Firefly Hollow

by Haddix, T. L.

  Sarah touched his face. “Okay. So is shifting pretty much like you explain it in the Tobias Hedge books?”

  “For the most part. It’s a lot less magical, but the basic mechanics are the same. There’s no glow, no mist, just a physical transformation.”

  “And you can do it at will?”

  He shrugged. “Most of the time. If I’m getting sick, which is rare, or if I’m extraordinarily tired, it doesn’t work. And I can prevent it from happening, though that’s harder when I’m upset. That’s how Jack figured it out. I lost my temper.”

  “Jack knows?” Sarah sat up and pulled away. “For how long?”

  Owen sat up, as well. “Since the day we had the fight. He guessed, and I had to tell him. And I’m pretty sure your dad knew, and your mom.”

  Sarah was flabbergasted. Her hurt must have shown on her face because he rushed to explain.

  “I hated that I didn’t talk to you first, but Jack wouldn’t exactly wait for answers. And what with the funerals and all the work related to those, I haven’t had an opportunity to discuss it with you. Until now. Please don’t be hurt. I didn’t deliberately tell him and not you. And your dad guessed, I think. He never flat out told me that he knew I was a shifter, but the implication was there. God, I’m such a screw-up.”

  “They never said a word to me.” She closed her eyes, feeling a little foolish that she was the last person in her family to know about Owen’s gift. When she looked back at him again, his misery was plain to see. Some of the sting faded. “Is there anything else, anything at all, that you haven’t told me? If so, please just blurt it out now. I can’t take any more surprises.”

  “That’s all. You know everything.”

  She let out a sigh. “I’m crazy for doing it, but I believe you. But if you ever hide something from me again, I’ll have your...” She glanced down at his lap. “Well, it won’t be pleasant.”

  Owen cringed. “Cross my heart. You know everything.”

  After a gentle kiss, Sarah pulled back. “So did you start to change into the wolf when you and Jack were fighting?”

  “No. My eyes flashed.”

  “Flashed how?”

  He sighed. “It’s easier to show you than explain. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  He closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. When he raised his eyelids, his irises had taken on a golden hue that glowed in the dim light coming through the windows. The pupils had shifted a little, also, taking on a more animalistic slant.

  “Whoa. That’s… wow!”

  He blinked, and his eyes were back to the warm, sherry brown Sarah loved. She touched the skin around his eyes and shook her head, astonished. “Does your vision change when you do that?”

  “A little, but not much. I know you have a lot of questions, but can they wait? I’m starting to get a little hungry.”

  When her stomach growled, they both laughed. “I guess I’m a little hungry, too.”

  She followed him downstairs, where Owen insisted she have a seat on one of the stools at the kitchen bar. “You’ve cooked for me several times. It’s only fair I return the favor,” he teased. “Is soup and grilled cheese sandwiches okay?”

  “Of course.” She watched him move around the kitchen with competence. “I guess you have to be fairly self-sufficient, living alone.”

  He opened a large jar of soup and emptied it into a saucepan. “I do okay. The soup’s Amy’s. She makes a huge batch every time she knows I’m heading down there and sends it home with me.”

  “Eli and Amy sound like wonderful people. You’re lucky to have them.”

  “I know. I can’t imagine what my life would have been like if they hadn’t been there. Speaking of them, I’ve been thinking about something. I wanted to run it by you first, though.”

  Sarah propped her chin on her hand. “Okay. I’m listening.”

  “They lost everything in the fire. Furniture, clothes, everything. And I have that house sitting over there.” He pointed in the direction of his parents’ house. “It’s full of furniture that’s going to waste. It wouldn’t fully outfit them, but it’d go a long way. There are a few pieces I’d like to hold on to, but I’d like to give the rest to them. I don’t plan on ever living in that house again, unless you want to.”

  With a frown, Sarah tilted her head. “I wouldn’t force you to go back there, not as much as the place bothers you. For goodness’ sake, give it to them. You don’t need my permission to do that. It’s your house, Owen.”

  He buttered the bread for the sandwiches. “It’ll be your house soon enough.”

  Sarah wet her lips. “You say that, but I don’t recall any formal proposal. So maybe it will be, maybe it won’t.” When he looked at her with consternation, she gave him an innocent look. “What?”

  He went to the stove and turned off the burner, then came around the end of the counter. “You stay right here.” He dashed upstairs, but returned in less than a minute, a fierce look on his face. When he held out his hand, Sarah’s heart soared. With not a little anxiety, she placed her hand in his.

  Owen drew her to her feet and wrapped his arms around her. She let her hands rest lightly on his chest, and as much as she wanted to, she couldn’t meet his eyes. She felt incredibly shy, and to her shock, terribly afraid.

  He touched her cheek with his hand. “Look at me.”

  Sarah shook her head and buried her face against his chest. “I can’t.” She laughed. She bit the knuckle of her thumb.

  “Sweetheart, if you don’t look at me, I can’t show you what I have in my hand. Sarah, come on. Please?”

  Drawing on her courage and feeling somewhat ridiculous for being so missish, she managed to raise her head.

