Black Wings Read online

  “I told him I’d be able to play with him all day tomorrow, cuz it’s Saturday.” Briella skipped past Marian, stopped when her mother took her by the shoulder as she passed. “What?”

  “You’re going to stay with Grandpa tomorrow afternoon, remember? While Dean and I have a date? Anyway, if its wing is hurt, it probably needs to rest. The more you fuss with it, the longer it’s going to take for it to heal. You might even make it worse.” Marian looked over at her shoulder, but if the bird was monitoring this conversation, she could see no sign of it listening. “C’mon. Let’s get you back to bed. You have a few hours left before it’s time to wake up.”

  “I’m not tired,” Briella said belligerently.

  “Then read quietly in your room,” Marian snapped, immediately regretting her loss of temper.

  If Briella was offended, she didn’t show it. She waved at the bird in the cage. “Goodbye, Onyx.”

  “Goodbye,” the bird called after her.

  Marian shivered with distaste and guided Briella toward the stairs. She was going to walk her up to her room, but Briella stopped her. “I can do it myself.”

  “It’s dark,” Marian began, but Briella waved a hand.

  “I’m fine, Mama. I’m old enough to go by myself.”

  Marian watched Briella mount the steep and narrow stairs until her shadow blended with the darkness at the top of them. She thought about going back to bed herself, but knew she was still too unsettled to sleep. She’d make herself that peppermint tea and snuggle back into bed with Dean, who didn’t have to work again until Monday night. They could sleep in at least a little bit.

  She hovered over the electric kettle until the water finally boiled. The tea steeped while she sorted through some bills, but, too impatient to let the liquid cool, she added an ice cube and sipped. From the den came the unmistakable sound of her daughter’s murmuring voice.

  Irritated, Marian swept into the room, only to find it empty except for the damned raven in its cage. She looked around, thinking the girl might be hiding so she didn’t get in trouble. “Briella?”

  “Briella,” the bird mimicked, sounding so much like her that Marian would have sworn it was her daughter.

  Marian backed out of the room without another word. Upstairs, Briella was sound asleep in bed, or at least giving the impression that she was. Marian stood and watched her for a very long time, but the girl didn’t so much as shift beneath the covers, and her breathing was soft and slow.

  By the time Marian got downstairs her tea was cold, but that was okay because she no longer wanted to drink it.

  Chapter Seven

  Briella wouldn’t get out of the car. Marian opened her door and gestured, but Briella was too busy scribbling in the notebook to pay attention. With a sigh, Marian tapped the book.

  “C’mon, Bean. Grandpa’s waiting.”

  Briella looked up, her gaze distant and cloudy before clearing. She unbuckled her seat belt and got out of the car, clutching the notebook tightly. In the house, she set it carefully on the small table by the front door before going to greet Marian’s father, who’d barely made it out of his recliner by the time they got into the living room.

  “Hey, little princess,” Marian’s dad said as Briella gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “So good to see you. Where’s Dean?”

  “Waiting in the car. I can’t stay long, the movie starts soon. You’re sure you’re going to be okay for a few hours, Dad?” Marian hugged him, feeling how brittle he’d become.

  He’d been losing weight, despite denying that he wasn’t eating enough. Today he felt a bit sturdier than he had for a while. She hugged him harder for a moment, eyes closed, hating the knowledge that her father was getting older. He was fading, and had been since her mother died. Marian was going to lose him, too, no matter how much she tried not to think about it.

  “Of course. My favorite princess and I are going to have a great time. I got out the Scrabble board, and we’re going to have grilled cheese sandwiches.” Dad grinned, his dark skin creasing at the corners of his eyes. “Isn’t that right?”

  “You be good,” Marian reminded Briella before she left, one eye already on the time. She and Dean would only have a few hours, long enough to grab the matinee of the movie they’d been wanting to see and maybe a quick bite after. She didn’t want to be late.

  The movie was a bust, but the early dinner date with her man made up for it. As they pulled into her dad’s driveway half an hour later than she’d said they’d be, Marian waited until Dean had turned off the ignition. She turned in the front seat and kissed him.

  “Your dad’s going to see us,” he said but kissed her anyway.

  “Won’t be the first time he’s caught me kissing a boy in the driveway,” she teased him for a second before kissing him once more. “I wish we had more time.”

  “We have our whole lives,” Dean said.

  Marian shook her head. “I meant today. Right now. I wish we’d told him we’d be back later. But I don’t feel right leaving her with him for so much longer. I know he gets tired out. I just…damn, Dean, I just love getting to spend time with you alone.”

  He didn’t answer her right away, but the corners of his mouth curved upward for a second or so. “Yeah. Well, that’s what being a parent is about, I guess. Before we know it, she’ll be able to stay on her own. Anyway, she loves spending time with your dad, and he loves having her.”

  “I know. It’s just…” She trailed off, then decided to open up about her recent feelings of isolation, her decision to look for part-time work, hell, even her anxiety about doing a shit job as a mother, but before she could, the front door opened.

  “Caught,” Dean said with a grin.

  Marian got out of the car. “Hey, Bean. What’s up?”

  “Is it time to go home?”

  “Yes. Where’s Grandpa?” Marian didn’t see her father behind Briella.

  “He’s sleeping.” Briella hopped down the front porch steps and headed for the car, with her notebook clutched beneath one arm. “He’s been sleeping all day. I was so bored.”

  “All day?” Alarmed, Marian pushed past the girl and went inside. She was convinced she was going to find her father dead in his recliner, but he was blinking owlishly and pushing himself out of it when she got to the living room. “Dad. Oh, God. You’re up.”

  “I’m up. Just had a little nap.” Her father tilted his head. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” She wasn’t about to tell him she’d had a panic attack that she was going to find a corpse, this time human and not a bird.

  Dad frowned. “Where’s Briella?”

  “She went out to the car already. Dad, are you feeling all right? She said you slept all day.” Marian moved toward him to help him steady himself as he finally got up.

  “I did take a nap, but only for the past, oh,” he checked his watch, “maybe twenty minutes or so. We had a nice lunch and played a game or two. She wiped me out in Monopoly. I suppose twenty minutes might feel like all day to a child.”

  Marian hugged him. “Thanks for having her.”

  “Any time. You and Dean come around for dinner once in a while too, you hear me?” Her father shook a finger at her, then hugged her again.

  “We will.” Marian kissed his cheek. It had the same bristly feel she could remember from childhood. His cologne sent another rush of nostalgia through her. “Love you, Dad.”

  “Love you too, girly. Is everything okay with you?”

  She nodded. “Yes. Of course.”

  “Good, good.” Her father hesitated. “That little girl’s a smart one, all right. Is she okay?”

  “She’s…fine, Dad.” Marian had never liked lying to her father, not about sneaking in after curfew, and not now. “Why? Doesn’t she seem fine?”

  “Well, now,” her father said after a second, “it would