Full Moon Fiancé

Love Lives On

Diana felt like a schoolchild waiting in the principal’s office to learn why she had been called out of class all morning as she sat on the couch and swung her feet against the soft fibers of the carpet underneath her.

She expected that Anna and Thomas Westerly would be coming up to tell her off for her indiscretions at any moment, and each creak of floorboards or muffled voice from outside her room sent a start running through her as she waited for the axe to fall.

Objectively, she reminded herself, she was a grown woman. She was being semi-held captive, she reasoned. She shouldn’t be in trouble, shouldn’t be nervous for some scolding.

But you didn’t use the phone last night, she reminded herself. You could have called for help.

Then again, who would she call? 911 would have sent her to Chief Bernard, after all. There were two other police officers in town, of course, and a handful of administrative staff, but would any of them have done a thing if Chief Bernard told them not to worry, that he would handle it?

Probably not, she argued with herself. In a sleepy town like Fieldton, it wasn’t like the police were always expecting a crime around every corner. And no one expected the chief of police to be mixed up in…

“What?” she found herself muttering aloud. If not a cult, then what?

She had to admit, a part of her wanted to know too badly to try too hard to escape the Westerly property. She was held captive as much by her own need for answers as by the Westerlys themselves.

“The Westerlys wouldn’t hurt me,” she assured herself. “Surely they’d never do that.”

And Joshua… if she left now… would she ever see him again?

These thoughts flitted through her mind as she watched the midmorning sun progress to the pinnacle of the sky.

When the door finally opened, just past noon, Diana was surprised to see that it was Joshua who stood in the doorway. He had a tray in one hand, a simple sandwich with chips and a drink balanced on top.

“Hungry?” he asked, his voice simple, low, and casual.

“I– yes,” she admitted. Her stomach growled on cue, a surprising reminder that she was, in fact, hungry. In spite of everything that had happened over the last few days, she was still human. She needed to eat, needed to sleep. She had almost forgotten.

“I thought.”

“Thank you,” Diana said. She meant it begrudgingly, but the tone of her voice came out surprisingly sincere.

“Diana,” she was surprised to hear that his voice was somber and he sighed heavily. “You can’t do that.”

He didn’t need to say what he was referring to. “Why not? I’m being held against my will, after all. Seems only fair that I can poke around.”

“Are you really?” Joshua raised an eyebrow at her. “You could have called for help. Instead, you read an old book in my father’s study. If I opened that door right now, would you leave?”

“I–”

“It doesn’t matter,” Joshua said, sensing the hesitation in Diana’s voice. “I don’t think you would. You have never been good at leaving things a mystery, have you? But either way, you can’t go through my parents’ stuff again. It’s dangerous.”

“Tell me why!”

“I…” Joshua sighed again. “I get it, Diana. You want answers. But you aren’t going to find them, you can’t go… I spent all morning cleaning up your mess, you know!” His voice rose with the last few words, and she was surprised to note the anger that seemed to bubble within them.

“What mess, Joshua?!” She demanded. “I haven’t made a mess, I put everything back the way it was, there is no way anyone knew I was there!” Frustrated, and more for something to do with her hands than out of thirst, she swiped at the soda he had brought up, nearly knocking it over in her gusto.

“I know you think that,” he said. He said it quietly, and the anger was replaced by some earnestness that she still didn’t understand. “But I promise you, if they had gone in there before I did, or talked to Evan before I did…” he trailed off, “there are things they don’t want you to know, Diana.”

“But you do?” She looked into his eyes, hard as it was to face the man who had let her heart break into a million pieces every day for a year.

“I always did,” he said softly. “And…” he seemed to be struggling. He opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. He closed it once more before hopping, suddenly, to his feet. He had always been agile, always been athletic, but Diana noticed he was even faster than she remembered as he paced back and forth, a few steps one way before turning sharply on his heel, then a few steps in another direction, over and over. Though Diana desperately wanted to question him, she had an instinct that perhaps he needed to be left in the silence of his own footsteps for a moment longer. So she just watched him, her eyes following as he paced.

“There might be answers,” he finally said. He wasn’t looking at her, but rather pointedly out the window, as if he couldn’t bear to meet her eyes. “In this house. Things you could learn. But you can’t, please, promise me, you won’t go back into the library. Don’t go looking in places you shouldn’t be.”

“I don’t know where I should be, except this room, which pretty obviously does not have answers,” she replied. But the bite was missing from her retort, and she felt her whole demeanor soften as she watched Joshua.

She still loved him. She knew it, of course. But it had been drowning, dying, underneath the layers of rage and confusion and fear that had been overwhelming her, burying her, over the past few days.

It was only in that moment, the light from the window reflecting off his sandy brown hair as he struggled with his own thoughts, that her love took another breath, and lived. And she felt it stir within her again.

Standing, she moved toward him on impulse, the desire to hold him again the only thing driving her forward. She was wrapping her arms around him, just like she had done countless times, before she even realized it.

Joshua’s body relaxed in her arms for a moment, and then, just as suddenly, he sprung backwards and out of her grasp.

“I can’t,” he said. He looked upset. “Diana, I can’t.”

“Can’t what?” she felt her eyes fill with tears.

“Just promise me you won’t go back into the library.”

“Joshua!”

“Promise,” he asked, still keeping a distance from her. The way he was looking at her, as if she was a danger he needed to avoid, a problem to be contained, broke her heart. But she nodded anyway.

“Okay,” she said. She willed herself not to cry.

Joshua nodded too, and he turned toward the door. But before he moved toward it, he added over his shoulder, “and please, don’t get caught. Don’t involve anyone else in… anything you get up to searching for answers.”

“Don’t get caught?” she said. It seemed obvious.

“Just… don’t… just be careful, Diana. Please. I couldn’t stand it if anything happened to you.”