Canes of Divergence (7 page)

Rosewood Castle, Eirentheos

“I
S THE WEATHER
always this strange here?” Quinn asked, shifting the baby up over her shoulder and turning to face the sun.

William opened his eyes. H
e, too, had been basking in the warmth as they watched his younger siblings play on the swings and in the wilting gardens.

“Strange how?”

“Strange as in … it was snowing last week.”

He
shrugged and held his hands out to her. “If he’s finished eating, it’s my turn.”

“
Excellent. I think he needs to be changed soon.”

“I can handle it
,” he said, pointing to the small cloth bag he’d brought outside with them and scooping the baby into his arms.

“
You never get enough, do you?”

“No
.” He adjusted the white blanket over his own shoulder and brought little Samuel’s forehead to his lips, kissing his soft, downy hair before propping him on his shoulder and patting his back, working to get the burp he knew was still in there.

He looked at Quinn. She was smiling at them, looking so beautiful it took his breath away. Leaning over, he
pressed his lips against her temple. “I could never get enough of this … of both of you.”

Still s
miling, she turned to him, her lips finding his, kissing him a little longer than she usually did when they weren’t alone.

“So
… what were you asking me about the weather?” he asked, trying to collect himself after she finally pulled away.

She chuckled. “I was just asking if it’s normal for it to be this warm again after it’s already been snowing.”

Sometimes, he almost forgot she hadn’t grown up here – hadn’t always lived in Eirentheos with him and that so many experiences would still be new to her. “Yes, it’s normal. The weather here is a little milder usually than it is in your world – well, in the Colorado mountains, anyway. I’m sure there are other places there that are more like here. It’ll do this all winter. You’ll get used to it.”

“I wasn’t complaining.”

He smiled. “I like it, too. And so do the kids.”

She
looked around at the wide area where they were all playing, then frowned. “They are going to destroy those.”

He followed her gaze.

Emma and Alice had wandered away from the playground area, and they were climbing into the huge bed of rose bushes that lined the back wall of the garden. In the summer, the area was a huge cascade of blooming flowers that seemed to pour off the stone walls and stretch forever, separating this area from the kitchen gardens.

During the growing seasons, it would have been impossible for the children to even get in there. Now, though, it was slightly more sparse – mostly a tangled mass of sticks and stems; the last of the blooms had finally wilted and been trimmed off
the remaining canes by the gardeners only a few weeks ago.

The two children were climbing carefully, but every few seconds,
another twig would snap. As he watched, Emma stepped right into the middle of one of the bushes; the leg of her pants caught on the thorns for a second before she pulled it free.

“Yes, they are.
Where are Ben and Linnea?”

She
nodded toward the swings as he stood and handed the baby back to her. Ben had just picked up Sarah, who was crying, and Linnea was bent down talking to Alex.

“I
have no idea what those two think is appealing about playing in those thorny roses, but my mother won’t be happy if they kill all of her bushes. I’ll be right back.”

“I knew you’d get out of it somehow,” she teased, chuckling as she reached for the diaper bag.

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Right. Because I haven’t changed the last hundred diapers. Do you even know how to do it?”

“Um…” She giggled as she glanced into the bag. “I’m sure I can figure it out.”

“I love you,” he said, kissing her on the head.

“I love you, too. Now go, before there are no roses next cycle.”

He’d only been kidding, of course. Quinn had changed her share of Samuel’s diapers, but he considered it only fair that if she had to do all of the feedings, then he could do as many of the changings as possible.

He yelled for the girls before he ever reached the flowerbed, but they were so wrapped
up in whatever they were doing that neither one of them even turned at his voice. Sighing, he looked for the clearest route through the thick brambles and climbed in.

Less than ten feet into the flowerbeds, he noticed
the girls had stopped moving and both of them were kneeling down. A second later, he saw what was holding their attention so fully.

“Emma! No!” he shouted.

Whether she’d finally heard him, or she was just frightened by the sudden movement of the animal that crouched in the bushes didn’t matter. Emma stood up and leapt back in such haste she bumped into Alice, knocking her sideways into the bushes – and right into the path of the startled fox.

