“I’m afraid not. Melinda was forced to go into hiding with her family when she found out she was pregnant. She delivered her baby in secret. Lucas eventually found out and forged a plan for them to leave the baby with relatives, so they could meet at the tree and run away together.”
“What about their baby?”
“They planned to come back for her after they were married to avoid a scandal and the risk of her being taken away.”
“Let me guess, they never did?” He massaged her neck, mesmerized by the way history came alive in her imagination.
“No,” she said in a sad voice. “An unexpected summer storm rolled in. They were struck down by lightning.”
“How tragic,” he murmured, moved by the tale of love and loss.
“Legend says, every year if you come to this tree after midnight on Founder’s Day, you can still hear Melinda and Lucas calling to each other, trying to run to the tree.” The rapture in her voice warmed his blood. Telling the tale of lost lovers suffused the night with romance.
His thumb brushed her bottom lip. “I still don’t get what this has to do with us.”
“The woman Lucas was supposed to marry was a witch. She wanted revenge for his betrayal and put a curse on my bloodline.” Brooke blinked and her eyes filled with tears. “Now every woman on my mother’s side is doomed when it comes to love. It can never last.”
Though he tried not to react, her words hit him in the gut. “I’d be the first one to say I don’t know much about witchcraft, but a curse?” He’d grown cynical about love after his divorce. Then he met Brooke and his whole outlook shifted. His world changed.
“You have to trust me, Nico, this is real. It’s one of the reasons I became a matchmaker, to match other people up because love never works out for me.”
“I do trust you…with my life, and I respect your beliefs.” Tilting her chin up, the sight of her tears hit him like a sucker-punch. “The woman I know doesn’t let some legend dictate how she lives her life. She squeezes out every last drop.”
Tears ran down her cheeks. “I put all my faith in the stars and magick. I take things like curses very seriously.”
“I can’t bear to see you cry. We’ve all had bad breakups, sweetheart.” Nico wiped her tears away with his thumb. “That doesn’t mean you’re cursed.”
“When the season changes, so will your feelings.”
“What are you talking about? I’m not going anywhere, unless you don’t feel the same way.” The thought was too terrible to bear. “When I’m with you, it’s a perpetual state of freefall. The more time I spend with you, the more I never want to be away.” He’d been falling for her fast and hard since day one. He brushed her hair away from her face and kissed her forehead.
“These last few weeks have been the best of my life,” she said in a shaky voice.
“Mine too. I miss you when we’re not together. It’s agony when you leave. You’re all I think about, and you’re everything I’ve ever wanted in a partner. It may be too soon to say this, but I think I’m falling in love with you.” Who was he kidding? He was already there. From the moment they started dating, everything changed. It wasn’t a slide into love but a full-on plummet, which made a hell of a lot of sense because she was smart, caring, gorgeous, and awesome in every way possible.
More tears fell to her cheeks. “I…only wish things were different. The sad truth is this relationship won’t last.”
“Baby, stop talking like that. You’re scaring me. What I feel for you isn’t going to change when the leaves fall to the ground.” Nico pressed her hand to his heart where it pounded in his chest.
“You don’t understand. This curse is cruel and powerful enough to break the hearts of all the females in my family descended from Melinda’s bloodline.”
A host of nagging questions filtered through his head. “You’re saying there’s a cosmic conspiracy against you and your family? What makes you think this curse is real and not bad luck?” He stroked her hair, trying to ease her fears.
Her watery gaze met his. “For years I attracted the worst kind of men. But then more recently I started to attract some normal ones, but they act like they don’t know who I am by the next equinox.” The rawness in her voice struck him like a knife to the chest.
“It sounds like you dated a batch of a-holes. They didn’t know what they had, but I do. And I’m grateful to each and every one of them because that’s what brought me to you.” His gut clenched from the torment she endured.
Standing on her tiptoes, she placed her hand on his chest, right above his heart. “I love your optimism. But you have to hear the extent of it. My mother’s destiny has been to cheat on every man she’s ever loved. Her mother was married multiple times because her husbands all fell out of love with her. My great grandmother’s husband deserted her and their eight young children for another woman.”
“I’m sorry. That’s awful. I see how much this has affected you.” He took her hand and placed a kiss on the inside of her palm with all the tenderness now crushing his ribcage. “It seems we both have jagged edges, but we can’t let them rule our lives. Nothing’s going to change the way I feel about you. I promise, we’ll figure this out together.”
CHAPTER11
BROOKE
Brooke’s stomach fluttered from the conviction in Nico’s words. “Thanks for listening. It’s such a relief to finally tell you the truth.”
“I hate that you carry this burden around with you every day.” He wrapped his hand around her waist. From the way he listened, Brooke could tell he wanted to know every secret, every dark shadow about her, and that gave her hope.