Chapter two: Shadows of What Once Was
The afternoon sun filtered through the trees as Sarah stood at the edge of her old property. Tannyhill loomed in front of her, eerily quiet and abandoned. The once-pristine lawns were overgrown, and the house sat locked up and neglected after the bank foreclosed on it. The Camerons' empire had crumbled in the aftermath of Ward's betrayal, and now everything was falling apart.
But Sarah wasn't here to reminisce. She needed a few things—just some clothes and personal items she'd left behind. Breaking in didn't feel like a big deal, considering the house had once been hers. Still, there was an odd sense of discomfort creeping over her as she approached the side door. Tannyhill felt like a ghost from a life she barely recognised.
She took a deep breath and walked around to the side door, pushing it open quietly. The cool, stagnant air hit her, along with the unsettling stillness. It was the same house, but different. The furniture remained in place, though dust had begun to settle. The walls seemed to close in, the silence pressing down on her.
The stairs creaked under her weight as she climbed up to her old room, memories tugging at the edges of her mind. The family photos on the walls were hard to avoid, each one like a punch to the gut. She pushed open the door to her room and let out a shaky breath. It felt like a stranger's space now, but it was still filled with remnants of her past life. She grabbed a duffel bag and began throwing in clothes and a few personal items—her laptop, some jewellery, her makeup. Each item felt heavier than the last, pulling her deeper into a place she didn't want to return to.
As she packed, her eyes landed on a photo of her and Wheezie, arms around each other, smiling. A rare, happy moment before it all went to hell. Her throat tightened as she slipped the frame into her bag.
After grabbing her birth certificate, passport, and some birthday money she'd hidden away, she hesitated in the doorway of the master bedroom. Rose and Ward's old room. Everything about it screamed untouched, like they'd just walked out and left it behind. The thought sent a shiver down her spine. Reluctantly, she made her way to the ensuite, knowing what she came for—the emergency cash Rose always kept in a small safe behind the mirror.
With practised ease, Sarah unlocked the panel and fished out the cash. It wasn't much, but enough to keep them fed for a while. As she closed the safe, something else caught her eye—a box of pregnancy tests, half-hidden behind some old bottles of moisturiser.
Her heart stopped.
For a moment, everything went quiet, the air thick with tension. Her mind raced back over the past few weeks—headaches, nausea, exhaustion. She'd brushed it off as stress, trauma… but what if it wasn't?
Her hands trembled as she grabbed the box and slipped back into her old bathroom. It was the only place in the house that still felt remotely hers. The cold tiles under her feet seemed to echo the chill that crept up her spine. Locking the door, she ripped open the box, her breath shallow and unsteady.
The minutes dragged on, each second feeling like an eternity. Sarah's mind spiralled as she waited, her thoughts fractured. What if this was happening? What if everything was about to change again?
She glanced down at the test, her heart in her throat.
Positive.
A wave of dizziness hit her, and she had to grip the counter to steady herself. Positive. Pregnant. Her hands shook, and she dropped the test onto the floor, sinking down beside it as the weight of the world seemed to crash over her. The room spun, her thoughts a jumbled mess.
"Shit," she whispered, her voice barely a breath.
Tears blurred her vision, but she made no move to wipe them away. How could this be happening? How could she be pregnant, now of all times? Her father had betrayed her, her brother had become a monster, and her mother had never been a part of her life. What did she know about being a parent? How could she ever raise a child when she hadn't even had an example of what that looked like?
The hours passed in a haze. Sarah sat curled up on the bathroom floor, her knees pulled tightly to her chest. She had no idea how long she had been sitting there, lost in her thoughts, the tears flowing freely now. Her mind kept circling back to the same question: what kind of life could she offer a child in this chaos?
By the time John B found her, the house was cloaked in darkness. He had been worried sick when she hadn't come home, piecing together that she must've returned to Tannyhill. His heart raced as he stepped inside, the eerie silence of the house sending a chill down his spine.
"Sarah?" he called, his voice echoing down the empty halls. No answer.
Panic flared in his chest as he searched room after room, finally finding her upstairs in the bathroom, sitting on the floor, her face buried in her hands. His heart broke at the sight—her small frame trembling, her shoulders hunched as if the weight of the world had crushed her.
"Sarah?" John B knelt beside her, his voice soft but filled with concern. He gently brushed the hair from her face, his touch light, like he was afraid she might shatter.
She didn't respond at first, only shaking with silent sobs. He couldn't stand seeing her like this. "Hey, you're scaring me. What's going on?"
Slowly, Sarah lifted her head, her lip trembling. She held up the pregnancy test, her hand shaking as much as her voice when she whispered, "I'm pregnant."
The words hung in the air, hitting John B like a freight train. Pregnant? He stared at her, his mind spinning. How? When? His thoughts stumbled over each other as he struggled to comprehend.
"I don't know what to do," Sarah's voice cracked as the sobs broke through again. "I can't… I don't know how to be a parent. I don't know how to do any of this."
John B's heart ached for her. He could see the fear and confusion in her eyes, the raw vulnerability. And even though the shock rattled him to his core, he knew he couldn't let it show. She needed him now, more than ever.
He didn't say anything—there were no words that could fix this. Instead, he gently pulled her into his arms, lifting her off the cold floor. Sarah didn't resist. She pressed her face against his chest, her tears soaking into his shirt as he carried her down the stairs and out to the Twinkie.
The drive back to the Château was quiet, the weight of their new reality settling in. When they got home, John B took her straight to bed, pulling the covers over them both. He held her close as her sobs quieted into shallow breaths. His mind was still reeling, but he pushed his own fears aside for now. All that mattered was Sarah. He kept his arms wrapped tightly around her, feeling her exhaustion give way to sleep.
As the minutes turned into hours, John B lay awake, staring at the ceiling, his mind racing. The idea of becoming a parent terrified him. After everything they'd been through, how were they supposed to bring a baby into this world? But one thought stayed with him, burning brighter than the fear—he wouldn't let this baby feel alone. He'd never let his child go through what he had, feeling abandoned or unloved. He had to figure it out. For Sarah. For their future.