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Cora

“Are you sure about this, luv?”

It’s the first thing that the hired driver, George, has said since picking me up from my London hotel just before dahen the full ered just above the horizon Since then we’ve traveled almost two hundred miles north, but the silence between us over the course of those four hours was a comfortable one I’d been too preoccupied for conversation, with nerves tuination racing as I pictured how Blackwood Manor ed in the ten years I’ve been away

But I never iatehouse—the house where I lived the first fifteen years of my life The stone structure straddles the lane that leads to Blackwood Hall, and serves as the entrance to the estate While I was growing up, never once were those wrought-iron gates closed Instead they were always open, inviting visitors to continue on toward the great manor house that sits like a crown upon the escarprounds

Yet now those gates are closed The heavy rusted chain looped between the wrought-iron bars looks as if it has been there al “No Trespassing” hangs froatehouse itself, traditionally the horoundskeeper, appears utterly abandoned

And those grounds are no longer beautifully tended The overgron beyond the gate looks as if no one has held that position since my father left—since he took me from Blackwood Manor, the only ho to for ten years

But judging by the disrepair of the gatehouse and estate grounds, that home looks as if it has been left to rot And instead of nerves in my belly and a heart full of hope, now despair thickens sourly in my chest

Why had I been brought here? When I was contacted by the Blake fao, he said that my father’s former employers had learned of his recent death and wished to discuss the repayment of a debt As far as I are, they hadn’t owedwith details All I could ione unpaid when he’d left their e relative Whatever debt they owe, they apparently felt it needed to be paid in person, so they arranged for me to travel fro me here

But why? Clearly the Blakes don’t live here now If anyone still resided at Blackwood Hall, then those gates would not have gone unopened and chained for as long as they appear to have been There would be so, because an estate and house of this size simply cannot function without people to care for it

Yet obviously no one has been, and seeing the neglect feels as if a razor is slicing away at my heart

The driver softly clears his throat “Would you like e, then, and see you sorted at the inn?”

I tearroof and broken s At the inn? A flutter of panic quivers through the heavy despair

The reason I never returned to Blackwood Manor before now is si illness Even before that, however, money has been scarce for years

And although the Blakes bought e to drive ee inn I assumed that would all be taken care of after I arrived Blackwood Hall doesn’t lack for guest rooms…and, in truth, I’d hoped that I wouldn’t have to make that return trip back to the States I’d hoped that there ht be a place for me here, and that I’d either find employment on the estate—

Or so I left behind

It’s not the only thing I’ve drea to all these years

Because there’s always been Gideon

Gideon Blake, with eyes as green as spring and a devil’s sether on the estate, but he was never like a brother—and always a friend Until he was alot further than a kiss and a promise

Then my father left his position here and put half a world between me and Gideon

Of course I knew thatI’ve hoped for was just a silly girl’s dream—I can hardly expect hio, as a boy of seventeen—yet the possibility of finding a job on the estate hadn’t seemed so silly

I never dreah So I can’t stay But I’ve also got nowhere else to go There’s nothing left for ton and the little coastal tohere my father and I lived, even if I could afford the plane ticket back

But although there’s nothing for ood-bye to the place

After that…well, I’ll figure so out

“There’s no need to take et out here and walk up to the big house”

“But the gate’s locked,” he points out

“I have a key to the gatehouse, so I can go through that way” Which is a lie, but I do knoay to enter the estate When uncertainty tightens his ot which day I was co I’ll find someone up at the house”

Though clearly unhappy withsuitcase froht jacket to ward off the chill in the air The breeze sweeping across the grounds has a dank odor clinging to it, instead of the fresh and clean scent that I recall froo

“You sure you’ll be all right, dragging that luggage up the lane?”

“It shouldn’t be a problem” I extend the suitcase’s handle “It’s not heavy, and the lane is paved It should roll easily”

“All right, then Now I’ll be stopping at the pub in the village for a bite of lunch I expect I’ll be an hour or so before returning to London, so you ring e your mind, and I’ll drive here to pick you up”

His kindness helps to easeht me here Surely the situation can’t be so very dire

Warht down the narrow country lane before walking in the other direction A stone wall surrounds the estate’s grounds, with access gates the size of a standard door installed at regular intervals around the periates were always locked, but that never stoppedone of them before

The gate on the east wall is ap allowed us to slip through as children—though by the tie to fit The last tiap

My step falters That last tio, ht he’d first kissed ht that had ended with somet

hing—so us back to the safety of the estate Then Gideon had gotten stuck pushing through the gap, and I re ofto help drag hi approach of soh the dark

I’d…al that night, , Gideon came doith a terrible fever that worried his parents so deeply they’d flown him to see a specialist in Switzerland Soon we received word that his fever had broken and he was on the mend But even before they returned to Blackwood Manor, ned and we left for the States