The Widow's Son by Thomas Shawver Read Free Book Online

spoke, was pitiful. A cloak of sadness fit him far better than his clothes. But it meant he was an introvert. Being an engineer, he tends to see everything in absolutes. Ask him if a glass is half full or half empty and he’ll say it’s too large by a factor of two.”
    “I know the type. Either something needs to be fixed or it will need fixing after it’s been used a while.”
    “That’s him for sure,” she said with a laugh. “I’d encountered boys like him through my math classes at Avila. I’m not one to be ignored and it amused me to find that they barely noticed me at first. So I worked to befriend a few of the shyer ones. They sure came in handy when I needed help with calculus.”
    I looked at her without saying anything. She was going to have to do better than suggesting that Emery was a great math tutor to convince me why she was so smitten by the guy. And, soon enough, she did.
    “Emery is different from men like you,” she continued, “but I knew early on that he wasn’t simply a tech dweeb. I sensed something hiding within him, a secret that he kept buried but would reexamine at times; kind of like Frodo and his ring. And that smile! It contains the whisper of a laugh that, when upon appearing, transforms him into a handsome prince. Maybe because it was so rare, I found myself figuring out ways to coax it out more often.”
    “Well, I, for one, have yet to see it. How’d you manage to nab the first grin?”
    “Quite by accident, really. After serving him the Provence salad, with its soft-boiled egg on top of the greens and frisée, I reached across his plate to fill the water glass when his hand shot up to grab my wrist.” She shivered at the memory. “I’ll never forget the surprisingly electric sensation I felt at his touch. He dropped his arm as soon as it became apparent why he had done it—to prevent the outlandishly fancy lace of my cuff from being drenched in the dressing—and then he showed that elusive, enigmatic smile.
    “He apologized, explaining that he didn’t want me to ruin my costume. Costume! I’d spent an hour trying to decide on that outfit. But on reflection I realized he understood me completely; more than any man—or woman, for that matter—ever had. Yes, it
was
a costume, fit for a pirate queen. And I laughed out loud.”
    Natalie lapsed into silence after that, but I knew there was something else she needed to say.
    “Your outburst against me a few minutes ago wasn’t because I mentioned your ex, was it?”
    She stood, tilted back her head, and swept back a long auburn tendril that had drooped over an eyebrow.
    “Not entirely,” she answered. “I’ve a lot on my mind these days what with Claire, finances, preparing for the Bloomsday celebration…”
    “And something else?”
    She nodded.
    “When Emery first came to Kansas City, Mike, it was with the sole intent to murder me.”

Chapter 5
    Now, if you know anything about my earlier travails, you’d understand that my first thought upon hearing that was to scurry out the side door muttering excuses about a suddenly remembered dental appointment. But I’m a sucker for a woman’s tears. And Natalie Phelan, who, despite her occasional black moods, I’d never so much as seen snivel, had just become a gushing Niagara of woe.
    “Jesus, when did you learn that?” I asked, once my saliva ducts unjammed.
    “Last week.” She sobbed. “We’d just finished preparing our wedding announcement. Emery wanted no secrets between us. He said it involved something my ancestor did to Joseph Smith.”
    The significance of the name didn’t register at first. After all, there were ten Joe Smiths in the Kansas City phone book alone. Then it struck. “The Mormon?”
    “Yes,” she said, dabbing her eyes. “I knew that I was a descendant of Governor Thomas Ford of Illinois, but I had no idea some Mormons held him accountable for their founder’s death.”
    “But that was nearly two hundred years ago! What does that