Page 16 of Her Cruel Dahlias
Cricket’s eyes widened, and she swore her heart stopped beating for a moment. A child… Anika was pregnant with Bram’s child.
“Congratulations, you’ll be a wonderful father,” she finally said, the words true. The thought of having children was something Cricket never wanted, and if she’d stayed, if she had married Bram, that would’ve taken from what she’d desired to do in the now. “She’ll be in my prayers tonight. I shouldn’t have left like I did.”
“I understand why. If I’d known you were alive, I would’ve come for you. I feel like such a bastard, but I love her. I love her so damn much, Cricket.” His eyes grew glassy, and Cricket clenched her fists, digging crescent moons into her flesh to keep her tears at bay.
Cricket knew how much he loved Anika even when she’d first come back to him. She sighed and folded her hand over Bram’s. “I know. I was angry, saddened, lots of things. But now I understand, and I’m also happy for you both. You worked together to find Clancy and fell in love through so many different emotions. It’s beautiful, really. Even under the circumstance. A better story than ours. If we’d stayed together, I believe wholeheartedly that I would’ve always yearned for something beyond this town.”
Bram gently squeezed her hand as the corners of his lips pulled up. “Because you love to dance. Your performance tonight was miraculous, the way you made your skin translucent.”
“Thank you.” She wasn’t going to discuss her current curiosity predicaments with him—it wasn’t his concern when there were more important matters at hand.
“I better go and check on Anika. She really wanted to come,” he said, releasing her hand.
“Tell her I wish her well, and I’ll see you both tomorrow.” As Cricket drew open the door, she caught a glimpse of Juniper and Zephyr as they walked by, each carrying a wicker basket.
With a smile, Juniper gave her a wave, yet Zephyr held a neutral expression that didn’t seem right on him. And she hated to admit that she missed his usual smirk.
“Watch your back, and keep this on you at all times,” Bram said, taking a small knife in a sheath from his pocket and placing it in her palm.
Cricket folded her hands over the blade and stood quietly as he walked away. She shut the door, then pressed her back to it, inhaling slowly. If there was a reason the women were blonde and blue-eyed, and it had nothing to do with her, what else could it be? Perhaps they just wanted to continue Clancy’s legacy. Or they may have even had an obsession with an ex-lover and murdered women who looked this way as a sick sort of pleasure. But she went back to Clancy’s original reason—how he’d picked the first person he saw. That chilled her the most because that meant a victim could be anyone.
Chapter Seven
Cricket woke with a yawn, and when she sat up, a slight headache pulsed above her right eye. Once she and Bram parted ways, Cricket wasn’t able to sleep well after hearing more about the murders, that the victims hadn’t only been left with dahlias the way she had, but their bodies held common characteristic traits. So she’d tossed and turned, polished off her whiskey, and when she did manage to find sleep, she was consumed by nightmares filled with women, their bloody chests sliced open, black dahlias blooming from their eyes and mouths.
Shaking away the images, she threw back the covers. Her hair and nightgown were damp with sweat. She peeled the cotton fabric from her body before fumbling through her small wardrobe. Most of the clothing consisted of performance costumes and about ten pretty dresses she’d purchased in the previous town after waking. Mistress Eliza had given her payment when she’d woken for performing as the Sleeping Darling, but Cricket had almost used up all the coin. Not having time to bathe until she returned, she chose a deep blue dress with a high collar and pearl buttons down the front of the bodice. The simplest of the dresses so as not to appear as though she was there to impress Bram.
Cricket slipped on the comfortable fabric and fastened the front. She studied her reflection in the vanity mirror, not knowing what to do with her hair. The curls had fallen out, leaving a tangled bird’s nest. She combed out the golden locks and quickly plaited her hair but decided to forgo the rouge to her cheeks and gloss to her lips.
Bram’s manor wasn’t far from the carnival, so she wouldn’t bother asking Mistress Eliza if someone could take her or if she could borrow a horse.
As Cricket slipped on her boots, a knock came at the door. She tucked the knife Bram had given her into the lacy black garter around her thigh.
Zephyr stood outside, his leather bag draped over one bare shoulder as the sun cast a warm glow on his broad tan chest and handsome face. A lazy smile spread across his lips, the neutral expression from last night no longer there. “You’re not dressed for practice,” Zephyr drawled. “You’re dressed as though you’re going to afternoon tea somewhere.”
Cricket couldn’t help but smile. “That’s because I am going for tea. Or morning tea with an old friend. I was going to tell you I won’t be able to practice until later.”
“Oh?” He arched a brow. “Would this friend be the same rigid man who was here last night?”
She rolled her eyes and collected her satchel from beside the door. “Yes, he will be there, amongst others. And he isn’t rigid.”
“He doesn’t seem suited for you in the least.” She could’ve sworn she’d heard a hint of jealousy in his voice.
Cricket blinked as she stepped into the morning light and shut the door behind her. “Oh, I didn’t realize you were a fortune teller.” She placed her hands on her hips. “And just who do you predict to be my perfect match?”
Zephyr pressed his hand to the caravan so he was partly caging her as he leaned in. His intoxicating woodsy scent enveloped her, and a part of her wished he would put his other hand up, caging her in completely.
“Someone who can easily match your hidden wildness, make those pretty lips of yours part in pleasure,” he purred, his pupils dilated. And then he did what she wanted—lifted that other hand to fully cage her in.
Cricket swallowed, her gaze shifting away from his as warmth spread through her. Pushing away whatever this was, she forced herself to duck down and out of his cage. “Not that it’s any of your business, but Bram and I are no longer together. He courted me before I…” She trailed off, the words trapped in her throat. And she was glad for it because she didn’t know why she admitted the part about him courting her before aloud.
Zephyr’s face softened as he finished what she’d intended to say. “Before you died. And he’s with someone else now? That’s why you came back to the carnival seeming different, melancholic, after visiting Nobel. Why you never spoke of him or anyone. Why you avoided the performers.”
She remembered when she’d seen Anika and Bram together last. How he’d so easily come into the room, staring at Anika as though she was the force to his heartbeat before he’d discovered Cricket was there at all. The things he’d admitted about Anika last night, the things she secretly wished someone would say about her one day.
“He’s now married to my closest friend.” She shrugged as if she had poured herself a cup of tea and had given it to her friend instead of drinking it. “They are a good match, and I’m happy for them. But sometimes…”
“You wonder what might have been,” he finished for her.