pretty sad about Seven and Bridget.

Immediately after answering further
questions about Gavin, the police gave me the go ahead to drive back to New
York with Mom. I didn’t even say goodbye to Seven as he stayed inside his room
at the guesthouse—It was just too hard to face him.

I wondered if Mom saw how much it hurt,
walking away from the place and how visible my feelings were for Seven. If she
did, she certainly wasn’t letting on.

“I’m so glad you’re all right,” she
said, brushing my hair behind my ear as we walked from the guesthouse and
crossed the lawn over to the side steps. “Geez, Julian. You should’ve come home
right away when he told you your father was killed, much less when Mr. Cornwell
himself got murdered. That whole thing is just scary to hear about.”

“Mom, it’s okay,” I assured her. “I’m
okay,”

The second we got around to the front of
the main house, her Beetle came into view. Mackenzie and Aunt Bev were waiting
there as well.

Mom sighed, seeing them. She took her
keys out and tugged on my hand, hauling me over to the car. I gripped Dad’s
painting tightly at my side.  

“Don’t even think about asking her to
stay after what happened,” she fumed, directing her words at Aunt Bev. “You
said you’d look out for her.”

Aunt Bev crossed her arms. “I’m sorry,
Sarah. But I’m sure we can all agree that Julian is much stronger than you give
her credit for. She can take care of herself.”

Mom shuddered. “Whatever. She still
doesn’t belong here. Her home is in Manhattan.”

“I think that’s Julian’s decision,”
Mackenzie chipped in. She stepped closer to me at the passenger side door and
draped her arms around me.

Once she let go, I noticed a pleading
look in her eyes. “Please stay, Julian. I know I was a complete bitch to you
before, but,” she held my hands. “I’d really like to get to know you more and I
don’t think that’s possible if you’re far away in a big city. You can stay with
me at the condo if you don’t want to live here.”

I looked over the top of the car at Mom,
standing with the driver’s side door opened. She raised an eyebrow and gestured
for me to get in. “Julian, you don’t belong here.”

“That’s not true.” Aunt Bev walked over
and rested her hand on Mackenzie’s shoulder. “Julian is a Vanderson. Of course
she belongs here—”

“Oh please,” Mom guffawed. She placed
her hand on her hip and pursed her lips. “Cole waited until he was dying before
acknowledging my daughter. He left her with all his burdens—”

“Love,” Aunt Bev corrected. Looking back
at Mackenzie and me, she said, “He left them both with all his love.”

I lowered my eyes, allowing her words to
fill my head.

Aunt Bev lifted my chin and smiled at
me. “Julian, stop living your life trying to make your mother happy and do
something for yourself. I see the young woman you are, how happy you’ve been
the entire time you were here, working with me.”

I straightened then, knowing how true
those words were.

“Ask yourself if Manhattan makes you
smile inside out,” she continued. “Ask yourself, if there’s really anything
else besides your mother that makes you happy. Ask yourself—”

“If there’s a guy there that will love
you the way I do. Because, Julian, I love you.”

We all turned, hearing the deep and
passionate voice.

Seven walked over to me, his jaw
twitching, his emerald eyes longing. “Please don’t go. Stay with me, Jules.”

“What about Bridget? I saw you two
kissing at the dinner.”

Aunt Bev and Mackenzie eased away so
Seven could fill the distance between us.

“I don’t care about Bridget like that.”
He snaked his hand around my waist. “I never had. She kissed me after I told
her how I felt about you. I’m in love with you, Julian.”

He was in love with me? I was surely
going to melt away now. I suspected he liked me. I was only unaware his
feelings ran so deep.

We stood for several long seconds,
staring into each other’s eyes, burning with desire for one another. Until this
moment, I hadn’t realized how much I really wanted to be with him. The feeling
was beyond intense.

Mom cleared her throat and Seven and I
broke our connection. “Julian, please get in the car.”

Seven tightened his hold on me. “I’m not
letting you go, even if you decide to go back to Manhattan, I’ll follow you
there. Julian, I’ll follow you to the end of the world until you accept the
truth.”

