Page 25 of Little Ballerina
“Because you're beautiful, and smart, and stronger than anyone else I know.” She was shaking her head at his words, silently refuting them. “Stop doing that. You're amazing, Naomi, why do you doubt that?” He wasn't used to seeing Naomi doubt anything, it was disconcerting. He couldn’t fathom why she couldn’t comprehend that he could like her.
“They wished it was me who died,” she murmured, dropping listlessly down into a chair.
Anger pierced him, along with a deep protective rage. “Who wished it was you who died?” he demanded a little more forcefully than he’d intended.
“It was understandable. They had just lost two of their grandchildren, and I was just the child their daughter-in-law had when she cheated on their son,” Naomi recited the words emotionlessly and he wanted to shake some sense into her.
“You were an eight-year-old little girl, you weren’t responsible for how you were conceived, and you were lucky to make it out of that fire alive.”
Tears brimmed in her eyes, and she quickly averted her gaze. “David and Eli didn’t make it out alive.”
“No, they didn’t.” Although they'd never discussed the fire, he’d known that her two youngest brothers, aged just four and two, had died that night. “But you did,” he prompted.
Still refusing to look at him she nodded. “I woke up. There was smoke everywhere,” her voice and her face went far away as she spoke. “My mom’s room was at the other end of the house. I knew she couldn’t get to us. Ruth and I shared a room. Seth used to sleep on the floor between our beds because he got scared in his room. He didn’t like the tree outside his window, he said it looked like a monster. I woke them up, I was going to get David and Eli, but the doorknob was too hot, I couldn’t open the door, so I opened the window, and we climbed down the tree. I wanted to go back for the boys, but they wouldn’t let me. There were so many people there, my mom, the neighbors, police, and firefighters, but none of them could get into the house, the flames were too fierce. David and Eli died.”
“I'm sorry,” he said because he didn’t know what else to say.
“A faulty heater. That’s what killed them.”
He knew that. He’d looked up the report on the fire that had claimed two of her half-brothers’ lives years ago. Now, however, he was doubting that. Could the fire have been arson after all? Could the person who’d done it come back to finish what they started? “Are you sure?”
Her eyes grew wide. “You think someone started the fire deliberately?”
“No. I’m just presenting it as a possibility. It’s bothering me that he chose a photo of you from just before the fire. He could have picked anything, but that was what he went with. I need to know what happened after you moved.”
She clammed up instantly. “I already told you it’s not related.”
“I believe you think that, but I still need to know.”
“No.”
His anger shifted toward her. “No? I know you don’t like it, and I agree you're entitled to your secrets, but unfortunately this trumps your privacy. You need to start taking this seriously.”
She bounded to her feet. “You think I'm not taking this seriously?” she raged. “Nicole is dead for no other reason than that she knew me. My sisters who have both been through so much are now in danger just because they're my sisters. Everyone I care about could wind up dead because of me, and I can't stop it because I don’t know who is stalking me. Trust me, I'm taking this plenty seriously.”
“All right, I'm sorry,” he attempted to calm her. “But I need to knoweverything. Even things you don’t want to tell me.”
“You're one to demand I tell you my secrets. What about yours? I'm not the only one who likes my privacy. You never talk about how you got that.” She gestured at the long scar that snaked along his left cheek. “You tell me what happened, and I’ll tell you what you want to know.”
His heart clenched at the mention of the scar. A constant reminder of a day he’d rather forget. Discussing that day was out of the question, and one glance at Naomi confirmed that she knew that. “We’re not talking about me. I’m not the one that someone wants to kill. This isn’t a game.”
“No, it’s not. And I will tell you anything that will help you find who’s doing this, but everything else is off-limits.”
With that, she brushed past him and stalked from the room, leaving Sam torn between wanting to wring her pretty neck for being so impossibly frustrating and stubborn, and gathering her up and cradling her in his arms making promises to keep her safe and make everything better that he could never hope to keep.
* * * * *
4:51 P.M.
A hand on her shoulder made her jump a mile.
“Whoa. Sorry.”
The voice soothed her racing heart as she realized who it was. “Rylla.”
“Yep.”
“What are you doing here? I thought Sam wanted to enforce a no visitors policy.” Naomi turned and offered her friend a small smile.