CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Harrison sat around and stewed about what Osric said after he left. Truthfully, Harrison didn’t want to send Narissa back to the Rawson family any more than he wanted to send Paige. He could tell that Narissa was working her way into Wystan’s heart, but that didn’t mean Wystan was willing to bypass millions of dollars to keep her for himself. If Harrison wanted to keep Narissa out of harm’s way, he’d have to preemptively send Paige to Zaphier, which he simply wasn’t willing to do. It was a trap either way.

That night, as Paige lay Harrison’s supper in front of him she suddenly said, “I want to tell you that I overheard you and Osric talking.”

“Oh?” Harrison said casually.

“Yeah,” she said, sitting down across from him. “Thanks for saying that you’d never sell me. I was really touched.”

Harrison sniffed. “I just keep doing things to make you fall for me. Is any of it working?”

Paige was quiet for a minute.

Harrison just assumed that she wouldn’t answer and started eating.

Finally, she said, “It’s not not working.”

He paused. “Do you mean that?”

She nodded.

“Listen, I think I may have pieced together some of what happened. It’s hard to tell you because none of it is good,” she cried, “I think those guys might have infected your mom with M.T.N. on purpose.”

Harrison backed off and stared. “What?”

Paige stretched out her free hand in front of her in a gesture of ignorance. “I have no idea why I think that. After you and Osric talked and I heard Armand’s name, that idea popped into my head—almost like something I knew as a fact… like my bank account balance. It’s just that I remember Armand. I hadn’t remembered him in ages, but he worked for Zaphier’s dad. He was practically one of the family, and he was a very dangerous man.”

Harrison stared. He had been struggling to believe what Osric had told him. He shook his head to push the thoughts away. “None of that matters. The only thing that does matter is that I won’t sell you to them and tomorrow—if you want to—I think we should get married in town.”

Paige matched his emotion and said, “You don’t understand. If they were willing to kill your mother, they wouldn't have any scruple coming after you. If I go to them—”

Harrison interrupted. “It won’t make a difference. I don’t have the technology. It’s not here. I’ve looked everywhere.”

“Your dad wouldn’t have torched his life’s work. It’s got to be here somewhere.”

“Then look for it. I dare you,” Harrison said, throwing her hand away to signal the end of their conversation.

“Fine,” Paige shouted. “I will.”

Harrison scowled as she left the room.

What was he supposed to do? He didn’t care about the ruptor or the plans to make one. It all seemed stupid compared with being with Paige. He picked up his watch and set her perimeter to allow her to go no further than the hangar. At the very least, he wanted to sleep soundly that night and he didn’t want to be bothered with annoying notifications.

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***

Paige yawned in the kitchen at one in the morning. She originally came into the kitchen with the idea of making some more orange juice but abandoned the idea when she realized she could just slice it and stuff the wedges in her mouth. Mercy, she was tired.

Harrison had gone to bed while she searched the house, looking for some hint about the ruptors. She believed Harrison when he said he couldn’t find them. She just thought that maybe his father had hidden them somewhere in the house. They had already renovated big portions of the house. It was hard to know where to look. She was thinking that there might be a trap door in the floor, so she stomped everywhere looking for a hollow sound. Nothing! Then she started banging on the walls. It was a wonder Harrison didn’t come out and bite her head off over the crazed banging, but he didn’t budge from his room.

By three in the morning, she hadn’t found a clue, but she couldn’t discount the feeling in her heart. Something was wrong. Once she had known what it was, but now she hit a wall when she tried to think of it.

Harrison mentioned marriage, which should have made her happy, but it was hard for her to think of it when she had this weight on her chest. Long ago, she had done something wrong and it was coming back to haunt her. Something was wrong, and she couldn’t think of anything except the horror that surrounded her heart whenever she stopped to think.

She ate the rest of her orange and went to bed in the spare room. She wanted to wait for daylight before she went to look in the basement of the hangar.

***

The next morning, Harrison stood in the kitchen. He was drinking a glass of water and looking out the window at the trees arching in the wind. Not only had Paige kept him up half the night with her illogical clatter, but looking outside, he had a sense of foreboding. It wasn’t a good day to get married. It was the kind of day you stayed where you were and waited for the storm to pass.

Yet, even with the wind lifting the grass and dirt, an unexpected truck parked in front of the house.

Harrison knew the truck, but he couldn’t have been more surprised when the owner of it got out and knocked on the door. It was Wystan. When Harrison opened the door for him, his white hair blew so that it almost stood on end. It was his face that surprised Harrison. He hadn’t seen Wystan look that alive in years.

Harrison brought him inside and shut the door hard behind him. “What brings you out here?”

Wystan smoothed down his hair and tried to adjust his clothes. “I didn’t believe it when Osric told me, but last night, it happened.”

“What happened?”

“I got a request from Sleeping Beauty Inc. to sell Narissa back to them,” he beamed.

“Bloody hell,” Harrison groaned. That explained why the old codger looked so freaking pleased with himself. “Are you going to sell her?”

Wystan looked appalled for a second before he whacked Harrison up the backside of the head. Harrison nursed the smack like he was twelve again. “I’m not going to sell her. Dolt!” he added grouchily. “If I’d known you’d be such a moron about this, I wouldn’t have bothered to drive out to tell you.” He put his hands on his still-country-boy-hips and paced.

Harrison asked sincerely, “Really? How much did they offer you?”

“More than I made all the years of my life combined, but you know, when I saw it all laid out like that… it didn’t look like a fair exchange to me.”

Harrison was stunned.

Wystan looked around at all the renovations Harrison and Paige had done. “This is what your woman did to the place when she came?” He whistled. “Keziah never would have thought of all this.” He looked at Harrison for a second, and for that second, Harrison thought he could read what Wystan was thinking. It went something like, ‘Good thing you didn’t take my daughter.’ Then the old man broke eye contact and said, “I should shove off. I just wanted to see your face when I told you that I’m not going to sell Narissa. I’ve never had the chance to do something to show a woman that I… felt something for her. I should do at least one thing right in my life. See ya.”

Harrison felt relieved as Wystan walked out the door into the wall of wind. Harrison hoped the man would keep to his plan.

Harrison had his own plan to keep to. He got his tools and went up to the tower to pull up the carpet so he could redo it for Paige. If he couldn’t marry her today, he could keep another one of his promises.