“Oh, dear. I should’ve packed a lunch for you boys.” Upon moving into Rafael’s apartment building, she’d become a den mother to the other residents of the Victorian. God knew they needed one. All of them broken, even her son and his beautiful bride. Rafael and Lisa might look like a couple on a wedding cake, but under the exterior perfection, they were two damaged souls who found love and solace in each other. She shivered, remembering the curse, and said another of a thousand prayers.Please, bless this marriage. Keep the devil away.
She reminded herself that it would only be a darkness spread by the devil himself that could pull Rafael and Lisa apart. Which was why she’d been forced to torture her sweet son with the rituals. She just hoped they’d worked.
“It’s probably best you didn’t,” Trey said. “Lisa said her mom’s a tad territorial. She’s planning a big dinner for the wedding party tonight at the house.”
Lisa’s mother—Lois Perry. She’d talked to her several times since Rafael and Lisa’s engagement. With the little interaction they’d had over the phone, Mama was happy she was in California and Lois was in Iowa.
As they drove by the Emerson Pass city sign and headed left up a mountain road, she caught a glimpse of the town, all sparkly with Christmas lights.
Her ears popped as they climbed the slushy road to the mountain house where they would spend the long wedding weekend. A sparkling snow covered the thick forest of trees. Brilliant blue sky peeked between the snow-laden branches.
A trio of deer stood together a hundred yards off the road in a field. Ria let out an excited squeal. “Do you see, Rosa?” Ria asked, sounding as breathless andexcited as a child.
“Yes, aren’t they adorable?” Mama Soto already had her phone out of her bag and was snapping photos as fast as she could.
A few minutes later, Trey turned the car into a paved driveway. They passed a sign that readThe Lake House. They’d learned from Pepper and Stone that its name came from the family’s last name, not a geological element.
The boys escorted them up the icy steps to the front patio of the enormous ski chalet–style home, promising to bring their bags up once they were safely inside. When Pepper and Stone had come in October to scope out the wedding venue for Lisa, they’d found Mr. Lake, the owner of the house, by the woodshed. He’d fallen and broken his leg. If they hadn’t come upon him when they did, he might have frozen to death in the unexpected snowstorm. Pepper had shared with Mama Soto an uncertainty about renting the house for the wedding party, worried about getting trapped on the mountain again and missing the wedding. However, Stone had convinced Pepper it made the most sense financially for Lisa and Rafael’s families. The lodge was expensive, whereas they could stay here for much less, plus save money on meals.
Trey punched the doorbell. Chimes went off from inside to the tune of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” Soon thereafter, a middle-aged woman who looked a lot like their Lisa opened the door.
“Hello, hello. Come in.” She introduced herself as Lois Perry and gestured for them to come inside. Lois, unlike her daughter, was sharp-edged and skinny, with a hard, pinched look around her mouth, like someone who’d sucked on a sour lemon for thirty years.
Introductions were made all around as a man who must be Lisa’s father drifted into the foyer as quietly as the deer they’d seen on the way.
“I’m Warren Perry.” Warren’s soft voice, slouchy clothes, andtentative smile were like your favorite armchair, a little worn but still your favorite place to relax with a good book. “Nice to meet you all.” Tall and slender with a slight slope to his shoulders, he wore a sweater that matched the hue of his walnut-colored eyes. Lisa had told her he was a retired high school principal. She couldn’t imagine him in that role. As a former lunch lady, she’d known more than her share.
The boys excused themselves to grab the bags from the car while she and Ria shrugged out of their coats. Warren took them from the ladies and busied himself hanging them in the closet.
Lois looked from her to Ria. “I would’ve picked Ria here as Rafael’s mother, not you. You’re so…so tiny.”
“Yes, my boy got his height from his father.” Ria was tall and slender, whereas Rosa was petite and barely reached five two.
“Hisfather? You know who he was?” Lois asked as they walked out of the foyer and into the massive front room.
“Yes, I was married to him.” She didn’t know if she should be offended or amused. “We divorced before Rafael was born.” She pretended the question wasn’t rude and took a second to look around the stunning room. Floor-to-ceiling windows looked out to a clearing covered with snow and an iced-over pond. Several ducks sunned themselves in a clump of frozen reeds.
“I see. Well, that’s not at all the impression I had,” Lois said.
That did it. Now she was offended.
Clearly Ria was as well. “What exactly was your impression?” Ria asked.
Lois Perry didn’t even have the decency to look embarrassed. “I was told Rafael didn’t have a father. That isn’t unusual in your…neighborhood, right?”
Ria did one of her haughty laughs that sounded like an exotic birdcall and had made more than a few grown men cringe. “Our neighborhood is the same as any other. It takes one sperm and an egg to make a baby. I believe theycall it biology.”
Lois was not one easily cowed. She fixed her ice-blue eyes on Ria. “I’m aware of what makes a baby. I taught health for many years.”
Warren shuffled into the room with his hands shoved into his pockets. All color had drained from his face, making him appear older and more fatigued. If Lois had sucked a lemon for thirty years, her husband had been there to throw away the rinds.
“Would either of you care for something to drink?” Warren asked as he threw another log into the stone fireplace. “I could use a cocktail.” When the ladies all declined, he headed toward the bar area and poured himself a drink. There were trays of charcuterie on the coffee table, as well as bottles of champagne on ice.
The happy noises of the boys’ boisterous laughter and the double doors slamming sounded faintly in the background, as if from another world.
“Shall I show you to your room?” Lois asked.
“That won’t be necessary,” Ria said. “Pepper told us we’re in bedroom four.”
