Chapters (47)
- Cover
- ALSO BY MARJORIE B. KELLOGG AVAILABLE FROM DAW BOOKS
- Dedication
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- About the Author
Then I understood that the earlier point of crisis I’d focused on had been mine, not his. His had been a moment ago, passed through so quietly that I’d missed it. Best I could do was nod, and nod and nod again. Once again, words had quit on me.
He slipped an arm around my back, careful not to crowd, and pressed his lips to my temple, letting go a long slow breath of relief into my ear. “There is one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“You have to help me explain it to my sister.”
We got less than a moment to consider, never mind take in, the sudden possibility of a life together, spreading out before us like the afternoon sun across the hall. Because there was Julian, down on the main floor, scowling and waving at us to hurry the hell up.
THIRTY-FIVE
“You were with us all along and suddenly, you’re not?” Hannah raged.
In the Melville’s narrow center aisle, Daniel and I packed up his display books to make room for more useful cargo—people, plants—during the trip up to the stadium. Julian slouched against the shelves behind his sister. I stuck close to the stern door in case I needed to beat a retreat from all the pain and animosity flying about.
“Don’t you get it?” Hannah kept her voice down so no one outside would hear, but she spat each word like they were poison meant to kill. “It’s out of control uptown. And that jacked-up Stormie woman is making alliances, even uptown. The Island will be a war zone before you know it! You’ve lost your fucking mind!”
“I don’t think so.” Daniel worked briskly, tossing books in the crate too hard as he struggled to seem unruffled. “More like I’ve found it. You never did get how we differ on notions of sanity.”
“Her?” Hannah stabbed a forefinger my way. “That’s your reason? Crap, Dan, if you need a woman that bad, we’ll pick one up along the way! Someone more your speed.”
“More like you, you mean? That’s what you’re going to make this about? Dan needs to get laid, so he’ll take whatever comes along? You have no idea what I need! There’s a much bigger picture here, H.”
“Damn right there is! Bigger than some pissant den utopia where it’s all share and share alike and everyone talks at once and expects to be listened to! I know the bullshit that sanctimonious ex-priest preaches. Never guessed you’d be dumb enough to buy into it!”
“Actually, the move wasn’t Rousseau’s idea.”
“It’s still bullshit! You deserve better!”
“Better is what we’re aiming for.”
Hannah rolled her eyes. “Has it slipped your mind what a rare chance this is? Pine woods, open fields? Space to raise those sheep again? A clean place to make a stand with like-minded people?”