Raquel Byrnes by Whispers on Shadow Bay

Author:Whispers on Shadow Bay
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

****

We sat in the restaurant near the windows. Darkly lit with red votive candles, violin music from the musician up front wafted along the clusters of softly speaking customers. The owners had adorned the walls with costumes from Romania and it occurred to me that the Romani people on Noble were actually from Romania. Lush velvet bodices and silken skirts with gold embroidery hung next to mounted accordions. Old world charm mingled with succulent scents of grilled meat and rich sauces. It was a place I would have loved to be at with Simon. At least until an hour ago. Now I wasn’t sure what I wanted or what I thought about him.

“Well, the Hales and the gypsies of Noble Island have a long history of bad blood,” Phillip said and shrugged. “I don’t see that ending very soon.”

The waitress brought our dinners, a wonderful smelling meat stew.

“Tocanita,” she said. “Sorry you had to wait so long, Mr. Cotropi. But the boat took two weeks to get the herbs and spices to us.”

“I’m sure it’s amazing,” Phillip said and smiled, dismissing her.

“I don’t understand,” I continued once she was gone. “Is it just a cultural difference? A haves and have nots situation, or is there an actual reason?”

“The gypsies of Noble Island were banished here. There’s some sort of legend that explains why, but suffice it to say that they fell afoul of the Romanian government. After that, they ran amok all over this rock until it was settled by fur traders in the late eighteen hundreds, and that’s when the trouble began. The U.S. government didn’t recognize any ownership by the gypsy clans and sold off pieces of Noble to families like the Hales. There’s still a lot of resentment here.” Phillip took a sip of his water, cracked some ice between his teeth, and smiled at me. “Why are you taking Nalla so seriously?”

“She was so angry, so sure Simon was this…this evil person.”

“Don’t let it bother you,” Phillip said and bit on a bread stick. “This is a small community. Most people haven’t even heard of Noble Island. With generations of families living so closely together, there’s bound to be friction.”

He smiled, and I found myself smiling back.

Phillip had a way of making things seem less earthshattering.

“But is it true about Simon and his mother?”

“I wasn’t here,” he said and shrugged. “But she was in frail health to begin with. That is why Davenport stayed home. What does it matter what Nalla thinks? For all we know, she’s pickled her brain working with all those herbs and spices day in and day out.”

“She’s not just a random villager; she’s Amanna’s sister.” I looked out the window at the rain splattering on the cobblestones and roofs and sighed. I didn’t know what to think about Nalla’s warnings. “I just don’t see it in him.”

“Look,” Phillip said, taking my hand and patting it. “Don’t get so caught up in all the secrets and lies here. It’d take years to unravel them all.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.