Page 34 of Fated

He stops mid-step. “What?”

“What do I look like?”

McCormick looks around the yard, at the chickens, at the men, at the ocean, as if he’s asking for help. “Beautiful,” he finally says, “As beautiful as the day we married.”

Oh, gosh. “No. I mean, what color do you think my hair is? What color are my eyes?”

“She wants a compliment!” Dee shouts as she slaps an ace on the table and grunts, “Ha!”

McCormick nods as if my question suddenly makes sense. “Your eyes are blue.”

“Blue?”

My eyes are hazel. An unremarkable hazel.

“Mmm.” He shifts, looking down at the cake. “Blue like tumbled glass washed up onshore with the sun shining through it.”

I squint at McCormick. The sun’s behind him, coating him in a golden hue.

“And my hair?”

“Yellow.”

“I haveyellowhair?”

“Blonde,” he corrects himself.

“You’re failing, man.” A short, thin man with a bushy black mustache, cutoff jean shorts, and flip-flops punches McCormick on the arm.

McCormick lets out a long exhale. I feel almost bad for him. Except I don’t have blue eyes. I don’t have blonde hair. Yet all these people seem to think I do.

Which means ...

This isn’t a mass delusion.

This isn’t some man who dragged me to an island where the entire population is playing along with his twisted marriage plot.

This is ... a dream?

Could it be a dream?

I’ve never had a dream this real. I’ve never lived a dream where I’ve felt so much. But, I don’t usually remember my dreams. The only ones I remember are the nightmares about Christmas Eve.

But when I fell asleep I was holding onto Adolphus Abry’s watch. My mum said Uncle Leopold claimed it would let your dreams come true.

What if he meant that your dreams wouldfeeltrue?

Because all this feels true, but it isn’t.

My mum asked what I wanted. This watch supposedly made dreams come true.

Secret dreams.

Dreams of longing.

So, all my life, have I been longing for an isolated tropical island? Have I wanted a husband of fifteen years? Two kids? No Abry, no loneliness, no loss. Is that what I wanted?

If I could, would I take Mila to an island outside the rush of the world and forget about all my responsibilities? Would I want to find a man who’s stayed with me and loved me for fifteen years?

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