Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 120230 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120230 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
A small smile from the member of our group with whom I’d always interacted the least. “I thought of you the instant I saw it.”
I wasn’t sure quite how to take that. These days, I never thought of Ash except in relation to Darcie. Not out of any sense of malice, but because we’d never been tight. Then again, he’d have had to be oblivious our entire acquaintance to not immediately associate me with the camera.
“I’m excited to look at the photos on my laptop,” I said before it struck me that no one in the group chat had asked one vital question. “Does this place have stable electricity?”
“Generators. Jim—that’s our caretaker—made sure they’re fueled up. More than enough juice there to get us through the week. Jim and his son also stocked up the fridge and left us a gift of fresh deer meat in the freezer.”
I winced. “We’re eating Bambi?”
“Introduced species, remember?” Ash pointed out. “Without hunters, they’d collapse the ecosystem.” He frowned, glanced over at where the others were milling around in front of the estate house. “Luna, I wanted to ask a favor.”
The hairs at the back of my neck prickled. “Oh?”
“It’s just . . . look, Darcie’s pregnant.”
My hands clenched on the camera. “Wow, congratulations.”
“Thanks.” A tight smile. “Thing is, she doesn’t want to tell anyone until after the first trimester. She’s only nine weeks in right now.”
“Sure, I understand that. So why . . . ?”
Exhaling, he rubbed his face. “I think the hormones, the emotions . . . she’s thinking about Bea a lot. It began after the break-in, with her saying Bea was haunting her, or that she could smell Bea’s perfume. Past two nights, though, she’s woken screaming Bea’s name—says she hears Bea whispering to her in the night.”
He folded his arms. “I figure it’s her way of dealing with the fact that her sister’s not here for this moment, but I’m worried.”
I halted while we were yet a safe distance from the rest of the group. “Have you spoken to anyone about this?” I didn’t know much about pregnancy, but I knew postpartum psychosis was a thing. Perhaps the same kind of thing could happen earlier in the process, too.
“I would’ve gone to her old family doctor, Daniel Cox, but he died two weeks ago. Freak accident. His car went off a cliff.” Ash shook his head. “Poor old guy. They were close and it hit her hard.”
He shoved his hands into his pockets. “Night of the attempted home invasion, she . . . It wasn’t good. I wanted to take her to the ER but I knew she’d do better with Dr. Cox—and when I called him, he came over to help without hesitation. That was the last time we saw him. Six days later, he was dead.”
“Oh God, how horrible that she lost him on top of what happened to your place.” No wonder Darcie remained emotionally brittle.
“Thing is, she was already in a bad place even before the break-in. One of her mother’s old law buddies, a man Darcie really looks up to, well, he’s got some very serious stuff happening in his life and she’s struggling to handle it. I think the break-in was just one pressure point too far. She shattered.”
“I’m so sorry, Ash, I didn’t realize how deeply it affected her.” Kaea obviously hadn’t, either—that, or he’d decided to maintain her privacy on the matter.
“After she woke up, she was embarrassed, didn’t want to talk about it and definitely didn’t want me to tell anyone. You know how she gets.”
“Yes.” Darcie did everything in her power to have the perfect life, and as a result, didn’t deal well with deviations.
“I want to give her this week away from it all before I raise the idea that she talk to a grief counselor—because that’s what this is, I think, grief over Bea that she never processed. With her pregnancy, the shock of the break-in, then losing Dr. Cox, it’s the perfect emotional storm to have brought it all to the surface.”
Guilt gnawed at me for what I’d planned to do, the questions I’d intended to ask, but mingled with that was a huge dose of frustration. He’d cut me off now. What kind of monster would rage at a psychologically fragile pregnant woman? I might be angry, but I wasn’t that bad. “What would you like me to do?”
“Keep an eye on her, let me know if you notice symptoms of what might be a larger issue.” He hunched in his shoulders as we started walking again. “I’m really hoping I’m being a worrywart, but—”
I touched his arm, anger erased by a wave of empathy. Because regardless of all else, Darcie was Bea’s older sister. “No, I understand. This place, it has to hold a lot of memories. I know Darcie and Bea spent summers on the estate as kids.”