“It’s okay, we were listening at the window when you were talking to Daddy and Lahn.”
“Yeah, I saw you.”
“Let me go back to the house and deal with your sister and your daddy,” Ma Mable said. “Maybe we can meet on neutral ground one day at Lina’s place?”
Lauren took her pain meds and antibiotics.
“That works for me; you okay with that?” she asked, looking at Santi.
“As long as you take it easy.” He nodded at Ma. “We’ll see you at Lina’s for dinner tomorrow.”
Ma Mable left. Santi sat at the kitchen table and pulled Lauren into his lap.
“Let’s talk about a strategy tonight so there are no misunderstandings, no surprises tomorrow.”
“I won’t fight my sister or cuss out my daddy, if that’s what you’re afraid of.”
“It was. Aunt Lina will probably make a big to-do since it’s your first outing since being shot.”
“Since I killed Veronica.”
“You didn’t kill Veronica Archer. You fell in the lake just like she did. Sometimes the dead call for vengeance, Lauren.”
“Do people think that I drowned her?”
“If anyone ever did, they won’t anymore. Doc Cleveland sent me the autopsy. There wasn’t a drop of water in Veronica’s lungs. Cause of death states that she suffocated.”
“That’s impossible.”
“It’s like they stilled her lungs; took her last breath.”
The news didn’t help her feel better, but it didn’t make her feel worse.
“Veronica was a murderer, and she would have probably continued to kill to get what she wanted without a drop of the remorse you’re now feeling. The spirits protected you. You’ve got to thank them for that when your wound is healed.”
“I will, me and Ma. She’s good at making offerings.”
He shook his head.
“Your mother can do rituals and make offerings but that’s not what I mean.You’vegot to return to the water to thank them.”
“Like go in?” she said, sitting up straight.
“Yep.”
“Hell no?—”
“We’ll do it together, let them know you’re mine. Let them bless our union so there’s no mistaking you belong to the Freeman line.”
“Union, huh?” she said, then kissed him deeply.
“Me and you forever, little wren. Once the water binds us, the connection is more permanent than any wedding ring. Shrouded Lake waters are powerful. Once they bless us, not even Moses would be able to separate that union. If you do want a wedding ring, your mama offered me your great-grandmother’s.”
“Whoa.”
It really showed how much her mother didn’t see Derrick as her happily ever after. Ma Mable had never offered the ring to her and Derrick.
“You really think you can handle me, Sheriff Stillwater?”
