Chapter 154

"Is that really you, Miss Lockhart?"

The raspy voice grew more animated as the figure approached Vivian.

Vivian's heart pounded violently. She flailed her arms wildly. "Stay back! Or I'll call an exorcist to banish you!"

"Don't be frightened, dear. It's me - Evelyn. Your beloved nanny."

The skeletal 'apparition' grasped Vivian's wrist with one bony hand while brushing aside stringy hair with the other, revealing a gaunt but familiar face.

"Evelyn?"

Vivian's panic subsided instantly. She cracked open one eye cautiously.

When recognition dawned, she gasped. "But how? You're supposed to be..."

Evelyn Whitmore had been the Lockhart family's head housekeeper and Vivian's primary caregiver since childhood.

In many ways, Evelyn had been more of a mother to Vivian than her actual parent.

After the Lockhart family's financial ruin and her parents' tragic demise, Evelyn had remained faithfully guarding the estate. The last Vivian heard after marrying into the Blackwood family was that Evelyn had been beaten to death and buried.

By the time Vivian returned to Lockhart Manor, it was too late. The cemetery held no trace of Evelyn's remains.

The shock sent Vivian into a weeks-long fever, during which she babbled incoherently. That was when Eleanor Blackwood declared her daughter-in-law cursed.

Vivian had sworn vengeance for Evelyn's murder.

Now fate had brought her face-to-face with the woman she thought lost forever.

"Could this be Evelyn's spirit coming to visit me?" Vivian wondered fearfully.

"Touch my skin, Miss Lockhart. Feel how warm I am. I'm no ghost." Evelyn pressed Vivian's trembling hand against her forehead, her smile radiating the same maternal warmth Vivian remembered.

The contact confirmed it - living flesh. "You're alive! This is miraculous!"

Overwhelmed, Vivian burst into joyful tears. The sudden return of family after years of loneliness was more than she could process.

"You always were such a sensitive child," Evelyn chuckled, wiping Vivian's tears with her sleeve. "Shall I fix you something to eat?"

For Evelyn, tending to Lockhart Manor and its last surviving heir gave purpose to her existence. She'd waited four long years for this reunion.

"Food can wait! I need answers first!" Vivian flipped on the lights and pulled Evelyn onto the sofa. "What happened after I left? I won't sleep until I know everything."

Evelyn clasped Vivian's hands tenderly. "Very well, my dear. Let me tell you the whole story."