The Way Back
1258 Words
The walk back felt shorter.
Roxy wasn't sure if it was because the distance had changed...
Or because she had.
The same streets that had felt unfamiliar that morning now carried pieces of memories.
The café where she had ordered her first coffee.
The bookstore where she had stopped to admire children's stories.
The sidewalk where Sarah had left her with nothing but encouragement and the freedom to choose her own path.
And now...
The road leading back to the Sterling estate.
The container Mama Beatrice had placed in her hands rested carefully against her chest.
She looked down at it every few minutes.
A small smile always followed.
It was just food.
Leftovers from lunch.
Something most people would never consider special.
Yet somehow...
It felt more precious than the expensive gifts filling her bedroom.
Because nobody had given it to her because of her surname.
Nobody had offered it because she was Roxanne Sterling.
Mama Beatrice had simply looked at her and noticed she was hungry.
That was all.
No expectations.
No conditions.
No hidden meaning.
Just kindness.
And somehow...
That meant everything.
The sounds of the city slowly faded as she walked farther from the streets that had welcomed her.
The laughter became distant.
The crowds became smaller.
The world that had felt so alive that morning gradually gave way to the familiar quiet of her own neighbourhood.
Until finally...
She saw them.
The Sterling gates.
Tall.
Black.
Unmoving.
The same gates she had stared at from her balcony that morning.
The same gates she had once believed protected her.
Roxy slowed her steps.
For a moment, she simply stood there.
Earlier today, she had stood behind those gates, wondering if she was brave enough to leave.
Now she stood outside them...
Wondering if she was ready to return.
The gates hadn't changed.
But she had.
Her fingers wrapped around the brass handle of the smaller servants' entrance.
The same handle.
The same gate.
Yet it felt different now.
The first time she touched it, she had been afraid of what waited beyond it.
This time...
She was afraid of what she was leaving behind.
She pushed it open.
The quiet creak echoed through the evening air.
Then she stepped inside.
The estate looked exactly as it always had.
Perfectly trimmed gardens.
Polished stone pathways.
White walls glowing beneath the fading sunlight.
Beautiful.
Expensive.
Untouched.
But for the first time, Roxy noticed what the beauty had always hidden.
The emptiness.
There were no children shouting across the yard.
No music drifting through the air.
No one laughing because a chair made a strange noise.
Only fountains.
Footsteps.
Silence.
She looked back once toward the street.
Toward the place where she had discovered a part of herself.
Then she closed the gate.
The sound echoed softly.
And somehow...
It felt heavier than before.
---
She followed the familiar path toward the servants' entrance.
Not because she was ashamed.
Not because she was hiding.
But because she needed a moment.
A moment before the mansion reminded her who everyone expected her to be.
She still didn't know how to explain what had happened today.
How could she explain that a few hours with strangers had made her feel more accepted than years surrounded by people who knew her bloodline?
Before she reached the door—
"Miss Roxy?"
She stopped.
Sarah stood near the entrance.
The moment their eyes met, relief softened the older woman's face.
Roxy immediately noticed.
"I'm sorry."
Sarah stepped closer.
"For what?"
Roxy glanced toward the darkening sky.
"I didn't realise how late it had become."
She lifted the container slightly.
"I lost track of time."
Sarah's expression softened.
"That means you were enjoying yourself."
Roxy smiled faintly.
"I was."
"And that is something worth losing track of time for."
A quiet laugh escaped Roxy.
"I should have checked my phone."
"Perhaps."
Sarah smiled.
"But I had a feeling you were exactly where you needed to be."
Roxy looked at her.
"You weren't worried?"
Sarah shook her head gently.
"No."
Then she touched Roxy's arm.
"I knew where your heart would lead you."
Roxy looked down at the container in her hands.
"Mama Beatrice gave me food."
Sarah smiled immediately.
"Of course she did."
"She wouldn't let me refuse."
"Nobody refuses Mama Beatrice."
They both laughed softly.
A simple moment.
A warm moment.
The kind Roxy was beginning to understand mattered.
Then Sarah studied her face.
"Tell me."
Roxy looked up.
"About The Sanctuary?"
Sarah nodded.
Roxy looked toward the gardens.
"I don't know how to explain it."
"You don't have to explain everything."
"No..."
Roxy smiled slightly.
"I think I want to."
Sarah waited patiently.
Roxy searched for the words.
"Nobody there knew who I was."
Sarah's expression softened.
"And how did that feel?"
Roxy looked down.
"Strange."
She paused.
"At first."
Then her voice became quieter.
"But after a while..."
She smiled.
"It felt peaceful."
She swallowed.
"I wasn't someone's daughter."
"I wasn't an heir."
"I wasn't a responsibility someone had to manage."
Her fingers tightened around the container.
"I was just Roxy."
Sarah reached out and squeezed her hand.
"And you liked her?"
Roxy looked surprised by the question.
Then she smiled.
"Yes."
The answer came easily.
"I think I did."
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then Sarah smiled.
"I think she was always there."
Roxy looked at her.
"Who?"
"Roxy."
The answer touched something deep inside her.
Before she could respond—
"Miss Sterling?"
Both women turned.
A staff member stood near the doorway.
"The Blackwoods have arrived."
The warmth disappeared.
Reality returned.
Dinner.
The engagement.
Victor.
Roxy looked toward the mansion.
The lights inside had already been turned on.
The crystal chandeliers.
The polished floors.
The world waiting for her to step back into place.
Sarah noticed the hesitation in her eyes.
"Roxy..."
Roxy took a slow breath.
"I know."
She looked down at her clothes.
The jeans.
The sneakers.
The simple blouse.
For a few hours, they had allowed her to feel like herself.
Soon, they would be replaced by silk and diamonds.
By expectations.
By the version of herself everyone else recognized.
She walked toward the mansion.
But this time...
She wasn't walking back as the same person who had left.
---
Her bedroom welcomed her with familiar silence.
Elegant.
Perfect.
Cold.
Roxy placed the container from Mama Beatrice carefully on the table.
Beside it sat the velvet ring box.
Two objects.
Two worlds.
One represented everything she had inherited.
The other represented something she had discovered.
A place where she belonged.
She opened the container slightly.
The scent of home-cooked food filled the room.
She smiled.
Then she looked toward the mirror.
This morning, she had seen someone she had almost forgotten.
Now...
She saw someone who knew that person was still there.
A knock sounded.
"Miss Roxy?"
Sarah's voice.
"Come in."
Sarah entered carrying the dress prepared for the evening.
She placed it gently on the bed.
Roxy looked at it.
Beautiful.
Expensive.
Perfect.
Everything she had been taught to become.
But as she reached toward it...
She remembered Leo's laughter.
Mama Beatrice's warmth.
Tariq's quiet kindness.
A place where nobody had asked for her surname before offering her a seat.
And she wondered...
How long could she continue pretending she hadn't found something she had been searching for all her life?
Outside, the mansion prepared for an engagement dinner.
Inside, Roxy stood between two versions of herself.
And for the first time...
She wasn't sure which one she was willing to lose.
- Writer
