He shifted his gaze to Kirby. she stood very straight, very composed under the yellow glow of the porch light. she still wor baggy sweats. But he'd seen her with the police, watched her reformation, rolling clinical terms off her tongue, before huddlint the body with the team from the coroner's office.
There was nothing delicate about her.
"You should go home, Yirby. There's nothing else for you to do here now."
she wanted to weep. she wanted to scream. she wanted to pound her fists against the clear, thin wall he'd suddenly erected berwcen them. "Why are you shutting me out, Brian?"
"Because I don't know what to do about you. And I never meant to let you in in the first place."
"But you did."
"Did I, Kirby? Or did you just jimmy the door?"
Jo's shadow fell between them before she stepped out. "They're finished here. The police."
"Are you all right?" Yirby moved over to her. "You must be exhausted. I want you to go upstairs and lie down now. I can give you something to help you sleep."
"No, I'm fine. Really." she gave Kirby's hand a quick squeeze. "Better, in fact, for having gone through it step by step. I just feel sad and sorry, and grateful to be whole. Did Nathan go back?"
"Kate talked him into going upstairs." Brian rose, walked closer to study her for himself she looked steadier than he'd expected. "I don't think it would take much to persuade him to stay here tonight. Cops may be tromping around the river for hours yet."
"Then we'll persuade him. You should stay too," she said to Yirby.
"No, I'll be better at home." she looked at Brian. "There's no need for me here. I'm sure one of the detectives will drive me back. I'll just get my bag."
"You're welcome to stay," Brian told her, but she flicked a cool, composed glance over her shoulder.
"I'll be better at home," she repeated and let the screen door slam shut behind her.
"Why are you letting her go?" Jo asked quietly.
"Maybe I need to see if I can. Might be for the best."
Jo thought of what Nathan had said just before the world had gone mad again. "Maybe we all should start thinking about what makes us happy instead of what might be best. I know I'm going to try, because you start running out of chances after a while. I've got something to say to you that I've passed up plenty of chances to say before."
He shrugged his shoulders, tucked his hands in his pockets in what Jo thought of as his gloomy Hathaway stance. "Spill it, then."
"I love you, Brian." The warmth of saying it was nearly eclipsed by the sheer delight of watching the astonishment on his face.
He decided it was a trick, a feint to distract the eye before she delivered the jab. "And?"
"And I wish I'd said it sooner and more often." she rose on her toes to press a brief, firm kiss on his suspicious mouth. "Of course, if I had I wouldn't have the satisfaction of seeing you goggle like a trout on the line right now. I'm going up and make Kate go to bed so she can pretend not to know Nathan's going to sleep in my room tonight."
"Jo Ellen." Brian found his voice by the time she reached the door, then lost it again when she looked back at him.
"Go ahead." she smiled broadly. "just say it. It's so much easier than you think."
"I love you too."
"I know. You've got the best heart of all of us, Bri. That's what worries you." she closed the door quietly, then went upstairs to the rest of her family.
I she dreamed of walking through the gardens of Sancti summer smells, the high summer air. Overhead the me and clear as a child's cutout. White on black. Stars we sea of light.
Monkshood and Canterbury bells nodded gently in the breez( their blossoms glowing white. Oh, how she loved the pure-whit blooms, the way they shone in the dark. Fairy flowers, she thought that danced while mortals slept.
she felt immortal herself-so strong, so vivid. Raising her arms high, she wondered she didn't simply lift off the ground and soar. The night was her time as well. Her alone time. she could drift along the garden paths like a ghost, and the ring of the wind chimes was music to dance by.
Then a shadow stepped out of the trees. And the shadow became a man. Immortal, only curious, she walked toward him.
Now running, running through the forest in the blinding dark, w th ran ashing viciously at her face. The night was different now, she was different noxy. Afraid, pursued. Hunted. The wind was a thousand howling wolves with fangs bared and bloody, the raindrops tiny brightedged spears aimed to tear the flesh. Limbs whipped at her mercilessly. Trees sprang up to block her path.
she was pathetically mortal now, terrifyingly mortal. Her breath caught on a little sob as she heard her hunter call her name. But the name was Annabelle.