The Hand That Casts the Bone by H. L. Tinsley

Author:H. L. Tinsley [Tinsley, H. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy
Amazon: B09WRNB6YG
Goodreads: 60715915
Published: 2022-04-21T05:00:00+00:00

Two Worlds

Some men were two people. They lived two different lives in two different worlds. Vanguard did, and suffered for it. Vince was also such a man. However, in his case, whenever Vince moved from one world to another, he went from the hard, the cold and bleak to something light and good - something worth holding onto.

That thing was Beth.

His parents, in particular his mother who was never a woman to mince words, had argued he was far too young, at the tender age of fourteen, to have dismissed all other women.

Vince in turn argued some things were inevitable. Of course, Beth had taken no interest in him at all at first. Why would she?

The first time he saw her she was sitting in church. Vince didn’t care for prayer, but offered up a few of his own that day. He asked for Beth, and, two long years of attending services later, his prayers were finally answered. Vince had sneezed in the middle of a particularly long and pious sermon. The congregation turned en masse to scowl at him and a hand, sweet and smooth-skinned, passed him a handkerchief.

Violet came first. They were too young to have her really, but only realised after it happened and there wasn’t much they could do about it then. A little while later they had and lost Sarah. Vince never imagined a pain greater. After the funeral, Beth declared she would never have another, but that was a betrayal of her true nature and she was not a good liar even to herself. So they had Fiona and by the time Oliver came along they’d gotten rather good at the whole thing. Vince thought they might stop at that, but Beth had other ideas and in his experience, she knew better.

Beth was determined to fill her world with noise and life, moving through the years with the enduring fortitude of a matriarch who could not be worn or defeated. Not by sick stomachs, or raging tantrums or scraped knees. She was a powerhouse of love. A force of nature perpetually wrapped in a cloak of tiny people who depended on her, needed her, adored her.

Jobs were scarce. When Vince had taken the position at Henriette’s house, Beth went to see it for herself. Some women would have baulked at the place, indignant by what they witnessed.

Beth arrived, spoke with Henriette, made no fuss and left soon after. The next day she packed a basket with soap, biscuits, wash cloths and sewing materials. She gave it to Vince, announcing it would be very useful to those girls and never went back again. She didn’t need to and Vince didn’t want her to. After that, his worlds became separate things and the two did not meet again until Tarryn came.

On the day Vince woke in the hospital, he lay in bed staring at the ceiling. There had been a spider crawling across it, weaving strings of web in one corner. He thought of nothing else for days.

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