Page 78 of The Women of Wild Hill
Ihave a confession to make.”
“Let me guess,” Brigid said, stretching her naked form out on the bed. “You drain the fresh, nutrient-rich blood of teenagers and drink it to keep yourself virile and handsome. It’s the only explanation for what just happened.”
“You know there’s actually a company that does something pretty close to that? It’s called Ambrosia.”
Brigid rolled over on her side. “For real?”
“Oh yeah. But you don’t drink the blood. It’s infused. I’ve heard some pretty powerful people are clients.” He stroked his jawline as though feeling for flaws. “I’ve been thinking about getting an infusion myself.” He glanced over at Brigid’s horrified expression. “That’s a joke. I know I don’t need one.”
She rolled back over. “You’re hilarious.”
“It’s true,” he replied. “Everyone says so.”
Brigid tried not to laugh. “So what’s the confession?”
“I’d been to Wild Hill before the wreck.”
This time, Brigid sat all the way up. She could instantly tell that he wasn’t joking. “How? When?”
“I broke in several years after your mother’s death. Climbed over the wall.”
Brigid pulled the sheet up. She suddenly felt exposed. “Why would you do that?”
“My father was obsessed with the place. I knew he’d loved Flora, but I didn’t realize how much until I read the journal I gave you.Then I saw you on a movie poster, and I knew just how he’d felt. It was love at first sight.”
“It wasn’t love,” Brigid insisted a bit bluntly.
“Maybe,” he conceded. “I was twenty-two at the time. I’d gotten my heart and my pecker confused a few times before. But I swear—I haven’t since.”
She felt herself flushing. “A guy broke into my house a few days ago because he thought he loved me. I killed him, of course. And enjoyed every second of it.”
Liam smiled. “Well, in that case, allow me to beg for mercy. My dad had just built this house, and it was my first time visiting the Island. When I realized Wild Hill was just down the road, I couldn’t resist having a look. I didn’t intend to break in, but when I was standing outside the gates, it felt like I was being drawn inside.”
“I’m surprised you made it out alive,” Brigid told him. “We have a ghost who isn’t all that fond of men—or visitors. Who knows what she’d have done if she knew about your politics.” She expected him to take it as a joke, but he didn’t.
“Really?” he said. “She seemed rather pleasant to me.”
“Stop it.” Brigid wasn’t playing around anymore. “You’re lying.”
“Attractive. Chestnut hair. White nightie. Looked a little like Melissa McCarthy.”
She couldn’t believe it. He’d really seen Bessie. “You’re fucking kidding me.”
“Why would I do that?” he asked. “Now, as much as I’d love to stay in bed and let you do your best to kill me, I must tidy myself up and return to the party I’m hosting.” He kissed her slowly before sliding out of bed. She almost called him back as he walked across the room.
THE MOMENT LIAM CLOSED THEdoor of the bathroom, Brigid snatched her dress off the bedroom floor and slipped out into the night. Stickingto the shadows, she made her way down to a deserted section of beach. She knew Phoebe would be furious when she didn’t return to the party with Liam. But Phoebe had Sibyl to keep her company. And back in Texas, she had Ed. Since her family had come apart at the seams in the nineties, there had been no one for Brigid. For thirty years, she’d been on her own. And that’s what she’d come to discuss with the Old One.
Standing in her strapless black bra and underwear, with the white froth of the waves gently sweeping her toes, she could sense the vastness of the ocean that stretched out in front of her. The depths that swallowed ships and concealed mysterious giants. It was at the boundaries of the known world that Brigid always felt the presence of the Old One most keenly. The edge of the abyss. The surf line of the sea. The rim of a crater with lava bubbling up from beneath. The entrance to an uncharted cave.
“Why are you doing this to me?” Brigid whispered into the void. She didn’t cry or bemoan her fate. She simply wanted to know. So she waited for an answer. A sign. Some indication that her suffering had been noted, even if it was all a cruel joke.
When she’d first discovered her ability, Brigid pleaded with the Old One every night. She desperately wanted to be of use and play her part in the mission. All she asked for was a new assignment—one that didn’t involve death. Aunt Ivy had done her best to teach the girls not to fear the inevitable. Death was simply part of the cycle. But Brigid would come to know death far too well to trust it. It was an invisible beast that never left her side. Though she could do the Old One’s bidding and make it eat monsters, she knew one day death would turn on those she loved. Eventually, it would consume her, too.
The Duncans didn’t believe in heaven, hell, or oblivion. But having watched countless humans succumb to death, Brigid knew dying was something everyone did alone. That was what scared her most. She did not want to be on her own. And yet, here she was.
Phoebe had never made the situation any easier to bear. She was the person Brigid was most terrified of losing—and the one who made her feel the most freakish. Her sister had been right about one thing when she’d said Brigid had always been jealous. And no, she hadn’t handled the situation with grace. What child would have sat quietly by while all the best gifts were bestowed on their sibling? Phoebe was the golden girl everyone wanted to be near, with healing energy coursing beneath her skin. Brigid was the cursed marble statue atop a tomb. Some may have admired her from a distance, but few dared to get close. Those who did rarely stuck around very long. All Brigid had was her family, and that would have been fine if the constant presence of death in her life hadn’t reminded her that she’d lose them.
She’d spent so much time contemplating that dreadful future, that when worse came to worst, Brigid found herself oddly prepared. She’d been dreading the loss of her family for so long that fate had lost the element of surprise. There were times over the decades when she’d tried to fill the blank spaces in her life. Eventually, she’d just learned to live with the loneliness. She’d thrown herself into her work and soothed her troubled soul with casual sex and substances. She’d accepted her destiny. Now it seemed the Old One believed she hadn’t suffered enough.
