The Signal Flame by Andrew Krivak

Author:Andrew Krivak
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scribner

Ruth did wake, just as they turned off the highway into Dardan and went over the bridge and Bo downshifted and drove the long road that wound up to the farm.

She had never been to the Vinich home, had never even set foot on the land. When they got to the house, she sat up and looked out at the porch columns and tall windows. The gardens and fruit trees in the front yard. The balcony on the second floor, with its wrought-iron railing and glass-paneled French doors through which white curtains swept out and around the glass like waves rising and receding on a shore. She slid to the other side of the seat and scanned the orchard. Rows of apple trees hung with green fruit, and chickens pecked and scratched around a stand of them in the back.

Bo, I won’t stay long, she said nervously, the sleep still in her voice. You’ll tell your mother that, won’t you?

Bo turned around in his seat. And where are you going to go? She’s been waiting for you. We’ve got a room all set upstairs. He pointed to the balcony. That’s the one. And a nurse is going to come this week to check on you.

I won’t need a nurse.

I don’t think it’s for you. I think it’s to make sure we’re taking care of you all right.

I’ll be all right, she said. Two weeks and I’ll be out of your hair and you can get back to your lives.

Rovnávaha turned around, too, and said, Ruth. It’s what we talked about. This is going to be home for a while. Bo and Mrs. Konar both want you to stay here.

Hannah had walked out onto the porch and down to the car but stood at a distance as Rovnávaha helped Ruth climb out of the Dart. Krasna moved from Hannah’s side and went to Ruth and licked her fingers. Ruth bent down to pet the old dog, and when she looked up, Hannah was standing in front of her.

She likes you, Hannah said, and stepped forward and took the girl’s hand. Come on inside, Ruth. I’ll bet you’re hungry. I have lunch all ready for us.

The men followed the women as they walked slowly, arm in arm, up the front steps and through the door, Ruth’s eyes taking in every detail as she entered the house, and Bo wondered what his brother had told her and what he had not about the world that had shaped the young man whom she loved. The young man who could move from his world to hers so seamlessly, without drawing attention, that he hunted with her father on his grandfather’s own land. The young man who had promised her that, after he came back from Vietnam, he would never leave her again. And she had believed him.

Where is he now? Bo wondered. Now that she is here?

Hannah had made a mushroom soup and barley salad with fresh tomatoes for their meal. They let Rovnávaha speak

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