Chapter 12
A nun dressed in a white habit sat behind a counter as Ryan entered the St. Martin’s facility. By Ryan’s estimation, the woman was at least eighty years old.
“Hello. May I help you?” The woman’s voice was frail and thin sounding.
“Hi. I’m meeting Leah Brewer. She’s volunteering today and -”
“Oh, you’re a friend of Leah’s, how wonderful. She’s just lovely.” The woman slowly stood and pointed toward one of the three hallways that angled off from the main entrance. “Take the third hall to the end, and you’ll find her in the activities room.”
Ryan smiled. “Thank you.” She made her way down the hall. St. Martin’s was a series of six resident wings adjacent to a long central building. Ryan walked toward the third wing back from the front of the home, and found the living areas charming as each resident was encouraged to decorate the foyer area outside their rooms.
It was clear to Ryan that many of the residents had tremendous talent, and she stopped to admire one piece in particular. A beautifully woven handmade quilt was draped over an antique rocking chair that sat in the small entryway shared by two residences. The quilt was a floret pattern done in light greens and dark blues, with inlays of burgundy stitching throughout.
Ryan was pulled from her admiration of the piece by the sound of Leah’s laughter coming from the end of the hall. She walked toward an open door, feeling – in spite of the unknowns in their relationship – strangely close to Leah, having recognized her laughter from afar.
Ryan stood in the doorway of the activities room. In spite of the dreaded conversation that was to come, she couldn’t help but smile as she watched Leah interacting with the home’s residents. Leah was smiling broadly as she sat at a large rectangular table with three elderly women, a set of playing cards in each woman’s hands.
“Mrs. Hulme, you know there is no cross table chatter with Mrs. Dunkin. That’s what is commonly referred to in the pinochle circles as cheating.” Leah jokingly chastised one of the women for signaling her partner what she should bid.
“I had something stuck under my dentures, dear.” Mrs. Hulme frowned. “You wouldn’t want me to get a worry spot.”
Leah laughed. “I would have those things refitted then. That’s the third bit of food you’ve had stuck, and yet I haven’t seen you take a single bite.”
Leah looked up, and seeing Ryan standing in the doorway, quickly stood, a broad smile on her face. “Ladies, give me a minute.” Hesitating, Leah grabbed her cards, and put them in the back pocket of her jeans, looking suspiciously at the five women. “Better safe than sorry.”
Walking over to Ryan, Leah took the younger woman’s hands in hers. “I’m running late.” Leah glanced over her shoulder. “They wanted to play to five hundred, four-handed, and they move at a snail’s pace.”
Ryan wanted to pull Leah to her, and pretend the conversation with her aunt hadn’t happened. She wanted to enjoy the moment intentionally unaware of the unanswered questions that lingered between her and the beautiful woman in front of her.
“It’s no trouble. I can wait up front.” Ryan squeezed Leah’s hands, her eyes wandering over the woman’s face.
Leah cocked her head to the side, a worried expression shadowing her eyes. “Is everything okay?”
Ryan nodded, she knew too eagerly, before speaking. “I’m good.”
Leah reached up and cupped Ryan’s cheek. “Give me fifteen minutes?”
“Of course.” Ryan fought back the urge to cry. The warmth of Leah’s hands and the whirlwind of emotions her touch incited in Ryan was almost more than she could bear.
Leah’s brow furrowed as she looked closely at Ryan. Lowering her voice, she leaned forward. “Something’s wrong. Let me cut this short and walk up with you.”
Not waiting for Ryan’s response, Leah turned her attention back to the women. “Ladies, parting is such sweet sorrow, but I have to go.”
Mrs. Dunkin shook her head. “You’re losing and you can’t take it.”
Leah chuckled, tossing her cards onto the table. “No, Mrs. Dunkin, I’m late. And for the record, Mrs. Hoffman and I are up by thirty.”
“Then we win!” Mrs. Hoffman announced.
The women began to bicker over the rules when one team quits, allowing Leah to quietly slip out of the room. Ryan was leaning against the wall outside the door, and Leah wrapped her arms around her, hugging her tightly.
“You ready to talk?” Leah’s breath was warm on Ryan’s neck as she spoke.
