Chapter 34 Home
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Though our kiss was a careful one—light and soft as the brush of moth wings—it changed something in me forever. Yours and yours alone until death shall part us.
Opening our eyes, we shared a moment of perfect stillness. Our first as man and wife.
Then he began to unwind the bindweed. I felt a tingling warmth where the vine had touched my skin, like magic working.
A slight sound behind me reminded me why we were here, and I turned to find Jack stepping into the clearing.
Lifting my hem from the ground, I was about to run to him when Harker set a hand on my shoulder. “Wait.”
As Jack came, Harker’s lips parted, exposing the tips of his fine-pointed fangs. He moved to stand in front of me, gaze locking with Jack’s.
Heart knocking in my chest, I said in a shaky voice, “It’s all right, Harker.”
With his wordless threat delivered, Harker moved slightly to one side.
Jack reached out and took my hands in his. “Mina,” he breathed, green eyes wide and wild in the moonlight.
“Are you well, brother?” Relief, fear, and worry ribboned through my voice.
He cast a glance behind him, and my eyes followed. Goosevar had left us.
“Can you tell me what happened?” I said. “Where have you been?”
“I . . . don’t . . .” His eyes flitted to Harker, pain and confusion creasing his brow.
“Jack,” I said, dragging his attention back. “It’s all right. Harker has helped me to save you. He’s not the killer.”
Releasing my hands, Jack glowered. “I don’t want—” But after these few words, he broke off with a choking sound in his throat.
“Something is wrong,” said Harker.
I moved closer to Jack, gripping his arm. “What’s happened to you?”
Panic flickered in his eyes now, and his gaze swung around the clearing again.
“You’re safe, Jack. Do you hear me?”
His eyes came back to me. His lips parted, and he shook his head. Then suddenly he turned and darted off through the trees.
“Jack!” I shouted after him, my voice breaking. “Jack!” Feeling Harker’s hand at the small of my back, I cast him an anxious glance. “He seems fey, does he not?”
Harker nodded. “It almost seems a kind of enchantment. Like what happened to you on the heath. Maybe to stop him from speaking about what happened to him?”
I stared after my twin, drying a tear that had slipped onto my cheek. Would he be fool enough to go after Goosevar? The creature had held up his end of our bargain, but future mercies seemed unlikely.
“Maybe he’s gone home,” suggested Harker. “Shall we go there, too?”
I turned, managing a smile as my heart swelled with gratitude. “Aye. I can make us all supper.”
“There may be things you’d like to have from there, as well.”
It’s no longer my home. That fact had yet to really settle in. But it wasn’t for me to feel the happiness and excitement of a new bride.
The bright moon allowed us to find our way down the heath rather than walk on the road, which would help us to keep our business quiet. We wouldn’t be able to avoid our neighbors’ disapproval for long, but I was glad not to have to face it on our wedding night.
Mist rose and thickened around our knees, like we were walking on clouds, and I wondered whether we would glimpse Goosevar again. I suspected if we did all that he wished, we might go the rest of our lives without seeing him. But of course that couldn’t be.
It was a blow to find the cottage dark and quiet; Harker’s idea that Jack might have come here had given me hope. We entered through the back door, and Harker, who saw better than I in the dark, lit the lamp on the table and then went around lighting candles.
“He’ll be back,” he said. “He’s bound to be confused and afraid right now, but he has nowhere else to go.”
“Do you think it will wear off, whatever is afflicting him?”
He set the lamp on the table. “I wish I could say. It may be that he’ll never be able to speak of what happened to him. But he has survived.” He stepped closer to me. “You’re not alone, Mina. For good or ill, you never will be again. Whatever happens, we’ll face it together.”
Warmth pooling in my chest, I nodded.
With a careful smile, he said, “You must be cold. I’ll light a fire.”
The room was cold, and the candles cast long shadows on the walls. Yet in my blood, something was simmering. You’re not alone. We’ll face it together. Harker and I were a “we” now.
As he was turning toward the hearth, I said, “If we light the cookstove, I can make supper and tea. It heats the cottage enough for all but the bitterest-cold days.”
He gave me a doubtful look. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather rest?”
“I think it will help take my mind off things. If Jack does come back, he’ll likely be hungry.”
It turned out Harker had no experience with cookstoves, but I showed him the firebox and the basket of wood and kindling, and by the time I’d changed into a dress that I didn’t mind soiling, he had it ablaze.
