When I see Dash and Melody talking to another couple I can’t help but hate her for fitting him so perfectly. She’s blonde and beautiful and perfect in every way. Together they’re tall and flawless, no doubt a match in every way. She laughs, resting an arm on his forearm. He flinches; I see it before he relaxes and laughs too. I can see the discomfort on his face, and all I feel is hate for her. Not because he’s mine but because she doesn’t seem to care that she has injured him. She is so selfish that she doesn’t see the agony she is causing. And his mother grinning from the other side of the room is just as clueless and cruel.
I force my eyes from them and head for the grand staircase in the foyer. I walk up the rounded staircase quickly, hurrying to the hall. “Evangeline?” I call out, searching each room. I can tell the right side of the stairs is where the guests sleep. Each room looks like a hotel, and the belongings are all in bags.
I turn to go to the left and Evangeline is there, smiling and breathless. “Are you all right?”
I shake my head. “I need your help. I need to find Dash—Benjamin’s room.”
She turns and walks back to the left wing of the house. She opens a door and waits as I hurry inside. I leave the ring on his pillow. My entire body aches, leaving it there.
My hand lifts, resting on the scar on my stomach, the one I thought he understood. The one that means I can never have children. I am actually stunned at the entire situation. There is no other way to handle it.
I need to go home and hug my cat and pretend it was all a mind ride. It was all someone else’s story. I never fell in love with a man so perfect that my broken heart doesn’t stand a chance at mending. I will settle back into my plan—crazy cat lady. I will let it go the way I let everything else go.
I brush the tears from my eyes and walk back to Evangeline. “Does my makeup still look okay?”
She nods, giving me a smile. “You are beautiful. Even without the makeup.”
I hug her. It’s a desperate act for me; I don’t hug and I don’t hold and I don’t touch. But I am all alone in the world at this very moment. I need my cat and my pasta from my dear sweet neighbor. I need my old life back. I pull back. “I’m so sorry, that was so inappropriate.”
She shakes her head, sniffling a little. “I knew you were too good for them all when you walked in the door.” She turns quickly and walks away, leaving me there to gather myself before I go back down into the pit of vipers.
As I get to the bottom of the stairs a glass of red wine meets my nose. Henry smiles as he hands it over. “I figured you needed this.”
I take the glass, gulping it back too quickly. “Thanks.” I reach over, stealing his wine while handing him the empty goblet. I’m nearly done swallowing Henry’s drink when Dash makes his way to us. He smiles. “You have met my brother?”
Henry nudges him in the ribs. “Found her scaling the walls in the backyard.”
I roll my eyes. “He found me checking out your parents’ weird obsession with naked cast-iron boys. There must be twenty of them on the property.”
“Wrought,” Henry says.
“What?”
“Wrought iron. Cast iron would rust in the rain. They are wrought iron. And they are a common decoration for gardens. Like imps or fairies.”
“Whatever. It’s no less creepy with a different name.”
Dash gives me a worried look. “You all right?”
I shrug. “Dandy.”
Henry takes the empty glasses and turns. “I’ll fetch more wine.”
Dash takes my hand in his. “I’m sorry. I haven’t been particularly attentive.” His eyes get heavy with emotion. “But you know we only have to do this once. Then we’re free for a whole year.”
I scoff. “I can’t do this right now.”
“What’s wrong?”
I walk past him, tearing my hand from his, and enter the office, the one with the door I will be leaving from. Dash follows me in. “Did Henry say something to bother you?”
“You honestly think your pompous playboy brother could upset my delicate nature?” I laugh with bitterness. “You don’t think my years in the military might have rounded off those edges for me? He isn’t the first player I have met in my life, Dash—sorry—Ben. And I suspect he won’t be the last.”
“What did he do?”
“Nothing. He got me a glass of red wine, and he listened to me complain about your ex-girlfriend. Because, apparently, your family has the magical ability to make me into a whiny and petty bitch. I do not like who I am here, and I will not be this girl.”