“I met my wife when I was very young, Nadine. When I was just a few years out of college—not that much younger than Cal, actually. My father wanted me to come back home for the festival and, of course, I agreed. It’s tradition, after all. And I am a follower of tradition if nothing else.”
Nadine felt a ripple of unease, remembering his entry in the green book.Tradition, she thought sickly, when he exchanged a look with his wife that had her turning away.
“I saw her with a group of her friends. They were all quite stunning, but I knew that she was the one I wanted.”Why?Nadine wondered, but he didn’t say and she didn’t ask. “I told her to meet me in the woods when the festival was over and—well, one thing led to another.”
Nadine could swear Corrine’s hands were shaking. What had happened to her in the woods? If it had been anything like the rapacity that Caledon had described in so much detail in his journals, it was no wonder that she was afraid.
(Come with me, my sparrow)
“Why do you ask?” Nathaniel asked suddenly, fixing her with a look of appraisal.
“I was just curious. M-my parents met in college. It was love at first sight, or so I’ve heard, but I was young when they died, so I never got to hear them tell it. Only what other people tell me. I—” She hesitated. “I like hearing stories of how other people’s parents fell in love.”
You sick fuck.
“That’s so sweet, dear,” Corrine said emptily. “And so sad.”
There is no love in this room.
Nadine glanced at Odessa, Ben, and Cal. None of the journal entries she had read in that book from any of the Cullraven men had ever mentioned love. Only bitter savagery and, at best, a self-indulgent regret.
“Sheriff Crocker informs me that they should be able to get the road cleared in time for the festival,” Nathaniel remarked. “Not that our so-called city officials have deigned to lift a finger, even though they’ll use all five to rake in the money it brings.”
“It’s too bad the landslide prevented Nadine from leaving,” Odessa said.
“Yes.” Nathaniel dabbed his lips with one of the napkins—it was monogrammed just like the handkerchief Cal had used to clean her wounds. “Though with such a dramatic change of schedule, I suppose now you have no excuse not to see the festival for yourself, Nadine.”
There was a strange smile on his face she didn’t trust.Acts of god, Cal had said, when she’d accused him of somehow being involved with the landslide. But what about the acts of a man who thought he was one?
Dottie Peters had mentioned blasting on the mine tour. Was it really so farfetched to imagine the Cullravens blocking off the road to keep their prey from escaping?
“Maybe,” she choked out, unable to shake that horrifying thought from her head.
“And I would assume,” he said, “Cal will be taking you.”
Nadine swallowed.
“I asked you before what your intentions were with my son, and you ran away like a frightened deer, Nadine. Perhaps this time you’ll answer without stammering. We’re an old family, you see. There are certain standards we need to uphold. Certain requirements that must be met.”
“I’m not after his money,” Nadine said. “If that’s what you’re suggesting.”
“Oh no. This goes far deeper than that, my dear. Far deeper than someone like you could imagine.” His eyes flicked over her in a way she found unpleasant. “To be perfectly frank, I’m not entirely sure that you have the correct disposition for me to permit this to continue.”
“Unexperienced,” Ben said. “Erratic. Common.”
“Yes,” said Nathaniel idly. “All those things.”
“Are you staying for the festival, Nadine?” Corrine asked wearily.
“I—don’t know.” She didn’t have to fake the tremor in her voice. These people were plotting her death right in front of her, thinking she didn’t have a clue. She tried to look anywhere but at Nathaniel without being too obvious. “I thought . . . since I can’t leave . . . it might take my mind off Noelle.”
“Oh it will,” Nathaniel assured her. “Trust me, my dear. You’ll be able to think of nothing else.”
???????
After that unpleasantness, talk turned to general events around the town that Nadine only half-listened to. There was more talk about Gideon and the blocked road (traitor, thought Nadine), and gossip about the local townspeople. They were very cruel in their assessments of others and though the talk went both ways, Nadine no longer felt sorry for the Cullravens and their soiled reputations.
She and Cal stayed for port and then dessert, and when Cal finally escorted her out, her head was swimming with wine. She minded his touch less this way, she realized, when she felt his hand brush the side of her breast. It was as if the alcohol put a damper on the panicky, screaming voice in her head. She could tread the dark waters of him freely and pretend she was buoyant, even as everything in her body turned to lead at his touch.
