Thirty-Seven
W ithin the hour, Flora and I had made our way down to the docks at the Sound.
The salty breeze opened up my lungs, the warmth of the sun like a hug at my shoulders. I closed my eyes and leaned back on the plush blanket we’d brought with us. The hard planks of the dock poked my spine as I lay down.
We hadn’t changed into bathing suits, but the water was too cold, anyway. My feet hung off the dock, my bare toes skimming the icy water. Flora joined me, laying down so our shoulders brushed. She reached over and rubbed my arm, her bracelets cool against my skin.
We sat in a comfortable silence, listening to the cyclical sound of the waves, the chirps of the occasional seagull. The dock swayed beneath us, just barely, the wooden beams creaking .
Vince still had yet to come out here with me, preoccupied with his work. It occurred to me then that I never really saw him leave the house, not besides the few times we’d gone out at night. He stayed sequestered within the manor walls, working, feeding. Not even during his parties did he seem to venture out, not since we’d found each other.
He was the beating heart of the house, stuck in the center, making all the other parts work. A well-oiled machine.
I sucked in a deep breath of the seaside air, holding it inside me until my chest burned.
Flora turned over, propping herself onto her elbow.
“Are you alright?”
I squinted against the midday sun, rolling over so we faced each other. I felt like I was at a sleepover from our childhood, where we pined after the young men we’d met at dances and in soda shops, giggling over the boys we thought spared us a glance.
“I know I already asked,” Flora prefaced, “but truly—are you okay?”
I gave her a smile. I couldn’t tell her anything, not like when we were those young girls. “I am,” I said. “I’m just… shocked .”
She nodded. She’d been there when Lucas was my favorite playmate, and she was there the first time he turned on me.
“I worry about you,” she said, her city accent drawling just a little. “You aren’t usually this shut in.”
“Well, I’m not sure I’ll be going out in the city much more as it is,” I mumbled.
“I just mean—” She paused, thinking. “I just mean that we always went out. We were always busy. And now…”
I sat up a little. “There’s a reward on my head,” I said .
“Sure, but who’s going to rat you out? Who’s gonna recognize you?”
Probably half the city, I wanted to say. For a million dollars.
“All it would take is a little makeup, maybe some hair dye.” She lifted a shoulder. “I’m just saying, Vince has money. He could pay anyone off who did recognize you.”
I paused. “You think I stay at the house because of him?”
She sighed. “I don’t know, doll. I know things have changed.” She sat her hand on my arm again, her slim fingers cooler than the touch of the spring sun shining down on us. Her brown eyes glittered. “Just don’t go changing yourself.”
I shook my head. “I won’t. You know I won’t.” I hadn’t let any man I’d met change who I was. I dropped them quicker than they could blink if they even tried.
“But for Adam?” Her expression turned sheepish.
I opened my mouth to speak, but she cut me off.
“I know, I know.” She sighed again. “Why the name change, anyway?”
How much could I reveal before it was too much? I looked out on the Sound, the waves undulating, a dark grayish blue, shining bright like serpents’ tails under the sun. I frowned. “Because his parents don’t know, I suppose.”
“His parents don’t know?” Flora was quiet for a moment, as though it was a truth she hadn’t considered. I wouldn’t have understood, either, if I didn’t know who he really was now.
“So, what, they think he’s still dead?”
He is, in a way .
I shrugged instead .
She whistled, turning to look out at the water too. She leaned back on her elbows, her blouse sleeves ruffling down her arms. “I can’t imagine.”
I almost agreed, but shook my head. I had run away, hiding right under my family’s nose. Deceiving them, perhaps similarly to how Vince deceived his family now—only, my family had no reason to believe I was dead. But he didn’t seem remorseful or worried about if they found out. He’d hardly mentioned them in the past weeks.
“He’s gone through a lot,” I said, at his defense.
Flora sat up fully, raising her hands. “I know. That war did something to a lot of people.” She blew out through her teeth. “But Helena, how does someone just come back filthy rich?”
