Page 94 of Secrets That Bind Us
A snake pit.
I dig my spoon into the pint of Bluebell, making sure I get a good scoop, scrape the top off my cup, and then shove it into my mouth. The last sunflowers sway in the late October breeze as the sky begins to darken once again, bringing a new chill. I can hear the door to the barn shut as Will and his crew begin to leave for the day, as well as the designers.
“Verity?”
“Yes, Dean?” I say around the bite of melting Cookies n’ Cream.
“Something weird is going on in this house.”
Appetite lost, I throw my spoon into the pint and frown. A pit of fuckingsnakes. Blood-drinking floors. Vanishing mold. A goddamn Preacher man for a father. These nightmares. My stomach clenches. Bear whines beside my future husband, the father of my children, and I sigh. How is someone supposed to keep it all in?AND I STILL HAVE A MANUSCRIPT TO TURN IN.
When does this get easier?
Exhausted, I reply, “I know, Dean.”
How do I tell him I want to get the hell out of Adelaide so much sooner rather than later? That even with our upcoming nuptials, the Bistro just a week away from opening, and finally getting in touch with my biological father, I want toleave. Pronto. I want to run away from here again and never come back?
“Put the goddamn house on the market, babe. ASAP.”
Relief floods me. I turn to face him, and I can feel the tears springing into my eyes. I get into his lap and throw my arms over his shoulders. “I fucking love you.”
He kisses my cheek. “I was just thinking about something Mama said once, when she was between lucidity and losing it.”
“What’s that?”
“There ain’t ever been a fire on this land, Ver. This land has seen more tragic deaths in the hundred and fifty years it’s been in your bloodline, and notoncehas it been purified by nature's most common element. It ain’t natural, Verity. Every farm in this town has seen at least one fire. Hell, Abernathy’s had a small one just six weeks before you got here.”
I think about that for a minute. Think about how long it took for the sunflowers to fully bloom, only for them to whither in just the span of a few short weeks. Determined to die.
“In sixty-seven, there was a tornado.”
“The Waller.” He recalls.
I nod. “It hit every farm but this one.”
He shakes his head, putting one of his large hands on my thigh, the other on my back, always keeping me steady. “See what I’m saying? Baby, I’ve never even seen a bird on this farm that wasn’t dead on the ground, but fuckingsnakes? They’re supposed to be hibernating right now.”
His words cling heavily to the air around us, but I don’t have the mental capacity to even gloss over that. I throw my arms over his shoulder and let my fingers run through the velvety shaved hairs there. “Let’s… just make the kids some dinner. I’ll put the house up in the morning.”
He pats my thigh. “Sounds good to me. And baby?”
“Yeah?”
“Might take me about a week, but I’m gonna gut the shit out of my house, and y’all are moving in until the school year’s over. Then we can getthe fuckout of Adelaide.”
My lips lift in a smirk and I eye him up and down. “Yes sir.”
“Ahhh… fuck baby. You can’t say that to me when we have to make dinner for the kids.”
I give him a chaste kiss. “Can I say it later?”
“Christ. Absofuckinglutely you can.” He growls.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Dean
Devil’s Night
