My Fake Rake

He nodded. “The world’s a wondrous place.”

“And exceptionally big and surprising, especially when you’re a child.” She smoothed a hand over her skirts pooled around her. “We had a pond not very far from the house. I went there every day. It wasn’t quite beautiful, not in any way a Romantic poet might consider, but to me it was—full of so many living things. Bufo bufo and Lissotriton vulgaris and Natrix natrix helvetica, all going about their lives.”

She felt a fond smile touch her lips. “There’s something delightfully quiet about amphibians and reptiles. They’re fragile, and shouldn’t be handled much. They need to be left alone.”

“Sounds like someone I know,” he said with a teasing grin.

She chuckled, liking too much when he joked with her, and the way it made her belly feel full of stars.

“They also don’t have fur or adorable faces. They don’t show emotion the way people want them to, so they’re believed to be without feelings.” Her jaw tightened as indignation rose within her. “It’s not true. What they feel is subtler than what humans want. They feel, only it’s kept here.” She pressed a hand to the center of her chest.

“Never thought of it that way,” he admitted. They both looked up as the shadow of a bird of prey crossed the meadow. “I must own that I’d not given much thought to the interior lives of reptiles and amphibians. They do seem emotionless and indifferent.”

“I can’t speak for them, of course,” she said quickly. “No one can, but I know it’s wrong to condemn them for being different or defying our expectations.” She heard the heat in her voice, but felt no fear that Sebastian might belittle her for being passionate about herpetology.

How could she feel so comfortable with him and be so aware of him at the same time? The paradox mystified her—and frightened her.

Yet she was grateful all the same when he said gravely, “A lesson everyone could stand to learn.”

She steadied herself with a breath. “In any event, I studied all the creatures of the pond, barely moving so they’d be comfortable around me. One day, I went out to the pond and it had been drained to make ready for landscape improvements.” Just thinking about it made her throat tight and her eyes hot. “The creatures’ home—where they ate and slept and mated and had families—was gone. It was awful. And no one cared. No other humans, anyway. My mother consoled me as I sobbed, but she didn’t understand. We’d destroyed their world, and all to make something prettier.”

“I’m so sorry, Grace.” The genuineness in his gaze, in his words, reached deep within her.

“Thank you. Almost twenty years have passed since that day, but sometimes the wound is still raw.” She drew in another long breath. “I never knew what happened to all the creatures that once called the pond home, but as a result of that day, I became aware of the harmful effects of humanity on the natural world. I became determined to study it so that everyone can learn its significance.”

“Admirable,” he said sincerely.

“It’s not much,” she murmured, “but it’s what I can do. I’m currently working on a paper that describes the deleterious effects landscape improvements have on the habitat of English reptilia and amphibia.”

“I consider myself an utter ass to have never asked you about this before.” He chuckled ruefully.

“You’re asking now, so that’s something.”

He looked unconvinced. “The bare minimum of effort is hardly worth commending.”

“And yet so many men believe that it is.” Movement caught her eye, and she whispered as she pointed, “There. Do you see it?”

Sebastian went very still as he peered in the direction she indicated. “That lizard’s biting the other’s tail—is it an attack?”

“Mating behavior.” She gave a soft laugh, and his laughter joined hers. They watched the two lizards as the male continued to hold on to the female’s body as he attempted to position himself to deposit his seed.

“Perhaps we should give them some privacy,” Sebastian suggested.