Mirabe''s gaze didn''t wander; it remained fixed on the gravestone.
About two or three minutes after her words fell, Aiden emerged from behind a nearby tombstone.
He walked towards Mirabe at a leisurely pace.
"Are you... okay?" Aiden asked, looking at Mirabe''s gaunt cheeks with hesitation.
Given that the Gilbert family had gone bankrupt and her parents had divorced, he was supposed to hate her.
Mirabe lifted her head to nce at Aiden. "Were you waiting here for me?"
She had sensed a sneaky presence on her way over, but she hadn''t expected it to be Aiden.
Aiden opened his mouth to deny it but swallowed his words at thest moment. He cautiously nced at James standing with a significant presence nearby and whispered, "I have something to tell you."
"I''ll wait outside for you," James said to Mirabe in a soft tone.
After acknowledging him, Mirabe turned around once James had walked away. "Go ahead."
Aiden fidgeted with his hands for a while before finally speaking, "My grandma wanted me to pass on a message to you..."
Mirabe''s eyshes fluttered slightly, and her already pale cheeks turned even whiter as the cold wind blew her hair into disarray and Aiden''s words continued to reach her.
"...She said not to be sad and to stop dwelling on the past. You were always her most beloved granddaughter." When Aiden got to this part, he remembered how his grandma had still been lucid, telling him this with perhaps something more in her eyes.
He didn''t fully understand why she insisted on emphasizing thatst part. After some thought, he figured the elderlydy probably wanted to express, before leaving, that she never considered Mirabe an outsider.
Coming back to her senses, Mirabe felt the turmoil in her heart caused by the words ''from the beginning to the end'' gradually calm down. She looked at Aiden. "Thank you."
Aiden awkwardly averted his gaze, then quickly added loudly, "Don''t get me wrong. Just because I''m telling you this doesn''t mean I don''t dislike you. Respect for the deceased is important, and I didn''t want to fail my grandma''sst request
Mirabe''s gaze returned to the photo on the gravestone, a soft light passing through her eyes. "I know."
She understood what Catherine''s ''from the beginning to the end'' meant.
Aiden bit his lip, muttered, "Good that you know," and then ran off.
Mirabe stood there, not moving her gaze even as Aiden walked away. After a long while, her lips moved slightly, and a soft ''Grandma, rest in peace'' dissipated into the air.
She turned and walked out of the cemetery.
James''s car was parked outside the cemetery As Mirabe walked out, he was standing by the car door on a call. He looked up, saw Mirabe, said a few words into the phone, and then hung up.
As Mirabe approached, James held her hand for a moment and said, "Nick just called."
Mirabe paused slightly.
"He said Shayn and Marian caught the nine o''clock flight. They should bending at the airport in about an hour." James then took off his coat and draped it over her shoulders. "They''reing to pay their respects to Catherine."
Mirabe hummed lightly and then said, "I''ll go pick them up."
Seeing her looking worse than she had in the past few days, James paused for a moment before saying, "Why don''t I go? You haven''t rested much these past few days. I''ll pick them up."
Mirabe smiled and shook her head, insisting, "It''s okay."
Unable to persuade her, James didn''t try further.
Mirabe wrapped the coat around herself, nced back at the cemetery, and then said to Wyatt standing by, "Could you take that kid back home for me?"
She was referring to Aiden, who was following behind.