In the Midst of the Sea by Sean McCarthy

Author:Sean McCarthy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Linden Publishing
Published: 2019-07-17T16:00:00+00:00

24

He took them to the antique carousel down by the wharf, the Flying Horses, the following Sunday. The carousel had been around for well over a century, boasting to be the oldest in the country. Built in the 1870s, moved to the Vineyard from Coney Island. The horses were all hand carved, and their tails were made of authentic horse hair. Hair from long-forgotten beasts that had moved through a wholly different time, and now in a sense still moved. At least part of them. The carousel was closed for the season, but Ford knew the man who ran it, and he had lent him the key. It was going to be a special ride, he said to Samantha. The horses all to herself. She could ride any one she wanted. Diana had been hesitant, thinking the whole idea a little unnerving, riding it alone, but she had bit her tongue; he had been doting on Samantha, maybe a bit too openly, awkwardly, she thought, but he was trying, at least making an attempt to connect with them again, and that was the important thing. If he tried, and she road-blocked him, then what would that say about her?

It hadn’t gone well with Cybil when Diana had returned from the church, but Diana had expected that. Cybil had started to cry a little. Told Diana she was nuts. She couldn’t go back to him, couldn’t bring Samantha back near him.

“But he’s never laid a hand on her,” Diana said. And it was true, he never had. And if he had that in him, wouldn’t he have done that by now? “If he did, I would never go back,” she said to Cybil. “Never. He knows that, so he wouldn’t dare.”

“He will though,” Cybil said. “Believe me. He will. I’ve seen this, Diana. I’ve lived it.”

“And he has, too, that’s why I think he’s willing to change,” Diana said, and even as she did, the words felt stagnant in her throat, false, leaving her wondering what she now believed herself.

Cybil just shook her head. “They don’t change. Not for good.”

She had given her some phone numbers. Support groups. Names of therapists. And then Diana and Samantha had left before Cybil and Norman got back on the ferry. Diana went over the entire scenario in her head, over and over, on their way back to the house. History. Options. Lies, love, and forgiveness. She had told herself it would be wrong to uproot Samantha yet another time. She wanted to believe that. If nothing else, Samantha needed stability. She had never had stability. One more incident, and they definitely would go. Would have to. That would be it. She promised herself. Promised Samantha. And if push came to shove, she could protect her—she would die before she let anyone hurt her. And he promised things would get better. They would give him one more chance, and that was all.

Now, Ford flicked on the lights, the horses suddenly bright, alive and surreal. Everything inside was surreal, the night surrounding the building, dark and cold and void of all life.

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