Her Dear and Loving Husband by Meredith Allard Page A

demons, and others, like us, try to exist as humanly as we can. It’s up to us to decide which way we’re going to go.”
    “Humans can be demons too.”
    “You’re right. I think humans are afraid to consider the existence of our kind because they fear the violence we might do. But I’m more afraid of humans because of the violence I’ve seen from them. That’s why we have to stay undercover. Not everyone is ready for us.”
    “I understand,” Timothy said. “You’re afraid they’re going to do what they did to Elizabeth, accuse innocent people. Or worse.”
    “I don’t want to see another hunt. Living through the witch hunt was hard enough.” 
    “Don’t worry, James. I won’t talk to the reporter. I won’t tell anyone.”   
    Even the little bit he had described to Timothy didn’t come close to explaining the horror of it all, but he couldn’t speak about it any more that night. They straightened up the mess in the storage room, pulled up the shelves, stretched out the dents, and placed the incense and candles into some semblance of order. They tried to make it look like they had never been there, but James was afraid that when Olivia looked around everything would be wrong. And then, without another word, Timothy left looking as spent as James felt. 
    When James walked into the hub of the store Jennifer nodded at him. He thought she heard the crash in the storage room, and he was going to tell her he would pay for any damage. She pointed at the door instead.   
    “I told you she’d be here,” she said. “There’s your girl.”
    James saw her through the window. Sarah. Sweet Sarah. Beautiful Sarah. The girl who looked like his Lizzie Sarah. She was shivering from the cold autumn wind, but she smiled shyly when she saw him. He greeted her at the door.
    “Please,” he said, extending his arm in that old-world gesture. He led her outside where it was cold, but there was a food stand a few steps away and he bought her some hot chocolate. She offered him some, which he politely declined, and they walked to the edge of the wharf where they could see the bay riding out to the Atlantic Ocean. They stood close to each other, Sarah sipping from her styrofoam cup, watching the smooth water lap like a kitten’s tongue at the edge of the shore. He wanted to reach out to her, touch her dark hair, bury his nose in her sweet scent, kiss her forehead, ask her how she was feeling. Was she still frightened by the awful vision she saw when he walked her home? There was so much he wanted to ask her. But since there were so many questions he wouldn’t answer about himself, he felt selfish for wanting to peel away the layers of Sarah Alexander. But he couldn’t stop his need to know her. She was so like his Lizzie.
    Across the wharf James saw Jocelyn and Steve Endecott, dressed for Halloween as Sonny and Cher. As they walked to him he saw their surprise to find him there, standing next to a woman, a beautiful woman at that. When Sarah wasn’t looking, Jocelyn nudged him, but he was too embarrassed to answer her unasked questions. Then Sarah saw some people she knew from the college, other professors James wasn’t acquainted with, so she walked across to talk to them. Jocelyn nudged James again.
    “She seems nice, James. Human too.” She stroked Steve’s cheek and he smiled. “There’s something irresistible about humans, isn’t there?”
    James looked to see where Sarah was, still talking to the professors. She couldn’t hear them from where she stood. 
    “She doesn’t know,” he said.
    “She doesn’t know?” Jocelyn couldn’t hide her surprise. “You need to tell her, James. It’s not going to be good if she finds out by accident.” 
    Steve nodded in agreement. “She might be afraid at first, God knows I was, but if she’s the one for you then she’ll handle it. If you care about each other you’ll find a way to make it work.” He smiled lovingly at Jocelyn. “Like we