Page 179 of A Curse On Black Lake
He rubs my back and sighs. “So when you get tired of me, are you going to poison me?”
“Don’t tempt me.”
He chuckles. “There are many other ways I’d like to go, but if you poison me, I probably deserved it.”
“Seriously? You’re fine with that?” I ask him.
Killian shrugs and rubs my lips with his thumb. “I hope we can have a couple of kids first.”
My face heats and my stomach heaves.
“Do you want kids?” he asks.
“I never thought I’d have them. I thought I’d be alone forever,” I whisper.
“Well, you’re not anymore,” he says sternly.
“I know.”
“You don’t have to answer that today. Or tomorrow, even. I wouldn’t blame you if you want to get through all of this other crap,” he says.
“Yeah, I would like to make sure that my baby daddy isn’t in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.”
He chuckles and tucks some of my hair back behind my ear. “I’d like that too.”
“What did you want to know about the curse?” I ask him.
Killian rubs his chin. “I was hoping maybe there was a suggestion for how to end it since you said we can be the ones to break it. There could be some kind of clue, right?”
I bite my lower lip to keep from laughing. He means well, and I’m not an expert on curses, but it’s usually not that simple. And I know for a fact this time it reallyisn’tthat simple.
“What?” he asks.
“Nothing. Grandma Lily mentioned that it may never end. She had ideas but no way of knowing if they were … true. That said, we’ll know when it’s time,” I tell him, hoping he drops it because I do know the answer, but it’s not one he needs to carry. I can bear the weight for both of us.“I see. Well, it was worth a shot.” He sighs and kisses my forehead. “Are you ready to go home?”
“Yeah, I am. Do you want to keep this letter?” I ask him.
“It seems like it belongs to you,” he says.
“No, I have a feeling Grandma Lily was holding it.”
“Part of me wants to toss it and never think about it again, but maybe it’s worth keeping,” he says.
I nod and put it back in the parchment envelope and hand it to him.
We lock up the house and head back to the ranch.
How many more times will I see my home? How many more days, weeks, months do I have until it’s gone? Maybe I should write a will. It might not be totally legal, but I think they’d honor it. I have no next of kin. It would go to the town or state, and I’d hate to see that.
I make a note for myself to get something written and maybe notarized. Grams did that stuff at the bank. I think that at least makes it official.
We’ve fallen into a routine in the evenings. Since we’re usually sweaty and tired from working hard, we shower before we eat. But today, and I think maybe every day from here on out, will be a little different.
Killian follows me inside and grabs my hand, tugging me up the stairs.
“What are you doing?” I ask him.
He turns around and rips his shirt open, the snap buttons easily giving way. “I’m going to take a shower,” he says, lifting an eyebrow.