“Sure.” Ryan’s voice caught as she buried her face in the warmth of Leah’s neck.
Leah took Ryan’s hand and the two women made their way toward the front of St. Martin’s. “See you next week, Sister Mary Gabriel.” Leah smiled at the nun who had greeted Ryan.
“I suspect I’ll still be here, but one never can tell.” The woman winked at Leah and gave Ryan a smile.
The weather had finally begun to warm, and Ryan clung tightly to Leah’s hand as they walked toward her Nissan. “Hey, instead of rushing right over to dinner, why don’t we take a walk in the meditation garden?” Leah offered.
Ryan was grateful for the offer. Her nerves already had her feeling out of breath, and the idea of getting in a car made her feel claustrophobic and sweaty. “Perfect. Lead the way.”
“So you’re Catholic?” Ryan followed Leah around the building, and then up along a concrete walkway that ended near a small wooden gazebo. The path was lined with neatly trimmed grass, along with succulents, roses, and white lantana. Large pine trees formed a thick canopy overhead, and the shade they provided made the path slightly cooler than the surrounding area.
“I’m not. My Aunt Helen was.” Leah hooked her arm through Ryan’s. “My parents weren’t religious, and I’ve never found much use for it as an adult. What about you?”
“My family are white Anglo-Saxon Protestants all the way back to the Mayflower.” Ryan laid her head on Leah’s shoulder. “Which really means – at least for my immediate family – fundraisers, charity balls, and a general sense of superiority over the rest of the world.” The two women walked into the gazebo. “Then of course, there’s the proverbial stick up one’s ass.”
Leah laughed. “Can I infer from that comment you haven’t found much use for religion either?”
“Infer away.” Ryan and Leah sat down on a bench that was built into the gazebo. Across from them was a white marble statue of the Virgin Mary erected along one side of the covered area.
“So, what’s happening? You’ve looked like you were near tears since you got here, and now I know you were upset last night.” Leah held Ryan’s hand in both of hers. Her light green eyes searched Ryan’s blue ones.
“My aunt and cousin are in town.” Ryan exhaled as she felt the dreaded moment begin to unfold.
Leah nodded. “Are they okay?”
Ryan was surprised by the concern in Leah’s voice, given her and Lucy’s clear disdain for one another. “They’re fine.”
“Then what?” Leah gently prodded.
“You know how you know something, but you think there’s a chance you might not know something – or at least it might be different enough that what you know isn’t really what you imagined you knew?” Ryan stood up, her back to Leah. She knew she wouldn’t be able to have this conversation if she and Leah were touching. “You know?”
“Ah, I was never very good at word problems. Could you be a little more specific?”
Ryan couldn’t bring herself to turn around. “I need to talk to you about my mother.”
Leah leaned back on the bench, crossing her ankles in front of her. “What about Karen?”
“I need to know what happened between you two. Specifically.” Ryan’s back was to Leah, and for whatever reason she couldn’t take her eyes away from the smooth lines and grayish white skin of the statue. Its perfection seemed more like an aberration than a rendering of a once living person.
“I told you, we had a falling out. Teenage girls and all the drama that can come along with it.” On the surface, Leah’s tone was calm, but Ryan could detect a slight edge to her words. As a result, the certainty Ryan had wanted eluded her.
Finding her courage, Ryan turned to face Leah, her eyes brimming with tears. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”
Leah’s brow arched. “I’m not lying to you, and I’m a bit offended that you’re implying that I am.”
“Did you make a pass at Lucy when you were younger?” The question shot out of Ryan’s mouth before she could stop it. Leah’s evasiveness was irritating her, and it was prompting a more forward line of questioning than Ryan might otherwise be comfortable with.
Leah’s eyes widened as her breath caught in the back of her throat. “What?!”
“I asked you if –”
“Stop.” Leah stood up, and held her hand out in front of her. “Just – just stop.”
Ryan felt sick to her stomach. Hearing the hurt and anger in Leah’s voice was almost too much for her to bear. “I need you to answer the question.”
Leah shoved her hands into the front pockets of her jeans. “Jesus Christ. First Jenny and now you. Who do you think I am?”
