Chapter 26
THE POISONER
The stairs squeaked louder this morning, or maybe I was hungover. In reality, I was not sure how I got home. My body ached, more so than the standard drunken recovery. It was like I had pulled an ox cart all on my own. Not only that, but I had a dreamlike mindfulness and a dry croak in my throat.
When I dragged my feet to the kitchen, Phoebe sat at the table as she spoke quietly to Rebecca and Adeline. A few other girls were present as they were cleaning their plates from breakfast. The clinking of utensils against plates chimed in my ears louder than necessary.
Phoebe caught me out of the corner of her eye as I snuck past to the living room.
“Alina! Good morning.” She glanced at the other two girls before looking back at me. “Come sit, come sit.”
She kicked out the chair next to her, and a smile tightened across her face. I knew that look meant I was about to be lectured.
“I spared you some porridge.” Adeline gently scooted a bowl toward me.
“For the hangover.” Rebecca placed a dram of bitters and scotch before me.
“If you need anything,” Adeline fiddled with her apron and glanced nervously at Rebecca, “just let us know, all right? Make sure to rest.”
“Right.” I raised a brow at Phoebe.
“Leave us for a moment?” Phoebe asked quietly, and the girls filed into the living room.
It was a somber morning. I could hear the dying fire crackle, the dripping of melting ice creating a calming harmony between the two. The house smelled like the ghost of breakfast, as welcoming as always, although the light from the window was burning my corneas.
“If you have something to say, do it now.” I took the small glass of alcohol and tossed my head back with the glass pressed against my lips.
“How was your midnight walk?”
Just like that, sobriety crashed into me like a pile of bricks. Like someone cracked a cane over my head. I choked on the liquor, too early to clearly find an explanation.
“Excuse me?” I coughed.
“Your ears work well, Alina, despite how selectively you listen.” Phoebe shot me a disdainful glare. “Do you not remember?”
“No,” I admitted, poking the porridge with my spoon.
“Late night at the lab?”
“Just had a few more things to tie up from the day—”
“Do not treat me like a fool, Alina.” Her voice was austere, too grating for such an hour. “Silas brought you home.”
I choked on my food. It was too early for such a name to be uttered.
Heat rose to the back of my head and neck. I did not know if I should be embarrassed or angry. It was worse hearing it from Phoebe.
“Well, maybe he will rescind his idiotic proposal now that the word is out that I am unwell!” I joked.
“Unfortunately for you, he is not easily dissuaded.”
“Persistent like a termite.”
“You must gather yourself. Don’t fall apart at the seams now; the girls are worried.
They need you to be strong for them. If you are not going to take his deal, make damned sure that you show them that you can hold your own.
” She took my hand and squeezed. “I know it is not what you want, but if it comes down to it, you have to have a good reason for declining. You have to convince the girls that they need not want for more, that you can protect them well enough on our own.”
I pulled my hand from hers, shoving a spoon full of porridge into my mouth as I ignored her. It was too early for talks as silly as this.
“I do not expect them to come here tonight. Silas might be inclined to let you rest after last night, if we are hopeful.”
“Emphasis on hopeful,” I laughed.
“He did bring you home, with no foul play that I could see.”
“He is only being nice because he is waiting on an answer. I am sure by the week’s end, when I reject him, he will be back to his bastard self.”
“Possibly,” Phoebe trailed off, but not another word was spoken on the subject that day.
I slipped into something comfortable, a three-piece wool walking suit with a matching shawl paired with three layers of wool stockings.
The day’s air was purely arctic, the tears from the wind in my face threatening to freeze every time my lashes became wet from them.
I took Horse into town with me and brought him into the neighbor’s carriage house behind the shop due to the weather.
It was becoming hard to walk quickly when even my bones could feel the cold. The blacksmith was not too far off, and I needed to pick up my tools. My amateur carving knives were not cutting it, pun aside.
The white coating made it easier to spot even the slightest shadows, including the one that began walking in stride with me.
“You might turn blue if you keep insisting on walking in such weather,” Silas commented as he caught up to me.
“I don’t know what you mean.” My teeth chattered as my jaw was beginning to lock up. “Besides, it would be cruel to make my horse wait outside for small errands. Walking is healthy.”
“You don’t have anything warmer to wear?” He pinched at my sleeve.
