by HR Mason
“Very well,” Camille wrinkled her nose at Runa with distaste. “Since you’re unwilling to pitch in and help with your own wedding, I’ll take care of it. Someone obviously has to. We have our reputation to consider, after all.”
Pushing her chair away from the table, Camille stalked out of the room.
Sinking into her own chair like a deflated balloon, Runa buried her face in her hands.
“That’s not what I meant at all. I’m not unwilling to help. I thought being in charge was what she wanted. I can’t seem to do anything right.”
Chase pulled her close to him and stroked her back reassuringly. “Don’t worry about her. I love you more than anything, and I can’t wait to marry you. That’s all that matters.”
“I know. I love you, too, Chase,” Runa replied.
“Besides, Mother is positively elated that she’ll have complete control now.”
She looked up at him with a raised brow. “That’s what elated looks like?”
“I know my mother. You gave her exactly what she wanted.”
Runa sighed. “I guess we’ll see, won’t we?”
Seventeen
Departure Cove, Oregon, 1898
“I want it to be the grandest house anyone has ever seen,” Thomas Calais said as he patted the shoulder of Amos Winsome, his friend and builder.
“Your house will be a wonder. These designs are like nothing I’ve seen before.” Amos scanned the drawings Thomas had received from his architect the previous week.
“You can do it?” Thomas inquired.
“Of course I can do it,” Amos insisted. “You know my team is the best around.”
“When will you break ground?”
“The day after tomorrow. Building will begin then.”
“I know it’s a struggle with the weather around here.”
“We work regardless of the conditions. Your project is in good hands. Don’t worry, my friend,” Amos assured Thomas with a pat on the back.
As Amos perused the blueprints, Thomas gazed out at his plot of land. The location was breathtaking. It had cost him a pretty penny, but the end result would be well worth the price. It was the perfect spot for his home.
At just twenty-eight years old, Thomas Calais was a wealthy man, having inherited his family’s fortune on top of amassing his own. He’d spent his life on the sea, and she had served him well. Thomas started out helping his father, eventually taking over as captain after his death. Before long, he had become a bar pilot on the Columbia River. His chosen career was a hazardous one, but he was compensated well for his efforts.
The treacherous Columbia River Bar, one of the most dangerous stretches of navigable water in the world, was so deadly that visiting sea captains had to step aside when crossing it and place their vessels in the hands of the bar pilots, who would escort them and their ships safely across the passage. The adrenaline rush Thomas experienced when crossing the bar was almost payment enough.
He walked to the edge of the property and peered down the cliff toward the sea. The view was unparalleled. When the house was completed, he would be able to gaze out of every window and see his beloved ocean.
As Thomas looked far below toward the shore, he noticed a woman walking. Her pale silky blonde hair lifted in the breeze and floated, suspended in midair. As he watched, the woman knelt on the sand. She opened a purse and arranged several small items in a strange configuration, then bowed her head and sat quite still. He was mesmerized and couldn’t look away.
After a while, the woman rose slowly. She drew a circle in the sand that encompassed her body and the objects she had placed on the ground. Then she lifted her arms toward the sky and moved her body hypnotically, swaying from side to side. Once she had finished, she stood and walked away into the fog that suddenly descended like a thick blanket.
Thomas craned his neck as he tried to spy her figure in the distance, but she had disappeared into the fog. Something about the woman’s hair caught his attention. It was such a lovely flaxen color, and the pale strands gripped him with a sense of recognition that he didn’t understand. He had seen the woman before, but he couldn’t remember where.
Closing his eyes, he tried to pull the memory from somewhere in the recesses of his brain. He fumbled through various scenarios until he landed on the right one. Several months ago, he had piloted a vessel across the bar belonging to a man from Norway named Captain Ingebjorg. He had seen that woman on the ship. Captain Ingebjorg told Thomas she was his ward. He had called her a wind witch.
Being a maritime man, Thomas was well aware of the various superstitions associated with the sea. His father hadn’t been a big believer, but Thomas always had a curiosity for the supernatural. He’d observed seafaring rituals on his own sailing vessels in an effort to keep his crew safe. The fact that Captain Ingebjorg had his own wind witch intrigued Thomas.
It couldn’t be a coincidence that he saw the woman again at the very spot where his future home would sit. Perhaps he was tied to her in some cosmic way that he couldn’t understand. He was a man of the sea, and she was a wind witch. Their paths seemed destined to cross.
Eighteen
“I’m glad you’re here, Mom. You, too, Tawney.” Runa squeezed Asta’s hand tightly and smiled at Tawney.
“There’s no place else I could be.” Asta smiled, but Runa didn’t miss the sorrow behind her mother’s eyes.
“We’re here for you. You’ll be married tomorrow, on Mabon,” Tawney added.
“Mabon?”
“The autumnal equinox, the turning of the wheel. We give thanks for summer and pay tribute to the coming darkness.”
“Sounds like a lot of hocus-pocus to me. No offense, Tawney.” Runa chuckled.
“None taken.”
“Well, I’m just glad to have you both here. It’s my rehearsal dinner, but other than Chase and his parents, I don’t know anyone.”