Ryan wanted the conversation to end. She wanted Leah to say the whole idea of her and Lucy was ridiculous and comical. Instead, Leah stood in front of her defensive and angry. When Ryan spoke, her voice sounded hollow. “Please. Leah, please answer the question.” Tears burned Ryan’s eyes as she fought the urge to turn her back on Leah again.
“I have never, and would never give Lucy a second look. She’s a horrible person.” Leah’s eyes brimmed with tears. “She’s hateful and manipulative. The very idea that I would ever – it – it’s disgusting.” The tears flowed freely down Leah’s face.
Pushing past the overwhelming need to comfort Leah, Ryan softened her tone as she pressed on. “And my mother?”
Leah quickly wiped at her face as she tilted her head up. “Ryan, please don’t do this.”
Ryan stepped forward, and took Leah’s hand. “I need to know.”
Leah looked at Ryan. The green of her eyes was intensified by the redness her crying had caused. “Karen was in love with me.”
The quiet of the garden folded in around Ryan. She felt as if time were slowing down, and the space surrounding her was shrinking. “That’s not possible.”
“It’s the truth, Ryan.” Leah chewed nervously on her lower lip. “I didn’t love her - not like that anyway, but she insisted. Then she told Lucy.”
The revelation that her mother was gay, or at the very least in love with a woman, blanketed the surface of Ryan’s mind. “But – she was so angry when I came out to her.” Remembering the exchange six years earlier with Karen brought a fresh set of tears to Ryan’s eyes.
Leah squeezed Ryan’s hand. “I can’t imagine what that was like for you. Or how confusing and awful that must have been for Karen.” Leah released Ryan’s hand, and took a step back. “After Karen confided in Lucy, she betrayed your mother’s trust and told your grandfather.”
Leah sat back down on the bench, her eyes fixed on some distant point beyond the gazebo. “It got worse when Lucy implied that I had tricked or converted Karen into being gay so I could get at her money.”
Ryan pushed her own questions and hurt feelings aside, seeing that Leah – in spite of many false starts – needed to tell this story after all. She sat down next to Leah on the bench.
“Karen and I had been best friends for several years. She was one of the first people I told when I thought I might be gay.” Leah wiped at her face with the back of her hand.
“I was never attracted to her like that. I always thought of her more like a sister, but at some point she developed feelings for me.” Leah wiped the last of her tears away. “She worked up the courage to tell Lucy, and the rest was a disaster.”
Ryan put her hand on Leah’s knee. “What happened?”
Leah looked down at Ryan’s hand. “Her parents threatened to disown her. Your grandfather sent her to a resort in Massachusetts.”
Ryan’s eyes narrowed. “Resort?”
Leah sniffled. “That’s what they called it, but really it was a psychiatric hospital that specialized in fixing gay people.”
“Jesus.” Ryan couldn’t imagine what that had been like for her mother. She had read about ex-gay movements, and knew some of them went as far back as the late sixties and early seventies. “What happened?” Ryan forced the question. She wasn’t sure she had the stomach for the answer.
Leah hesitated. Her voice cracked when she finally managed to speak. “When she came home, she was so angry and hateful. She blamed me for what she had been through.” As she spoke, Leah’s eyes filled with tears again. “She was angry she had stood up to her family for what in the end turned out to be nothing.”
“But it wasn’t nothing if she was gay.” Ryan insisted, her mother’s reaction to her own coming out ringing truer in light of what Leah was telling her.
“She didn’t see it like that, and we had a terrible falling out.” Leah frowned. “I think she married your father to prove something to her family – or to herself.” Leah’s gaze was distant.
“Leah.” Ryan put her hand on the woman’s back. “It’s not your fault. You were honest with her.”
Leah’s eyes shot up to Ryan’s. Her face distorted with grief, and something else Ryan thought akin to shame. Leah quickly got up.
“What is it?” Ryan felt some of the certainty of the past few minutes begin to falter. She didn’t want to go backward with Leah.
“Nothing. I haven’t talked about any of this for a long time.” Leah couldn’t make eye contact with Ryan, and she had thrust her hands back into her pockets.
