"If the cold doesn't kill you, the wolves will."
NOT A WEREWOLF STORY
Book 1 of 2.
In which an 18-year-old girl flees to Alaska to escape being accused of murder & to uncover what happened to her uncle. Involves two gentle giants.
Completed. :)
Fea...
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Chapter 50 | A PRIORI
After I've insisted on cleaning up the broken glass, I'm sitting by the fireplace in the back room with Nina.
She sits in the rocking chair while I choose to situate myself on the floor a couple of feet away from her.
"Are you sure you don't want to bring a chair in here?"
I glance up from watching the flames dance and yawn, feeling tired all of a sudden. "Yeah, no, it's fine. I sit on the floor all the time at Vaughn's."
She frowns, "He makes you sit on the floor?"
"What? No, I like sitting on the hardwood floors by the fireplace in the evening, all wrapped in a blanket. A lot of the times, he does too. I mean, he isn't wrapped up in a blanket, I'd love it if he were, but no, he only sits by me, and we play chess."
She raises a somewhat amused eyebrow at me, and I feel the strange, awkward need to elaborate more.
"I taught him how to play, and pretty soon, he got as good as me. Which means I probably wasn't that good, but-"
She laughs lightly, smiling a bit.
And then I realize I've been smiling, too. Oops.
"Why're you laughing?" I ask her, feeling somewhat defensive as a blush rises to my cheeks.
She shakes her head, a strange look in her eyes; it almost seems...knowing.
"You know..." she starts out, "I married Henry three months after I met him."
My first thought is, 'Why would you ever do that?' but then I realize asking that is probably rude, so I keep my mouth shut, waiting for her to continue with where she's going with this.
I keep my face blank, so she proceeds on.
"We met in Anchorage, at a restaurant, and we hit it off instantly. Although he was pretty quiet at first, and he wasn't that keen on opening up, he eventually did."
"How'd you get him to do it? Open up?"
She smiles, "I...didn't pressure him to. I just opened up, myself, and soon enough, he trusted me enough to do the same."
"So...patience?"
Nina nods, "Love requires a lot of patience."
I hear her slight laughter as my eyes widen, "Nooooo, no. What?I'm not- I don't- no love. There's no love at all between me and Vaughn, Nina."
I faintly realize that I did make it sound like I totally love him, but that's just me being me.
The truth is...I don't love him. Right?
I've only known him for a few months, and that time has included him treating me like a dead deer and not opening up all that much. I can't love him.