In the next instant, Alice was screaming, and William was running toward her, his worry about the plants forgotten.

“Get out of here, Emma,
now
!” he yelled as he reached them.

Before he could grab Alice
and yank her out of the way, the fox sprang, closing its jaw around the little girl’s forearm.

He reacted without thinking, elbowing the fox’s muzzle
twice, until it let go of Alice and then shoving her to the side. Immediately, the animal’s teeth sank into his arm.

William twisted his whole body in an attempt to get away from the fox, but it wouldn’t let go. The girls were both screaming and crying now.

Suddenly, he felt a huge
thud
, and then the fox whined, its teeth finally loosening from his arm.

He scrambled away as quickly as he could, trying to pull himself to his feet at the same time, putting himself between Alice and the fox.

The high-pitched whine that was still coming from the fox made no sense to him until he finally turned around.

Ben was there, brambles and thorns stuck to his pants, beet-faced and breathing hard, kneeling over the fox, which was, William could now see, dying. Ben’s dagger was
through its side, pinning it to the ground.

He scooped up Alice, pressing her face to
his chest as Ben placed his boot over the fox’s neck, withdrew his dagger, and then stabbed it again, this time through its heart. The animal fell silent.

“We need to keep it – to get it
back to the clinic.” Although he didn’t really. He knew, from the wild look that had been in the animal’s eyes, from the white froth that even now was escaping its mouth, what the test results would show.

Ben nodded. “It’s not going anywhere now. Let’s get the girls there first.” As he spoke he was already walking to where Emma was huddled
on the ground. She’d stopped screaming, but tears still streamed down her face.

William could see small cuts on her hands from where she’d fallen in the roses, but he didn’t think she’d been bitten.

Ben picked her up, and both of them hurried to carry the girls out of the flowerbeds.

Alice’s wound was beginning to bleed everywhere. He pressed his hand against it as tightly as he could. She whimpered, but didn’t start crying again.

Quinn and Linnea were standing at the edge of the flowerbeds looking shocked.

“What can I do?” Quinn called as he approached her. Her face was white as she took in his appearance. He was covered in Alice’s blood already, and he was sure his own wounds were bleeding, too.

“You can get Samuel and the rest of the kids upstairs. Now, please. They don’t need to see any more of this.”

“Are you okay?”

He nodded, though he was sure she saw right through him. “Linnea,” he said, “please find Mother and Father and have them meet me down at the clinic.”

Bristlecone, Colorado

Z
ANDER WAS SURPRISED
to see lights still on inside his house when he pulled up to the curb. Normally, his parents would be in bed before he made it home from a party.

He checked the clock. No, it wasn’t
late enough for them to start worrying. Still, he was wary as he approached the house.

“Is that you, Zander?” his dad called from the kitchen at the sound of the door closing.

He didn’t sound angry. “Yeah, it’s me.”

His dad appeared in the doorway
separating the kitchen from the living room, a dishtowel slung over his shoulder. He didn’t look upset, either. Zander relaxed. “What are you still doing up?”

“Oh, it was kind of a crazy night here with the extra kids. I told your mom I’d finish cleaning up so we can get out of here at a reasonable time tomorrow.”

“I forgot you guys were leaving.”

“Yeah, Ashley’s performance is tomorrow night. We thought we’d get an early start and maybe take all the kids to the zoo first. Are you sure you don’t want to come?”

“Am I sure I don’t want to be packed into a hotel room tomorrow night with you and mom and four little kids?”

His dad chuckled.
“It’s a suite.”

Zander raised an eyebrow.

“I know. I don’t think I would have wanted to at your age, either. What are you going to do here for the rest of the weekend?”

“I don’t know. Maybe hang out with
Adam; maybe go through the college catalogs again.”

“Still haven’t made a decision?”

“No – and I know I’m running out of time.” This wasn’t entirely true. He knew where he wanted to go – he just wasn’t ready to have that conversation with his father.

“Another
letter came for you today – it’s on the mantel.”

“Really?” He was pretty sure he’d heard back from all of the colleges he’d sent applications to.

