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Two days after the funeral, Doc Gantry—that’s what Arien called him anyway—came by the house during supper, the autopsy report in his hand. The cause of death was undetermined, toxicology pending. They couldn’t find anything wrong. Her heart just stopped beating.
“How’s my girl?”
She looked up. Celadon eyes sparkled in the sun. “Oh, Matthew.” Arien started to get up. “I can have lunch ready in a jiffy. Where’s the boys?”
“Sit.” Nudging her back down, he took a seat beside her. “Boys are still workin’. Didn’t come back to the house to eat. Came to see you.”
“Oh?”
He slung his arm across her shoulders. “I’m worried about you. Want to make sure you’re okay.”
“I’ll be okay…” She shrugged. “…one day. How about you?”
“Same,” he said with a shake of his head. “I’m not quite there yet.”
Arien rested her head on his shoulder. He stroked her hair. “You love them boys, don’t ya?”
The thought of them made her smile. “Yeah, I do.”
“There are no coincidences, Arien. No accidents. The three of you were born to be one.”
“You think so?”
“I know so.”
Lifting her head from his shoulder, she glanced up at him. “How?”
“I saw it.” With a single nod, he lowered his gaze to the floor. “I know you think it’s crazy. Most people would, but I can assure you it ain’t. How do you think I know which investments to make? What to buy? When to sell?”
“You dream it?”
“And this town, everyone in it, is filthy fuckin’ rich.” He winked, an obvious smirk on his face. “The visions are a guide. You just gotta listen to ’em. So we listen and we believe. Our ways have served us well.”
Not this mumbo jumbo again.
“You’re saying you had a dream about Kellan, Tanner, and me?”
“Before you were even born.” Matthew took her hand in both of his, and squeezing it, he held it on his lap. “It’s common for a father to have visions of his children’s future.”
“The day Aunt Kim got married, Gantry told Grams she was going to have one child, a daughter, and that child would be the wife of his sons. He saw it.”
“My first vision of you and your mother came the day after Heather’s funeral. It was so strange, but so strong I couldn’t ignore it. I knew your mama was the one the second I saw her, and when she showed me your picture…” Turning his face toward hers, her stepfather raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. “…I put that beautiful boy in her belly.”
“You what?”
“Maybe I shouldn’t have, but I’m so glad I did, or we wouldn’t have Benjamin,” he said, smiling down at his baby son. “I had to make her mine, and I had to make sure you came here with her, so the boys could make you theirs. But see, I kinda manipulated things and now I think we’re all payin’ for it.”
You are fucking crazy.
“Do Tanner and Kellan know all this?”
He licked his lips, the brim of his hat bobbing back and forth. “They’ve been waitin’ their entire lives for you.”
Oh, God.
She clapped a hand over her mouth, bile rising in her throat.
“My boys won’t beg, Arien, but I will. They love you. I love you,” Matthew professed, his green eyes boring into hers. “Stay here with us. Help me make things right and put an end to all this wretchedness.”
