“I saw what they were capable of,” Liz said. “Even if the police scoffed at my statements about the witchcraft, I saw the way Hoffman made the gun burn in Roger’s hands. I saw how she froze me into place and nearly choked me to death with that vodou doll.”
“So you know that I acted against my will in leaving you . . .” He hesitated. “But for whatever part of that came from my own nature, I apologize, Liz. I had no idea when I married you that Dominique was alive . . . or that the witchcraft that she and Variola and Hoffman practiced was still going on. You must believe that.”
“I do. But you should have told me so much more than what you did.”
“Yes, I should have.” He looked as if he might cry. In fact, it looked as if he had been crying for days. “And so I’ve come to say that I’m sorry.”
Liz managed a very small smile. “I appreciate that, David. And I accept your apology.”
“So will you go away with me? Can we go somewhere and start over?”
“I don’t know,” she replied, looking away again.
“But Liz, Huntington Enterprises is no more. The company didn’t survive all that scandal. I can go anywhere you want to go, do anything you want . . .”
She just shook her head. “David, I told you that I don’t know. That’s all I can say for now. That’s going to have to be enough for you for now.” She looked back out the window. “You see, David, my whole life has been spent trying to find someone who can make me happy, who can fill up the scared, empty space inside me. I was looking for someone else to take care of me, because I was tired of taking care of other people. But you, see that’s not what I really wanted.”
He just looked at her, not knowing what to say.
Liz took a sip of tea before her eyes flickered back up to look at him. “I had found myself finally, before marrying you. I had set out and discovered I had dreams, ambitions, plans. I gave them up when I married you, David, because I was still thinking I wasn’t any good, that I couldn’t survive on my own, because I still blamed myself for my father leaving all those years ago.” She gave him another small smile. “But see, that wasn’t true. That wasn’t what I wanted. If I come back to you, David, it has to be because I want to, and because it fits with all the other dreams and goals that I have—not because I’m looking for someone to take care of me. Look what happened when I thought like that.”
Still David said nothing. He just sat there looking at her. Did he understand her? Liz wasn’t sure.
“Thank you for coming, David,” she finally said.
He hesitated a moment, then stood. “Whenever you want to talk, I’m—”
Liz nodded sharply, cutting him off.
He kissed the top of her head, then headed out of the room.
In a few moments, Liz’s mother had returned. She sat down beside Liz and took her daughter’s hand in hers. Together they looked out into the bright sunny afternoon.
PINNACLE BOOKS are published by
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Copyright © 2016 William Patterson
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ISBN: 978-0-7860-3659-2
First electronic edition: February 2016
ISBN-13: 978-0-7860-3660-8
ISBN-10: 0-7860-3660-5
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