Chapter Text
Tabitha was doing her very best to focus on the road ahead and not to look at her unconscious cousin at all. Mary passed out as soon as she got into the car, and she was now sleeping with her head leaning against the window.
Not that Tabitha could blame her after everything that happened. This damn ghost just took away at least a decade or two of Mary’s life. No wonder she was exhausted.
Tabitha was trying her hardest to keep herself together as she drove her old BMW back to the Estate. She couldn’t let herself cry. Not here, not now. It would have to wait until she was alone in her bedroom later tonight. She just needed to make sure that Mary was safe in her own bed first.
Tabitha was terrified to think that Gramma Eddie might not be asleep yet. But of course she wouldn’t be. This woman was a hundred and nine years old, and she still had more energy than a lot of much younger people Tabitha knew. She still had this sharp wit, so characteristic for all of the Scarlets. She was still sarcastic, stubborn and absolutely terrifying. It was unbelievable just how much energy she had at her old age. She was waiting until Tabitha and Mary came back home the past two nights, ready to scold them both for putting themself in danger. She wasn’t going to let her sacrificial lamb hurt herself, after all. Not before it was time.
Tabitha dreaded to think what tonight’s unavoidable confrontation would look like.
She knew that Gramma Eddie would be livid that she didn’t drag Mary out of this cursed funhouse, even if she needed to use physical force. Neither of them was supposed to sacrifice herself. Tabitha needed her strength to run the mines, to keep the town going and continue the family legacy. And Mary…
Tabitha took a deep breath. She couldn’t let herself think about it. It needed to be done. It was the only way.
It was supposed to be worth it.
Against her better judgement, Tabitha glanced at her sleeping cousin. It was painfully obvious that Charlie’s curse took a toll on her. She had visible wrinkles and graying hair now. Somehow, she looked just as pretty as when Tabitha first met her, but she became far more fragile. More like someone who needed protection, not only from the horrors haunting Scarlet Hollow and from their family’s schemes, but from herself, too.
This woman was truly impossible. There was no doubt in Tabitha’s mind that she was a proper Scarlet indeed. She had the same sharp sense of humor, and she knew how to stick up for herself. At the same time, she somehow wasn’t acting like a Scarlet at all. She was way too kind for that. She cared way too much, not just about obligations, but about creating a bond where there was never supposed to be one.
Family is important, she said. I wasn’t just going to ditch you.
Tabitha hated this. Why couldn’t Mary be an arrogant, stuck-up city girl who despised everything about small towns, like Pearlanne kept telling everyone? All of that would be so much easier if she was just a terrible person Tabitha could hate without feeling guilty about it.
But she wasn’t. She was someone who ran into the abandoned mine after some drunk teenagers, and who sacrificed years for her life to the angry spirit their great-grandmother wronged. She was someone who kept repeatedly choosing to be kind.
Maybe it wasn’t worth it after all.
Tabitha knew she was the one who should take this burden upon herself. As much as she hated to admit it, Sybil was right. She was the older cousin. She was the one who lived in Scarlet Hollow her entire life. She was the one actually running the mines and profiting from her family’s cruelty.
She was the one who spent her whole life terrified of Pearlanne and Edwardine, and the one who was still too terrified of them now to do what needed to be done.
Mary didn’t deserve any of that. And Tabitha was too weak to protect her.
It’s okay, Tabitha. This is what family’s for, right? she said right before stepping into that light.
This was never what family was for, though. Not the Scarlet family, at least. There was no sticking up for each other. There was no putting yourself in danger to protect the people you were supposed to love. There were only obligations and sacrificing yourself and others for some vague idea of the greater good.
Tabitha wondered if she ever even had a family before she met Mary.
“We’re back,” she said after parking next to the Estate. She was doing her best to keep her voice flat. “Do you need me to carry you inside?”
“Did I dream that I gave up years of my life to get rid of a ghost or did that actually happen?” Mary asked groggily.
“I think you can answer that question by taking a look in the mirror.”
For a moment, Mary looked completely confused. Tabitha was hoping that she would for once regret being so infuriatingly selfless, that she would get frustrated with herself and start acting like a normal person for a change…
“No regrets,” she said with a small, tired smile.
No such luck.
“We’ll see if you still feel that way in the morning.” Tabitha rolled her eyes. “Now come on, let’s get you to bed.”
As expected, Gramma Eddie was waiting for them in the foyer, sitting in her wheelchair with a book in her hands and impatient expression.
But when she noticed the state Mary was in, her first reaction wasn’t anger. It was anxiety.
Tabitha grit her teeth. She knew why Edwardine was worried, and that knowledge was making her see red.
“What happened to you, child?” Gramma Eddie asked quietly.
“The angry spirit of Charles Shaw Junior is what happened.” Mary didn’t look particularly angry. It didn’t even sound like she was accusing Edwardine of anything. She was just exhausted. “The sins of the father are to be laid upon the children and all that. We really need to have a serious talk tomorrow, Gramma. Today I just need to know, is Charlie related to us?”
Gramma Eddie didn’t answer for a long moment. Both Tabitha and Mary were looking at her in tense anticipation. It was difficult to get anything from her expression, but it wasn’t anywhere near as cold as usual.
“No,” she finally admitted, her voice a lot softer than Tabitha ever heard from her before. “My first son was a stillborn.”
Mary nodded. It was hard to say if she was relieved or not.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” she said quietly. To Tabitha’s shock, it sounded like she was genuine. “I think I’m going to pass out. Goodnight, everyone.”
Tabitha watched as her cousin slowly dragged her exhausted body upstairs. She didn’t have it in herself to help her get to bed.
Instead, she and Edwardine patiently waited for Mary to get out of the earshot.
“What happened?” Gramma Eddie looked up at Tabitha with her sharp eyes. If Tabitha didn’t know any better, she could almost think that she was genuinely concerned.
Not that she cared anymore. The past week has been the hardest time of her life, and this night finally brought Tabitha past her limit. This was the last time she let her own weakness hurt someone she cared about.
“Exactly what Mary said,” she answered dryly. “Your dead ex demanded years of life from one of us to pay for the crimes committed by our Scarlet blood or whatever. I tried to convince Mary that we should just leave, but she decided it’s somehow her responsibility to make it up to the guy you killed eighty years ago, and now here we are.”
For a long moment the foyer was filled with heavy silence.
“It should have been me,” Tabitha whispered. If only she was brave enough, if only this old hag didn’t have such a strong influence on her, maybe Mary wouldn’t have to pay the price instead.
The sight of Edwardine looking at her with these wide, tearful eyes made Tabitha reconsider. She wasn’t the one who created that situation in the first place, was she?
“No.” She shook her head.
She wasn’t the one who betrayed and killed someone who loved her, who decided that the wishes of her father were more important than freeing the town. She still had time to do the right thing. The real culprit was sitting right in front of her.
“It should have been you.”
For the first time since Tabitha could remember, Gramma Eddie seemed to be at loss of words.
“I really loved him, you know,” she whispered after a moment, her voice mournful.
Tabitha couldn’t help but burst into sarcastic laughter.
“Sure you did.” She rolled her eyes. “Just like you loved Alexandra and that other stillborn kid, right? You disgust me. And if you try to as much as lay a finger on Mary, I will deal with you, just as I dealt with Pearlanne. I’m not going to be scared anymore. I’m not going to repeat your mistakes. I’m going to tell Mary everything tomorrow. We will find another way, with your help or without it.”
Tabitha didn’t wait for Edwardine to muster an answer. She went to her bedroom, leaving the trembling old woman behind.