Ryan closed her eyes, an errant tear running down her left cheek. In that moment she knew Leah was still holding something back. The fact Leah would lie to her so emphatically after what she had shared, threw Ryan back into the deep recesses of doubt.
“Ryan?” Leah was standing in front of her. “Tell me.”
Ryan sniffled. She was tired. Her body suddenly ached with fatigue, and she wanted nothing more than to curl up in her bed. “I’m not going to be able to have dinner with you tonight. I just remembered I promised Carol we would get drinks.”
Leah’s shoulders slumped, a frown forming on her perfect mouth. “Ryan, we should talk about this.”
Ryan stepped around Leah, and began walking back through the garden. “What’s to talk about? You’ve said all you’re going to say, right?”
Leah quickened her pace to catch up with Ryan before grabbing the woman’s forearm. “Wait. What’s going on?”
Ryan spun around. “Did you tell me everything?”
The last trace of hope Ryan had was hanging on Leah’s next words. When Leah said nothing, Ryan’s fall into doubt was even greater than she could have imagined. She had already gone so far with Leah that the journey away from her seemed perilous and exhausting.
“I have to go.” Ryan pulled her arm away from a dumbfounded Leah, and quickly retreated to her car. Leaving the convent, Ryan veered off onto a residential street, pulled alongside the curb, and put her car in park.
She looked up at the sky, catching glimpses of white clouds between the branches of nearby trees. Like Leah, they had nothing to say. Ryan felt a pressure on her chest, and she thought it must be the weight of suspicion pressing into her, reshaping her skin along with her feelings for Leah. She suddenly felt heavy and clumsy as if she were fraying in places.
Resting her forehead against the steering wheel, Ryan wondered if she weren’t better off not knowing. Everything Leah had said left Ryan wondering if no answers were the best, lest she have to try to unlearn the ones she didn’t like.
Isaac woke me before dawn this morning. I was slow to rise as I can feel the time of our child’s birth is near, though the sickness and cramping have left me.
Isaac and I have struggled over the past few days to find our way back to each other after the terrible words we had. My husband has reminded me though, that where we have love we have forgiveness.
I fear there will be no forgiveness for Margery and her family. As much as it pains me to write, I know now that what they are accused of is true. Coleen called upon me just yesterday, she said at the request of Isaac. She was, as always, gracious and kind in her reassurances that all would be well with the birth, and that she had no doubt our child would flourish.
“Your family is a strong one, Remembrance.” She had not touched the warm ale I had given her, but absently ran her finger along the mug’s rim. “You must know the Allerton line is one of strength and conviction.” Her eyes had narrowed and an inquisitive look crossed her face. “Did Isaac tell you my husband knew his father?”
I was surprised by such a revelation as Isaac had not so much as mentioned a connection between the families. “No, he must have forgotten.”
Coleen had nodded. “He is a very busy man, but then again do not all men think themselves busy?”
Her words had been said casually, but I was still surprised that she would speak so plainly. “They are the stronger sex by design.” I shifted nervously in my chair, unsure where our conversation would take us.
“Because it is so, or because they have said it is so?” Coleen took a short drink of the ale, frowning before quickly placing the mug on the table next to her.
“Is the ale not to your liking?” As I have said before, I have always enjoyed Isaac’s family’s recipe and was surprised Coleen seemed turned off by it.
“I have never cared for warm ale.” In spite of her words, a warm smile had spread across her mouth, and I found I could hardly be cross with her.
“Your husband knew my father-in-law?” I was keen to direct the conversation back to this interesting, and previously unknown fact about my husband’s family.
“He did. They had business dealings in Europe.” Though she had broached the subject, she now seemed to be intentionally being vague in her responses, and I wondered if she was testing my resolve to know the truth.
“Is that what prompted you to come to Plymouth?” I had many questions going through my mind, and could not decide which was more pressing.
Coleen leaned forward in her chair, and I was again amazed at her beauty. “We came to Plymouth – we crossed an ocean – for the same reasons you did.”
The intensity of her voice, and the steadiness of her gaze brought a sudden heat to my neck and I found difficulty in speaking past the lump that had formed in my throat. “I – we came for freedom of thought and faith.”
