by Dara Girard
But any time she thought to mention the curse she lost courage. He was happy and their life was good. It was all in her mind. However, when James would forget simple things she’d told him, or gaze at her with a look that wasn’t his, she knew something was wrong. She didn’t know who to talk to. She didn’t want to tell her family for fear they would worry about her safety. Her father had told her that she was strong—that the emerald ring would bind love to her.
She had to believe that. It had to be Joanna’s influence somehow. She asked James if she could donate some of the larger gifts Joanna had given them—an ornate mirror, an elegant crystal figurine, anything she felt could hold and harness energy—and he hadn’t argued. But the darkness remained.
As another autumn turned to winter, and James stopped smiling as he used to, as the penetrating, brooding gaze lingered longer in his eyes, her fear grew and the prophecy loomed larger in her mind. You will kill your husband.
Kill.
Kill.
Kill.
Chapter 31
Michelle woke up with a cry on her lip as she felt a burning sensation on her back. She scrambled naked out of the bedroom, after a night of lovemaking, into the bathroom and switched on the lights. She turned her back to the mirror and saw claw marks on her back. Blood dripped down to the floor. She quickly grabbed a towel and cleaned it up. She had to clean it. Quickly. He couldn’t see. Once she was finished, she jumped into the shower.
“A shower in the middle of the night?” James said, sliding the glass door aside. “You didn’t think to wake me?”
She quickly spun around. Her eyes wide.
His smile fell. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
He glanced at the bloody rag in her hand. “What happened? Are you hurt?”
She opened her mouth then closed it. “James.”
“What are you hiding from me?”
“It’s…I’m fine.”
He reached for her then froze and stared at the sight of the shower washing blood from his fingers. He didn’t lift his gaze as he said in a low voice, “Turn around.”
“James, please.”
“Turn. Around.”
She slowly did.
He swore.
She spun back to face him. “It’s not your fault.”
He stumbled out of the shower.
She quickly turned off the shower and followed him. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”
He glared at her. “Nothing?”
She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself, wincing as it touched her scars. “It’s not your fault.”
He shook his head. “You don’t know that.” He wrapped a towel around his waist and left the room.
She followed him. “I do. It’s never happened before.”
He sat on the bed. “We weren’t married before.”
“What does that mean?”
He shook his head again. “It means.” He touched his forehead with trembling hands. “I’ve made a mistake.”
“You’re sorry you married me?”
“Yes, no…it’s not that simple.”
“Then explain it to me.” She folded her arms. “What else are you hiding from me?”
“I didn’t think I needed to hide. I thought it was over.”
She sat down beside him. “What was over?”
“The curse. I thought…I thought our love had broken it but clearly…”
She took his hand. “It’s not you. There’s something in this house. Something dark. It followed you.”
He hung his head. “I was afraid of that.” He closed his eyes, his voice weary. “It’s not the house.” He turned to face her. “It’s me. I have a dark power, the power of the beast.”
“Beast? What beast?”
“I’m sure you’ve heard some version of the story of the cursed child touched with the blood of the beast.”
“I’ve never heard of such a thing.” Her father had been full of tales but nothing like this.
“I have,” James said with a cynical laugh. “All my life. I was told ‘In your bloodline there will be one who is sacrificed. He will carry darkness with him and will be killed by the one he loves and then the curse will be broken.’ It seems my family angered a vengeful force many years ago.”
“I don’t believe this.”
James held up his hand as if the blood was still there. “This is proof.” He paused and looked at her. “Wait. You said you thought something dark was in the house. But you’ve never said anything to me before.” His gaze sharpened. “How long have you been afraid?”
Michelle shook her head. “I wasn’t afraid of you—”
“How long?”
It’s been growing for years. “A few months.”
James narrowed his eyes and for a moment she wondered if she’d shared her thoughts aloud.
“Have I hurt you before?”
Michelle took a deep breath relieved he hadn’t sensed anything. “Never. And I don’t think it’s you. I’m sure there’s another explanation.”
“I can hurt people without realizing it. At night especially. It’s not something I can always control. I’ll have blackouts. This is why you’ll eventually have to kill me.”
“No, no I—”
“Don’t lie to me, Michelle. I know I scared you that night at my flat.”
She touched his arm, and said in a soft, soothing voice. “No, I was never afraid of you. I sensed something else in your flat that I didn’t like. That night I was happy to be with you. I’m always happy to be with you. I’m safe with you.”
A sour grin touched his lips.”I’m afraid now that we’re bonded that trick of yours doesn’t work as effectively anymore. You can say I’m immune.”
“You’re not immune,” Michelle continued in the same soothing tone. She wouldn’t be tricked by the dark energy, she wouldn’t give up on him. She knew she could reach him. “You’re not cursed and you’re not a beast.”
