“Hello.”
I nearly jumped. I turned to see a man watering his yard only a few feet from me. It was almost dusk, which was the perfect time for watering.
“Hey. Do you know where the owners of the house are?”
“Selling something?”
I shook my head.
“Neighbors are at a work thing, I believe. Friends of yours?” He was being vague in a way that told me I was keeping him on edge, and that was the last thing I should be doing when I wanted information.
“My fiance is doing a family research thing. Do you know who they bought it from?” Phelan saved the day because I was feeling boxed in a corner, and when that happened, I was shit at making up stories.
“I never knew them. They kept to themselves. Their name was… huh. I don’t remember. My memory hasn’t been so good this side of seventy.”
“Thanks anyway.” Phelan grabbed my hand, my eyes glued to the door once more.
“Kind of needs a paint job and some repairs. Neighbors aren’t good at keeping things up, but they’re quiet.”
“Thanks anyway.” I turned back to face him. “We’ll be going.”
“I wish I could’ve been of more help.”
I did too.
We went back to the car. “I was sure I’d get here and pieces would fall together. I didn’t know how or why, but my gut said I needed to be here.”
“Do you have any idea as to what?”
I appreciated that Phelan wasn’t being an ass about this. I couldn’t say that I wouldn’t have been if I were in his shoes. There was nothing logical about any of this.
“No, but it feels like… This is gonna sound weird, but I feel like that old man who was talking to us. Like I know the memory is there, but he can’t find it.” Almost like someone just pulled it out of my head. It was probably just the hormones, but I couldn’t shake the feeling.
The car ride back was silent, and when we got there, Phelan helped me get ready to go back to school. As we were packing, I grabbed the documents and anything I could find that even hinted it belonged to that Charlotte Dempsey, anything that felt like it might be important, even when it didn’t make sense, and a picture of Rawlins.
I didn't know what these documents were proof of, but they were proof of something, something wrong. And I needed to keep them safe until I figured it out. My gut demanded it. In the end, we had a lot of huge boxes of paperwork to take back.
I planned to figure everything out, because our child’s first blanket would not be secrecy. It’ll be a warm and snuggly one.
SEVEN
PHELAN
We got out of the car and stood at the entrance to Sombertooth, and I studied the turret that poked up from the roof. Rawling figured someone had hidden in the turret like a prince imprisoned by a jealous relative centuries before.
I squeezed his hand, and we shared a look. There was no escaping that he was pregnant because he was six and half months along. To my eyes, he was gorgeous, blossoming as our baby grew. But he tugged at his oversized shirt and said it didn’t fit properly.
Father put a hand on each of our shoulders. “Ready?”
“Not really,” Rawling muttered, “but let’s get this over with.”
My mate had told me this arrival couldn’t have been more different than his first, a semester ago. But he was glad he didn’t have to lug his belongings up four flights of stairs.
“That’s what a mate is for, along with said mate’s parents.”
My brothers were living a day’s drive away, and though they’d volunteered to help out, I told them we’d create enough of a scene with the four of us and we’d see them over the next long weekend.
Every eye was on us, or on Rawling and his bump specifically. I smiled and did that awkward head nod at people I knewand wished Sombertooth had an elevator. The stairs in Phoenix House were narrow enough that my mate, his belly, and I couldn’t climb together, so I went in front, still gripping his hand, and my folks followed, with Father grumbling that he hated the stairs when he was a student and loathed them even more now.
