Twist (Siren Publishing Allure) (33 page)

Lana stared at him. “No. With all the times you have been back and forth to California, you never told me.” A forgotten question from the morning of Enar’s death reappeared in her mind. “I suppose that explains how you were able to talk to Enar on the phone in flight.”

“Yeah, there are no restrictions on private flights and cell phones. Where did that come from?”

“It was a question that popped into my mind and then disappeared because there was so much else going on that morning. It just came back. What other details have you forgotten to mention?”

“I don’t know. If I think of any, I’ll tell you.”

She rolled her eyes at the impish grin on his face, knowing that he wasn’t intentionally keeping things from her. “Am I to assume that a private flight is faster?”

“Yeah. If you want a specific time table, I had dinner last night at 7 p.m. I finished up with the traders and hopped a flight at 10 p.m. California time. The flight takes around ten hours, we had to stop twice to refuel, and I got into Danbury just after eleven this morning. I went and bought a car, had a snack while I waited for the courier to complete the paperwork, and then drove home in it. It’s outside.”

“What kind of car?”

“Cobalt-blue Jag.”

“Feeling a bit flashy?”

“This is coming from a woman who is driving a custom-painted beast?”

She shrugged, lowering her head to look at him innocently through her bangs. She offered him the last bite of mousse and Rolf accepted, licking his lips. “That strikes me as something that would best be eaten from your flesh.”

Her eyes instantly filled with the glaze of tears, despite the smile she tried to give him.

“That is a really touchy subject, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. The first night that Enar and I played in the dungeon, he dripped hot wax over my body and then cooled it by crushing a chocolate pie on me.”

“I’ll remember that. Do you think I can get a bowl, just to eat?”

“Of course.” She caught the attention of someone inside and waved him out. “I just got Rolf addicted to your chocolate mousse, could you bring him out a bowl?”

He nodded and headed back inside, returning a few moments later with a heaping bowl of mousse. Rolf ate it with relish, feeding Lana the last bite. “Let’s go to church.”

* * * *

Lana inspected the building and the grounds as they walked up the front sidewalk of the church. “I do believe they need a new roof. What do you think?”

“I think you are right.” Rolf held the door for her and they strode inside, glancing around. The church was clean and looked very sacramental. “They haven’t changed much in thirty years. Have you ever been to a church funeral? My aunt dragged me to one. I sat through the entire thing thinking that it was oddly similar to what people associate with witchcraft. The priest was swinging a ball filled with smoking incense, the forlorn music followed by Latin incantations or whatever they are called. It was creepy. I also have an issue with the amount of space that graveyards take up. I think everyone should be cremated and buried in their backyard.”

Rolf chuckled at the comment and gave her a side glance. “I agree, but it’s not for everyone. Somehow they think that having your body put into a wooden box and buried so maggots can eat it is better for your soul. Got me.”

A woman approached them, standing a slight distance away as if they would corrupt her if she got too close. “May I help you?”

“Yes,” replied Lana. “We would like to speak with the priest. Please.”

“He’s busy.”

Rolf slid into a seat, and Lana joined him. “We will wait. Please tell him that we are here when he is free.”

The woman glared at them and then turned, walking to the back of the church and disappearing. They waited just under ten minutes, and the priest came out, motioning to them to rise. Lana slid out, and Rolf took a spot by her side. She smiled. “How should we address you?”

“Father Petry is fine. How may I help you, Mrs. Manard, Mr. Manard?”

“I’m not sure if you can, Father Petry. Do you know who I am by appearance, or have you been informed about me already?” asked Lana.

“I am fairly knowledgeable about who resides in this town, whether or not they come to my parish. I also have an idea of why you are here. Should we go into my office?”

Rolf gestured with his hand for Lana to go first, and they followed Father Petry through the chapel. They took a seat across from him and the Father offered them glasses of water. “What can I help you with?”

Lana handed him one of the flyers that she had stopped to tear down on her way to the church. “I do believe this church is noted for the upcoming meeting. I’m surprised that such an underhanded witch hunt would be condoned on your premises.”

