‘Everything all right?’ he asked. ‘Rose? Mother?’ The latter was the news he was expecting any day now.
‘Cooper’s finally done it,’Presley would say.‘He beat our mother to death.’
‘Rose is good.’
Rose was their half-sister who had been born a few years after he left the borough. He had only seen her a handful of times in her six years but always asked after her.
‘And Mother’s fine,’ Presley added. ‘And Cooper.’
‘I didn’t ask about Cooper.’
She studied him a moment, no doubt trying to read his mood before continuing. ‘I’m getting married.’
Astin’s eyebrows shot up, though he had no idea why he was surprised. She was twenty-two years old, and her friends were dropping babies all over the borough. ‘Married? To whom?’
‘Chadwick Wesleye.’
Astin leaned his weight on one foot. ‘Royce Wesleye’s boy?’
She lifted her gaze. ‘He’s not a boy anymore. He’s twenty and three.’
Astin tried to picture the little thug as a man. ‘He still throw rocks at sheep?’
She gave him a tired look. ‘He was eleven when he did that.’
‘I didn’t catch any other boys his age doing it.’
She shrugged. ‘Maybe you would have if you stuck around for longer.’
He did not miss the pain that flashed in her eyes. She was never going to forgive him for leaving, despite knowing his reasons. ‘Do you love him?’
‘Does that matter?’
‘Not to anyone else, but it should to you.’
She wet her lips. ‘His family produces ninety percent of Chadora’s grain. It’s a smart match.’
Nothing changed on his face. ‘This match your idea or Cooper’s?’
‘I can barely remember.’ She lifted her shoulders in a resigned shrug. ‘He showed up, we courted, and now we’re to be wed. I just thought you might want to know.’
He sucked on his teeth. ‘So he asked Cooper for your hand?’
‘Who else is he going to ask?’ she said, her voice even. ‘You?’
Fair point.
If Cooper had laid one finger on her, fifteen-year-old him would have found a way to take her with him. But for whatever reason, the old man had reserved his bad moods for his wife and stepson. Though Lari Brooke would never admit her second husband hurt her. She could be black and blue and still deny any wrongdoing on his behalf. That would mean admitting she had made a mistake in marrying the man mere weeks after burying her first husband.
‘Well, congratulations,’ Astin said. ‘When’s the wedding?’
‘In the summer.’ One corner of her mouth lifted. ‘Whatever that means anymore.’
‘It’s your best chance of finding a flower for your bouquet.’
The faintest smile appeared on Presley’s lips before she suppressed it.
Their childhood had been filled with jokes and knowing smiles, but it seemed those small moments had not added up to much. Now they were just sad reminders of a past life.
