Devin's Dilemma by Simone Beaudelaire

Author:Simone Beaudelaire
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2018-11-15T18:00:00+00:00

* * *

By the time Devin stood outside his house, with his brother, sister-in-law, niece and parents in tow, excitement nearly had him bouncing on his toes like a child.

A heavy hand on his shoulder steadied him. “Easy, son. What's got you so worked up?”

“Don't tease, Father,” Christopher admonished. “Have you forgotten how difficult it is to introduce your intended to your family?”

Devin inhaled deeply and turned to face them. My family. My foundation. His father, Adrian Bennett, stood ruggedly matured and strong, his dark hair laced with white at the temples. His hand rested on the back of a small but vivacious redhead of middle years. Her crow's feet showed when she smiled, but that didn't reduce her beauty.

“That's right, Adrian, love,” she reminded her husband. “This is Devin's special moment. Don't tease.”

They all regarded the door. I'm glad they're ignoring the obvious, though it is as suffocating as an elephant in the parlor. She shouldn't be in my home alone, and she truly shouldn't be in my home alone with me. She's ruined, so they say, and it's my duty as a gentleman to marry her. Only, that's not why I'm doing it. I want to. He'd known it for weeks, but the last two days had clinched it. I never want to be parted from this woman as long as I live.

“She's really very sweet,” Katerina added, and Sophia nodded in enthusiastic agreement.

“Well then,” Adrian blustered, clearly not ready to be finished teasing his youngest child, “let's meet this paragon. Don't stand on the stoop staring like a Bedlamite. Open the door.”

Flustered, Devin whirled around and fitted the key into the lock, fumbling and nearly dropping it. At last he managed to wrestle the normally obedient door open and stepped inside, only to trip over the threshold, something he'd never done before.

For his mother's sake, he suppressed a stream of vile curses as he flailed and finally caught his balance. “Harry,” he called, hoping to hide his gaffe. “Harry, are you here? We're home. I'd like you to meet my parents.”

Silence.

“I wonder where she could be. Perhaps the garden?” Traversing the parlor and kitchen quickly, he stepped outside into the cool of evening. “Harry?”

Again, no response. An unnatural stillness hung in the air, as though the sea were holding its breath. By the silvery light of a waning gibbous, Devin took in the yard at last, and his eyes widened. A thundering sounded in his ears and his breath sucked inward with a sound like sea waves over a submerged cave.

The bathtub sat filled with cold, filmy water. The sheets hung on the clothesline. No surprises there. But the gate, which he always kept locked when he was out, stood wide open. The ground covering heather he'd planted had been dug up, wildly uprooted in a haphazard jumble, before resolving into a pair of men's heavy boot prints… very heavy. The prints lay deeper on the earth than they had any right to, given how small they were.

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