“I can’t stop my parishioners from expressing their opinion.”

“No, you can’t, and if the opinion were legitimate, maybe I wouldn’t mind. But the truth of the matter is that Cecelia Hastings had a thing for my husband in high school. He wanted nothing to do with her and it pissed her off. Rolf asked her out, but she was too good to go out with him. Admittedly, he had some problems when he was younger, but he has outgrown them. Then to add fuel to the fire under Cecelia, her husband made a life decision, hoping that it would do something to spice up their sex life a little. It didn’t, and he divorced her. Now she blames that on me. It was not my fault. The flyer links me with Club Trist. It is a very private club, with well-screened members, and minors are not allowed. If that is how some people wish to spend their time, then so be it.

“I don’t make judgments on what anyone else does, as long as they are happy and they are not hurting anyone. I do believe that god gave us free will to make decisions about our lives. Obviously not everyone is going to make the same decisions. Ultimately, it is up to god to judge which of us chose right or wrong, because in the end, he created sex and made it pleasurable so we would enjoy the act and want to be fruitful and multiply. I also don’t frequent the porn store, but with STDs rampant, I don’t see where it is a bad choice to purchase something that will give you satisfaction without killing you. Maybe Cecelia would do better trying to raise some funds for a new roof before it starts to leak.” Lana smiled and then added, “Of course, my beloved late husband gave me permission to give some of my inheritance to charity. Do you have any suggestions?”

“Are you offering me a bribe to shut Cecelia up and get her to call off the meeting?”

“I was just asking a question. Repairing the roof would be a much better use of my money. Unfortunately, as of this moment, some of that charity account is going to pay my lawyer, Grace Savin. By the end of the day, she will have a stack of these flyers on her desk and I will be keeping careful track of how this slanderous notice, sanctioned by this church, is affecting the clientele of each and every one of the businesses listed. I will also be looking for retribution for the anguish this is causing Fredek’s brothers, and myself, less than a week after the death of my poor, loving, devoted husband. I would hate for this to become a legal and ethical battle for the church, with innocent, doe-eyed little me on the opposing side, sobbing for anyone who will listen about how our family’s reputation was tainted by lies condoned by this parish.”

“I suppose that you are going to tell me that a background check will discover that you are not a member of Club Trist?”

“What if it does? As I said, what my husband and I chose to do with our personal time is no one’s business.” Lana grinned at him. “I believe that we have wasted enough of your time. Let me know about that roof. I fear it might be extremely difficult for you to get a reputable company to do anything for this particular church, and I would hate to see your beautifully polished wooden pews stained and warped by water from a leak that you can’t afford to fix. Have a nice day, Father. One way or another, I’m sure we will be seeing each other again.”

Lana stood, and Rolf took his place at her side. He smiled at Father Petry. “The more I get to know her, the more I admire my brother for choosing such a loving, devoted she-wolf for a wife. Have a nice day. We will show ourselves out.”

He turned Lana with a hand to her back and gestured her toward the door. They walked in silence back to the street. Rolf shrugged at her. “I don’t have a clue how that is going to go. I figure right about now he is on the phone with a higher authority asking what the hell he should do. It should prove to be interesting. If worst comes to worst, we sell everything, give the property to the nature preserve, and move.”

“I don’t want to move. I like it here. I like the house. I like the garden and the forest behind it. This is the safest town in Connecticut and I probably should have bitten my tongue more efficiently.”

“Why? Everything you said is the truth. Cecelia is a bitter woman, out to make others unhappy. Don’t let them do that to us.”

“I’m trying not to. Can we go home now?”

“Nope,” he replied with a wiggle of his eyebrows. “We need to be seen in town, apparently unaffected by the flyers. I think we should go drop off my car and then take a walk. I haven’t been into many of the little shops on the main road since I was a teenager, and I think today is a good day to go exploring. Then we can go home and I promise to make this the last thing on your mind.”