Runa flicked her eyes nervously, scanning the large crowd. The past three weeks had flown by, filled with dress fittings, invitations, and general wedding preparations. She’d had no clue how much went into planning a wedding fit for an Everwine. The fact that they’d done it in three weeks was nothing short of miraculous.
Camille had truly taken over, and Runa was glad. Chase kept her in the loop, but she was content to stay out of it as much as she could. At this point in the game, she would be relieved when it was all over. All she cared about was becoming Chase’s wife.
“The Everwines don’t do anything halfway, do they?” Tawney raised an eyebrow as she surveyed the opulence of Everwine Manor.
“No, they certainly don’t,” Runa replied.
Camille had turned the vast lawn of the estate into an outdoor wonderland. Twinkling lights adorned each tree, and the yard was filled with every kind of flower imaginable. The dinner itself would be held in the grand banquet hall, but champagne and hors d’oeuvres were being served outside.
The air was crisp, and a feeling of fall had settled in Departure Cove. The rain was holding off, and Runa was optimistic it would continue into the next day for the wedding. It was surreal to think that in less than twenty-four hours she would be Chase’s wife, a member of the Everwine family. It had all happened so quickly that she’d had little time to ponder it.
She wanted to be Mrs. Everwine more than she’d ever wanted anything, although she understood why the speed with which they’d proceeded gave everyone reason for concern. Runa couldn’t explain why she felt compelled to marry Chase so quickly, but she did. The force of it was so strong she couldn’t resist, as if their union was somehow decided long before they met, and she didn’t have a say in the matter. Some part of her recognized something in Chase that she couldn’t deny. It was as if their very cells recognized each other, as crazy as it sounded, and their fates were somehow knitted together.
Chase was perfect. He had never so much as raised a finger to harm her. The red flags she’d experienced in her other relationships weren’t there with him. She was lucky, f
ar more than she deserved. Chase was a good man, and he told her every day how much he loved her, and how lucky he was to find her.
Maybe Chase had a few eccentricities, like the way she often caught him looking at her, examining her closely as if he couldn’t quite believe she was real. His quirks simply meant he was human. On a couple occasions, he’d made statements about not letting her get away, and while they had made the skin on the back of her neck prickle, she came to understand that was just his way of conveying how much he loved her. Their love was intense, defying logic, so it was only natural.
Runa had heard Chase cry out in his sleep a few times, screaming strange words about betrayal and obsession that she didn’t understand. He never remembered the nightmares when he awakened, and she didn’t bring them up. He didn’t like to dwell on dark things, saying their future was so bright they shouldn’t think about the shadows. The last thing she wanted was to upset him. Besides, in the grand scheme of things, these little incidents meant nothing. All that mattered was their love.
As for dreams, she’d been having strange ones herself, always of the woman falling from the window. It had become a nightly occurrence, playing through her subconscious mind like a movie reel on loop. The odd words rang in her head, “Du er i fare.” She had no idea what they meant, or even what language they were. She’d attempted to google the phrase, but having no clue as to the spelling, she’d come up empty.
The previous night, there had been a new addition to her dream. She’d been wandering along the shore below Everwine Manor, searching through the fog for something. A woman’s voice whispered the strange phrase, and she glanced down at the sand below her feet. Lying there was a very old leather-bound book, an odd blue light emanating from its cover. As she opened it to look inside, she’d awakened, startled to find she was drenched with sweat.
Runa told herself it was all just pre-wedding jitters. Everything would be fine once the wedding was over and she was married to Chase.
Trying her best to push the thoughts aside, she glanced up to see him coming toward them.
“Hello, Asta, Tawney.” Chase flashed his dimpled grin, taking his place by Runa’s side. “Darling, may I steal you away? People want to meet the woman who has captured my heart.”
“Of course,” Runa answered with a smile. “Mom, Tawney, I’ll find you both in a bit.”
Chase led her through the crowd of people, introducing her to a dozen new faces along the way. She noticed that several of Chase’s friends looked at her as if she were some sort of oddity. A couple of them appeared as if they wanted to ask questions, but Chase always maintained control of the conversation. Runa decided his friends’ fascination with her was simply because she was a newcomer, an outsider. Chase had plucked her from obscurity and invited her into his world, and that made her interesting.
She did her best to smile and be polite, but the anxious flutter in her stomach reminded her how much she hated social events. She told herself that all she had to do was get through the engagement party and the wedding; then she and Chase could get on with the rest of their lives together, out of the spotlight.
After what seemed like a lifetime of mind-numbing small talk and hand shaking, Runa managed to pull herself away from Chase and the sea of strangers. Needing a few moments to breathe, she went off in search of Asta and Tawney. Scanning the crowd, she spotted Tawney chatting with someone, but Asta wasn’t with her.
Runa continued walking, and before she knew it, she had left the crowd and found herself behind Everwine Manor. She wandered through trellises trailing with fragrant flowers, through immaculate gardens, and finally ended up face-to-face with the grandest rose garden maze she had ever seen. The multihued roses climbed and crawled over a large wrought iron fence, creating a barrier of beautiful color.
