Page 89 of Through the Water

Brad would bully me into submission before forcing me to bear his children like the prize-winning heifer I was. I’d fake every smile in public, knowing that behind my back, he was seducing any young girl who happened to catch his eye.

Tiffani didn’t wait for my response before dropping her face into her hands with a muffled groan. “Oh my God, it’s not! Do you even love him?”

“No,” I answered truthfully. “If you run, you could catch up and tell my father.”

She glanced toward the closed door and lowered her voice. “I won’t—like, I know I didn’t exactly grow up in the church, but this is not normal stuff. You shouldn’t have to marry him—”

“It’s out of my hands,” I calmly replied, knowing if I said anything more, I’d give myself away. Tiffani needed to think I was weak and helpless.

I reached under the blankets until I felt the comforting weight of Morgan’s teddy bear against my fingertips.

This was my only option.

* * *

Dammit.

One of Killian’s curses slipped in during yet another failed attempt at rethreading my sewing needle. With the way this day was going, it wouldn’t be my last. My sudden inability to complete even the smallest of tasks had made me miserable company.

Before the seizure, I’d been an excellent cross-stitcher.

Before Killian, I hadn’t understood why people made such a fuss over a kiss.

But in the last five days, I’d been reduced to a brittle husk of the woman I was before. I was a woman who’d mastered wallowing in her grief, but not much else.

He hadn’t come back.

Each morning I was forced out of bed and into the shower, where either Tiffani or Tsega would hold me through a light round of shoulder-shaking, uncontrollable sobs.

And things had only gotten worse from there, including a regrettable incident involving the miniature Killian figurine in Fynn’s office and a surprisingly soft wall.

“Yours is coming along nicely, Ariana,” Georgia praised. “Sadly, my eyes just aren’t what they used to be.”

I leaned in as she held hers up for inspection, only to find her stitching infinitely better than anything I was accomplishing in my current state.

“I think you must have been looking at the wrong weave cloth because this—” I shook the hoop to really drive home my point. “Is completely hopeless. I may as well rip it all out and start over.”

Georgia raised her eyebrows in question before turning back toward the small television in the corner of the room. I’d briefly registered it was on when I arrived. Since then, I’d lost myself in the tediousness of French knots and baseball players who disappeared without a trace.

At the amplified crack of gunfire, I flinched and watched in horror as a woman dropped to the beach, bleeding from her wounds. I didn’t need to see anymore—I was well aware of how that story would end.

I jerked again when Tsega loudly cleared her throat, but she was looking at something on her phone and didn’t seem to notice.

Georgia cut her eyes back over to me and patted my knee. “You know, I don’t believe I’ve told you how wonderful it is to finally hear your voice. Isn’t it nice, Tsega?”

“So nice.” Tsega agreed with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. As she’d been subjected to the sounds of my nonsensical whimpers echoing off the shower tiles, I couldn’t say I blamed her.

An odd look passed between the two of them—one that made me think they were up to something. And I had a feeling that something involved me.

Georgia’s voice moved up in pitch. “I haven’t seen your young man around lately. Why is that, Ariana?”

My stomach tightened at the mention of Killian, but as my last cry had only been an hour ago, I was granted a brief reprieve. “Did you really steal Margaret’s boyfriend?” I asked, sounding more defensive than I’d intended.

She let out a loud peal of laughter. “Heavens, Ariana. I imagined that you, of all people, would know you can’t believe everything you hear. I haven’t looked at another man since I lost Will.”

The needlepoint fell forgotten to my lap. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”

Georgia waved her hands as if shooing off my apology. “None of that. I’m actually glad you asked because it’s why I invited you for a visit.” She shared another strange look with Tsega, but neither one of them was smiling anymore.

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