Chapter Thirty-Two
Like a Millstone Around My Neck
The panicked voices came first, followed by the jarring shift of my body.
Strong arms cradled me against a steady chest. That familiar woody scent filled my nose.
Flickers of blurred images. Onyx-black smoke.
The sizzle of heat. Sheets of unexpected moisture.
A jarring crack from a tree played in my head like a bad movie.
‘What the hell happened? Why are you carrying Dani?’ Lia shrieked.
Bryce kept walking until Clo, using a low and measured voice, ordered him to bring me inside. The jarring clomp up the stairs made my head ache.
‘I need to know what is wrong with my fucking sister!’ Lia demanded.
‘Stop yelling,’ I managed to say as her cursing rang in my ears.
‘Set her down on the couch,’ Clo said.
A second later my back was against a firm cushion. There were a dozen hammers beating against my skull, but I forced my eyes open.
‘Dani.’ Aster sank down beside me. ‘Where are you hurt?’
I started to sit up, but Bryce’s warm hand pressed me back into the cushion. ‘You have a cut on your head. Clo’s gone to get the first aid kit.’
‘Does she have a concussion?’ Belladonna’s voice wasn’t too far off.
Flashes of her in the forest. Water seeping up from the ground. Flooding its way toward the trees. The images were hazy and the smoke was dark. Was I imagining things?
‘Can someone please tell me how Dani got like this?’ Lia’s voice was too thick. Too scared.
Bryce slid his hand over my palm and gripped my fingers. ‘A rogue spark flew into a tree. The branches caught flame. One snapped loose, dropping down close to where she was standing.’
‘He pushed Dandelion out of the way. Kept it from falling right on top of her.’
Was that a sob in Belladonna’s voice? I’d never seen her show any emotion, much less shed a tear.
Clo hustled out of the bathroom with a basket full of supplies. She stopped in front of me, her hair a fuzzy cloud around her face. ‘Can you sit up?’
‘Of course.’
‘Take it easy,’ Bryce whispered as I moved.
‘She hit her head against a tree.’ Belladonna paced in front of the wall of windows. Her dark hair fell in tangles around her face.
Clo looked to where Lia leaned against the kitchen counter. ‘Should we check for a concussion?’
Lia pushed her way forward until she was crouched in front of me.
‘Her pupils look equal.’ She cupped her hand over my right eye and then pulled it away, repeating the same motion with the left. ‘Good reactions.’ Her gaze moved to the cut in the center of my forehead. ‘Do you have a headache? Are you dizzy? Any blurry vision?’
‘No. I’m fine, Lee.’
‘She did pass out for a second,’ Bryce offered.
‘It was all the smoke. I’m okay now,’ I insisted.
‘Let’s get you patched up. That scratch is superficial, but it needs to be cleaned,’ Lia said.
Clo held onto the basket, shoving around the items like she was unsure what to do next.
‘Hand me an alcohol swab and one of the small gauze bandages with adhesive,’ Lia said in between bursts of static and muffled voices squawking out of her walkie-talkie.
‘We have to get back to soaking the roof. The fire, it was coming for the clearing Grandpa Beau made for us as kids.’ I tried to stand but Bryce nudged me back onto the couch.
‘The wind has shifted. Fire is moving to the west. They’ve already got it forty percent contained,’ Lia said, dabbing an alcohol pad against my head.
‘But it was coming down the mountain.’ I winced at the sting. ‘I saw it until…’ That image of rising water filled my vision again. Belladonna and I locked eyes. I searched for an answer in her face, but before I could get any kind of read on her, she turned and headed into the kitchen.
Lia gently pressed the bandage against my head. ‘Until what?’
‘There was all this kindling. Dry brush and leaves. It was a powder keg waiting to go up and then…’
Aster leaned in. Bryce’s mouth twitched, and I swallowed my words. None of them could know about the water. How Belladonna forced it to douse everything in the fire’s path. It wasn’t real. It couldn’t be.
‘Dani. Take a few deep breaths.’ Bryce gripped my hands. He’d been only a few feet away. Had he seen the water too? Been a witness to whatever I thought I saw in those woods?
‘Let’s stand up,’ Bryce said in a gentle voice. ‘I want to take you to the hospital. Have them look you over.’
I tried to ground myself to the floor. Stop my world from spinning out of control.
Clo hadn’t flinched when I’d asked her about the firepit.