  Owen smiled and gave her a brief kiss. “That’s my girl. Now, there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you for several weeks now. Thanks to a whole load of bad luck, I’ve had to wait longer than I expected. I want you to know that I’m not jumping in here blind.”

  “Okay.”

  He pushed her hair back off her face with one hand, keeping his other arm firmly around her waist. “You mean the world to me. I knew from the first time I saw you, when you were fifteen… remember?” Sarah nodded, and he continued, “From that first time, I knew you were special. When I saw you again that summer before you left, I told myself it was a good thing you were going. Because I knew you could break my heart without even trying. It wasn’t until you came back last fall that I realized how deep I was already in. And then we got to know each other, and I didn’t want out anymore. I didn’t want to hide anymore. So with that in mind…” He went down on one knee.

  Sarah could scarcely breathe she was shaking so hard. Her hand came up to cover her mouth, and she realized she was crying.

  Owen held up a trembling hand. Nestled in his palm was a blue velvet box, and as Sarah blinked tears away, he opened it.

  “Sarah Jane Browning, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”

  So overcome she could barely see the ring, Sarah just nodded wildly. She tried to answer, but she couldn’t speak. She settled for throwing her arms around his neck. She almost knocked him over with her enthusiasm, but Owen quickly recovered, and he stood, wrapping his arms around her to lift her off the floor.

  “Is that a yes?” he asked in between kisses.

  “Oh, yes. Yes, yes, yes!” Crying and laughing at the same time, Sarah hugged him so tightly he grunted. “I love you so much, Owen. I would be very happy to be your wife.”

  He pulled back enough to kiss her. When they came up for air, he whispered, “I love you more than you can know.”

  After several minutes of kissing and touching, Sarah finally calmed down enough to ask for her ring, and Owen slipped it on her finger. It fit perfectly.

  “Your mom
gave me your ring size before she left for Georgia,” he confessed.

  Sarah gazed down at the ring with amazement. It was a beautiful piece, a large star sapphire, surrounded by a swirl of diamonds. “It’s gorgeous.”

  “I wanted something that matched your eyes.”

  “Oh, Owen. I love it. Thank you.”

  His stomach growled in response, and they both laughed. “I guess we’d better eat, huh?” He finished putting the meal together and came around to sit beside her at the bar.

  “So what kind of wedding do you want?” he asked.

  Sarah thought about it. “I don’t know. A few weeks ago, I would have said something similar to what Jack and Gilly had. Now, though? After everything the family’s been through, I don’t think that’d be appropriate. Does that make sense?”

  Owen ran his hand down her back. “Sure, it does. I’m sorry. I guess if you want to wait a few months, we can.” Sarah sent him a look, and he sighed. “Yeah, I guess not.”

  She leaned over and kissed his bare shoulder. “It’s okay. We can always do a big to-do for our first anniversary if we want. What’s important is that we’re together.” She looked down at her soup and blew out a breath. “I’d like to be married before Mama and Kathy leave. And I’d planned on going back to work next week, probably Wednesday.”

  “Okay. Then why don’t we go to the courthouse tomorrow and get our marriage license, and then plan on getting married Monday? That’ll take care of the three-day waiting period. Is that enough time for you?”

  “I think so. I’ll recruit Gilly’s help. Are you okay with getting married at the house? I’d like Kathy to be there, and I doubt she’ll leave to go anywhere else.”

  He pressed a kiss to her temple. “Sure, that’s fine. Do you think it’d be okay if I invited Eli and Amy to come up? He’s an ordained minister. It’d be kind of nice if he were the one who married us.” Owen frowned. “Maybe we should clear all this by your mother before we plan everything and just show up in her parlor on Monday.”

  Sarah smiled. “Do you really think she’d mind as long as you marry me?”

  “Probably not, but I’d rather make sure first.”

  “Then we can do that. But even if she says no, I’d still like to plan on Monday.”

  He picked up her hand and kissed the back. “It’s a date.”

  Owen walked her home that evening, and they made the announcement to the family.

  “We don’t want to have a big celebration right now, given the circumstances,” Sarah explained after the congratulations were given. “But we’d like everyone to be with us when we say our vows.”

  Eliza hugged her, then Owen. She stepped back and took one of each of their hands in hers. “Of course we’ll be there. Do you want to have the wedding here?”

  Sarah smiled at Owen. “We were hoping to, actually.”

  They obtained the marriage license the next day, and all the women threw themselves into planning the wedding, even Kathy, who said, “I want you to be happy. And this gives me something to focus on. Something to hope for.”

  Before Sarah knew it, Monday rolled around. The ceremony was set for one o’clock.

  As Eliza helped her get dressed, her mother kept sniffling back tears. “I am so happy for you both. I think you’ve found a good man, Sarah Jane. I hope you have decades of happy years together.”

  “So do I,” Sarah whispered.

  Jack was waiting at the foot of the steps and offered his arm to her. “You sure about this?” he murmured. Sarah sent him a chiding look, and he grinned. “I’m teasing. I like Owen.”

  “I know. I like him, too.”

