Hold Me Closer, Necromancer - Lish McBride [61]
She arched a shaped brow at me.
“I’m looking for Nick Hatfield,” I said. “His brother.”
Her blue eyes widened, and she invited me in.
The inside of the house was like the outside: tasteful, natural, expensive. Elaine offered me coffee, but I politely declined. I hoped I wouldn’t be there that long. The homemade cookies were harder to say no to. I’m not made of stone. I nibbled on a chocolate chip cookie while I sat across from her in what she called the breakfast nook and what I would have called a dining room. This house could have eaten my apartment and still been hungry.
“Have you ever met him?” I asked. This would be a lot easier if she knew Kevin had a brother.
“I’ve only seen him once,” she said, “a little after my first daughter was born.” She smiled briefly. “My husband doesn’t talk about his family much. I probably wouldn’t have even known if he hadn’t shown up.” She absently rearranged the cookies. “Haven’t seen him since.”
The conversation was making her uncomfortable. Or maybe she had a thing about rearranging cookies. “Something about him bothered you?”
“No.” She said it quickly.
I put my hand on hers. “You can tell me,” I said. “It’s okay.” I meant to reassure her. Instead I felt a small part of myself give her a little nudge. I don’t know how else to explain it. I didn’t mean to do it. Didn’t even know that I could. Her eyes softened slightly, and her body posture eased.
“Nick didn’t bother me. He seemed sweet. Sad, but sweet. He just wanted to hold Lilly. But then Kevin came back. Said he forgot his keys. Kevin saw Nick and just…freaked.”
I squeezed her hand in encouragement. “Then what happened?”
“They got into it. Kevin yelled something about Nick not touching her. Not”—she frowned, struggling for the word—“ruining her. Nick said she might need help.”
“Help?”
“A guide. She might be dangerous, he said.”
“And that upset you.”
“She was so little. How could she be dangerous?” She shook her head. “Kevin swung at him and Nick left. Haven’t seen him since.” Light came in from the window, making her blond hair glow. “I asked Kevin what he meant, but he told me to ignore it. Said Nick was…had issues.”
“I see.” She had wanted to say crazy but was too polite. That would be an easy answer for Kevin. Don’t listen to my brother, he’s crazy. It would explain the distance between them and his attitude. Very neat and tidy. “You weren’t worried? About your daughter?”
“I was at first.” She glanced at the cookies, silently offering me another. I took it. So sue me, they were good. She smiled as I bit into it, happy that I was enjoying something she made. That one look did it. I genuinely liked Elaine. Which made me feel terrible about questioning her, but she was all I had.
“But Kevin told me not to worry. Said my great genes would win.” She looked sheepish as she said it. “Corny, I know, but it made me feel better.”
I smiled in agreement, but the inside of me felt sick. Kevin hadn’t left this family. Elaine was normal. Plain ol’ vanilla human. On some level, he must have known Mom was different and he blamed her. And he thought this time, without my mom to screw up the mix, he would dodge the hereditary bullet. As I watched Elaine light up while talking about her family, I realized I was rooting for her. Kevin could suck it.
“Kevin doesn’t like to talk about the past,” she said. “I probably wouldn’t have even known he was married before if I hadn’t stumbled across the divorce paperwork.”
“And that didn’t bother you?”
“We all have our secrets,” she said. She seemed to snap back into herself. She smiled again, this time pulling out all the watts. “Like you came for any of this. I swear, staying home with the kids is great, but sometimes you get so starved for adult conversation you’ll talk telemarketers to death.” She picked up a cookie, breaking it into pieces but not actually eating any of it. “Is Nick your father?”
The question startled