Strange Attractors - Kim Falconer [135]
Her voice warmed his heart. She was coming up from the barn, a milk pail in each hand. Her smile made him answer in kind in spite of his perceptions. She didn’t need him, and that was the problem. His problem, he corrected himself. She might love him, but he could see it all in her single look—her boots caked with mud, her swollen round belly, her hair tied with red leather in two long braids, the milk splashing as she waddled. She was happy, with or without him around, complete within herself. Wasn’t that what they were all striving for? If so, he wasn’t there yet. He wanted her to need him. No denying it. But she didn’t and he had to deal with it. He opened the gate and let her through. ‘Rosette, I…’
She kissed his cheeks as she passed. ‘Good to see you, Gray.’ She kept walking.
He cleared his throat. ‘Rosette, I wanted to…’
‘Nell’s spotted you,’ she said. ‘She’s on her way in. Let’s save the news for her too.’ Rosette led the way into the cottage before he could say more. He’d wanted to speak to her alone, before he told them about Everett, but now, in her presence, he wasn’t sure how to begin and she didn’t seem to want the intimacy. He let the smell of baking bread distract him. Food seemed a much easier topic. ‘I’m in time for lunch?’ he asked.
‘You are.’ Rosette poured the milk through a strainer into a large earthenware jar and corked it. ‘If you run this down to the creek, lunch will be ready when you get back.’
Again the smile, the confidence, the peace. No trace of need. His heart skipped a beat. He found himself out of the cottage, trotting down the steps to the creek before saying another word. He hauled up the cold box, a large lobster trap that nestled in the eddies of the icy stream, and settled the milk jar.
‘Bring us up the cheese jar, can you? And the butter?’ she called out from the window.
When he retrieved the other jars, he caught sight of a black falcon winging in from the woods. Nell was here already. So much for his private conversation with Rosette. He wasn’t sure if he imagined it or if she was avoiding any talk of the child with him. True or not, he would speak with her tonight no matter who was in the room. He had to!
Nell greeted him at the door, relieving him of the items and kissing his cheek, one and then the other, and his lips. ‘Did you find Everett?’
‘I did.’
Both women stared at him.
‘From the sound of your voice, it’s not good news.’ Nell ushered him inside. ‘Did he tamper with Rosette’s DNA? Was it him who took the spell?’
‘Not the spell.’ Grayson blew into his hands, rubbing them together.
‘What then?’ Rosette asked.
He nodded to the table. ‘Let’s sit down.’
The women remained standing.
‘What could he take?’ Rosette asked, lifting her palms. ‘I’m not missing anything, save Jarrod’s CPU, am I?’
‘You might be missing more than you think. There’s no way to know for certain. He’s unstable, his mind erratic.’
Rosette brought the food to the table.
‘What do you mean, erratic?’ Nell asked.
‘He’s paranoid, disordered. His behaviour is unpredictable, his thoughts inconsistent. Particularly his memory. It’s flawed.’
‘What do you mean by paranoid?’ Nell asked.
‘He thinks a thief is stalking him.’
Nell frowned. ‘Maybe there is.’
‘What am I missing, Grayson? What do you think he took?’
Grayson looked at her beautiful round belly. How would she take this? He couldn’t guess. ‘I can’t be sure, Rosette, but it’s possible this isn’t your only child.’
The atmosphere in the cottage became perfectly still. No one spoke. Only the sound of the creek in the background and the breeze through the willow tree could be heard.
Rosette broke the silence, her face crinkling as she broke out in laughter. ‘Is that it?’ She held her belly, cackling so loudly the Three Sisters came to the window to investigate, joining in the chorus.
The sound was deafening until Nell hushed them.
‘That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,’ Rosette said. ‘I think I would know it if I’d had another child!’
Nell wasn’t laughing though,