When he saw the logo on the envelope, he was confused. He hadn’t sent his application to DU. As he tore it open, he tried hard to convince himself it was something else, just junk mail, or … but it wasn’t. His heart sank when he unfolded the acceptance letter inside.

“So?” His father’s voice was gleeful; Zander was surprised he wasn’t jumping up and down.

“Didn’t you already open it and look? Why wouldn’t you take that upon yourself, too?”

“Zander, it’s a good school. They have a great business program. Four years from now, you could be ready to become a partner at the office.”

“And what if that’s not what
I
want to do?” He’d never outright challenged him on this point before, wanting to avoid the battle. When his father had brought out the application for DU, Zander had filled it out dutifully, essays and all. But he’d never mailed it. One afternoon, when he dropped Quinn off for work at the library, he’d stopped in to use their shredder.

But Jack Cunningham was meticulous about everything
. He’d made copies of every application before they sealed them up. Most likely, he’d realized that Zander never sent the original when the check for the application fee wasn’t cashed.

“Zander, I remember what it was like to be your age, I do. This wasn’t what I originally wanted to do, either. I had the same argument with my father. But then, I went to college, I met your mother, and I realized this was going to be a good job – that I would be able to provide for her, to raise a family with her.”

“I don’t plan on getting someone pregnant in college, Dad.”

“Regardless,
” his father answered, his voice only slightly darker, “you’re going to want to marry someone someday. And you’re going to want to have a career that can provide for you – and them. I have a business ready to hand over to you.”

Zander stared at him, silently contemplating, not wanting to turn this into a fight. He knew his father loved
him and that his intentions were good – but Zander wanted no part of running a real estate office in Bristlecone, Colorado. And he didn’t want to go to the school his father had gone to. Wasn’t he supposed to have some choice in the matter?

“Look, I know DU doesn’t have a football team…”

“Is that what you think this is about, Dad?
Football
?”

“Well, I know it’s been important to you.”

“What else is supposed to be important in
Bristlecone
? Seriously, Dad. It was you who made me go out for football in the first place.”

“Made you? I thought it was important to you. You’re so good at it.”

He wasn’t going to be able to stay calm a whole lot longer. “Dad. It’s fine. Football was fine for high school. I had fun, and I made some good friends. I might have been okay for Bristlecone High, but I already knew I wasn’t going to be playing football in college. It’s not about football,
okay
?”

“Then I don’t understand. What is it about?”

“I don’t know, Dad. Maybe it’s about making my own choices, about living the life
I
want to have, instead of one somebody else picked for me.”

“The world doesn’t really work that way, Zander. At some point, everyone has to grow up and do the responsible thing.
”

“Why does it have to be
your
‘responsible thing’?”

“What else are you going to do?”

“Do I have to decide right this second? I’ve been thinking about computer science … or maybe even pre-med.”

His father rolled his eyes. “Those are jobs for really smart people.”

The words stung so badly Zander actually flinched. He took several steps backward.

“Oh, don’t take it like that, Zander. I just meant the kind of people who go into those are the ones with straight
‘As’ – the ones who study all weekend and don’t have lives. You have a life.”

He bit his tongue until he tasted blood, willing himself not to do something he’d be embarrassed about later.
It was true he didn’t have a straight 4.0, but he’d never made less than a B in anything. And his grades in science and math
were
perfect. Maybe his father had never even noticed that. Or maybe he just didn’t care, because it got in the way of his vision of what
he
wanted for Zander. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore,” he finally muttered through his teeth.

“Well, you can’t put off talking about it forever. The deposits are due soon. And, honestly, son, I don’t
have any intention of throwing my money away. If you’re determined to mess around and waste your time chasing after something that doesn’t have a future for you, then you’re going to have to find a way to pay for it yourself.”

Zander stared at him, stunned into silence; his mind had suddenly gone completely blank, and he couldn’t focus on anything, except the strange ringing in his ears.

“Someday, when you own a nice real estate business, and you’re standing in the kitchen of a nice house with your own son, you’ll thank me for this, Zander. Now, I have to get to bed. I have a busy day planned with my family tomorrow, which will be paid for with money from the business I run. Good night.”

His father pa
used on his way out to pat him on the back, but Zander still couldn’t respond.