I looked up at her. “He invests,” I said pointedly.
She shot me an incredulous look.
“You cannot judge when your own man sells liquor ,” I pointed at her chest. “Which is illegal , if you didn’t know.”
She laughed at my stern expression, pushing my finger away. “As though legality is the same as morality .” She leaned in close, smiling her warm smile at me, bronze skin glowing under the sun. “As long as he treats you right.”
“He does,” I said, suddenly feeling like this was an interrogation. I knew she was just looking out for me, but she hadn’t been this skeptical when I first fell for Adam.
I flopped back over, throwing an arm over my eyes to shield out the sun.
“ But ?”
I peeked out at her again. “But what? ”
She rolled her eyes, laying back again herself. “But—I don’t know. But I wish I could go out with you every night .”
I laughed, watching the clouds move above us. “I do.”
“ I wish I’d run away to your house . Wouldn’t that be great? And Dixon could take us away, sell everyone off. Take us on a tour of Europe.” She nudged me with her arm again. “We still could. You could come with me when I leave—I’ll convince Dixon to buy tickets for the next boat.”
“Wouldn’t you like that?” I said.
“Of course I would! It would be an adventure. My best friend, my man—”
“You’re serious about him,” I observed.
She hummed, sitting silent for a moment. “I haven’t been talking to anyone else. Not for some time.”
“Flora! You’re in love,” I crooned.
It felt good. Like we were girls again.
Her hand came to cover my mouth. “Hush, or he’ll hear you.”
“Would that be so bad?”
“He figures everything out,” she grumbled. “Before I can tell him, he’ll just know. Like he has someone listening everywhere . Feeding him everyone’s secrets.”
“Hmm.”
“I want to tell him.” She looked out at the water. A “ But ” hung in the air.
“I think he knows,” I said.
She turned to me again.
“He’s very protective of you. He’s serious about you, too.” I just didn’t tell her how literally that “forever” meant. If she knew how much he cared for her safety, her happiness, I think she’d propose to him .
She thought to herself for a moment, watching waves lap against the dock, the clouds rolling above us, hiding the sun, then revealing its light. We hadn’t had a moment where it was just us, no one else, in so long. Where we could speak plainly.
And the truth just sat there on my tongue, almost bursting from me.
But Dixon would kill me. I might lose her, if she knew.
“What about the two of you?” Flora rolled over on her side, facing me. Propped herself up on her elbow. A small smile pulled at her lips. “Will you two marry?” She had asked me the same thing about Adam, all those years ago. Back when courting was for fun; when she was the only one that knew about our relationship.
“I don’t know.” I tried to imagine it. Me, wearing the most beautiful white dress, the most luxurious that money could buy, and him, dressed in a priceless suit, standing at an altar, making vows for forever. The only ones in attendance, the vampires that lived here—Flora, if I could invite her, and maybe Dixon, if she dragged him along. A small wedding on this very shore, the house miniscule in the background, just as dusk was beginning to blanket the Sound.
And they would all drink from their crystal glasses a deep, rich blood, and Flora wouldn’t notice the peculiarity. And—would he have to change me then? Could a vampire even wed a human? And if his life was extended , as Sinclair had revealed, what did that mean for me, if I never changed ?
Vince had yet to put his teeth into me. Had yet to drink my blood. I still didn’t quite understand who he was, why he kept so much from me. So many secrets that were still locked deep within him. And though tonight he promised to reveal it all to me, to show me everything , I still worried—that he would never open himself up to me, that there would always be little truths hidden away, truths I’d need to uncover.
And if I were a vampire, did I want an existence such as that for the rest of my years?
I wanted a simple life. A simple love. Just me and him.
But nothing about us was simple. It never had been.
“Whatever you decide,” Flora said, smoothing hair away from my face, “I’ll be your maid of honor.”
I smiled at her. “I would have no one else.”