Unbroken Vows

by Christine Pope

  Too late for that, although she understood why Caleb didn’t want to even touch the envelope the courier held. “Thanks,” she said briefly, then got up from the sofa and went over to the courier. “I’ll take that.”

  “Sign here,” the man told her, handing her an electronic pad and a stylus. She signed in the indicated space, then gave the pad and stylus back to him. In return, he handed her the letter he carried. Still looking a little confused, as if he wasn’t quite sure why he couldn’t have simply given the envelope to Caleb, he said, “Have a good day.”

  Although her throat felt suddenly dry, Rosemary managed to respond, “You, too.”

  He nodded at all of them and left the living room. A moment later, she heard the front door close.

  “Are you going to open that?” Daniel Lockwood asked, his tone dry. “After all, we’ve gone to a good deal of trouble and expense to get the results inside that envelope.”

  She wanted to tell him what he could do with his “expense” — like he couldn’t afford all of this and much more — but instead she unsealed the thin cardboard envelope and slid out the smaller manila envelope it contained. Inside that envelope was a single piece of paper. There was some official verbiage at the top of the sheet, but her eyes skimmed past that to the really pertinent information.

  Rosemary McGuire — Gerald Gates: 99.98% match

  The knot that had taken up residence in her stomach seemed to pull itself even tighter, and for a few horrible seconds, she wondered if she was actually going to throw up. However, she gulped in a breath and stood very still, telling herself that she wasn’t going to lose it in front of these three part-demons.

  Only…it seemed as though she was part demon as well.

  “You’re very quiet,” Daniel Lockwood said. He came over to her and took the piece of paper from her nerveless fingers, then briefly scanned its contents. A satisfied smile spread across his lips, and he looked up at Gerald, who’d moved closer to where they both stood. “She’s yours, Gerald.”

  The other man smiled as well, although his expression was only one of sudden delight, not the near gloating Rosemary had seen on Daniel’s face. “I knew it,” he said quietly. “I just knew she was my daughter.”

  “‘She’ is standing right here,” Rosemary remarked. In a way, she was glad of the chance to be annoyed with the two of them, because her irritation gave her a way to focus on something other than the enormous, horrible truth that had just been dropped on her like the proverbial ton of bricks.

  “I’m sorry,” Gerald said quickly. “I know this has to be a shock for you. But just know how glad we are to count you as part of our family.”

  “You’re not my family,” she retorted. “I have a family — they’re back in California.” Her mother’s face appeared in her mind, and Rosemary could feel her throat clench at the thought of having to tell Glynis that no, her dead husband hadn’t been an angel, had only been an ordinary man, and that her youngest daughter was the offspring of a half-demon wearing John McGuire’s face so he could father a child with a psychic woman. Suddenly, the room felt as though it was closing in on her.

  She had to get out of there.

  Somehow, she managed to say, “I need some air,” and turned away from the two men so she could stumble toward the French doors that opened on the patio and open one of them. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw Caleb begin to move in her direction, but she ignored him and kept going.

  A few clouds had moved in, but it was still a beautiful late autumn day, the air crisp, the sky a clear, deep blue. The oaks and sycamores and maples that ringed the yard blazed forth in shades of gold and umber and crimson, but Rosemary could barely take note of their beauty past the burning ache in her heart.

  She was one of…them. A part-demon. Something inhuman, something that wasn’t meant to be here, even if she looked as human as the rest of them.

  A dead leaf crunched nearby, and she turned to see Caleb pause a few feet away from her. “I don’t want to talk to you,” she said.

  “Probably not,” he replied, not looking terribly troubled by the rebuff. “But I didn’t think you should be by yourself.”

  Since she couldn’t immediately think of a fitting retort, she settled for letting out a huff of a breath and shifting so she again stared at the trees that bordered the yard, and not at the big brick house behind her.

  “It’s not that bad,” he said softly, much closer this time.

  Rosemary didn’t move. “It is. I’m not…I’m not one of you.”

  “But you are. The paternity test proves that.”

  “Leave me alone, Caleb.”

  His hand settled on her arm. She almost jerked it away, but she had a feeling he would have only tightened his grip if she’d tried that kind of a maneuver.

  “I’m not going to leave you alone,” he said, his tone reasonable. “You’re family now.”

  Was he really going to try that angle? Jaw set, she retorted, “I wasn’t aware that all the demons who started this little coven were related.”

  “All right, not that kind of related. But still, we consider ourselves family. We have to. And you’re part of that family.”

  “I have a family.”

  “So you said.” He let go of her arm but remained standing close to her, close enough that she could smell the woodsy scent of his aftershave. “But you can’t pretend we don’t exist just because you don’t like knowing you’re also part demon.”

  She wished she could press her hands to her ears so she wouldn’t have to hear those words, but acting in such a childish way wouldn’t change the horrible reality of her situation. After all, she’d seen it right there on the report from the lab. Black and white. Kind of hard to argue with that sort of thing. She hugged her arms against herself and said, “It doesn’t matter. Gerald hasn’t been a part of my life. He wasn’t there to attend my sixth-grade graduation or teach me how to drive. He’s a sperm donor, nothing more. I have a real family, and he isn’t it.”