As Runa leaned in to smell the intoxicating flowers, she heard voices from the other side, their familiarity stopping her in her tracks. It was her mother and Easton Everwine, Chase’s father. Feeling like a voyeur, she listened, unable to curtail her invasive behavior.
“I swear you haven’t changed a bit, Easton. You still think you own everything and everyone,” Asta hissed.
“That’s because I do.” Easton chuckled.
“You don’t own me.” Asta’s angry voice floated through the roses.
“Darling, don’t be that way. You know how I feel about you,” Easton cooed.
“You still can’t take rejection, can you?” Asta spat bitterly. “What would your wife think?”
“Don’t be a prude, Asta. It’ll be like the good old days.”
“I’ve spent my entire adult life trying to forget those days. There was nothing good about them.”
“Come now, don’t say that. You, me, Garrett Brewster, and our whole gang, we had some good times, didn’t we?”
“Do not speak Garrett’s name to me,” Asta demanded, the strain in her voice obvious.
“I never understood the two of you,” Easton replied, a hint of sadness in his voice.
“No, you didn’t. That was part of the problem,” Asta quipped. “You’ve clearly had too much to drink, Easton, so I’m going to end this conversation.”
“Oh, I’m just getting started.”
“Let go of me this minute, or I swear you’ll regret it.”
Runa listened with bated breath. She was fully prepared to march into the rose garden and rescue her mother, but she quickly discovered that wasn’t necessary. She heard the sound of a slap, then Easton’s gasp, followed by his laughter. Runa backed against the wall of flowers, trying to hide herself, as Asta stomped out the other side and ran back toward the crowd. A couple seconds later, Easton emerged, hand on his cheek before straightening his tie and smoothing his jacket.
Once she was alone again, Runa’s heart pounded inside her chest. She had no clue what to make of the overheard conversation or the fact that her mother had just slapped Chase’s father. She knew her mother had a past with the Everwines, but it sounded like it was even more twisted than she’d imagined. Had Easton been in love with Asta? Had the feelings been mutual? Who was Garrett Brewster? His name had clearly upset her mother.
When the coast was clear, Runa ran through the gardens, across the lawn, and back to the crowd. Scanning the faces quickly, she spotted her mother standing with Tawney. The two were in deep conversation, and the looks on their faces spoke volumes. She approached and the two stopped talking.
“Mom, what’s going on?”
“I’m just enjoying your party.” Asta plastered a fake smile on her face and tried to make her daughter believe her lie.
“Don’t lie to me.”
“Runa!”
“I’m not a child, so stop treating me like one. Something is clearly wrong.”
“Fine. Do you want to know what’s wrong? I can’t bear the thought of you marrying into this family. Please reconsider.”
Asta’s eyes glistened with tears. She’d dropped the words like a hand grenade and now waited expectantly for the explosion.
“You know I can’t do that, Mom. I love Chase. I’m marrying him tomorrow.”
Runa looked away from her mother, crossing her arms defiantly.
“Then your fate is sealed.”
Nineteen
The next morning, Runa and Asta rode in silence as the battered Volvo wound its way up the hill toward Everwine Manor. The women had spoken little since the previous night. They were having difficulty reconciling their differences regarding Runa’s impending nuptials, so it seemed best not to speak at all rather than say something either of them would regret.
Runa yawned as she steered the car through the hairpin turns. She’d slept fitfully, the dark circles beneath her eyes a telltale sign of her exhaustion. She couldn’t forget what her mother had said about her fate being sealed. The words prickled beneath her skin, irritating her like a biting mosquito.
She had always trusted Asta’s opinions implicitly, but her mother had clearly misjudged Chase. He loved her very muc
h, and she loved him with a ferocity she couldn’t explain. They just needed to get through the wedding and move on. Once they were married and Asta realized how wrong she’d been, everything would be fine.
Glancing at Asta in the passenger seat, Runa could see the worry written all over her face. She would give anything to lighten her mother’s load.
As if sensing Runa’s thoughts, Asta turned toward her daughter.
“Are you sure you’ve remembered everything?”
“I checked and double-checked. I have my makeup, my hair supplies—”
“Your dress?”
“Yes, I took it there last week. It’s hanging in the closet of the room where I’ll be getting ready.”
“That dress is lovely. It really captures your personality.”
Runa sighed dreamily. “I can’t wait to put it on. When I saw it, I knew it had to be mine. It’s understated and simple, but the classic lines just spoke to me.”
“You’ve never been one for frills and glamour.”
“You know me so well.”
“Yes I do.”
Asta’s words were innocent enough, but Runa heard everything that wasn’t said. Her mother did know her. She had been Runa’s biggest defender and champion for all of her life. They weren’t only mother and daughter—they were the best of friends. Runa hated the rift she felt between them, and she vowed that as soon as life calmed down, she would do whatever she could to repair it.
The women pulled into the driveway of the vast estate. Putting the car in Park, Runa looked up at the house. Everwine Manor was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen, and she’d felt an immediate connection, almost as if she were tethered to its foundation by an invisible thread. She couldn’t explain it, but the feeling vibrated in every cell of her body.