“That had nothing to do with you, and everything to do with me handling the situation in the worst way possible.”
“Dash, there’s a reason you said that.”
“Trust me when I say it had nothing to do with you. Iris, in the twelve years between our break and me running into Zinnie and starting to date her, did I ever once try to contact you?”
“No, but —”
“Did I have a way to reach you had I wanted to?”
Yes, but —”
“Have I ever contacted you since I married Zinnie three years ago?”
“No, but —”
“Have I ever tried to get you alone at family functions to talk?”
“No, but —”
up
“In the fifteen years since we broke up, I’ve never once given you any indication that I wanted to
rekindle our relationship. And you’re going to weigh fifteen seconds of time against fifteen years of evidence to feed your delusion?”
“Dash, there’s a reason you made that joke at the gender reveal.”
“There is a reason, but nothing like what you’re implying. You aren’t the one who got away. That would be Zinnie if she ever left me. You aren’t the one I want to be with. If I’d wanted to get in touch with you, if I’d wanted to get back with you, I could have contacted you to talk about the possibility. But I didn’t. It was a one–year high school relationship that ended more than fifteen years ago. If you want to make it into some tragic love story like Romeo and Juliet, then by all means, feel free to stab yourself with a knife or even drink some poison. I really don’t care.
||
“You came over to our house after Zinnie left,” Iris said. “That meant something. You were trying to be close to me.”
“For fuck’s sake, Iris, it meant your mother wouldn’t help me over the phone. I’d talked to every friend I could think of to find Zinnie, and no one knew where she was. I was desperate to find her,
Chapter23
23.23%
and I hoped your mother would have some ideas as to where Zinnie might be. She said to come over and we could look in boxes of Zinnie’s things to try to find some friends‘ names from old yearbooks or names of college roommates to see if any of them had heard from Zinnie. Since I was out of leads, even though it was a longshot, it seemed like the last option I had before I hired a private investigator.”
“Dash, you need to think about this,” her mother said. “Don’t make the mistake of pushing us to have the police crawling all over this place to get what we want.”
“That would be a mistake on your part,” I said. “If necessary, I will drag you through court, take it to the streets, and you still won’t see Zinnie. And you know I have the resources to make it
happen.”
Then I took a chance, something I’d always wondered about based on a few clues here and there and things I’d observed.
“Maybe you should worry more about explaining to your husband why Iris and Zinnie have different fathers.” I looked at Zinnie’s father. “I’d definitely recommend a DNA test.”
“How dare you!” my mother–in–law shouted.
“What are you talking about?” he demanded. “What do you know?”
I shrugged.
“Get used to no contact with Zinnie. We’re no longer going to tolerate you in her life, and if you
try again, I will make you regret it even more than you’re about to. Your families, employers,
neighbors, church, clubs…they will hear about every bit of your dirty laundry if you ever bother Zinnie again.”
The local police, who had jurisdiction over the commune, had finally pulled up and gotten out of their squad cars.
“You were asked to leave before. You remained on commune land, which means you’re all trespassing. Make sure you listen to your Miranda rights. I’m sure remaining silent will be a new experience for some of you.”
I walked back to the golf cart as they were arrested, nodding to all of the witnesses Aggie had called here at my request after I’d talked with my lawyer. I’d said a lot more than I’d planned on to Zinnie’s family, but I had to keep them here until the police arrived.
Chapter23
23.23%
After Zinnia’s family had been arrested, Aggie drove me back to the midwifery clinic.
“Aggie, I called Tomás Tom last night.”
“Well, that was stupid.”
“Only because he understands English and can respond to questions by nodding or shaking his head. For a normal animal, calling him Tom wouldn’t have been a problem because he wouldn’t have been able to understand, much less throw a fit about it.”
She slammed on the brakes of the golf cart. “Who have you told?”
“That I was having a conversation with a llama? No one. That I called him Tom and he had a weird reaction? I only told Zinnie, and she didn’t really believe me.‘
“She won’t tell anyone, except maybe the bees,” Aggie mused. “So you and I are the only ones who know exactly how special Tomás is. Let’s keep it that way.”
“How the hell does he understand English? I tried Spanish and French on him, too, but he didn’t
respond.”
“I can’t tell you how he knows English.”
“You can’t tell me because you’d have to kill me or because you don’t know?”
“Leave it alone, Dash,” she advised. “You wouldn’t know anything if you hadn’t called him Tom.”
“That’s fine. Zinnie’s my focus, Melitta’s my focus, and I don’t have time to dive into a mystery.”
“Good,” she said emphatically. “It’s better you just forget what you know.”
“I do have something I need to talk with you about, Aggie. Something I want to do for Zinnie, but I don’t know how things like this are done here, so I’m starting with you.”
Chapter23
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.