Part 12 (1/2)
”Does it have something to do with me?” I ask, becoming even more intrigued with the secret relations.h.i.+p Millie seems to have with Lucifer. ”If it does, you have to tell me, Millie. I need to know everything I can about Lucifer if I'm ever going to understand him.”
”I'm not someone who breaks her word easily,” Millie says, still looking uncomfortable about the subject. ”But, considering how things are between the two of you, I feel like you should know. Perhaps if you know more about him, you can better understand his feelings for you.”
”Tell me, Millie. Please,” I implore. ”I need to know.”
Millie sighs before she tells me her secret.
”On the night of your first birthday, I was putting you in your cradle when I felt like someone was behind me. I turned to see if it was Lord Andre sneaking in for one last kiss from you, but I saw no one. Still, I didn't like the feeling that someone had been there. So, I acted as if I left the room and waited for a couple of minutes listening in at the door. When I heard a male voice in your room, I barged in ready to fight whoever it was.”
”Was it Lucifer?”
Millie nods. ”Yes, he confessed to me that he just wanted to see how much you had grown in the past year. I didn't see any harm in it. I even told him about all your little milestones like your first step, your first word...”
”What was my first word?”
”Papa, of course,” Millie chuckles. ”Oh you've loved Lord Andre from the moment you saw him, I think. Anyway, every year on your birthday until you were ten years old, Lucifer would come during the night to see you. I would wait for him and let him know anything notable that happened to you during the year. We formed an odd acquaintance during those times.”
”Did you ever tell papa about Lucifer's visits?”
”No,” Millie says, looking guilty. ”I promised Lucifer it would be between me and him. I didn't sense that you were in any danger. So, I didn't see the harm in keeping the secret from your father.”
”You said he came up until I turned ten. Do you know why he stopped?”
Millie shakes her head. ”No, I don't. You would have to ask him that.”
Millie's confession just adds to my certainty that Lucifer cares for me more deeply than he might want to admit. I am almost certain now that he loves me, even if he doesn't want to say the words to me.
”Why don't we see if we can put a smile on that beautiful face of yours instead of a frown?” Millie suggests. ”I suspect Master Malcolm would rather see you happy when you go walking down that aisle towards him.”
I follow Millie to the bathroom where she already has the tub filled with water and bubbles. After I strip off my clothing and submerge my body into the water, I feel a sense of calm wash over me as soon as I imagine Malcolm's happy face watching me walk down the aisle towards him.
I smile and close my eyes, letting the bad events of the day drift away, only keeping the good in the forefront of my mind.
Chapter 9.
For the wedding, Millie styles my hair into long loose curls and pulls small sections of it away from my face. She pins them into place on the backside of my head with a diamond and pearl hair-clip shaped into a design that reminds me of a vine of flowers. The pearls act as flower buds and the oval diamonds leaves.
”That's pretty,” I say, watching her reflection in the vanity mirror as she clips it into place to hold my hair back. ”Where did it come from?”
”Oh, the other Watchers brought you some jewelry as a wedding gift,” she tells me. ”Now, let me see if I can remember correctly. I believe the hair-clip was from Desmond.”
”What else did I get?” I ask, excited to see what other treasures I was given.
Millie walks over to my bedside table and picks up a medium sized black box. She brings it over and hands it to me. I lift the lid and inside, beautifully displayed on a piece of black velvet, is a necklace and a pair of earrings in the same design as the hair-clip.
”I was asked to tell you that the necklace is from Brutus and the earrings are from Daniel,” Millie says. ”And Jered said your gift from him will be arriving tomorrow morning.”
”Do you know what his gift is?” I ask, intrigued to know what Jered would give me.
”I have no idea, my sweet,” Millie says with a shrug. ”But he seemed quite pleased with himself for thinking of it, whatever it is.”
There is a soft scratching at the door.
”Anna?” Vala says from the other side.
Millie goes to the door and opens it for my four-legged friend. I not only get Vala but also Luna. The little h.e.l.lhound runs in and jumps up onto my lap. Her little tongue is hanging out as if she just ran a marathon and her bright blue eyes practically glow with happiness. Vala leisurely walks into the room shaking her head at the pup's antics.
”It's almost like she knows what's going on,” Vala tells me, sounding amused. ”She's been excited ever since the others began preparing the chapel.”
”Chapel?” I ask Vala while rubbing the little h.e.l.lhound between the ears in an attempt to calm her down.
”Yes,” Vala says coming to sit down beside my chair. ”There's one at the end of the east wing of the house.”
”Oh,” I say, wondering if it's the same chapel my mother used for her own wedding.
It makes sense that it would be. Where else would she have gone?
”I think it's time to get dressed,” Millie tells me. ”You don't want to keep your man waiting at the altar any longer than you have to.”
”I couldn't agree with you more, Millie,” I say, placing Luna down on the floor and slipping off my robe as I walk over to the bed. ”I think Malcolm and I have both waited long enough, and it feels like it's been forever instead of only a few hours since I last saw him.”
”Love has a way of changing the pace of time in your mind,” Millie agrees.
”Have you ever been in love, Millie?”
Millie smiles sadly, as she holds out my dress for me to step into it.
”Hasn't everyone been in love at least once in their lives, my sweet?”
”Who was he?” I ask, slipping my arm through the one shoulder dress.
Millie steps around me and pulls the fabric together in the back to zip it up.
”A young man who used to work for Master Malcolm back in the day,” Millie tells me.
”What happened? Where is he now?”
”He went off-world to make his fortune and never came back,” Millie says.
”Why?”
”Apparently he found someone else he liked better,” she replies, not sounding like she wants to discuss her lost love any further, and I certainly wasn't going to push the matter.
”Well, his loss was my gain,” I tell her. ”You've been like a mother to me, Millie. I know my life wouldn't have felt complete without you in it.”
I can see Millie tear up at my heartfelt declaration. She sniffs and smoothes out the front of the skirt for me.