James held her gaze for a long moment before he said in a soft, sad tone, “And if I am?”
“We fight it.”
James shook his head. “We can’t fight it. We can only kill it.”
“Stop saying that. “
“It’s all I know.”
She patted her lap. “Lie down.”
He hesitated.
Do it.
You think you can fight me?
I don’t need to fight you. Now lie down.
He did.
She stroked his hair. Not to calm him, not as she would to calm a predator, but because he was the man she loved and she wanted to protect him. She felt the tension in him ease and said in a quiet voice, “We are together for a reason. I won’t let you go. We can fight this together. Trust me.”
Chapter 32
But he didn’t.
A week later, Michelle returned home under a winter white sky and saw a black rental car in the driveway. When she stepped inside the house she saw suitcases in the foyer.
“What is going on?” she called out then stopped when Joanna approached her in the hall. “Oh, I didn’t realize you were coming.”
Joanna looked at Michelle with pity. James stood silently behind her. “I know what happened,” she said.
“Nothing happened.”
“Don’t lie to yourself.” She pointed to James. “Do you see how guilty he feels? Do you want this? He’s only safe with me. Because one day you’re going to be so frightened that you’ll—”
Michelle covered her ears. “No.”
James walked forward. “Mum, stop it.”
Michelle stared at him, feeling betrayed again. Why did you tell her?
I had to.
No, you didn’t.
She knows more than we both do.
Michelle headed for the stairs. “Let me get changed. There’s no need to leave your things by the door. There’s a room ready as always.”
“We’re not staying,” Joanna said.
Michelle looked at her then at
James confused. “I’m sorry?”
He took a deep breath. “I have to keep you safe.”
“You’re leaving me,” Michelle said in a flat voice. Grief gripped her heart, but she was determined not to cry.
“Not for long. Just for a week or two to figure this out. Mum thinks she knows someone who can help.”
Michelle took his arm and led him into another room before she turned and looked at him. “You were going to leave without telling me?”
“No, she came for a surprise visit and…and I told her. She convinced me—”
Michelle frowned. “That she was right?”
He rubbed his eyes. “No, but—”
“You don’t have to leave.” Her voice trembled but she held her tears in check. “Please don’t leave me. Trust me. We can figure this out together.”
He drew her into his arms and held her close. When he spoke his voice was tender, “I’m not leaving you.”
“Yes, you are.”
He pulled away and gazed down at her, pain shining in his eyes. “How can I stay with things the way they are?”
Her tone grew more eager, hearing the hesitation in his voice. “Trust me. Us.”
James rested his forehead against hers. “Really?”
“Yes.”
“And how am I supposed to keep you safe…from me?”
“I can talk to my father and—”
He lifted his head. “Once your family knows the truth about me it will change everything. Your family can’t know about me. It’s best this way. You know it too.”
She didn’t have an answer and for a moment the room faded away and they stood on a street corner, a double-decker bus passed by and she saw a mixed couple holding hands wearing bellbottoms. She could feel James wrapping her in another memory as she gazed at the man who was James but not him, dressed in a jaunty cap and shirt with a butterfly collar. He tenderly caressed her cheek and spoke. She didn’t hear his words but felt his love and promises.
Michelle turned her face away and shook her head. “Stop it,” she whispered. “I don’t want to live someone else’s memory. Let us have our own.” She heard him sigh and the vision faded.
“I need you to know how I feel,” he said.
She did, but it wasn’t enough. He was still leaving her. She reached for his arm, but he moved away. “No, don’t convince me to stay.”
She let her hand fall to her side defeated. She didn’t want to see him leave. Somehow she knew she would lose him.
And she was right.
The Present
Chapter 33
She looked smaller.
Somehow she’d expected something different. Michelle looked at Martha, as the older woman sat behind the desk of her spacious Virginia office, surprised to see that she looked older. It had been less than seven years but Martha looked as if a decade had passed. She told herself that she didn’t care. She couldn’t afford to. She had to save her business and move on.
“I’m glad you could make it,” Martha said.
Michelle sat down unimpressed. “Did I have a choice?”
Martha sighed. “I forgot you were never into small talk.”
“Or peacock feathers,” Michelle said referring to the first time they’d met. It had all been a show that hadn’t meant anything and she was still annoyed with herself for being so gullible. She folded her arms. “What do you want?”
“I believe my letter made it clear. Would you like anything to drink?”
“Why am I here?”
She walked over to a table where two glasses sat. “I’m addicted to this new brand of sparkling water.”
“I’m not thirsty.”
She opened the bottle and poured it into the two glasses. “It has a hint of raspberry.”
“And I hope to be back home by this evening.”
Martha walked over to her and held out the glass. “You’ll find it very refreshing.”
Michelle glared at her, but when Martha didn’t budge she relented and took the glass.