Lana chuckled, walking around to slide into the passenger’s seat. Rolf drove back to the Arrowroot. They parked the car beside her beast and then took a walk, leisurely strolling through all the small shops. Lana found a marble dragon lawn ornament and purchased it, saying she would be back to pick it up a little later. It would look perfect by the fountain. They talked to anyone and everyone who asked them about the situation, and most were in agreement with her and Rolf. She asked that they go to the meeting and say so, and most agreed. The two ladies from the salon two days before had been spreading their magic gossip, verifying that Cecelia was simply out to cause unwarranted trouble. By the time they got back to the restaurant, Lana was feeling far more at ease with the entire situation. She was surprised when she entered the restaurant to get some takeout for later to find Mayor David Defarn sitting at the counter eating a sandwich. She slid into a seat beside him. “Good afternoon.”

“Lana, how are you?” he asked, wiping the mayonnaise from the corner of his lip.

“I’ve been better, thank you for asking.”

Rolf sat beside her, nodding his head in acknowledgment as Lana introduced him. “Mayor Defarn, this is Enar’s twin brother, Rolf.”

He extended his hand to Rolf. “Call me David. Your brothers are amazing men who have earned the respect of this town. Lana, Enar, and Lee helped out with a couple of fund-raisers for the town last summer, before he became ill.”

Rolf shook his offered hand, and then David turned his attention back to Lana. “I have spoken with Grace. You have enough on your plate right now. Don’t worry about Cecelia. We are putting a stop to it. As we speak, she is being warned that if she doesn’t cease with her campaign against one of the most respected families in this area, she will regret it. Just between us, she is severely defaulting on back taxes. We know that her divorce left her financially strapped, so we have been giving her leeway. That will not continue if she doesn’t back off.”

Tears welled in Lana’s eyes as she smiled. “When I came in here earlier and Sam told me about the flyers that Cecelia had posted all over town, I was mortified. Rolf and I were talking about dumping everything and moving. I am so honored by the people of this town because almost everyone we have spoken to has offered their support. You have no idea what this means to me. Thank you.”

“You are welcome. Everyone in this town knew and loved Enar. He never hesitated to help anyone. It was wonderful to see the two of you together because it was obvious how happy you made him. Over the last few months, whenever Lee came into town someone would ask how Enar was doing and Lee always told them how devoted you were to him. Word spreads quickly.”

“That is nice to know. I will have to thank him when he gets back.”

David looked at Rolf. “How long will you be staying?”

“I’m not leaving. My brother and I talked a lot about what would happen after he died. He was terrified that Lana would remain alone or meet someone who wouldn’t treat her like she deserves. He asked me to move back here and stay with her. I’m honored by his request, and I hope that he now looks down on me with a smile on his face.”

David frowned slightly, looking back at Lana. She smiled. “No, I am not a devil. I know it is hard for some to understand, but I loved Enar unquestioningly. I have known since the day he proposed to me that he was dying, because he told me. We had hoped for more time together, but we didn’t get it. I was helpless to do anything but love him as much as I could. I tried to make each day memorable and happy. It doesn’t mean that I didn’t privately die a little each day. For the last two months I watched him fading away.

“It broke my heart to get up and know that it might be our last day together. I hid my grief from him. I would wake him with a kiss and a bubbly smile. We would talk for a few minutes. I would help him sit up and shift to the bathroom chair that was in the bedroom. Once he was back in bed, I would go into the kitchen and cry while I cooked his breakfast. Before I walked back into the room, I would use eye drops and hold ice on my face to hide the telltale signs of my tears. When things got too overwhelming, I would go cry in the shower.

“Enar insisted that we discuss the future, and he was adamant about the fact that he didn’t want me to sit around grieving. He didn’t want me to waste my future because he was dead. He wanted me with his brother. We are hanging out together and we’ll see what happens between us.”

David considered her for a moment and then nodded thoughtfully. “I remember them as teenagers. They were always together and they shared things like no other brothers that I had ever seen. I can actually picture him saying those things to you.” He smiled wistfully. “I remember the night he told me that you had changed his name to Enar and he wanted to be referred to as such from that day on. I was amazed that any man would do something so personal for a woman he had only been with a short time.”