Deep Betrayal Page 0,61
worry was justified, we could keep each other from hunting. Couldn’t we? I was sure of it.
“No tail.” Sophie sighed, reaching over the side of the boat and stroking a whitefish.
Calder exhaled and, bracing himself, asked, “Anything else I should know?”
I stared at my feet. “You and Dad aren’t the only ones I can hear in the lake.”
Later that night, after the sun set, Sophie crept into my room and slid under the covers with me. I dropped my book to the floor and wrapped my arm around her. Her skin was cool through her thin nightgown. She tucked her head under my chin, and I could feel the moisture on her cheeks against my chest.
I was about to fall asleep, when she spoke. “Do you think we should tell Mom the truth about Dad?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Sophie pulled out of my arms. “If she didn’t cry so much, if she wasn’t so sad, it wouldn’t hurt Dad so much to look at her. Then he could come home.”
“I get your logic, Soph, but how does knowing the truth make her cry less?”
“Wouldn’t knowing the truth be better than thinking he’s left us?”
“He has left us.”
“No, he hasn’t. He’s probably swimming out in front of the house right now, probably waiting for your light to go out. I think he wants to come in. But he can’t.”
“No one’s locked the door,” I said.
She shook her head, and her eyes glistened in the dim light. “It gives me a tummyache to look at Mom. It’s almost as bad as looking at Jack Pettit. I bet it’s worse for Dad. I think it would be better if Mom knew the truth. I wasn’t scared when I figured it out.”
“And why is that, Sophie?”
She shrugged, her shoulders nudging the pillow. “I guess no one told me I was supposed to be.”
“I’ve been pretty dumb about things,” I said, tucking my blankets around her.
The moon shone through my window, lighting her face in a silvery blue. “Not dumb. But you don’t trust people.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Remember when I fell out of the kayak?”
How could I forget? That was the night Calder’s sisters almost succeeded in their plan to kill Dad. That was the night Calder confessed his part in their plot.
“Why did you come after me when Dad had already got there? Why did you jump off the cliff this spring?”
I closed my eyes tight, pushing out the memory. “Who told you about that?”
“Why did you do it, Lily?”
“I thought I was protecting the family.”
“Mom’s tougher than you think,” she said.
I chewed on my lip until the skin tore. “You’re sure he’s really out there?”
Sophie pulled me out of bed and we tiptoed downstairs to the bedroom where Mom slept alone, her body curled around a pillow.
I shook her shoulder gently. “Mom? Mom, wake up.”
“What?” She pushed herself up on her elbow. “Everything okay? Is Sophie okay? What’s wrong?”
Sophie came around my right side and sat on the bed, taking Mom’s hand. “Come with us, Mommy,” she said. “It’s about Dad.”
Sophie and I helped Mom to her walker and out toward the porch. We eased her across the uneven front yard. She asked why we were outside, but Sophie stroked her arm and told her there was something we needed to show her. When we got to the end of the dock, I turned on the motion detectors. They’d been off since I left last spring. For now, the lake was a silent black pool. We sat in the darkness and waited for something to activate the lights.
Mom said, “I don’t understand. What are we doing?”
“Like Sophie said, it’s about Dad. What we’re going to tell you, you know parts already. Other parts will be a surprise. We’re hoping it’s better for you to know the truth, than to imagine the worst. And Sophie thinks it was wrong of me to keep it a secret from you.”
“The worst?” she asked. “What have you been keeping from me?”
I started the story. Sophie filled in parts I didn’t know how she knew, like the part about Grandpa breaking his promise and stealing Dad away. Mom barely reacted. She stared straight ahead. Only occasionally did she raise her eyebrows or frown.
I hoped Sophie was right about Dad swimming in front of the house. We’d been out on the dock for twenty minutes and there was still no movement on the water. I got to the part about Dad rescuing me from the lake