Chapter 16: Anneliese

I walked to the cabin at ten that night with nothing in my hands.

The lamp was on.

Boone sat at his table with a mug of coffee gone cold, and he stood up when the door opened.

The brass key lay on the wood beside him, on its loop of baling twine.

I crossed the room and picked it up.

"I said I'd think," I said.

"You did."

"I thought."

"And?"

"I thought about a man who turned down a quarter of a million dollars and didn't tell me for six hours."

"I wanted to see what the bank did first."

"You're hopeless."

"Probably."

"Constance told me the town will hear what my father did to that cook."

"She'll have it printed by Sunday."

"Then let her. I'm not hiding Brooke, and I'm not letting Dad hide."

"I'll stand wherever you stand."

"I know. That's why I came tonight."

I closed my fist around the key, walked back to the door, shut it and turned the lock myself.

The click was loud in the small room.

When I turned around, he had not moved.

He was watching me with his hands open at his sides.

"Annie," he said. "You don't owe me this."

"I know."

"If it's the day you've had, or your father, or Brooke..."

"It's none of those."

I crossed to him, put the key in the pocket of his shirt, and patted it flat.

"It's yours to keep," I said. "I only wanted to be the one who locked it."

His breath went out of him, and he laughed, low and rough, and put his forehead against mine.

"Come here," he said.

I did.

He kissed me slowly.

There was no fury in it this time, and no hurry, only his mouth, warm and careful, moving over mine until my knees went loose.

I felt his hand slide up my back and cradle my head.

I remembered the cabin door the night of the kitchen, and how fast it had been, and how I had hidden in his neck.

Tonight I did not hide.

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