  “You’re upset,” Caleb said calmly. “I get it. But he wants to be part of your life now that everything is out in the open.”

  “‘Out in the open’?” she echoed, her lip curling. Was he serious? “Sorry to tell you this, Caleb, but you demons aren’t exactly the most transparent people in the world.”

  Rather than take offense, he smiled in a lopsided way, shoulders lifting slightly. “Okay, point taken. No, we can’t be transparent about who we are. What I meant is that there aren’t any more secrets between you and Gerald. And I think he’d be willing to go to your mother and explain.”

  “That’s a horrible idea,” Rosemary replied. “What in the world makes you think she’d want to meet him? I mean, when you get right down to it, he basically raped her, didn’t he? It’s not as though she gave her consent to have sex with some half-demon who wasn’t her actual husband.”

  Caleb’s mouth thinned at the word “rape,” but she didn’t see the red flash of anger in his eyes. If anything, his expression grew more pleading. “I know what he did seems terrible, but still…you’ve met him. Come on — the guy doesn’t have a mean bone in his body.”

  That seemed like a crazy thing to say about someone who was half demon, and yet Rosemary had to reluctantly agree, even if she would never have made such an admission to Caleb. If circumstances had been different — if Gerald had been just an ordinary man, maybe someone her mother had had an affair with — then Rosemary thought she probably could have accepted him as her biological father.

  But of course Gerald wasn’t an ordinary man, and Glynis McGuire was not the sort of woman to ever cheat on her husband. She would be horrified to learn that she’d been seduced by a creature wearing her husband’s face, even though she hadn’t done anything wrong.

  “Well, he’s nicer than your father,” she allowed, then added, “although that isn’t saying much. But I don’t want him in my life. I don’t want any of you in my life.”

  Caleb’s eyes narrowed.
“You can’t pretend we don’t exist.”

  No, probably not, although Rosemary thought she’d do her best to try. All she wanted was to get out of this place and never see Caleb Lockwood — or any of the other Greencastle demons — ever again. Not bothering to reply directly, she said, “Okay, I’ve held up my end of the bargain. I waited until the results came in. Well, we all know the truth now. And I want to go home. You told me I could leave once this was all done.”

  He didn’t reply right away, and she noticed how his gaze shifted to the house and then back to her, almost as if he was trying to decide whether to call for reinforcements.

  Icy fingers inched their way down her back. Were they going to renege on their promise, come up with some excuse for why they couldn’t possibly let her go back to California?

  “Or were you lying about that, too?”

  “No,” he said immediately, something in his voice telling her that the question had bothered him more than he wanted to let on. “That was the deal. I suppose…I suppose we all hoped you would want to stay once you knew the truth.”

  “‘Stay’?” she repeated, and let out a derisive laugh. “Why would I want to stay here when my whole life is in California?”

  His dark eyes met hers, searching. Somehow, Rosemary forced herself to gaze back at him, although she wanted to look away. It was too uncomfortable standing here like this, and yet she guessed if she did or said anything to break the contact, she’d only call more attention to her discomfort. “Is it, though?” he asked. “I mean, if you’re going to go there and tell them all the truth about yourself, how do you think they’re going to react?”

  “They won’t care,” she said stoutly, although even as the words left her lips, she experienced a niggle of doubt. It was one thing to stand there and declare that this revelation about her true parentage wouldn’t change anything, but did she know that for a fact? Celeste and Isabel loved her, but she would suddenly be other, no matter what they might say to the contrary. Her mother would be forced to acknowledge that the child she thought was the product of a joyful union between herself and her husband was actually the result of the demons’ biological experiments.

  And as for Will….

  No, she wasn’t quite sure she wanted to think about that at all.

  “You’re sure about that?” Caleb asked. “You’re sure this won’t matter to them, that everything will go on just as it always has?”

  “Yes,” she said. He’s just trying to make you question everything, she told herself. Don’t let him. You know you can’t possibly stay here.

  His brows lifted slightly, but he didn’t throw the lie back in her face. Instead, he told her, “But we already know who you are. We want you here. You’re special, Rosemary. You’re the only female born to demon-kind. Don’t you want to stay here and find out more, find out why that is?”

  “Do you know?”

  “No,” he admitted. “I don’t think anyone does. But we can work on it together. We made a good team, you and I. Don’t say that we didn’t, because that will be a lie.”

  She wished she could tell him he didn’t know what he was talking about. Only…what he’d just said was nothing more than the truth. It had been fun working to discover where the missing footage was hidden…challenging to learn the truth about Madeline Nash. Yes, that had all gone sour when Rosemary discovered Caleb wasn’t who he’d said he was, but in the beginning, they had been a good team.

  “We did,” she said, then added quickly, before he could begin to smile or be at all relieved by her admission, “but that was then, and this is now. Everything’s changed, Caleb. I don’t — I don’t want to work with you on this. I don’t want to know anything more than I already do. I just want to go back and pick up my life.”

