Page 155 of The Seven Rings
“All that started with you. Why are you the one? The one pulled into this, the one expected to deal with it, solve the puzzle, find the rings, break the curse?”
“All I can say about the last part of that is because my father was born here, and that makes me a Poole.”
“You’re not the only Poole.”
“No, but the house is mine.”
“And all the baggage with it. All you didn’t know about when you agreed to the terms of Collin’s will.”
“I know about it all now,” she said, watching him carefully. “AndI’m still here. You’re upset and angry. You’d already had a hard day before you got here.”
“It has nothing to do with my day, and I’m fine.”
“You don’t get really angry often, not so it shows, anyway. So when it does, it does. And I’m getting a feeling you’re mad at me. I don’t know why.”
“I’m not mad at you. The situation—there are six dead women on that wall, and one more to come. Not that long ago, Dobbs tried to burn the house down around you.”
“It wasn’t real. It—”
“Real enough, Sonya. What she can do is real enough she put seven women in the ground. Because of this house. Because of stone and wood and glass.”
The house was more than that, she thought. So much more. So was her heritage.
“You think I should go. Walk away, close it up again.”
“I think you should consider what it would do to you and your life if you spend it here, trying to find seven wedding rings. If this is what you want for your life, day after day, maybe year after year. Never being sure what Dobbs might do next.”
It was one thing, she realized, for her to take it on. Her heritage, her legacy, her need to honor both. And another to expect him to do the same.
“It’s a lot. And you’ve shouldered so much of it.”
“I’m not talking about me.”
“I am. You fix things. It’s what you do. You help people—that’s not just your job, it’s your nature. So you’ve shouldered a lot of it. It’s wearing on you. Do you need a break?”
“A break? From what?”
“From this.” Sick at the thought of it, she held out her hands. “All this. From juggling work and worry, and the normal with the crazy. From me.”
“What the hell do you take me for?”
She saw clearly she’d only made him more angry. And heard clearly, from the slamming doors, Dobbs enjoyed it.
“I take you for someone who doesn’t back down easy. Who manages to keep calm in a crisis. And maybe someone who’s had enough of knowing another crisis is coming, at any time, from any direction.
“I know you care about me.”
“Jesus.” Shoving a hand through his hair, he turned, paced away. “That’s a pale word for it.”
“I don’t want to lose you.”
He spun back. “For fuck’s sake, Sonya.”
“Please. I realize I’ve been stupid not just saying it before. Words matter, and I haven’t used them. I shouldn’t have held them back until you’re on edge. I love you, and I don’t want to lose you. I love you, and I’d so much rather you took a break, stepped back for a little while, than stay because it’s your nature to help.”
“I don’t need a goddamn break, and I don’t need you to tell me you love me surrounded by stupidity.”
Shock smothered even instinctive temper. “Trey.”
