Chapter 6 - A Sister’s Promise
I walked up the grand staircase to the second floor sunroom.
The room was bathed in warm, afternoon sunlight. Emily was sitting on a plush velvet rug, carefully building a tower out of wooden blocks while Noah sat beside her, clapping his tiny hands every time a block fell over.
Mrs. Gable sat in a armchair nearby, knitting a small wool hat, but she quietly stood up and slipped out of the room when she saw me enter.
I walked over and sat down on the floor beside Emily, joining her on the rug.
She looked at me, her big dark eyes searching my face. "Is the mean man gone?"
"Yes, Emily," I said softly, reaching out to help her place a blue block on top of her tower. "He's gone. He's never going to hurt you, or take anything from you ever again."
She let out a long, quiet breath, her small shoulders dropping as if a massive weight had been lifted off her six-year-old frame. "Does that mean we can go back home?"
I looked at her, thinking of the cold, empty house at 142 Birch Hollow—a small place that had been broken into by security guards, its locks changed, its warm memories shadowed by the grief of her mother's death.
"Your home at Birch Hollow belongs to you and Noah now, Emily," I said gently. "The law has fixed everything. But... I want to ask you something."
Emily tilted her head. "What?"
I took the small silver locket from my pocket and handed it back to her. She took it, holding it tightly in her small palm.
"Your mother was a wonderful woman," I said, my voice soft and steady. "And before my father passed away, he cared about your mother very much. Emily... your father was my father too."
Emily stared at me, her wide eyes reflecting the bright sunlight streaming through the windows. "Your daddy was my daddy?"
"Yes," I said, a warm smile touching my lips. "That makes you my little sister. And Noah is my family too."
Emily looked down at her small shoes, then at her baby brother, who was currently trying to chew on a green wooden block. Then she looked back up at me.
"If you're my big brother... why didn't you come visit us before?" she asked innocently.
The question broke my heart, but I owed her complete honesty.
"Because I didn't know," I admitted softly. "Our father kept a secret because he was afraid. But I am not afraid, Emily. And I will never hide you."
I reached out and gently laid my hand over hers.
"You don't have to live alone in that small house anymore," I told her. "This big, empty house has plenty of room for you, Noah, and all the toys you could ever want. I want you to live here with me. I want to take care of you, just like you took care of Noah."
Emily looked around the grand sunroom, then out at the sparkling snow-covered mountains, and finally back at me.
"Will Noah have his own room?" she asked.
"He can have the biggest room on this floor," I promised.
"And... can we keep Mom's pictures on the walls?"
"Every single one of them," I said.
A tear slipped down Emily's cheek, but this time, it wasn't frozen by a winter storm. It was warm, bright, and full of relief. She leaned forward and wrapped her tiny arms around my neck, pressing her face against my shoulder.
"Okay," she whispered into my coat. "I want to stay with my big brother."
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I wrapped my arms around her small frame, holding her tightly, feeling the quiet, steady warmth of her breathing against my chest.
Outside, the snow was melting under the bright afternoon sun, but inside Blackwood Estate, the cold silence that had defined my life for thirty-five years was gone forever.
