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As I’d anticipated, her reaction to going to New York with her brother or to her mother’s home was negative. Her hesitation to travel with me toEl Lugar de Curaciónsurprised me.
After asking Bones if she could talk to me alone, she shared the reasons for her reluctance.
“I don’t want to impose, Tryst.”
“There is no better place for you, little one. It is the Healing Place. While you are not my niece by blood, you called me uncle until you decided you were too old to do so. I think you were thirteen.”
She smiled. “I don’t want to go home.”
I nodded. “Mine is your home too, Jada. You are always welcome.”
When she agreed, I told her I’d make the arrangements and left the room, surprised to see Jaicon waiting in the hallway. “Good morning.”
She motioned for me to follow, and we went out to the porch. “You were sleeping so peacefully I didn’t want to wake you earlier.”
“Jada has agreed to travel to my ranch.”
She nodded. “I think it’s the best place for her.”
“I told her I’d make the arrangements.”
“I will be traveling there in advance of your arrival. Zeppelin and Magnet will go with me. Since I’m familiar with the ranch’s security protocols, the three of us will ensure everything we need is in place. Unless you have a reason to believe they should stay, they’ll then return to the UK.”
“I am in agreement. It will not be necessary for them to remain.”
“Good. I’ll set everything up on my end.” She turned to leave.
“Jacy?”
“I’ll see you in Mexico, Tryst.”
14
JAICON
Tryst didn’t try to stop me as I rushed from the house, nor did he follow. As much as I wanted to explain, I couldn’t. Not until I had answers for myself.
Last night, while he was at the emergency meeting of Los Caballeros, I’d drifted off while waiting for him to get back and dreamed about my dead husband, but not him alone.
I woke, gripping one of the pillows on the bed where I’d been resting, hugging it close to my body, as if its softness would somehow ease the excruciating pain I’d feel as the memories of the night Edmund “Banker” Codd died raced through my head.
The car that careened into the passenger side of ours came out of nowhere, traveling at a speed that had to be greater than sixty kilometers per hour. Its head- and taillights were as dark as the vehicle itself, so I hadn’t seen it coming or going.
The images of it sideswiping us and our car spinning out of control and into a ravine were replaced with those of my husband as blood dripped from his nose and mouth. His breath gurgled with it as I placed a call for emergency services, begging them to hurry but knowing, deep inside, in less than a few more heartbeats, it would be too late to save him.
Edmund’s eyes bored into mine as the realization he had seconds to live hit him. I cupped his cheek, tears pouring from my eyes, as I told him I loved him and begged him to hold on.
He said only one word before life left him.Love.My keening filled the silence of the night as I waited for emergency medical services while clinging to my dead husband.
Knowing I had little choice, I let the rest of the night’s events play themselves out inside my head—the EMTs removing me from the vehicle and transporting me to the hospital, where the attending physicians informed me of both my losses. My parents were with me when they confirmed what I already knew about Edmund. My other loss was the baby I’d only told him I carried that night.
That was the most heartbreaking part of the dream. In his arms, Edmund held a little towheaded girl who looked a lot like me when I was three years old. “Mama?” she’d said, reaching for me just as I woke up.
Listening to Tryst talk about how he and his wife hadn’t explored their issues with fertility after her diagnosis, was a reminder that I had no idea whether I could have more children. After Edmund’s death, I hadn’t had a reason to find out. I still didn’t.
I was gathering the few belongings I’d unpacked when I heard a knock at the cottage’s door.
“Hey,” I said, opening it and waving Merrigan inside.
