The Beekeeper's Ball: Bella Vista Chronicles Book 2 by Susan Wiggs

Author:Susan Wiggs [Wiggs, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-07-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

“Magnus is correct,” Annelise said, her gaze focused on the day’s last sunlight falling across the floor. “I did drive into the water. It was a foolish mistake made in terror, because the night watch had arrived. As it happens, I ended up creating a diversion, and Magnus and Ramon were not caught.”

“But you were,” Tess said softly.

Annelise nodded. “That was the night I was captured and taken to the birthing house on the island. I was detained there for nearly a year before I escaped.”

They all sat in silence for long, uncounted minutes. Isabel thought about that young girl and what had gone on in the house where she was imprisoned. A vein in Annelise’s temple gently throbbed, but otherwise she sat motionless, her graceful hands calmly folded in her lap.

Finally, Magnus cleared his throat. “I wish I’d saved you that night,” he said, his voice low and broken. “I’m sorry I failed you.”

“Regrets won’t change a thing, and we all survived,” Annelise said.

His hands trembled, and he pressed them hard against his knees. “When we met again, you should have said something, if not to me, then to someone who could help you.”

“I told no one.” Then she looked around the room, her gaze steady, her eyes surprisingly calm. “Until now.”

Isabel couldn’t believe she’d kept such a secret inside her for so long. She found herself looking at Mac, who had not moved a muscle while the old woman spoke. His eyes were damp, though, and easy to read.

“When I escaped, I said nothing, because I was afraid not just for myself, but for the child. I feared what would happen to a baby with such a strange heritage. And of course, in one so young, the shame and confusion were a constant torment.”

Magnus took her hand in both of his, and pressed a kiss on it, his shoulders trembling. “Please,” he said to her in Danish. “Please tell me you found a way to...”

Isabel didn’t recognize the next word.

Annelise gently removed her hand from his and continued in English. “It was so very long ago, yet the occurrence is knit into my very soul. I can no more rid myself of it than I can rid myself of my eye color or memories of my mother.” Her movements were efficient and decisive as she helped herself to more sherry. “Perhaps I should have unburdened myself sooner. Even the deepest secrets always seem to find their way to the surface,” she said. “They slip out in sneaky ways. I believe now that what happened to me colored every choice I’ve made in my life. Perhaps that is why I became a children’s art teacher—so I could see beauty once more, and to love again. Later I became a dance teacher so I could learn to touch people again without fear. Other decisions as well sprang from the secret I carried inside.”

Isabel’s chest ached in sympathy. She wondered if Annelise was referring to her choice to stay single, to have a baby with Magnus, to give the child to Eva to raise.

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