Page 64 of Now Comes the Mist

“And why England, of all places?” Mina adds, when he takes a beat too long to respond.

I cannot help smiling, despite my worry about her being alone with him. There is no one more dogged or persistent than Mina when she wants an answer, that much I know.

“I have always longed to see its shores and experience the excitement of London,” Vlad says patiently. “I even hoped to catch a glimpse of Her Majesty the Queen! This must seem silly to you. I am but a sentimental foreigner.” I know very well how his voice can take on that charming gallantry with a touch of self-deprecation. It has worked on me many times.

But for some reason, it does not work on Mina. “How did you proceed with purchasing your home?” she persists. “Did you write letters to a lawyer, perhaps?”

The buzzing returns to my left ear, and I hear the front door open as the post is delivered. Impatiently, I turn my focus back to the conversation in the garden.

“I wrote to a number of offices located around London, asking for their opinions on such a purchase and requesting the names of properties for sale,” Vlad is explaining.

“And several of these lawyers must have mentioned Carfax?”

“Only one did.”

I hear Mina’s dress rustle as she leans forward. “Which one?” she asks, her voice low and intense. “Which lawyer mentioned that it was for sale?”

Even though Vlad is silent, I can sense his admiration of her. He approved of her modesty before, and now her quick mind and forthright manner have impressed him further.

But before he can answer, I hear footsteps hurry out onto the terrace. “I beg your pardon,” Harriet says excitedly. “But an urgent telegram has just arrived for you, miss, from Mr. Harker.”

I wince, my ears pained by the sudden sharp screech of Mina’s chair as she stands.

“Mr. Harker? Are you certain?” she asks, already sounding near tears. “Count, I am sorry, but I must read this. It is the first communication I’ve had since—”

“Say no more, Miss Murray. I will leave you. Thank you for a pleasant conversation, and please let Lucy know I called. And Mrs. Westenra, of course,” Vlad adds, his voice full of his slow smile. I hear his coat rustle as he bows and then his shoes walking back out to the street.

I go to the window to watch him leave and find him standing at our gate, looking right up at the window of my room. He lifts his hat to me when our gazes meet, his expression quietly wistful. It is the first time I have seen him look sad, and in his eyes, I see the ocean and the cliffs and our bench beneath the willow. But now I also see blood splattered on my ball dress, Mina crying, Mamma bent over me with grief, and Arthur kneeling heartbroken by my bed.

I turn away when my bedroom door flies open and Mina throws herself into my arms, shaking and weeping violently without making a sound. “What is it? What’s wrong?” I ask, panicked that the telegram has brought her evil news.

But when she pulls away, she is smiling through her tears. She hands me the message. “Jonathan is alive! He wants me to go to him as soon as may be.”

I close my eyes and sag with relief. Vlad kept his word. Quickly, I read the telegram aloud. “Ill, but out of danger. Hospital of St. Joseph and Ste. Mary, Budapest. Come at once. All my love. Jonathan.” I hug Mina again, overjoyed. “Thank God, my darling. I am so happy for you. Go to him at once. Take the train out tonight.”

“I hate to leave you at a time like this—”

“A time like what? I am perfectly well, and he needs you.” I look into her beloved face, unable to keep my lips from trembling. “I have loved youwell, my Mina, more than you can ever know or I can ever say. But it’s time for me to let you go.”

She touches my face. “Why are you saying this?” she asks desperately. “Why are you talking as though we will never see each other again?”

I laugh to take the edge off my pain.Ourpain, for I see in her eyes what she will never admit even to herself. I wipe away her tears gently. “Of course we will see each other again. But the Mina I put on the train and the Mina who comes back will be different women. You will marry Jonathan in Budapest, I know. You could not travel back to London, alone together, otherwise. And I will have to give you up to him entirely.”

“Not entirely,” she whispers. “Never entirely. You claim a piece of my heart forever.”

“But you were never mine, and you never will be.” I lean my forehead against hers. “Oh, Mina, how much we have to lose as women. It seems only the other day we were girls, and now we must take our separate paths. It is like dying in a way, the impossibility of going back.”

Mina takes my face in her hands. “Don’t say that, Lucy,” she tells me fiercely. “We will live, you and I. We willlive.”

She kisses me full on the lips, as she did that day on the beach, years ago. Her mouth is soft and tentative and delicious, but I feel a farewell in it, the closing of a chapter in our lives that will never come again. And as always, she is the first to pull away. She moves to the window and gazes out, and Vlad must be gone, for she looks down at the street with no expression.

“I am all aflutter,” she breathes. “I hardly know what to do with myself. Jonathan is alive, and that is all I can think about. Not such unromantic details as train tickets and sensible shoes.”

Her mind and heart are once again all Jonathan’s. Our moment is gone, and I will have to make my peace with that. I press my hand over my lips, imprinting her kiss there, and stride over to the bell to ring for my maid. “Then let me take care of those details,” I say as cheerfully as I can. “I will help you pack while Harriet runs to the station to secure you a ticket, and—”

“Wait,” Mina interrupts. “Before you ring for her, I want to talk about the count.”

My hand freezes in midair.

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