“You’re hardly ever home, Simon. And if you begin to miss us, you can visit anytime.”
“I will miss you, love. You and the baby. You’re the reason I’m working so hard.” The anger in his voice washed away, replaced by a kindness that she hadn’t heard in a long time. But it sounded sticky-sweet to her ears. Like the stepmother in Cinderella.
No, that wasn’t right. Like the witch in Hansel and Gretel, trying to lure the children with treats.
“Get some rest,” she said as he turned off the lamp, but she didn’t close her eyes.
What if Professor Farrow wasn’t the enemy after all? What if he actually saw things clearly when she’d been the one trapped in Simon’s lies?
She trembled under the bedspread, at the thought of being alone in this room with a man she no longer knew.
Dear God...
What if Simon was the dragon?
25:Olivia
APRIL 1942
Olivia unscrewed a glass jar filled with water and dozens of the moonflower seeds she’d collected in November. Last night, she’d gently nicked each seed with her metal file, soaking them to coax the new growth from their shells before she brought them down to the lake this morning.
“Aren’t they glorious?” Warm sunlight glinted through the glass as she lifted the jar for Eli, some of the seeds sinking in their bath, others swimming to the top.
On the window ledge in her tower, she had nearly a dozen of these jars with seeds harvested over the years, but one jar was more than enough for a plentiful moon garden.
Eli squinted at her cache. “They’re just a bunch of seeds.”
“True, but if we treat them well and the sun does its job, the most beautiful flowers will blossom in the fall.” The seeds only needed a scratch, the smallest of wounds, to wake them from their sleep and prompt them to grow. Then they’d bloom boldly in the moonlight.
“Are they the night flowers?” he asked, a bit of wonder in his voice.
“Most people call them moonflowers, but I like the name angel’s trumpet since they look like they’re worshipping our Maker.”
“Your flowers used to keep me company at night. When I was alone.”
She smiled. “Me too.”
The boy had grown at least four inches since the Lambs invited him to join their family. She’d wanted to adopt him, but Simon thought they should start their marriage without any children. She agreed at the time, but if she’d known that he would return to Ohio a week after they married, visiting only a handful of times in the past five months, she would have adopted Eli on her own.
Then again, Eli was thriving with the Lamb family. Garrett and Jillian were the best of parents, and the thought of him having siblings, the five children attending school together, gave her much joy.
He would never have to be alone again.
“I brought you a trowel.” Olivia rummaged through the canvas bag before handing it over. “And a pair of gloves.”
“A little dirt ain’t gonna hurt me.”
“Maybe not, but these seeds are just as toxic as the flowers.”
His eyes narrowed. “What’stoxicmean?”
Leaning down, she whispered the answer like it was a secret. “It means they can kill you.”
That caught his attention.
“The toxins would probably just irritate your hands, but if you have a scrape on your skin or you rub your eyes, it could really hurt.”
He stepped back from the jar. “You’d die?”
