Dying Scream Read Free Page A

wrapped long fingers around her smooth, soft hand.
    Placated, she smiled. “Just stand here for a minute in silence.”
    They stood in front of Craig’s father’s grave: Robert Thornton, devoted husband to Frances and loving father to Craig. She bowed her head and said a silent prayer for the Thorntons and for the marriage she was about to enter.
    Within seconds Craig started to squirm and tap his foot. She opened one eye and peeked at him. “Didn’t your dad ever talk about this ceremony?”
    Craig tossed her a rueful grin. “You knew Dad. He wasn’t the talkative type.”
    Robert Thornton, unlike his only son, had been a serious, stern man. “He had to have said something.”
    “Dad wasn’t as much into the family legacy thing as much as Mom was. You know how obsessed she is with the family. Especially now.”
    Adrianna desperately wanted Craig to take charge of this moment and be a man worthy of her sacrifices. “And?”
    He gave her a good-natured smile. “I honor the Thornton family and the privileges they’ve bestowed. And into the family welcome my new bride. We will be forever and always together.”
    She lifted a brow. “That’s what you’re supposed to say?”
    He leaned forward. “Close enough. And we’re supposed to kiss.”
    “Really?”
    “Really.” He winked as he kissed her warmly on the lips. “Now, I have a lovely bottle of Chardonnay and a picnic lunch in the trunk of my car. Let’s enjoy this day and leave the dead in peace.”
    She let him wrap his arms around her and she sank into the warm embrace, savoring the scent of his cologne. “Do you take anything seriously?”
    “I take you seriously.” Genuine emotion punctuated the words. “I love you. I never want to lose you again, Adrianna.”
    The rapid beat of his heart drummed against her ear. Craig did love her. And she cared deeply for him. She just hoped it was enough and that marriage would help him settle down and mature.
    “I’m pregnant.”
    He hauled her back and stared into her eyes. “What?”
    She nibbled her bottom lip, now afraid that he wouldn’t want the child. In so many ways he was a child. “Four weeks.”
    Craig’s mouth rose into a genuine smile. He hugged her close. “Babe, this is great!”
    “You’re okay with this? I know it wasn’t planned.”
    He chuckled warmly. “It’s the best news I’ve ever heard! Life is going to just get better and better.”
     
    Two months later a drunk driver had broadsided their car. She’d miscarried and Craig had suffered irreparable brain damage. He’d languished in a coma for two years before he’d died last December.
    A twin pair of cardinals flapped across the drive, startling her and closing her mind to the memories that only made her miserable.
    A deep breath loosened the tightness in her chest as she drove the half mile down the gravel driveway, which flowed into the circular loop by the old house’s front door. Out of the car, she glanced at her watch. With minutes to spare before the scheduled meeting with the grave excavation team at the cemetery, she had time to check on the progress in the house.
    The place had been a showpiece just fifteen years ago, and had hosted some of the state’s most powerful and rich. She’d attended parties here as a teenager. Frances had even hosted her sixteenth birthday party in this house.
    But over the last few years, she’d not visited the property. Her neglect showed in the rot that had eaten away at the rounded columns, the mold that had dulled the whitewashed clapboard, and the missing shingles damaged in the August storm.
    Adrianna climbed the front steps and moved into the central foyer that led to a wide staircase and a long hallway that cut through the first floor. Open doors leaked light in from the side rooms to the hallway.
    “Mrs. Wells,” Adrianna shouted.
    Mrs. Wells peered out the front parlor. The housekeeper was a sixtysomething woman with short curly red-gray hair and a plump frame that