Coleen leaned back, and something akin to a short laugh escaped her. “Yes, yes. We came for the same reasons.”
Now, I could not say why exactly, but there was a telling in her posture, or perhaps a slight hitch in her tone, but I did not altogether believe her. Though it seems unimportant in consideration of what else I have been told and seen today.
After waking me this morning, Isaac insisted I get dressed and be prepared to travel into the town center. I did not feel I could as I estimate I am less than a fortnight from birth. Isaac, though apologetic, was insistent nonetheless, and I felt obliged to honor his wishes.
An hour later, I stood in the town center with no less than fifty other citizens. To my horror, Margery, Abigail and Goody Sebille were pulled before the crowd in stocks. The chains were so heavy, a constable had to give aid to Goody Sebille as she was unable to manage the restraints on her own.
Isaac had left me with Goody Payne, and shortly after, Coleen and her sister Hester arrived in moods I can only liken to jubilation.
“What a glorious day!” Goody Tynan had smiled, lifting her head toward the overcast sky. “Do you not agree, Goody Allerton?”
I did not agree. Though I understood the necessity of any good Christian to do their duty in vanquishing the servants of the devil, I could never abide the public spectacle.
Coleen took my hand in her cool one, and clearly seeing my dismay, squeezed my hand reassuringly. “This is not their end. This is the trial.” She nodded toward the procession of judges that exited the court house. “You see, there is Isaac near the front.”
I scanned the crowd, and found Isaac’s face. His brow was narrowed, and his lips set in a frown. I could not imagine what a struggle this had been for him or his counterparts as I can scarcely think of the burdens of men.
I listened, my hand still in Coleen’s, as the head magistrate read the charges against the Sebille women to the town’s people. The list was more shocking than one could care to imagine. Conjuring of the devil, killing farm stock throughout the colony in ritualistic manners, and perhaps worst of all, Abigail was accused of fornicating with no less than three savages in what the magistrate described as desperate acts of debauchery.
I was not alone in my disgust, and held tight to Coleen for fear I might collapse under the weight of these revelations. “I knew she had denied two suitors, but I had not imagined –”
“She’s a whore of the devil, and her kind must be ended.” Goody Payne’s tone was vicious, and though I had always thought of her as a soft spoken kindly woman, her eyes shone with a rage I had not thought her capable of.
All I could do was stand and watch as a woman I once considered a friend and her family were held up to the light of God for the town to pay witness to their heresy. I cannot recall the entirety of the proceedings for they seemed so very distant to me, only that tomorrow at first light the women are to be taken to the river and drowned.
I pray that God’s light protect this town and its citizens!
Sunlight peered through the slats of the wooden blinds in the back office of the Portable Magic bookshop. Spring was in full bloom, but in spite of the optimism inherent to the season, the mood inside the office was bleak.
“We have three appraisals scheduled next week. Are you available Tuesday?” Marty looked up at Leah. The two sat in the office of the bookshop, Marty at the desk looking over their calendar on the laptop, and Leah slouched on the sofa with a cup of coffee in her hand.
“Leah? Hello.” Marty waved his hand in front of him. “Are you with me?”
Leah looked up, her eyes still unfocused. “What?”
Sighing, Marty closed the laptop and turned his full attention to his distraught business partner and friend. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
Leah sipped from her coffee cup. “Do what?”
Pushing with his legs, Marty rolled the office chair across the small space until he was sitting directly in front of Leah. “Don’t bullshit me, and don’t play dumb. You’ve been like a zombie for the past three days.”
“Not really.” Leah sighed.
“I’m going to skip past all this subterfuge crap – if you miss Ryan, call her.” Marty pivoted around in his chair, and scooted back to the desk.
“I’m fine.” Leah said flatly. “She overreacted and that’s not on me.”
Marty hung his head as he turned back around to face Leah. “You’re still lying to her, and bless her, she can tell, and called you on it.” Marty shook his head. “How is that overreacting?”
“I’m not lying to her, I’m omitting.” Leah sat up, and put her coffee on the end table next to her. She couldn’t imagine the truth would suit Ryan any better than a lie, and at least – even if Ryan didn’t realize it now – there was some comfort in maintaining the lie.
