Page 157 of Like A Moth To A Flame

I shook the thought from my head and turned toward Amelia with a sigh.

“Maybe itwasa leaf this time,” I said with a shrug, and she responded with narrowed eyes and a turned-down smile.

“Either way,” she said, reaching into her pocket to find her phone. “I’m calling Sheriff Banner.”

“Amelia, we don’t need to bother—”

“I promised Carl,” she said simply, and that was the end of it. I knew there was no arguing with her when it came to that, and I couldn’t blame her there. Just like me, she had a baby to protect.

An hour later, Sheriff Banner had checked the entire house and the surrounding yard. Just like before, there was nothing there. I was beginning to wonder if I was crazy, and I would have resigned that I was if Amelia hadn’t been here to see Duke react the way I had.

“Thanks again,” I said, walking him to the door. A deep yawn pulled from my throat and I brought a hand up to cover my mouth.

“Better get to bed, mama,” he said, chuckling as his hand landed on the doorknob. “Tommy will have my hide if I keep you up past bedtime.”

He had just pulled the door open when a sudden thought struck me.

“Hold on a second,” I said, sighing.

Instantly, a type of guilt struck me, and I bit my tongue.

“Yeah?” he asked, and I tried to untangle my voice box, but all that came out was a dull croak.

“Can I show you something?”

He nodded, “‘course ya can.”

I turned, hurrying past Amelia and ignoring the confused look on her face as I stepped into the kitchen and grabbed one of my dad’s journals off of the table. I knew exactly the one, and exactly the page. I flopped it open in my hands as I hurried back to the door. I handed it to him, and a surge of worry ripped through me as I watched him read the writing on the page.

Was this the right time for this? Was I opening a box that should have stayed closed? Was I bringing up memories that were better left buried?

Still, I needed to know, and what better time than now?

“Wow,” he said with a sigh. “That was so long ago.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “We found my dad’s old journals during the remodel. It mentioned you. I asked Mae about it, and I—”

“Nah,” he said, waving a hand at me. “Nothin’ to be sorry about. I’m not ashamed.”

Still, I felt bad. It was a bad memory, and who was I to take it upon myself to bring it up?

“Her name was Victoria,” he said, staring down at the words on the page. “She was an amazing girl. She was my first love before Sheila, and I thought I was gonna marry her. Her daddy was never too fond of me. So when she got pregnant…” He trailed off with a sigh, shaking his head as he closed the journal with a snap and handed it back to me. “He gave her an ultimatum—either she gets rid of the baby, or he would get rid of me. We were gonna leave that night, run back to Kansas City, and stay together, but her daddy got wind of it and—”

He stopped with a shrug.

“Some say it was an accident, and he blamed it on me to drive me out of town. Some say he did it to her out of shame. All I know is we will never know what happened that night, and I blame myself for that.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, tears prickling the corners of my eyes. I shouldn’t have brought it up. “I didn’t mean to—”

“Nah, don’t you be sorry, Ness,” he said, reaching out and laying a hand across my shoulder. “It’s not often I get to remember her anymore. So talking about her? It doesn’t bother me none.”

There was a smile on his face that made his brown eyes sparkle, even in the low light. The regret drained out of me, and I felt something lift in my chest.

“So what happened to her dad?” Amelia piped up from behind me. I turned to look at her, seeing her leaning against the kitchen doorway, her crossed arms resting across the swell of her stomach.

“Well, that’s the thing,” he said, and I couldn’t help but notice the smirk on his lips. “After the funeral, he up and disappeared.”

When Amelia released a sound of anger from across the room, I wasn’t shocked. I had been expecting it.

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