Crimson Peak [COMPLETE]

Chapter Seventeen

The carriage ride into town was quiet. Neither Thomas nor I spoke the entire time. The first snow of winter had started and I pointed that out to Thomas.

Finally we reached town. Half of me wanted to go home, to tell my parents everything that had happened. But another part of me wanted to go somewhere else. Somewhere where it could just be me and Thomas and we could figure out the rest of our lives.

It turned out Thomas had been thinking the same as I had and he'd asked his friends to take us to a small bed and breakfast for the night.

"I can have Richard take you somewhere else if you'd prefer," Thomas told me. But I could tell he didn't want to be alone.

I smiled. "I think I'd like to escape reality for a night."

Thomas smiled back at me and led the way to our bedroom.

Two small beds were pressed up against opposite walls and there was already a fire crackling in the fireplace. It smelled like cinnamon and I felt the tension slipping from my body.

Now that I wasn't in mortal danger, I realized I was really exhausted. My eyelids drooped and I immediately went to one of the beds so I could lie down.

I heard Thomas getting himself ready for bed and briefly considered undressing before deciding totally against it.

Thomas didn't put the fire out but knew that it would die down eventually.

I laid there quietly for a moment, my body drained but my mind suddenly reeling with questions. Finally I turned over so I could see Thomas laying in his own bed.

"Thomas?" I said his name quietly just in case he'd already fallen asleep.

"Yes?" His response was also barely above a whisper.

"You said you fell in love."

"You remember that?"

"I have a great memory," I half-bragged.

"I fell in love with Edith Cushing, the writer."

"Why?"

"You're asking me why I fell in love with someone?"

I paused. "Yeah I guess I am."

"Why did you fall in love with Christian?" Thomas countered.

I tried not to be hurt by that statement. "It's a little..."

Thomas shook his head. "I know. I'm sorry." He sighed. "Edith was different. She was so...hopeful. She looked at me differently than the other women did. She didn't see me as a savior or companionship. She saw me as I was. Of course there were still secrets and lies. But she loved me and I couldn't help but love her back."

"And what happened to her again?"

"She found out about everything that I'd been doing with Lucille and found out that I'd lied to her. She...left. She must've gone back to Buffalo. Probably published her book..."

A sad smile appeared on Thomas's face.

"So what are you going to do now?"

He looked over at me and frowned. "What do you mean?"

"You can't go back," I told him. "So where are you going to go? What are you going to do?"

Thomas sighed as if he'd never considered this before this moment. "I don't know."

"I think you should go find Edith."

Thomas took so long to respond and I fell asleep to the crackling of the fire.

* * * * * * * * * *

Thomas was still sleeping when I woke up. The fire was out and sunlight was streaming in through the window.

I didn't bother waking Thomas up and locked myself in the toilet room. I let my hair down and combed my fingers through it.

Looking at myself in the mirror I noticed how different I looked now than compared to when I'd first moved to Alderdale Hall.

I had definitely lost some weight. My hair was thinner and my skin was sallow. My eyes had lost some of their color and seemed to have sunken deeper. I pressed a hand against my stomach and turned to see a small bump where my baby was growing.

I looked away, feeling a lump form in my throat as I thought about the fact that I'd be raising this child alone. Granted, after what had happened...The image of his broken body flashed in my mind and my stomach did flip flops inside me. The bile rose in my throat and I gagged for a moment before leaning over the basin on the counter and spilling out the few contents I had in my stomach.

"Rose?" Thomas's sleepy voice came from the other room. "Are you alright?"

I wiped the back of my hand across my mouth and closed my eyes, nodding to myself. "Yes; I'm okay." I'd heard that vomiting was a common occurrence when women were pregnant but I'd hoped that I would be the exception to the rule.

Thomas knocked softly on the washroom door and I pulled it open to see a better rested Thomas in the door frame.

"Sorry to wake you," I apologized.

He smiled at me. "No need to apologize, Rose. You're under a lot of stress." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Are you ready to go home?"

I paused before nodding. I didn't know exactly what I was going to tell my parents. Or anyone else for that matter. Maybe I would say there was an accident while Christian was fixing the ceiling. Whatever I came up with, I knew I couldn't say anything about ghosts. That would either put me in an insane asylum or the town's priest would be performing a exorcism. Neither thing sounded like a great idea.

I looked up at Thomas and smiled, but I could tell that it was a sad one. "Have you decided where you are going to go?"

Thomas's smile was just as sad as mine was and he stepped aside so that I could leave the washroom. "I haven't made any plans yet that feel quite right. I'll...I'll figure something out. Don't worry about me."

I did what he said and went back to thinking about what lie I was going to tell my parents.

Thomas led me out of the bed and breakfast and began walking back with me to my house. It wasn't like it was a huge home but it was well built and taken care of. My mother was outside, drinking tea with Delores Eaves.

I stopped walking before the two of them had seen me and turned back to Thomas. "Maybe I should just leave."

Thomas gripped my shoulders and looked me in the eyes. "Nope. You've got to get home. Don't forget you're going to have a child."

I frowned. "But what about you?"

He smiled. "I told you not to worry about me. I'll figure it out. Now go on; they're waiting for you."

I nodded and let him turn me around and steer me in the direction of my house. I'm not sure when he let go but I made it to the porch all by myself.

My mother looked up at me, confused at first I'm sure, but then she smiled and got to her feet, throwing her arms around me. As mothers usually do, she began fussing about the filthy state I was in and pulled me alongside her into her house.

I twisted around once, hoping to see Thomas once more, but he was gone.

Hello! This is the final chapter of Crimson Peak. Honestly, I'm sadder than I thought I would be to see this story come to an end. I'm looking for better title suggestions and maybe even a new cover if anyone is interested.

I decided to do one more part: an epilogue about where Thomas goes. Although I'm pretty sure most of you have a pretty good idea ;)

Thanks so much for all of the reads and support and I'm so glad so many of you enjoyed this story!