“You’ve got a nice little game of semantics going on in that pretty little head of yours.” Marty tapped his temple with his index finger for emphasis. “But you should know, omission, lying - it all feels the same to Ryan.” Marty was trying to keep his irritation with his friend out of his voice. The last thing he needed was for Leah to be both defensive and angry.
Leah frowned. “You were right. I never should have gotten involved with her.” Leah ran her palm over the cushion of the sofa, the memory of her and Ryan together sending a rush of heat to her face and stomach.
“As much as I like hearing you say I was right about something, I think you could have – and maybe still can – make this thing with Ryan work.” Marty got up from his chair, and closing the short distance between him and Leah, sat on the sofa next to her.
Leah looked over at Marty as he gently laid his hand on her knee. She appreciated his concern, but what he understood about her situation was based on empathy and stories. He couldn’t truly understand what she had gone through with Ryan’s family, and the immeasurable fear it left in her heart.
“In my defense, the fact I managed to get into it at all with Ryan once she told me Lucy was in town is nothing short of a miracle.” Leah chewed nervously on the inside of her lower lip. “I can only imagine what crazy that woman is selling.”
Marty leaned back, an exasperated sigh escaping him. “So it’s Lucy’s fault you’re omitting with someone you care about?”
“Maybe.” Leah answered quickly.
Marty turned so he was facing Leah. “Why don’t you fight for this? Why don’t you tell her everything?”
“And risk losing even more in the process?” Leah’s tone was a mix of accusation and dread.
“You said it yourself, Ryan isn’t Karen.” Marty took Leah’s hand in his.
Leah laid her head back on the sofa. “Maybe I was wrong. I mean look at how quickly she doubted me just based on whatever nonsense Lucy spouted.”
“She doubted you because she knows you’re lying about something. I remember when we first met and you hadn’t told me about your family or your history. I got to a point with you that I assumed you were lying to me about any number of things. It’s a cancer, Leah, that can’t be isolated to one thing, no matter how badly you want it to be.”
Leah’s eyes filled with tears. “You know what happened before, you know what I lost.”
Marty wrapped his arm around Leah’s shoulders and pulled her to him. “I do know, but only because you trusted me enough to tell me the truth.”
Leah laid her head on Marty’s shoulder. “I’ve already lost so much, Marty.”
Marty pulled Leah closer. “So has Ryan. She lost her mother – twice.”
Leah’s house was set off the main road that wound through Oella, Maryland. The historic town was a few miles outside Ellicott City, and had been founded near the turn of the nineteenth century by mill workers. The area was heavily wooded and hilly, lending to privacy even if your neighbor was only several hundred yards away.
It was shortly after sundown as Leah stepped onto the covered patio of her house. Her conversation with Marty had eventually dissolved into a series of worst and best case scenarios, and Leah was no closer to deciding what to do about Ryan and her than she had been before.
Leah frowned as she turned the key in her front door. She didn’t hear the click of the deadbolt, and she was certain she had locked the door when she left for the shop that morning.
Opening the door, Leah realized one of the lamps in the living room was on, something she knew she hadn’t done. The faint scent of jasmine and vanilla filled the room.
“Come in, Leah. After so many years, to see you twice in as many months - what a treat.” Lucy was sitting in a leather recliner with her legs crossed. She was wearing a pair of black slacks, black Cole Haan heels, and a baby blue cashmere sweater. If not for the wicked sneer on her face, and the fact Leah knew the woman was diabolical, she might have found Lucy attractive.
Leah quickly took stock of the situation. Lucy’s son Andrew, who she had met at the funeral, was standing next to his mother with his hand resting on the back of the recliner. Lucy’s husband Derek stood motionless near the kitchen entrance. Leah thought to simply run, but knew eventually this scene with Lucy would have to unfold.
“I don’t recall asking to see you either time, Lucy, and certainly not in my home - uninvited.” Leah tossed her keys on the small wooden table next to the front door. “Leave.”
Lucy sighed. “But we have so much to catchup on, Leah.” The woman leaned forward. “For starters, I want you the hell away from my niece.”