  “Back to him.” Caleb’s lip lifted in the beginnings of a sneer. “Do you really think Mr. Holier-Than-Thou is going to want a part-demon girlfriend?”

  “I don’t know,” she said wearily, reflecting that Caleb’s reaction told her all she needed to know; that any hint of understanding or kindness was something he’d put on for show, not because he actually felt those emotions. “But that’s for the two of us to work out. I don’t expect you to understand. All I know is that I’ve done what you asked, and so I expect to be shown the same consideration in return.”

  And then she stood there and waited to see how he would respond, her entire body tense with worry, with trying to figure out what in the world she would do if he laughed in her face and said that they’d never intended to send her back to California, that the plan was to keep her here in Greencastle forever.

  However, after a very long pause, one that knotted the tension in her neck even more and made her palms damp with worry, Caleb said, “All right. A deal’s a deal. I think you’re making a mistake, but….” The words trailed off as he lifted his shoulders. “Just know that we’re here for you if things don’t turn out quite the way you want them back home.”

  “Really?” she asked, staring up at him, not sure whether she could allow herself to feel the relief that wanted to spread all through her body.

  “Yes, really.” Now he looked amused again, eyebrow at an ironic tilt. “But get the hell out of here before we change our minds.”

  “Thank you,” Rosemary said. “And — and I’m sorry I couldn’t be what you all wanted me to be.”

  His eyes wouldn’t meet hers. Staring off at some indeterminate point in the distance, he replied, “It’s okay. We had to try. You should go inside and say goodbye before you leave, though.”

  Her instincts told her that wasn’t a very good idea. “No, I’d rather leave from here. It would be awkward. I wouldn’t know what to say.” On a sudden impulse — maybe because he looked almost forlorn, although before that moment, she wouldn’t have thought him capable of such an emotion — she extended a hand and squeezed Caleb’s fingers. “Take care.”

  Before he could reply, she’d reached out with those strange demonic senses, imagining Will’s house yet again. Only this time, she was able to see the living room and feel it simultaneously, and she realized it was going to work, that the Greencastle demons weren’t going to prevent her from leaving this time.

  A blink, and she was gone.

  Chapter 11

  Will stared at his laptop, knowing he needed to finish writing his sermon for the next day, and finding neither the inspiration nor the inclination to do so. How in the world was he supposed to concentrate on such a thing when he had absolutely no idea what was happening to Rosemary? Michael had counseled patience, but Will knew he was desperately short of that much-lauded virtue at the moment.

  Still, he’d already missed enough work as it was. Unless some emergency intervened, he was expected to put in a full day on Sunday — service in the morning, as well as overseeing the harvest potluck scheduled for the afternoon. Explaining that his new girlfriend had been kidnapped by part-demons and spirited away to Greencastle, Indiana, probably wouldn’t go over very well, even if it was the literal truth.

  He leaned back in his office chair and stared at the screen. The subject for the sermon was supposed to be forgiveness, the quote from Matthew 6:14-15 — “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” — but his brain couldn’t seem to come up with anything new and inspirational to say about it, probably because he wasn’t in a very forgiving mood at the moment.

  “Will.”

  Wonderful. Apparently, he was so obsessed with Rosemary’s well-being that he was now hearing her voice in his head.

  “Will.”

  He swiveled the chair and stared, shocked, at the doorway to his office. Rosemary stood there, looking a little more sedate than usual in a pair of jeans, low boots, and a dark green cardigan over a high-necked T-shirt, but it was definitely her.

  In the blink of an eye, he was out of his chair and going to her so he could pull her in
to his arms. Yes, that was really her, so delicate in his arms, and yet with a core of steel that he knew he would never take for granted.

  “You’re all right?” he asked, after he’d clung to her for a moment and reassured himself that she wasn’t some kind of vivid hallucination.

  “I’m fine,” she said, although he wasn’t sure he believed her. There was a sorrow in her big blue eyes that hadn’t been there before, and she looked pale and tired, although still beautiful. “But Will…there are some things we need to talk about.”

  “Of course,” he replied. “Do you want anything? A glass of water, some tea?”

  “Tea would be good. I still feel cold.”

  That comment did very little to reassure him as to her well-being, but he didn’t press her for explanations, only went with her into the kitchen so he could get the water in the kettle boiling. She glanced around and let out a small sigh, as if relieved to find that nothing had changed in her absence.

  “I love this kitchen,” she commented, apropos of nothing, and he tried to smile.

  “Me, too. It could be bigger, but — ”

  “It’s perfect,” she insisted, and he decided to let the matter go.

  Speaking of which….

  “How did you get away?”

  Rosemary leaned against the counter and pushed up the sleeves of her sweater. It seemed a little big on her, and he guessed it wasn’t hers, even though he hadn’t been with her long enough to be familiar with her entire wardrobe.

  “I didn’t ‘get away,’” she told him. “They let me go.”

  He stared at her, startled. “What?”

  “They let me go. I — well, I’ll tell you all about it once we sit down with some tea. Okay?”