Stand By Me Darling
Chapter 239: Expressing Her Heart

Chapter 239: Expressing Her Heart

She opened her eyes and picked up her phone. It was already eight in the evening and she immediately called Arthur.

And just as the ringing tone was heard Arthur answered the call.

Was he waiting for my call?

Talia smiled.

"Fred..." she said and she didn’t know why, but her eyes watered.

Maybe because she knew although her grandfather showed himself to be fine, she knew deep in her heart that he is very sick, or she was tired after staring too long at the computer screen, or maybe she was scared what Lord Lockhart had planned keeping everything under a tight lid, or maybe she was depressed remembering Cyrus, Talia felt like crying but she held it back.

But when Arthur answered her call even before it rang once, and the moment she said his name, she couldn’t hold back and tear drops started to drip from her eyes and she held her breath to stop herself from crying. She didn’t want to worry Arthur.

Arthur who was sitting in the sofa in the turret, waiting for her call, was going through that days news. No one was even taking about Talia or the scene Sophia made at tee hospital threatening to jump from the roof, but everyone was talking about the documentary.

Good! Everything is as it should be!

As he watched his phone ring, he immediately answered, but he had his smile frozen hearing her voice. Her voice usually holds a affectionate tenderness when she calls his name, but now...

" Iris, are you crying?"

She’s in distress... His heart skipped a beat.

The moment he asked, Talia couldn’t hold back her sobs and she started weeping.

"What is it?" Arthur felt like his heart slipped and fell on the floor hearing her weep.

"Did something happen?"

"Is your grandpa okay?"

"Did someone say something to you?"

"Iris...?"

Arthur asked b with no answer from the other end but endless sobs. He felt helpless and he wanted to just hop on a jet and go to her to give her a hug and punch the one who made her cry.

"It’s... It’s nothing... I just... I’m just overwhelmed..." After crying for about five minutes, Talia composed herself enough to tell Arthur that.

"Hmm..." Arthur sat comfortably on the sofa to be able to listen to her.

"Grandpa won’t be with us for a very long time, will he? He has gotten old..." Talia said sniffing and wiping her face with her hands.

"The medical advancement these days are enormous. We can find a way to cure your grandpa. Even now he just has to accept a transplant and it will improve his chances..." Arthur continued to explain to her in a gentle tone. She is not someone immature and unreasonable. She might get emotional at times, but still she can handle the truths.

" But I still wasn’t with him when he suffered alone... " Talia took in a deep breath. How stupid was she to let hatred rule her heart and leave her grandpa’s side when he might have wanted her near him the most?

"At least now I got a chance to be with him." She knew crying over spilt milk will do nothing. The one thing she could do right now, is spending as much as time she lost in the past, with her Grandpa together.

"You’re right."

Arthur’s lips curved up. Although she is different from before, she still is the same. She never cried seriously back then - not to him... Now that he thinks about it, she did cry and tell him that she doesn’t like attending funerals back at the creek.

Mmm... Interesting! Did she find me - a stranger and an enemy, more suitable to know her actual thoughts? She didn’t want to tell her mother or Cyrus that she didn’t like to attend funerals and yet she told me about it.

Apart from that, he didn’t remember when she was so heartbroken about anything. Maybe she suppressed it all and that’s why when Cyrus died, it hit her hard and she had to be institutionalised for depression?

If that is the case, it is good that she is freely crying and expressing her sorrows now, isn’t it?

And she still chooses me for dumping her sorrows...

Arthur even in that moment couldn’t help but feel pleased.

"Fred..." after being silent for a moment, Talia continued. "They found Cyrus’ other phone. I don’t know what Lord Lockhart has found out about Cyrus’ death. Do you know anything?"

"They found his phone?" Arthur asked. Although he guessed that to be the case, this confirmed it for him. "Iris... Lord Lockhart has been acting... Kind of odd lately. Even Cyril is kept in the dark. I don’t know what happens there either. But Iris, don’t worry... We can get through this." He spoke in a soothing tone. "No one will even touch the tip of your hair or hurt a cell in your body as long as I’m alive." His tone held an authoritative assurance.

Isn’t this promise too much? As long as he is alive, no one can touch me to hurt me... Isn’t he thinking too high of himself? He is not God! He is not omnipotent and he can’t be beside me all the time.

Talia’s lips curved up nonetheless. This overtly honeyed promises... Will he be able to keep them? Idiot!

But still her heart fluttered hearing that deep baritone voice saying such words with assurance. She knew this struggle she is in... She won’t have to face it alone. She has Fred holding her hands and standing right beside her, facing it with her. He will protect her as much as humanely possible. She knew that.

But does she want to be protected?

"Hmm... I can accept what he decides, Fred. I’m not scared of facing the repercussion of what I did... I know I must accept what is thrown at me. I escaped the last time when he asked me to marry Ray, but this time I will accept the punishment he gives me."

Hearing what Talia said with resolution, Arthur felt exasperated.

What right does Lord Lockhart have to punish Iris and why should she accept the punishment? What Cyrus did was in a way a suicide. He pushed her to do something, he himself didn’t have the guts to do or she never would have done without his insistence. And also, hasn’t she suffered enough?

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