**Third Person POV**
That was all Emily could remember before she lapsed into unconsciousness.
She woke up many hours later to see Irvette standing over her. For a few seconds, she panicked because she thought that George had sent Irvette to finish the work he had started with her father but then she relaxed when she saw the expression on the other woman's face.
“You are awake,” Irvette said in a cheery tone when she saw Emily open her eyes.
“I am… You are awake too,” replied Emily with a smile.
“I heard… you helped me… Uhm,” Irvette began to say.
“Oh… that… It's no problem. I uh… can everyone leave us?” Emily ordered.
“No, actually Princess I have to…”
“Go be a doctor somewhere else Allen. Just let me be, okay?” Emily said and everyone except Irvette left the room.
Irvette was anxious. Was this the moment of truth? The moment where her dark dirty secrets were going to come out in the open?
“You're pregnant. When you collapsed…”
“What?” That was not what she had been expecting to hear. She had not been expecting to hear that she had a baby in her stomach but then how was that even possible?
“I am not… I've spent months drinking and… no. I'm not pregnant. I cannot be,” Irvette's voice was shaking with horror.
“Princess Irvette, I need you to listen to me. Allen may not be the finest doctor in the world but he is not mistaken when he says that you are pregnant, okay?” said Emily.
“You do not understand. I… oh my… I've been so… I do not deserve life… I cannot. And it's been months since… I would have known. I mean, I don't look pregnant?..”
“Irvette? You need to pull yourself together,” said Emily. The last thing she wanted to be doing right now was trying to calm Irvette when she had Sandra on her mind.
Why had her father hidden this from them? How come Sandra had not said a word about this all these years? Was that the reason she had agreed to be father's eyes? Because she wanted to remain in their lives somehow?
“I cannot … There's no father. There is no father,” Irvette was really beginning to freak out.
“You don't know who the father is?”
“He's dead. He's dead. He killed him. He killed my baby's father. He killed him and I'm sure he knows that I… that I was… He killed him,” Irvette kept repeating.
“Allen, Allen, I need help in here,” Emily called out and Allen rushed right in.
*****
“Grandmother, you shouldn't be here,” said Harriet when she saw the old woman step into her father's room.
“I do, Harriet. I really do. My son, who pronounced me insane, is on his deathbed. I'm sure we have one or two words to say to each other,” returned the old lady.
“Grandmother, you do not…”
“Leave us. Everybody will leave us alone,” the old woman said with authority ringing in her voice. Everyone obeyed her and when it was just her and her son left she sat by his side on the bed.
“What do you want? To tell me that I got what I deserved?” quipped Napoleon in a weak voice.
“No honey. You have not got what you deserve. What you deserve will come much later. You see, there's a special place in hell for souls like you but that is not why I am here,” she returned with a smile.
“What do you want?”
“You were playing with the snake. Did you expect it not to bite?” asked Lady Tristan.
“I don't… I can't…”
“Don't worry son. I will do the talking.”
“You…”
“Shut up now or I will see your mouth shut forever before death does that. Now, did you expect the snake not to bite? You were playing with a snake and you expected it not to bite? Let me tell you something, It's not my fault you know… When you declared me insane when I was not and you… you killed your sister and her husband or at least you helped George do it… It was not my fault. I thought, I mean I've been doing a lot of thinking recently about what I missed about you growing up; what I could have done differently with you but Uhm… the fault was not with me. I'm not saying I did everything right but nobody ever does, no parent ever does everything right but you know what I did? I did my very best. I gave you my all and you know how I know I did not screw up as a parent? Marilyn… Marilyn turned out alright. She turned out alright but you chose not to… You had a choice Napoleon but what did you do with it? You declared your mother insane. You want to know why I know I did right by you as your mother? Because of your girls… they turned out to be just alright. They are good girls even though you are a poor excuse of a father. So, no. I did not fail as your mother. I wanted you to know that before you died. I needed you to know that this was all you and not a result of my failure as your mother.”
Lady Tristan let out a big breath after that. She had said her piece and she could not be happier that she did. She had spent all this time in the shadows wondering where she had gone wrong until she realised that none of this was her fault. Her son was an individual capable of making his own choices and he had chosen the wrong ones that had led him down this path.
“You can go back in to be with your father. He's lost a lot of blood. He doesn't have a lot of time left,” Lady Tristan said to her granddaughter when she left Napoleon's room.
“Grandmother? Are you okay?”
“My son is dying, what do you think?”