Page 74 of Once Upon a Midnight Dreary
He poured tea, then pushed the sugar bowl toward her.“I’ll be back.”
In an uncharacteristic display, he dropped a kiss on top of her head before heading back up the stairs to clean up the broken mirror.
She heaved a sigh.She still hadn’t managed to change her wrinkled dress.Reaching for the sugar, she dropped a cube into her cup and stirred.Then she flipped through the pages of the journal.There was nothing she hadn’t read before.
Frustrated, she closed it and focused her attention on the spread of food.It didn’t seem right to eat alone.Instead, she sipped her tea and waited for his return.
When he did, he had a dustpan full of broken glass.She watched as he headed past her into the kitchen, heard the tinkling of the glass in the trash, and then he returned.
“You’re not eating?”he asked.
“Gabriel, sit with me.”She motioned to the chair next to her.When he made no move to sit, she added, “Please.Allow us to have one normal thing in this gods-forsaken house.”
A quiet breakfast with him.Yes, that’s what she wanted.Without thinking about ghosts or hauntings or evil things.Just the two of them.
He hesitated a moment until he finally took the seat across from her.He poured tea, added creamer, and then sat back in the chair.Steam rose from the tawny liquid.His gaze landed on the journal then.
“Did you find anything?”he asked.
“Not yet,” she said.
The quiet moment didn’t last long as she thought of something to ask him.
“Did my father tell you how to break it?”she asked.
He shook his head as he lifted his cup to take a sip.Disappointment flooded her.There had to be some clue somewhere to help them figure out how to release Lenore’s hold on Gabriel.She intended to find it.
“I don’t think we should be searching for that,” he said, breaking the silence.
Surprise edged through her.“Why not?”
“Because of…” He placed his cup down on the saucer with a clink.“What do you think will happen if we try to break it?”
Her brows drew together.“What do you mean?”
“I mean, your broken mirror.What else?”
Oh, she understood then.He feared Lenore’s retaliation.Though she didn’t disagree with him, she could not accept a future of endless war with an angry apparition.She chewed her lower lip.
“I know what you’re thinking,” he said, then, his voice soft.
“And what is that?”
“That you want to find a way to do it.”He fiddled with the fork on the side of his empty plate.
“Shouldn’t I want that?Shouldn’t you?”Avoiding his gaze, she picked up her cup and took a sip.The tea scalded her mouth.It was way too hot.She placed it back in its saucer.
He was silent for a time as he sat back in the chair, his gaze on nothing in the room.Finally, she heaved a sigh.
“Perhaps you’re right,” she said then.“We should leave well enough alone.”
His eyes flickered back to hers.When he spoke, his voice was low and soft.“I want to be free of her.Of this.”He waved toward the ceiling in a gesture that encompassed the house.“But I don’t see how to do it.”
Not yet.She didn’t say it, but she certainly thought it.She merely nodded and broke off a corner of her scone.
He rose then, suddenly, turning away from her.Turning toward the door, as though ready to bolt.And then he halted, turned back.
She watched him, her chest tightening.He seemed so distant suddenly, retreating somewhere she couldn’t follow.His hand hovered on the chair back, fingers curling tight until the wood creaked.Shadows flickered at his shoulders, like something tugging him backward.
