Velvet Lullabies

“I doubt that, Bella.”

It was about a fie hour drive from Manhattan to the southern part of the Adirondack Park where Lucian’s grand-father had house on Lake George. They took their first stop Poughkeepsie for Adelina to use the restroom. He legs shook during the drive and her head was glued to the window taking in all the surroundings.

“Have you never been on a road trip?” Lucian asked with an amused smirk.

“No.” She responded. “Well, Boston. But that’s not that far.”

“So, let me get this straight,” Lucian took a deep breath. “You’ve only been to Rhode Island and Massachusetts?”

“And now New York.” She said biting off the head of a sweetish fish, her chosen snack from the gas station.

When she wasn’t window site seeing, she sang mindlessly along with the radio. It was so beautiful, Lucian feared acknowledging it would make her stop. So, he sat back, foot on the gas pedal, listening to her dreamy voice fill the car as trees sped by around them.

Was this heaven?

With her, in this car, everything around them melted away with the trees. New York was miles behind them, Providence was nowhere in sight. There were no problems to be solved in this car. No family obligations to worry about. Just the two of them, the music, and the forest.

This could work.

They could live like this.

Drop reality and find each other to block out the pain.

She could be his and he would be hers.

But it wouldn’t last. He knew that. At the end of the day he would take he back to Providence where he knew there was a price on her head and pray to God no one got to her before he got to them.

But for now, he would soak of this moment of Adelina, wild and free, with him.

Chapter Seventeen

“You’re not listening to me.” Theo told her. That wasn’t a great start to their evening, Theo being angry only ever ended one way.

He was worse now that he had graduated high school. Adelina wanted to think that was because he had more pressure on him now that he was working for his dad but his actions made her believe it was her fault.

Because he couldn’t be with her during the day. His friends reported back to him and they’re word were always twisted.

Adelina didn’t behave.

She talked to other guys.

She dressed inappropriately.

She was too friendly.

Everything wrong right now was her fault.

???

The driveway to the Luchese lake house was lined with snow covered trees and it felt like several miles before Lucian’s Escalade made it back to the house. The site was beautiful. A two-story log cabin built on a hill overseeing Lake George. The bottom part of the house was covered in the grey stones and above it the breaks in the logs gave way for beautiful open windows. The whole house was covered in sparkly white snow and looked like it belonged on the cover of a magazine.

“Come inside,” Lucian cooed, obviously enjoying her amazement.

Her family wasn’t poor, but they weren’t wealthy like this. The inside smelled like wood, and she inhaled deeply letting the aroma relax her. The walls were lined with wood planks and knotty pine cabinets stood proud in the kitchen. An inviting leather sectional took up space in the living room and all around them were blue and green accents. The home was so warm and inviting Adelina wanted to grab a book and settle in.

“There’s more,” Lucian smiled. “Come on,” he led her out the tall French doors at the back of the house onto the patio. The large patio wrapped around to the side of the house and overlooked the hillside to the private beach, and the beautiful lake.

The sun was just setting and orange and pink clouds lingering in the sky while the remaining light reflected off the watery surface.