AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That bad, huh?”
“That bad,” Brock whispered.
“If it’s that bad without her, maybe it would be better with her right now, even if she leaves later. At least you’d get some great before the bad kicked in again.” Something about that sounded vaguely familiar. Something about that sounded very smart.
Van felt his own words slithering their way into his brain. He and his women had always parted ways, and he’d wanted it that way. After all, he couldn’t find his soul as a sculptor when he had to rescue a woman all the time, along with a company and an aunt he loved fiercely and everyone else who might come along and tangle him up.
But wait a minute. He’d never had to rescue Mary. Maybe she was rescuing him from — what? A stilted, joyless life? He could live, laugh, and love with Mary. It was good with Mary. Maybe Van should think about keeping it good for … well … not forever, of course, but for a long time.
Or at least as long as Mary didn’t need rescuing. But that didn’t sound right. That sounded cold and calculating. Ditch her as soon as she needed him. He wasn’t sure who or what he was anymore, but he wasn’t a guy who could do that.
Glancing at Brock, Van reeled from the fissures opening up in his own brain.
Brock’s eyes had opened so wide the round whites shone,eveninthelightofasliveredmoon.“Butwhat if she dies?”
“Has that happened to anyone else in the family?”
“No.”
Van paused to let that sink in, but Brock leaped to his feet and began to pace. Then he pounded his fist into his palm, again and again. The smack upon smack crackled in the air. Van stood up and grasped the man by the upper arms. It wasn’t a gentle hold. Brock had to stop.
“You haven’t told me all of it.”
“You know it all now. You just haven’t realized the worst part of it. I’ve now proven that the curse is more vicious than any of us ever dreamed.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t you see? It’s twice now. No one can argue with that.”
“Huh?”
“I was driving in the accident when my little love died. Did I tell you she screamed for half an hour? Then she passed out.”
Van blocked the last part out. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“You still don’t get it. I was driving again this time.”
Van sat back down with a thump on the patio bench. “Surely you don’t think — ”
“Wake up, man! I almost killed your aunt.”
Thoughtswindmilling,Vanabsentlypattedthepart of the bench beside him. Brock collapsed like a balloon after a party that didn’t happen. Van turned to look Brock straight in the eye.
“That’s not the way the sheriff tells it. In fact, he says he is going to put up your poster in Hero’s Corner.”
“What? In Toronado Park? Never mind. What would Angus Buttercup know? He’s wrong.”
“He has investigated a hundred accidents. Besides, he brought in an accident reconstruction expert. The sheriff wanted to charge the idiot who tried to pass you on the bridge, and he wanted to make sure the charge would stick.”
Brock shook his head, dumbfounded and still disbelieving.
“They say you’re a hero. They say Aunt Cynthia would have been smashed against the side of the bridge if it weren’t for your incredible driving.”
Brock gaped.
“They say you saved a lot of lives that day, but I have to thank you most for hers.”
Van slapped Brock heartily on the back. Brock coughed as he suddenly remembered to breathe.