“This seems a worthwhile apparatus,” he said.
He moved to the other side of my worktable and watched as I mixed ingredients for pie dough. I would have to bake from what I had on hand—eggs, potatoes, a few dry crumbles of cheese, and a tin of smoked pilchards.
It felt very strange having him here in our cottage. I wondered what he made of the rough planked floor and plain furnishings. Though I was doing something I’d probably done a thousand times, I was nervous and kept spilling and dropping things.
“Mrs. Moyle gave us the stove when she put a new one in The Magpie’s kitchen,” I explained.
“I’ve been thanking her ever since by making pasties for the shop.
” I picked up the rolling pin and flattened my dough.
“Jack’s always complained about my job, and he certainly wasn’t keen about putting in the stovepipe, but he’s never complained about going hungry. ”
“He seems not to realize how lucky he’s been to have you.”
I smiled. “Maybe. But we’ve always depended on each other. And I’ve been lucky, too. He might have left when Da and Mum passed. He hates the mine. But he stayed.”
“What would he rather do?”
I turned to prick my boiling potatoes with a fork. They were soft, and I set them off the heat. “I don’t know, and I don’t think he does, either. Jack’s always been a dreamer.”
Who is it that’s married the mysterious master of Roche Rock?
“What have you dreamed of, Mina?”
Harker’s voice was low, and I turned. “Me?”
He held my gaze and waited.
No one had ever asked me this question. Not even dear Mrs. Moyle.
I gave a slow shrug. “People like me don’t really dream. Our future is set from the day we are born.”
“Not even when you were a child?”
He wasn’t going to accept a glancing answer. I folded my arms, considering.
“I suppose I did dream when I was a girl. Twins are close, and my dreams were wrapped up with Jack’s.
For a time, I wanted to be a Knight of the Round Table.
” Harker smiled at this. “And for a time, Jack didn’t see any reason I couldn’t be.
We were near grown when our parents died, and soon after that Jack took to the bottle.
Then I dreamed of a change. Any change, really. I was lonely.”
“So you went to The Magpie.”
I lifted my piecrust into the tin. “Mrs. Moyle opened the tearoom after losing her husband, and in a way, she and I became family. We enjoy each other’s company.
She helped me with my reading and writing.
She loans me books. My pay from The Magpie makes our lives a little more comfortable.
” I raised an eyebrow and looked at him. “And I meet interesting people.”
He laughed, and the sound lifted my heart.
But he soon sobered. “Did you think of marrying? Of having a family of your own?”
I eyed him, uneasy. “Not in a way of longing for it. I knew it would likely mean giving up The Magpie. But I miss Jack and me and our parents all together. I haven’t quite figured out who I am without them.”
He nodded and lowered his gaze to my flour-dusted worktable.
“How about you, Harker? What have you dreamed of?”
Eyes still down, he echoed, “My future was set from the day I was born.”
I could have asked him what he’d asked me. Not even when you were a child? Yet I knew what his childhood had been, and the question felt cruel. No mother, no brothers or sisters. A boy who went looking for a playmate inside the other tower he could see from his window.
I pressed and smoothed the crust into the tin, wishing I were better with words.
Finally, he looked up. He smiled, but there wasn’t much warmth in it.
“Once we’re legally married,” he said, “everything I have will be yours. I’ll go over the books with you. We’ll find a new solicitor, and I’ll make sure everything is set up just as it should be. There are no Tregarricks left to dispute your claim.”
“What are you talking about, Harker?”
“Only that should anything happen to me, the money is yours. You may use it in any way you see fit, even if that means selling the estate. In fact I’d advise you to.”
I stared at him, heart thumping. “And where exactly are you going to be while I’m off spending your money?”
I could hear the angry edge to my voice, yet he let out a sound very much like a chuckle. It was dry as dust, but my anger burned hotter anyway.
“I don’t mean to upset you,” he said. “I’m only talking of possibilities. Dangers seem to be hemming us in on all sides. I don’t want to leave anything unsaid.”
“Well,” I said shortly, “it sounds more like leave-taking to me.” I eyed him more closely, and he had the decency to blush.
“If you’ve been considering the possibility that I might live happier with you gone, I’ll remind you that just a few minutes ago you told me I wasn’t alone.
That from now on we face things together. ”