Chapter 8 - Pearl Earrings In The Rearview
I saw the lights before I saw the house. I had left the sconces off in the foyer that morning, I was sure of it, and now they were burning warm through the tall windows beside the front door as I turned my car into the parking area. The gravel popped under my tires. My hands were still tight on the wheel.
I sat for a second with the engine off and checked myself in the rearview. One of my pearl drop earrings had twisted. I fixed it. My hair was damp at the temples from the old house, from the dust and the walk back down that road to where I'd left the car. I smoothed it down and tried to slow my breathing. I didn't want to walk in looking like I'd been somewhere I shouldn't have been.
Alexander opened the front door before I reached the steps.
He stood in the light with Sofia on his hip. She had her cheek against his shoulder, her little arms around his neck, her cream blouse wrinkled from being held too long. Her bow was crooked. When she saw me her face lifted, then dropped again when she read his body.
"Where were you?" he said.
It wasn't loud. That was worse. His tie was loosened, his sleeves pushed up past his wristwatch. He looked like he'd been pacing with her.
I stepped into the foyer and set my bag down by the bench. The wood panels caught the sconce light the same way they had at dinner, and for a second I was back at that table, the steak going cold on the gold-rimmed plates.
"My phone died," I said. "I'm sorry. I went for a drive."
He didn't move to let me in further. Sofia watched me over his shoulder, quiet. She had a smudge of something on her chin. Applesauce, maybe. He'd fed her without me.
"Veronica." He said my name flat. "Your car was gone for three hours. You didn't tell the staff where you were going."
I glanced at Sofia, then back at him. I could feel the lie thinning out between us.
"I went to check," I said.
"Check what?"
"The old house."
The words hung there in the warm air. Sofia shifted against him, her fingers tightening in his shirt. His jaw moved once.
"You went there," he said. "After everything I told you."
I nodded. I kept my voice low for her sake. "I needed to see it for myself. I needed to know if Elena was — "
"Don't say her name in front of Sofia."
That stopped me. Sofia buried her face a little deeper into his neck. I reached out a hand toward her, instinct, and she didn't take it. She stayed with him. That hurt more than his tone.
"I wasn't going to bring her into it," I said. "I parked down the road. I didn't go inside. I just looked. Alexander, the gate was open. There were fresh tracks. Somebody's been there. It's not empty like you said."
He stared at me. "You walked up there alone."
"I stayed by the fence."
"You promised me you would stay away from that place." His voice dropped, strained. "Do you understand what you did? You left without telling anyone. You went to the exact place I told you was dangerous. With her here asking where her mom went."
I felt heat come up my neck. "I went because you won't tell me what's dangerous about it. You just tell me to be afraid and to listen. I'm trying to protect her too."
"By lying to me?" He adjusted Sofia higher on his hip. She made a small sound, not quite a whine. He softened his hold immediately and rubbed her back without looking away from me. "You said a drive. That was a lie."
I looked down at the tile. My shoes had dust on them, pale dust from that road. I hadn't wiped them. He could probably see it.
"You're right," I said. "I lied because I knew you'd try to stop me. I needed proof."
"Proof of what?"
"That Elena wasn't making it up."
At her name, Sofia lifted her head again. Just a flicker. My stomach turned. I wished I hadn't said it twice.
Alexander stepped closer. I could see how tired his eyes were, the line between his brows that hadn't left since dinner.
"Listen to me," he said, quiet and hard. "No more drives. No more checking. No calls with Elena, no old house, nothing. If she contacts you, you tell me. That's it. I can't keep her safe if you're walking straight toward the thing I'm trying to keep her from."
I opened my mouth. I wanted to agree, to make his shoulders drop, to get Sofia back in my arms. But I couldn't give him the whole thing. Not with what I'd seen still fresh in my eyes, the open gate, the curtain moving in an upstairs window where no one was supposed to be living.
"I can't promise I won't ask questions," I said.
"This isn't a question. This is her safety."
"I know." My voice shook. "And I'm not going to hand you a promise I can't keep just to end a fight. I won't go behind your back again. But don't ask me to pretend I didn't see what I saw."
He held my look for a long second. Sofia reached for his watch and turned it around his wrist, a nervous habit. The metal clicked softly.
May you like
"Go wash up," he said finally. "You're scaring her."
He turned with Sofia toward the stairs, leaving me standing in the foyer with dust on my shoes and my earring twisting again like it wouldn't stay straight.