“Nope.” I raised my chin and practically said the words to the sky in an attempt to ignore him.
“If you say so, Krampus,” he teased, brushing some flakes off my fur hat.
“What brings our paths together this morning?” I looked up at him. “Surely it is not a coincidence.”
“I wanted to see you.”
“And?”
“Nothing more.”
I shook my head at him. We arrived in front of the blacksmith. The large barn doors in front of the shop were only slightly ajar to keep out most of the windchill. The sound of metal chimes became clearer the closer we got.
“John?” I called out.
Inside, the shop was just as rustic as the outside.
A roaring furnace stood proud in the industrial space, governing over its dominion.
Next to the furnace, there was a brawny figure swinging a mallet down on a red-hot rod of metal.
Pieces of cherry-colored metal flaked off to expose bright yellow on the rod underneath before calming down to the same red.
The flakes turned ashen as they settled.
“John!” I raised my voice over the ring of the hammer.
The tanned man turned to see me and flashed a smile as bright as the furnace itself.
“I didn’t see you there! I would have held on to your tools until tomorrow—it is far too cold to be walking about today.” He submerged the hot metal with a hiss in the water barrel next to his anvil and approached as he discarded his leather gloves.
He gave me a friendly hug before holding me by my shoulders at arm’s length.
“I think you are the only customer I can greet with a hug since your attire is usually as black as the soot on my hands,” he laughed, wrinkles at the outer corner of his eyes appearing along with his smile. “Who is this young gentleman?” He glanced over my shoulder before he passed me.
“Silas Forbes—” He held a hand out for John.
“There is no need for formalities; come here.” John laughed merrily before wrapping his arms around him, slapping the back of Silas’s shoulder before pulling back. “Any friend of Alina is a friend of mine.”
I physically recoiled at the mention of friends, but it only amused Silas.
“It is such a relief to meet someone genial in this town; it has been quite a task making acquaintances,” Silas joked. “I would be completely lost without my hospitable friend.”
“I figured I would take my tools now. I understand you will be closing the shop for a few days to prepare for incoming weather.” I removed my hat so I could shake the moisture from the melted snow.
“Of course! Though if you did not pick them up, I would have dropped them at the house,” he reached under his work bench and pulled out a leather bag that was rolled neatly in a log shape aside from the handle and strap that held it together.
“I wouldn’t ask that of you.”
“You never ask anything of anyone.” John raised his brow and handed the bag to Silas. When John let go of the bag, I could see Silas jolt due to the weight of it, but he recovered smoothly and pretended it didn’t happen. I suppose he didn’t expect the weight.
“Will you be coming for Christmas?” I did not want to sound too hopeful in case he had other plans this year, but it was nice having him visit.
“If you want me to, I will come,” he replied, his eyes somber.
John had lost his wife three years before Phoebe and I arrived, and he spent his Christmases alone, he had said.
We invited him to our own Christmas celebration, since we were all people with no one else to spend the happier days with, aside from our untraditional family.
I remember the first time he came, he brought molasses cookies that he used to make for his wife.
The next year, we made them together as a Nest with him.
“Come by, the girls would love to see you, as always. Phoebe has been playing with some recipes that I am sure she would love to trade with you.” I squeezed his shoulder.
“Of course.” He smiled, then snapped himself into his usual chipper mood. “Ah! Hit the road before it storms later. I will not hold you pigeons up any longer!”
“I will see you next week, Pops.” We retreated through the opening between the tall door shutters, the wind biting my cheeks as it leached the heat from them as if it were merely borrowed.
“Pops?”
“Yes.”
Silas raised a brow in confusion.
“If you thought that you were safe knowing my father was dead and there was no one to bless your horrid idea of an engagement, you thought wrong. John is the man who would beat you with an iron if he knew our history.”
“So he is the one who would bless it?” he teased. “Shall I run back and ask his permission?”
“You should be seeking my permission, but it seems that is not good enough for you.”
“God, woman, what is in this bag?” He adjusted the weight of the strap on his shoulder.
“A hatchet, carving knives, some butcher’s saws, and the like.” I shrugged. “Bone really wears them down. I like to keep them maintained.”
“Where to now?”
“Mortuary,” I answered simply as we rounded a corner.