“Which is?” I tilted my head and played
innocent.

“That you love me too,” he said, in a
matter-of-fact tone.

I eased out of his grasp. “You’re
wrong.” A sad expression appeared on his face.

Then I smiled and corrected him, “I’m
in
love
with you.”

Seven’s eyes widened with excitement. He
threw his arms around me, kissing me hard. His lips wildly devoured mine as I
relaxed my body and pressed deeper into his.

A moment later, we finally eased away
from each other. At the corner of my eye I could see Mackenzie and Aunt Bev,
beaming, waiting for me to make a decision.

Still clutching Seven’s hand in mine, I
spun and looked at Mom. She cocked her head to the side and shook it slightly.

“Mom, I—”

“Jules,” she raised her hand to stop me
from speaking. “I know I have been overly protective of you all these years but
it’s only because I love you so much. The moment I came here and saw the look
in your eyes, I knew how you felt about this place; about him…I just don’t know
how to let you go now….”

Mom turned her head and sobbed. I moved
around the car and flung my hands around her. “Oh, Mom, it’s not like you’ll
never see me again. But…” I searched for the right words to express my true
feelings. “I’d like to stay in Narragansett for a while. It’s like I’m—”

“Like you’re finally home,” she said,
releasing me. “It’s okay, honey. I understand what Beverly said. It only means
you’re coming into your own now and I have to get over you not being a little
girl anymore.”

She hugged me again and whispered, “I’m
glad you can take care of yourself, Jules. I’m so proud of you.”

When Mom finally let me go, she jerked
my arms lightly and got into her car, starting the engine right after. Then
with an approving nod, she was off, heading back to Manhattan, alone.

Seven came over to my side and placed
his hand around my waist, consoling me. I rested my head on his shoulder and
sighed as I watched Mom’s car driving out of the Vanderson estate and turned
down the street. Of course I’d see her soon. She was my mother. I wasn’t
writing her off. The thing was, for the first time in my life, I wasn’t
thinking about how my wants would affect her, or if she’d even approve. For the
first time, I was living for me. That’s what Narragansett gave to me. I was no
longer the mistress’ daughter, from now on, I was Julian Vanderson.

***

EPILOGUE

I didn’t think it was
appropriate to continue living at the guesthouse with Seven, since we were
dating now. And in spite of Aunt Bev telling me she had no problem with it and
expressed her happiness for the two of us, I moved in with McKenzie in her
condo, and Seven found an apartment in Jamestown. That way we’d have privacy
whenever we wanted to hang out together.

Since the beginning of
August, I’d started working at Vanderson Publishing in the marketing
department. So far, it was great, as cool as the time I’d worked with Aunt Bev
on the re-boost project. I even made a new friend, Bristol—Aunt Bev’s new red
headed intern who’s only a year younger than me. Bristol’s a lot like McKenzie,
and both had been trying to convince me to take up a college course at URI. Finally,
after going through my many options, I decided to pursue a bachelor degree in
Entrepreneurship, starting this fall.

Indeed, things were
going great for me and everyone around me. But at times I worried about my mom,
wondering how well she was doing, spending her days without having me to worry
about. Then I’d call and she’d sound upbeat and boastful, rambling on and on
about this new guy she’s seeing. And it’d remind me that I promised myself to
move on, to learn how to live my life without having her hand to cling to. I
had to do this now, for myself, and for the days ahead.

Thank you for reading
Finding Julian
.
Please leave your thoughts on Amazon and Goodreads. I would really appreciate
it.

Acknowledgements

This
is the first book I’ve ever written in such a short time, and have exceeded
50,000 words. Thank you,
NaNoWriMo
, for challenging
authors.

Thank
you to my family for their endless encouragement and love. Thank you to Jaime
Shockman
, Laurie Treacy, Annie, and everyone else who read
the story and provided great critique. Thank you for your continuous support. I
couldn’t do it without you.