Claimed what I’d seen wasn’t real. Even though I wanted to believe what happened today was some trick of the eye, the smoke obscuring my vision, there was no arguing what Belladonna had done.
I’d stood ten feet away from it. Watched as the water was pulled from the ground like my mother was some kind of human pump.
‘No, I’m fine. I only need to rest for a bit.’ I made a wobbly push to my feet. ‘Thank you for keeping me from getting crushed. For keeping the house safe.’ I forced a smile to my lips. ‘I’ll talk to you later, okay?’
He held on to me, our hands perfectly entwined.
That bond we shared tightening with each and every breath.
He’d risked his life for me. Helped save the only home I’d ever known.
Been honest about how he was struggling between what was right for his own future and what he felt for me.
But after what had just happened, what I’d seen Belladonna do, there was no way things could work between us, in spite of Aster’s prediction.
I knew the truth now, and maybe Bryce did too.
There was no other choice but to push him away.
Protect the people I loved, even if it meant destroying my own happiness.
‘Let me walk you there,’ he offered.
My pleading gaze shot to Lia and she didn’t hesitate. ‘I’ve got her, Bryce.’
She latched her arm around my waist and guided me a few steps away to where Aster stood. They linked arms with me and led me to my old bedroom. I was grateful for their support, because even though my back stayed erect, my chin hard as a rock, inside my heart was breaking.
‘Sit,’ Lia ordered.
I sank into the deep green comforter on my childhood bed, and Aster bent down to remove my soaked shoes. Lia leaned against the doorway until Belladonna and Clo made an appearance a few minutes later.
‘Is he gone?’ I asked.
Clo nodded while Belladonna remained quiet.
‘Good, because I’m tired of secrets, and it’s well past time you told us all the truth.’
Lia crossed her arms over her chest. ‘What has Belladonna done now?’
Our mother flinched like someone had slapped her. Aster walked to her side and gave her arm a comforting pat, which only made Lia grumble louder.
‘Dani, you’re hurt. You need to rest. We can do this another time,’ Clo said.
‘No! The two of you are going to spill every truth about the McGuire women, starting with how Belladonna managed to flood the forest with water she pulled from the damn ground!’
Aster’s eyes went wide and Lia cursed.
‘Dandelion,’ Belladonna said in a voice she was trying very hard to keep calm. ‘You hit your head. The water you saw was from a previous tanker drop.’
‘Stop lying!’ The shout that tore from my throat made the world spin again. I fixed my gaze on Clo. ‘You owe us this. Please, be honest.’
Belladonna paled. ‘Mama, you can’t.’
Clo wrung her hands together. Years of pain and heartache shone in her eyes.
‘Your father went to his grave angry with me for keeping the truth from the girls. Since we buried him, I’ve held the weight of it like a millstone around my neck.
It’s time I stopped carrying that burden.
’ Belladonna shook her head as Clo set her jaw.
‘Girls, we will give you a minute. Come out to the family room when you’re ready. ’
Aster stood frozen in place. ‘Dani, what the hell went on in the woods?’
‘Oh, Ast,’ I said quietly. ‘It’s very complicated.’
Lia stood erect, one foot halfway out the door.
‘Dani.’ I hadn’t heard that break in her voice since she’d crawled into my bed as a child, afraid of the thunderstorms raging outside.
‘I can’t stay. If I hear what I think is coming, it’ll break me.
I’m already carrying so much anger for Belladonna.
’ She scrubbed her hands over her tired eyes.
‘And with what happened earlier this year… My mind can’t take one more burden.
Can you understand? Forgive me for being weak in this moment? ’
‘Oh, Lee Lee, nothing about you is weak,’ I said. ‘We all deal with our own pressures, fears, worries in our own way. Go ahead and leave. I understand.’
She tried to walk away, but I jumped up and wrapped her in a hug. ‘We are here for you always, no matter what.’
Her arms tightened around me. ‘I know,’ she said in a small voice that reminded me too much of our complicated childhood.
Aster moved in and we held on to each other. Shockingly, Lia was the last one to let go. My beautiful sister, who was ferocious, smart and incredibly brave, gave me and Aster a sad smile before fleeing for the stairs.
Lia would eventually want to hear the truth, but she understood her own limits, and it was clear she was at her breaking point.
As much as I wanted to pretend that I hadn’t been a witness to Belladonna’s behavior in the forest today, in my heart I understood it was time for the darkness in our lives to recede.
For the truth about who we were as sisters, mothers, daughters and granddaughters to finally be ushered into the light.