  As they went into the parlor, Sarah only had eyes for Owen. Standing in front of the fireplace next to his uncle, he was so handsome in his gray suit that she could hardly stand it. He’d shaved the beard, and as Jack escorted her across the room, the smile she loved so much spread across Owen’s face. Jack placed her hand in Owen’s and gave her a quick hug.

  Sarah barely remembered to speak her lines, and the ceremony itself was a blur, but the image of Owen’s smile, radiant and happy, would be with her forever. The feel of his hand around hers, the moment he slid the ring onto her finger and she gave him his ring, the quiet reverence in the room as they pledged their lives to one another, those were the memories she wanted to preserve.

  That night, as she and Owen made their way to the top of the mountain and their new home together, she asked to stop at the pool. The moon was full, shining down on them from the dusky sky as though in blessing.

  “Here’s where it started,” she said. “It’s incredible to think about, almost too hard to believe. We’ve come so far.”

  Owen kissed her with deep passion, and Sarah could feel the love in his touch.

  He rested his head against her forehead. “And this is only the beginning. Just imagine the stories we’ll have that we can tell our grandchildren.”

  Sarah laughed, happier than she had ever thought possible. Owen picked her up and twirled her around and around. When they were both dizzy, he put her back on her feet with another kiss.

  She kissed him again. “You’ll have to write everything down so we can pass our story on to our children.”

  And he did.

  Author’s Note

  GROWING UP IN PERRY COUNTY, Kentucky, I was surrounded by tales of supernatural beings, of ghosts or ‘haints,’ as they were called, witches, legends, and beasts. Mixed with the family history were stories that seemed too unbelievable to be real. And yet, as strange as some of those stories seemed, I think they had some basis in reality. My grandmother’s great-uncle, he’s still talked about in neighboring Leslie County, Kentucky, to this day.

  So I’ve wanted for several years to be able to put those tales to use, to draw them out, explore them, share them with the world. As much as the outside world seems to disregard Appalachian culture, it’s something worth protecting and preserving. It is a unique culture, one that’s incredibly difficult to describe to an outsider, and I hope I’ve done a decent job here of communicating how special it is.

  A few things that I did take liberties with was the geography of the area. The holler and mountain Owen and Sarah live on are entirely fictitious, as is the drugstore Gilly’s parents run. The hospital, the library, and most of the other places, however, are real. I did take some artistic license in the dates these places came into existence, though, as well as some of the finer details. The high school Sarah attends is a combination of M. C. Napier and C. Dilce Combs High School, which was my alma mater. I hope readers won’t mind too much, though.

  Secrets in the Shadows

  SECRETS CAN KILL, SOMETHING LAUREN Grant was finding out the hard way.

  Thirteen years ago, she had been the innocent victim of a crime that still shaped her life to this day. Just as she is starting to build a new life for herself and her daughter, the past comes calling with a violence she could not have imagined. Her shop is vandalized, another female business owner is brutally murdered, and Lauren can’t shake the feeling that the past is catching up to her. Will she have the strength to finally face her demons and fight for the future, or will the past overwhelm her once and for all?

  Secrets in the Shadows is the first book in the Shadows Collection, standalone Romantic Suspense novels set in small-town Indiana. Other titles include Under the Moon’s Shadow, Shadows from the Grave, and Hidden in the Shadows.

  Note for Readers: This book does deal with the issues of incest and sexual abuse, more with the effects on the victims than the abuse itself. Reader Discretion Advised.

  Under the Moon’s Shadow

  JOURNALIST BETH HUDSON KNOWS HER hometown. When disappearances are coupled with strange nighttime events on local farms, she puts two and two together to make a terrifying picture. She turns to her friends, family and a mysterious, hand
some stranger for assistance in rooting out the truth, determined to solve the mysteries before another person disappears.

  As if that weren’t enough, her contentious relationship with Detective Ethan Moore takes an unexpectedly tragic turn. Will Beth be able to figure out what is going on in time to stop a dangerous killer, or will she be the next victim?

  “Under the Moon’s Shadow” is the second book in the Shadows Collection, standalone Romantic Suspense novels set in small-town Indiana. Other titles include “Secrets in the Shadows,” “Shadows from the Grave,” and “Hidden in the Shadows.”

  Shadows From the Grave

  WHEN IT COMES TO MURDER, the past is never really dead...

  For ten years, Chase Hudson has carried the weight of his college girlfriend’s unsolved murder on his shoulders. When a ghost from the past comes calling, Chase’s friends and family become the targets of a serial killer who’ll stop at nothing to make Chase suffer. Now, Chase is in a race against time to convince the authorities of his innocence, and catch the real killer.

  Annie Jameson-Tucker has been burned more than once. Afraid to get her heart broken again, she is careful to keep her lovers at a distance… until Chase Hudson manages to slip inside her walls. Terrified of being hurt, Annie has to choose whether to let Chase stay, or to close him out and let her insecurities destroy their chance at happiness.

  “Shadows from the Grave” is the third book in the Shadows Collection, standalone Romantic Suspense novels by T. L. Haddix. Other titles include “Secrets in the Shadows,” “Under the Moon’s Shadow,” and “Hidden in the Shadows.”