Page 102 of The Women of Wild Hill
“I’ll help.” Sadie appeared and took her great-great-great-granddaughter’s hand. “Once you get the hang of it, you’ll have no trouble at all. It will come as naturally to you as an orgasm. I want you to breathe in deep,” she told Sibyl. “Breathe in all the air and water. Breath in the stars and the heavens and universe beyond.”
Sibyl closed her eyes and pulled it all inside her until she felt as though she might burst.
“Now let it out all at once,” Sadie instructed. “As you do, aim it straight for the shore.”
As Sibyl exhaled, she felt their little boat rise as though climbing a very steep hill. Then the boat slipped down the back as the roguewave kept rolling, getting higher and higher as it neared the beach. The men on the dock turned tail at first sight of the swell. But there was no way to outrun it. It ripped the wood out of the water and washed the men away. Sibyl watched the water slam into the house, shattering the glass, knocking down walls, and sending roof tiles flying into the air.
Less than a minute later, when the wave pulled back, there was no trace of the Geddes mansion or the men who’d been in it. There was nothing left but sand and surf. The ocean had licked the earth clean.
“Holy shit.” Liam had come out of the captain’s cabin.
“What did I do?” Sibyl marveled. But the ancestors were gone.
“Looks like you started a revolution.” It was Phoebe. There was something different about her now, Sibyl noticed. Her mother seemed almost human.
“Is Brigid...” Sibyl was too scared to say any more. She noticed Liam had disappeared to the back of the boat.
“She’ll survive. I gave her half of everything I have. I don’t think she’ll need to worry about death following her around anymore.”
“And you?” Sibyl asked. “What does it mean for you? Can you grow strong again on Wild Hill?”
“Maybe. But right now, I’d just like to go home to your father,” Phoebe said. “I think Wild Hill will be in very good hands.”
Phoebe peeked around the captain’s cabin and saw Liam and Brigid wrapped up in each other’s arms. She nudged Sibyl and gestured with her chin. “I think that’s what my mother saw,” she told her daughter. “I think Bessie showed her this moment. Brigid with Liam. You with me.”
“A hundred billionaires beneath the sea,” Sibyl added.
Phoebe laughed. “It truly can’t get any better.”
But, of course, it could.
A FIGURE STOOD ON THEshipwrecking rock off Wild Hill’s beach with a lantern held in her hand. A trim redhead, she was dressed as if she’d just come from the gym.
“Who the hell is that?” Sibyl asked her mother as Liam navigated the boat to the beach.
“I’ve never seen her before,” Phoebe replied. “Looks like she brought friends.”
The beach was crowded with women. Two came forward to meet the boat. One was a strange figure with wild hair. The other a pretty woman with curls. The tall woman was the first to speak.
“You return triumphant. I had no doubt you would.”
“Harriett,” Brigid greeted her. “Meet my sister and niece.” Then she fumbled. “And, um, Liam Geddes.”
“The man of her dreams,” Liam added, reaching out to shake Harriett’s hand. “Pleasure to meet you.”
“Who are they?” Phoebe asked about the women behind Harriett.
“They’re the others,” Harriett told her. “They’ve been called here. I hope you and Brigid will allow them to make themselves at home on your estate.”
“Wild Hill belongs to all of us,” Phoebe said. “And Sibyl is its caretaker now.”
One Final Blessing
Istayed long enough to see the new arrivals settled in. They filled every room on the property. When I left, the cottage shook with laughter, a bonfire burned on the front lawn, and the mansion was alive once more. Phoebe, Brigid, and Sibyl watched from the beach as I walked into the waves. Four hundred years after it began, my mission was at last complete. Thank goodness Gerald was always the most patient of souls. I found him right where he’d been waiting for me at the bottom of the sea. The weight of my sacrifice has been balanced by blessing.
Digestivo
The Green Lady had been closed for months. Though everyone agreed it was lamentable, no one in the city found it all that remarkable. Much stranger things had been happening of late.
