They had discussed it the day before; he had said he was tired of sleeping on the couch, and would manage the stairs from now on.

“Of course. I’ll bring your things upstairs so you can really get comfortable.”

He laughed. “Well, I don’t know how comfortable I want to get, Dolly. I don’t even know why I’ve stayed here this long.”

“You don’t?”

“No. Why, do you?”

She drew back, surprised. “No.”

“You ever hear of the curse on this house?”

Dolly fidgeted. “They may have mentioned something about it. An Indian princess was buried on this hill? I don’t believe in curses, though.”

“Know how this princess died?”

“No.”

“Story goes, she killed herself when she found out her lover was cheating on her. Broken heart. Threw herself right in the Bear Trap. Drowned herself in shallow water. The curse I guess said that anyone who disturbed her resting place would be as unlucky in love as she was.”

“Goodness!”

JJ reached forward and stubbed out his cigarette in the overflowing ashtray. He almost seemed to be smiling.

“What’s funny about that?” Dolly objected.

He leaned back, folding his hands over his stomach. “My grandpa used to say there was nothing to it.”

She took a deep breath. “What happened, JJ? To cause your family to leave this house?”

When he didn’t answer, she pressed him. “Was it Thanksgiving? 1945?”

He laughed. “I see those ladies have been talking. Why don’t you have them tell you? Since they know so much.”

“But they don’t know, JJ. They only think they do, and first they tell me that Wilma’s to blame, and then someone else says your father’s to blame, and then they say Elissa’s to blame, and then they say it started the minute Wilma set foot in this town, or when Chase was killed, or that it all happened the one weekend, the Thanksgiving you got home from the war. Maybe it’s your fault, I don’t know. Don’t you even want to defend yourself? Or tell your side of it?”

JJ shook his head. “Look, Dolly, it doesn’t matter anymore. If they want to talk about it, fine. I suppose they don’t have anything better to do in this town. The thing is, no matter how much you look at the past, you can’t change it. So why waste your time?”

“But you don’t really believe that, JJ! Or else why would you have brought up the curse? I think you want to talk about it!”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so, Dolly.”

She winced. “I was starting to think you were different,” she said. She turned, and ran upstairs like there were wolves snapping at her heels.

Chapter 45

Superior, Wisconsin
Thursday, November 8, 1945