A Kiss To Remember | Herophine

Chapter Twenty Seven - The Note

Hero

I pray that someday you will find it in your heart to forgive me...

When Hero pushed open the study door, he found Josephine standing behind the desk, clutching a fistful of papers to her breast.

Alarmed by the tears streaming down her cheeks, he started toward her. “What is it, Jo? Did someone say something cruel to you tonight? Because if they did, I swear I’ll-”

Before he could reach for her, she slapped the papers against his chest. "You never opened them," she said, her voice low and fierce. “You never read a single word! ”

As Hero gazed into her anguished eyes, a killing frost began to creep through his heart. He didn’t have to examine the papers to realize what they were. He could smell them.

He gently, but firmly, removed his mother’s letters from Josephine’s grasp and dropped them back into the drawer, pushing it to shut with his foot. “She had nothing to say that I cared to hear."

“How can you know that when you refused to listen?” Before Hero could stop her, Josephine had yanked open the drawer again and began to pull out handfuls of his mother’s letters. She tossed them on the desk until they were piled so high they started to spill over onto the floor. “Every week for the last six years of her life, this woman poured out her heart to you. The very least you could do was listen."

Hero could feel his temper rising. “I don’t wish to discuss this with you, Josephine. Not now and not ever."

“Well, that’s just too bad, isn't it? Because I'm not some unwanted piece of correspondence you can stuff into a drawer. You can’t make me disappear just by ignoring me. If you could, I would have vanished the minute we set foot in this accursed house.” Josephine tore open one of the letters, her hands shaking violently.

“ ‘My dearest son,’ ” she read.

“Stop it, Josephine. You don’t want to do this.”

She shot him a defiant look.

“ ‘Winter is coming and the days are growing shorter, but I begin and end each one of them with thoughts of you. I think of how you might be passing these brittle autumn days and wonder if you are happy!' "

Hero propped his hip on the edge of the desk and folded his arms over his chest. “If my happiness was of such import to her, I don’t think she would have been so eager to sell me to the highest bidder.”

Josephine broke the seal on another letter.

“ ‘My dearest Hero, I dreamed of you again last night, not as the boy I remember but as a man whose handsome countenance and fine character made my heart thrill with pride.’ "

He snorted. “My, that was a dream, wasn’t it? Had she encountered the reality, she would have been keenly disappointed."

Ignoring him, Josephine unfolded another letter.

“ ‘My darling son,’ " she read.

“ 'Please forgive my atrocious penmanship. The laudanum I’m taking to dull the pain seems to befuddle the hand as well as the mind.’ ”

Hero straightened. “Don’t, Jo," he said softly. “I’m warning you ..."

Although fresh tears began to trickle down her cheeks, her voice remained ruthlessly steady.

“ ‘Don’t waste any of your pity on me. It is not such a terrible thing that I should die, only that I should die without seeing your precious face one last time!' "