Into the Light by Ellen O'Connell Page A

over his choice of subject provoke her into revealing secrets. How fortunate that her secrets were so outrageous he didn’t believe them.
    “You left out your aunt roaming the moors at the full moon with a lantern held high.”
    “She doesn’t have to do anything that ordinary. In addition to trying to get me to the altar when I don’t want to go, she spends her time poking and prodding trying to find out about my life before I came to live with her and my uncle when it’s none of her business.”
    The laughter was gone from his voice. “You really are angry with her.”
    “I love her, and sometimes I hate her. Yes, she really upset me tonight. Would you like to trade her for your mother who always smiles?”
    “I guess not. I don’t suppose you’d take my sister instead?”
    “She’s really consumed with guilt over something she did?”
    “No, she’s like Lady MacBeth before the murder. She raves about wanting to kill someone. Me in fact.”
    “But she doesn’t mean it.”
    “I hope not. She’s expecting her second child, and she lost the first. I tell myself that’s why she acts the way she does, and once the baby’s born she’ll be the way she used to.”
    Her small flare of resentment died, and the sadness intensified. “Family isn’t always what you want it to be,” she whispered.
    “No one knows that better than I do. I walked away when I was eighteen and swore I’d never come back, but then something happened, and here I am. You’d think nine years would change things, and in some ways it has, but not the things that made me leave to start with.”
    The sum of eighteen and nine stunned her so much she almost missed what he said next.
    “I escape from the ranch every chance I get the same way you escape from crowds.”
    Her heart stopped then leapt to her throat as she jumped to her feet. “Ranch! You’re not.... College.... The Third.... You liar!”
    Unable to form a coherent thought, much less sentence, Deborah turned and ran. Yanking open the back door of the hall, she wove, darted, and pushed her way through couples waiting for the next dance to begin until she reached the place on the other side of the hall where Uncle Jason and Caleb stood talking.
    By the time she got there, Caleb was already staring through the dancers, looking for what had upset her. Uncle Jason leaned in close as a lilting polka began. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
    Now that she’d stopped running, Deborah began thinking. If she told Uncle Jason and Caleb what had happened, they’d be disappointed in her and furious at the Third. Now that she was calming down, she realized the Third wasn’t to blame. If he knew.... He still wouldn’t know unless.... She stared through the dancers toward the door, unable to see any sign of the Third.
    Having alarmed them, she had to tell her uncle and Caleb something. “Two drunks stumbled out the back door. One of them was very — rude, but another man who heard him came along and made the two of them go away. It’s all right. I’m all right. I panicked, but I’m fine now.”
    Caleb had abandoned his search for danger in the crowd and returned in time to hear her. She ignored the pinch of guilt. She wasn’t lying. Not really. It had happened exactly as she said, just back in the spring, not tonight. Setting Caleb loose on a man who needed a cane would be much worse than twisting the truth a little.
    “Come on,” Caleb said, taking her by the arm and ignoring her slight flinch. “Your sisters are out there somewhere dancing, but Norah and your aunt are over by the refreshment table. You’ll feel better after you tell them about it.”
    Deborah nodded and watched a path open up in front of them. Being fussed over now wouldn’t be so bad, and Uncle Jason would be quick to take her back to Miriam’s if she hinted at wanting to go. Her heart still pounded wildly. The Third. Why couldn’t he have been the college boy of her imagination?
     
    T REY WENT AFTER her