Leah’s heart began racing in her chest. Their past told Leah that engaging in a full-on argument with Lucy wasn’t useful. “Fine. Done.”
Lucy leaned back in the chair. “Done? You always were good at throwing people away.”
Leah’s shoulders drooped as she shut the front door, walked to the sofa, and sat down. “I’ve never thrown anyone away, Lucy. Karen and I -”
“Don’t you speak her name!” Lucy jabbed at the air with her finger. “You don’t get to do that!”
Leah’s posture stiffened as the other woman became incensed. The two men seemed unfazed by the outburst, as they both continued to stand perfectly still. “Okay - your sister and I were friends, and then –”
Before Leah could complete her thought, Lucy looked up at Andrew and nodded. The heavy set man took several quick steps toward Leah, grabbed her by the arm, and pulled her to her feet before wrapping his meaty arm around the front of her throat.
Leah gasped, and pulled at the man’s arm. “What are you doing?!”
A split second later Leah felt the man behind her heave. A second after that and his arm loosened from around her neck as a series violent sneezes burst forth from Andrew.
“Fuck!” Andrew managed as he flung Leah back on the sofa, and covered his mouth.
“Goddamnit!” Lucy gestured to her husband as she sprang from the chair. “Grab her!”
A vise-like grip wrapped around Leah’s neck as she was once again pulled up from the sofa. Derek spun her around to face Lucy, pulling her tightly against him as he wrapped one arm around her throat and the other around her waist.
“Get out of here if you can’t manage!” Lucy seethed as she hit her still sneezing son over the head with her open hand.
“For fuck’s sake, son, get out!” Derek bellowed, the sound causing Leah’s ears to ring.
Stumbling to the front door, Andrew’s sneezing subsided somewhat. “I can’t help it if I’m allergic to that bitch!” He threw open the front door, and stomped out, the walls of the house rattling as he slammed the door behind him.
The only sound in the house now was Leah’s breathing as she forced herself not to cry, not to give Lucy the satisfaction.
“Those tells my family have can be brutal.” Lucy smiled broadly, her perfectly white teeth seemingly iridescent in the dim light of the living room. Tapping her chin with her finger, she took a step toward Leah. “My sister had a tell. Do you remember what it was?”
In spite of her efforts, a single tear trickled down Leah’s cheek. “Yes.”
Lucy nodded, her eyes shifting to Derek. “Can you imagine something as refined as a biological warning about this – thing – being misinterpreted as literally getting hot and bothered?” Lucy snarled at Leah.
Derek shook his head, the stubble of a day’s worth of beard growth rubbing against Leah’s neck. “Disgusting.”
Lucy clasped her hands together. “So, you and I know exactly why your comingling with my family cannot be tolerated.” As she spoke, a single drop of blood ran from her right nostril. Pulling a white handkerchief from her front pocket, Lucy dabbed at the blood. “Speaking of warnings.”
Leah’s eyes widened. “Lucy, I told you, Ryan and I are done.” Saying the words made Leah’s stomach sour.
Pursing her lips, Lucy shook her head, the blood running steadily from nose. “Somehow I don’t believe you.” She stepped back from Leah. “Let’s take stock of what we know, shall we?” Lucy sat back down in the recliner, the distance between her and Leah causing the stream of blood to lessen. “Ryan is beautiful, smart, and in spite of her tendencies – or perhaps because of them – is quite a catch.”
Leah set her jaw, forcing confidence into her voice. “Do you really think I could ever be attracted to another Myers woman after what you and your sister did?!” Leah strained against Derek’s arm.
Lucy’s expression flattened as did her voice. “The only thing Karen did wrong was lusting after you, and thinking generations of legacy and sacrifice could be forgotten.” Lucy pushed herself up out of the chair and walked to Leah. She brought her face to within a few inches from Leah’s, and blood began streaming from her nose, over her mouth, and onto the floor. “Father corrected her.”
Leah tried to shift, her right shoulder and throat aching from the crushing pressure of Derek’s grip. “Ryan and I are friends. Nothing more.” She forced the last part out, her heart breaking from the denial of her feelings for Ryan.
Lucy pulled her head back, a shocked expression on her face. “Then you don’t even know that you’ve done it again.”