Satisfied, Martha retrieved her own glass and returned to her seat. “Hydration is very important. Keeps one from being too irritable.”
Michelle tapped the side of her glass, the carbonated bubbles tickling her nose. She rested the glass on her lap. “Why did you want me to come here?”
“I wanted to see you again.”
Michelle took a sip of the drink, annoyed that it was as refreshing as Martha had claimed, then shook her head. “I don’t believe you.”
“You’ve grown harder.”
“What is this really about?”
“Moving on. It’s time you completely cut ties with us and realize that he’s not coming back.”
“I’m not staying there because of him. It’s where I’ve grown my business.”
“You’re determined to stay?”
“Yes.”
“Fine. I want to see how good you are. I have a property on St. Clarine that’s losing money. I want you to look it over for me, find the reason why it’s doing so poorly and give me a report on changes I need to make to restore it. If I like what I hear we can come to an agreement. It shouldn’t take more than a week or two.”
James had once taken her to that Caribbean island. Like many others, it boasted exclusive waterfront property, white sandy beaches and coconuts the size of a man’s head. She remembered drinking from one of them as she and James sat watching the sun set over the water. Don’t think of him. “And if I do this then this ridiculous misunderstanding will go away?”
“Yes.”
“Permanently?”
She nodded.
“Why me?”
“Scared you’ll fail the same way you did with James?”
Michelle placed the glass on Martha’s desk, smiling when she saw the older woman flinch because she didn’t use a coaster. “I didn’t fail him. He walked away.”
Martha got a napkin and wiped the ring stain then placed the glass on a coaster. “And you let him. How come you’re fighting harder to save your business than you did your marriage?”
Her words stung. It wasn’t true. She’d thought he’d come back. She’d never thought he’d leave her for good.
“You haven’t even once asked about him. To think I was foolish enough to believe that you loved him.”
Yes, and I was foolish enough to believe he loved me. Her throat closed, tears threatened, but she wouldn’t defend herself. She didn’t care what they thought of her. Even if she told Martha everything, it wouldn’t bring him back to her. “Are we through?”
Martha frowned. “You’ve become a cold woman.”
“How’s Joanna?”
Martha looked startled for a moment then regained her composure. “Do you have a message for her?”
“No, she already knows she won.”
Chapter 34
It was going to be a challenge.
Although the island of St. Clarine hadn’t changed since Michelle’s previous visit, getting to Martha’s property was far from ideal. It was an almost forty minute trip that included a ferry and a half hour drive from the dock on an isolated dusty road.
“You sure you want to go there?” her taxi driver, a boisterous woman with yellow hair and skin the color of toffee, asked her for the second time.
Michelle typed some notes in her phone, pleased there still was a reception. “Yes.”
“Because there are stories. A young woman like you went missing last year.”
“Hmm.” Michelle said, noncommittal. If there were ghost stories being bandied about that could also be one of the reasons the property wasn’t doing well. The taxi driver told her about two other places closer to the center of town where she could stay, but soon gave up when Michelle made it clear she wasn’t interested.
Now Michelle sat staring past the iron gates at the large structure as the sound of rain pounded against the roof of the taxicab. She sighed. There was no reason for her to be there. From the outside it was clear why the property was los
ing money, she doubted it made any, no one in their right mind would stay there. The place looked haunted.
After such a daunting trek, it would take something spectacular to make visitors think it was worth their while. Right now it didn’t even look worth a demolition. Michelle softly swore. Martha had given her an impossible task hoping she would fail. But she wouldn’t.
A challenge. She’d given her a challenge and she’d come up with plan she couldn’t refute.
“Here you are, Miss,” the driver said.
“But we aren’t there yet.”
“Yes we are.” The woman pointed to the gates. “The main house is just along this path here. Only a few yards. You won’t miss it.”
Michelle could tell the woman was nervous to drive past the gates. “I’ll pay you extra to take me up there.”
“It wouldn’t be enough. Now if you want to stay at—”
“Never mind.”
Seconds later Michelle pushed her way through the creaky iron gates, holding her suitcase over her head. She hurried up the curving drive, which had turned into a river of mud, towards the expansive building that had once been glorious with arched windows and columns, but now looked like a cruel, ugly parody of its former glory, with brush growing wildly around a marble fountain green with algae.
Michelle made it up the front steps, out of the rain and sighed, setting her suitcase down. She would look on the bright side. Beauty could be bought. The structure looked good. The Winfields had the money and were willing to spend it, she’d help them do it then leave and get back to where she belonged.
Michelle knocked on the front door. She’d been told that the caretaker would assist her. She cast a glance behind her. She didn’t know what he thought he was taking care of. The garden was a mess. She turned back to the door and saw peeling paint and a cracked trim that needed to be replaced. With such an unremarkable exterior she shuddered to think what the interior looked like.