Lady in the Mist - Laurie Alice Eakes [89]
If he gave up his family.
No, he wouldn’t think of that. Not now. He would concentrate on the day, the rose scent of Tabitha, the rhythmic movement of the water swirling around the jetty pilings, the sparkle of sunlight on blue water. The warmth of sunlight on his back. The heat eased tension in his damaged muscles. His eyelids drooped.
“Now,” Tabitha whispered.
Dominick’s eyes flew open. Below him, a hideous crustacean gripped the chunk of chicken liver.
“Slowly,” she admonished.
Dominick nodded, afraid to speak, and lowered the net into the water. The crab released the liver. Dominick rolled to his side, sent the net spinning in an arc, and caught the crab on its retreat.
“Hurray, you did it!” Tabitha flung up her arms. Water flew from the line and onto Dominick’s face.
He wiped it away with the sleeve of his shirt. If he ruined this one, he’d need to spend some of his precious store of coins on a new one. But surely seawater was harmless to linen.
He smiled. “Now what do I do with it?”
“Put it in the basket where the net was and hang it from a plank of the jetty. See how that one sticks out? The crabs will stay cool and damp that way.”
“But we only have one.” He gazed at the spiny, buglike creature. “And it’s no beauty.”
“But it is. It’s enormous. And we’ll get more.”
And they did. While the sun poured over them like melted sugar syrup and the wind kept them from growing too hot, they took turns dangling the bait into the water and employing the net to scoop the hapless feeders into their clutches. After a while, they switched sides of the jetty. While doing so, Dominick glanced toward the dunes and caught a glimpse of a man standing a hundred yards away. With the sun behind him, the man’s features were indiscernible, but Dominick suspected, from the breadth of the shoulders, it was Trower watching them again.
“We’re being watched,” he said.
Tabitha glanced inland. “It’s Raleigh. He should be in bed.”
“Do you want to go speak with him? I can rest here.”
“No.” She shook her head. “Raleigh can come to me when he’s ready to tell me the truth about the other night.”
“When I’m done talking to you, you may already know.” Dominick smoothed a lock of hair off of her cheek, soft hair on softer skin. Just a little kiss on her brow . . .
She swallowed and drew away. “He can still come to me. Will you fetch your bait? I’m all out.”
He did so, nearly gagging at the smell. “Do I want to eat a creature that eats this?”
“You eat chickens, and they eat bugs.”
“True, but I don’t have to watch them do it.”
“You didn’t watch the chickens when you were—but of course you didn’t.”
“No, I watched my father eat lesser beings for breakfast, spit them out at noontime, and feed them to the goats for dinner. Now, hand me that line.”
They caught a half dozen more crabs before Tabitha spoke again. “You don’t like your father very much, do you?”
“I used to.” He remembered running to his father to show a perfect list of sums and anticipate the praise he knew was coming. “When I was young enough to think he could do no wrong.” He dropped the baited string into the water. “I’ve had enough of crabbing. May we eat something besides these water bugs?”
“If you like.” Face sober, Tabitha scrambled to her feet. “Let’s take the baskets of food to the sand.”
They retrieved the food baskets from the shade of the fishing boat, and each carried one ashore. Dominick set his basket in a hollow of sand and retrieved the lemonade, two glasses, and the bowl of strawberries. The dusting of sugar had brought out their juices. He would feed them to her so she didn’t stain her fingers. If only—
Behind him, Tabitha screamed. Dominick spun around in time to see the triangular head and catlike eyes of a snake rear up from the other basket.
23
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Tabitha froze. Her breath caught in her throat and her heart congealed in her chest. Six feet away, Dominick crouched, his gaze fixed on the snake.
It hung from the side of the basket, swaying its triangular head. Inside the basket, its tail twitched. The cloth