She was outside herself. Analyzing, as always. Watching from afar. And there was something different. She was feeling...
“After the fire...I had panic attacks.” Counseling hadn’t helped. Sleeping in the same bed as Gran hadn’t helped. “The only thing that made them go away was knowing there was water nearby.”
There, she’d referred to the night before. Gotten it out in the open. They could move on.
And if Adrianna Keller was crazy, if she had some mental or emotional shortcoming, her secret was still safe. This man only knew Adele Kennedy.
“Were both of your parents home that night?”
“Yes.” Yes. That one word held so much hurt.
“You were screaming last night. Over and over. Were you reliving the fire? Or had you been asleep until they rescued you?”
“I screamed.”
“What about the others? Were they asleep?” The words were delivered with a warm, soft tone, sliding over her with nonthreatening concern.
She was okay. She was Adele. She could give him this. One stranger to another.
“Mom and Ely were screaming, too.”
“Ely?”
“Elijah. My brother. His screams stopped first.”
“How old was he?”
“Seven.” It sounded so young. He’d been her big brother, not a little kid.
“I thought if we all kept screaming, we’d be safe. I had to do my part. And then Ely stopped.”
“Who else was screaming?”
“Mom. She was screaming for Ely and me.” Over and over. Just their names. Ellllyyyy! Aaaadddyy! Over and over. She could hear her so clearly, even now. “I kept answering.” Ely had, too. Until he hadn’t.
“Then she stopped.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.” She had felt compelled to keep calling out, to keep playing the strange game even though the air was so hot and hurt so badly.
“What about your father?”
“He didn’t scream.”
“But he was there.”
She looked away from the fountain into the darkness of the walled-in yard. “Yes.”
Everything went black inside of her mind. Not blank. Just black. She couldn’t picture her father. She could just see the blackness.
Charred black. Burned black.
“Adele?”
Turning her head, Addy focused and saw Mark. Even in shadows, his face was gorgeous—his features strong and chiseled in all the right places, his gray-blue eyes filled with emotion.
He’d called her Adele.