“Done what again?” Leah squirmed.
“You’ve bewitched another Myers woman. I assume you’re in need of money.”
“You’re wrong. Ryan and I are just friends, and she knows that.” Leah struggled to keep the pleading out of her voice.
“I’ll tell you what, Leah, you stay away from Ryan and I won’t tell her about the absolute filth you come from, or the filth that you are.” Lucy took a deep breath in through her mouth as she looked up at the ceiling. “But, if you keep seeing her - friend or otherwise - you’ll be forcing me to correct her in much the same way my father corrected Karen.”
There was such venom in Lucy’s voice and rage in her eyes. Leah thought in that moment Lucy would kill her, or worse, that she truly meant to harm Ryan. Then the scowl on Lucy’s face turned into a twisted, perverse version of a smile as the flow of blood from her nose continued.
“Regardless, I’ll have you killed.” Lucy’s full lips were pulled back in a semi-snarl, the blood from her nose running downward, staining her perfectly white teeth a pinkish red as she spoke.
Leah felt the pressure of Derek’s arm tighten around her throat. The man smelled of stale liquor, nutmeg, and cardamom. Leah’s heart pounded in her ears, and the surge of blood drove shards of electricity into her hands.
Spreading her fingers wide, Leah laid her right hand across Derek’s forearm. The coarse texture of his skin and arm hair set off a tingling sensation in Leah’s palm as she closed her eyes, allowing the electricity to shoot out of her hand.
“Fuck!” Derek flung Leah to the floor as he grabbed his arm. “The bitch burned me!” The imprint of Leah’s hand had left the man’s skin red, swollen, and blistered. Using the bottom of his foot, he kicked Leah in the hip, sending her tumbling against the front of the sofa. “Cunt!”
A sharp pain, followed by a dull ache, radiated out from Leah’s hip. Grabbing the injured area, she quickly got to her feet. Derek now stood next to Lucy, his arm clutched to his chest.
Leah held her hand out in front of her, her body trembling as she forced air into her lungs. “Just leave, Lucy, and that’s all this has to be.”
Lucy and Derek stood shoulder to shoulder near the front door. Lucy held the now blood soaked handkerchief in her clenched fist, wiping at her face before speaking. “I miss the days of burning your kind at the stake. For generations we have settled for financial ruin and ostracization of your whorish ancestors - but know this, if you don’t leave Ryan alone, I will personally gut you and put your head on a pike in my parlor.”
Leah wanted this woman out of her house. The anger and frustration she had been managing throughout their exchange came surging to the surface. Leah focused her attention on the glistening blood that still clung to Lucy’s nose and lips.
“Get out!” Leah shrieked. A split second later, Lucy’s nose, upper lip, and chin were cocooned in a thin layer of ice, leaving the skin underneath swollen and red.
Lucy scratched at the ice with her manicured nails. She cried out in pain as she pulled the icy, red substance away, a layer of skin coming with it.
Covering her mouth with her hand, she backed toward the front door. “End it with Ryan, or this was just a warm-up, Leah!” Derek opened the door, and the two disappeared into the night.
Leah rushed toward the door and slammed it shut, locking the deadbolt and securing the chain. Moments later, Leah heard a car’s engine revving in the distance, and then the night fell silent.
Collapsing onto the sofa, Leah began to sob. She placed her hand over her swollen throat in an effort to soothe the burning sensation. Laying her head back on the coach, she grabbed for the box of tissues that sat on the end table to her left.
Jesus Christ, she’s insane and homicidal. Leah wondered if she shouldn’t call Ryan, but then what would she tell her? The truth was abhorrent. Leah had no intention of being the one to out Ryan’s family to her, and in the process bring to light her own history.
Leah tried desperately to convince herself that she could just let Ryan go. After all, they had fought at St. Martin’s, and that could just be the end of it. The oppressive and violent weight of Derek restraining her paled in comparison to the suffocating feeling she had when thinking about pushing Ryan away.
In the end though, she couldn’t put Ryan in danger. Leah had no way of knowing how many of Lucy’s threats were empty. But if Ryan’s safety was dependent on them not being in each other’s lives, then Leah saw only one choice.