Even though Evelyn had given me her blessing two nights ago, I sensed it would take her a little more time to accept August and me together. “There is a waitlist for the brunch, but I am sure I could find you two a table.”
I smiled. “We can’t do brunch today. I just came by to say hi.”
Her thin eyebrows writhed a few times. “Dinner then? Tonight. At the house. I would like”-she fixed her eyes on August again-“I would like to get to know the man my baby girl has decided to let into her heart.”
God only knew in what state we’d be tonight. I slipped my pinky’s fingernail between my lips and chewed on the edge of it. “Tomorrow would be better. The restaurant’s closed on Monday nights too, right?”
She nodded. “Before you leave, Trent’s wife wanted very much to meet you. She is in the dining room. Will you go out there and introduce yourself, please?”
I took my pinky out of my mouth. “Sure.” I kissed her cheek and then turned to leave.
When August started after me, Evelyn called him back. “Can I speak to you a moment longer, August?”
I cringed, but August squeezed my arm in reassurance. I mouthed, good luck, which kicked up one side of his mouth.
There were three women in the dining room. One of them had served us the night of my birthday, so I assumed she wasn’t Trent’s wife.
“Hi, I’m looking for-” I racked my brain for the family name but wasn’t sure if I even knew it, so I went with: “Trent’s wife?”
The waitress tipped her head toward a woman clipping the stems of poppies on the mirrored bar.
“Thank you,” I whispered as I traipsed toward the blonde with a sharp bob cut. “Hi. I’m Ness. Evelyn’s granddaughter.”
The woman twirled away from her flowery spread and extended her hand. “Ness!”
I blinked as she smiled at me.
When I still hadn’t taken her outstretched hand-because shock had made me forget my manners-she said, “It’s not contagious. I promise.”
I jolted my hand into hers and shook it. “I’m sorry. It’s not-What, um . . . how come . . .?”
“My lips are blue and my nails purple?” Her smile was still intact. “I have something called Argyria, which is sort of ironic considering the name of my restaurant.”
I slipped my hand out of hers and gripped the crossbody strap of my bag.
“Anyway, it’s my dentist’s fault. He put all these silver fillings in my molars . . . I won’t bore you with the details, but know that it looks way worse than it is. I’m Molly, by the way.”
I tried to snap my jaw shut, but it wouldn’t close. “I’msorryI’mstaring,” I said in a single breath.
“It’s okay, honey. A lot of people do. Besides, if it truly bothered me, I’d wear makeup.”
“I know this woman who has the same thing,” I blurted out. “At least, I think it’s the same thing. She told me it was a birthmark.”
“Yeah, some people are a little embarrassed by the condition.” She fingered one of the poppies’ fuzzy stems. “Tell her that if she needs someone to talk to, she can find me here most days. Especially now that the kids are back in school.” She gave me one last smile. “I should get these flowers into water before they wilt. It was a pleasure to make your acquaintance, and thank you again for lending us your grandmother. She is a godsend.”
“Thank you,” I said. And I didn’t mean for employing Evelyn-even though I was grateful for that-but for giving me the answer to a question which had tormented me for the past two and a half weeks.
My speculations were accurate-Cassandra Morgan had poisoned Julian. But not with Sillin. With silver! I wasn’t sure yet how her blood could contain the toxic metal without killing her, but it didn’t matter.
We could call the duel off now that I had proof she was cheating.
As Molly turned back toward her flowers, August came out of the kitchen.
I rushed to him and threw my arms around his neck, waves of relief coursing through me, breaking the stress that had devoured me since Liam’s phone call.
“Were you worried I wouldn’t survive?” August asked, a lilt to his voice. “It was a close call.”
Smiling, I pressed away from him, crooked my head up, and whispered, “I know how she did it.”
A groove appeared between his eyebrows. “We’re not talking about Evelyn now, are we?”
I shook my head. “I’ll explain everything on the drive over to Liam’s.”
August whipped his eyes off the road to stare at me. “Silver? In her blood?”
“It’s called Argyria.” I gasped as a memory collided into my brain. “Trent’s mother told me about it. The day I met her in the bank.”
To think I’d known all along . . .
I watched the dashboard without seeing it. Thank God I wasn’t at the wheel of the car; I would’ve been incapable of staying on the road.
“How can she have silver in her blood, yet still be alive?” he asked.
Something niggled at me. What was it?
I spun toward him as my synapses fired off a hypothesis. “After Dad was shot, I was given Sillin because I’d licked his gunshot wound.” Bile rose in the back of my throat. “What if that’s why she needs Sillin? To neutralize the silver.”
His brows rose. “Still doesn’t explain how she can shift.”
“Does silver impair shifting?”
“No, but Sillin does.”
“You don’t think that she’s somehow figured out a dose that cancels each substance out?”
“We’d have to ask Greg. Although I’m not sure he’d even know.”
I rested my head back and expelled a sigh, which made August reach over the center console and pluck my restless fingers off the latch on my bag.
To think of something else for a short while, I asked, “What did Evelyn want?”
“She asked me the real reason you’d stopped by.”
“You didn’t tell her, did you?”
“No. I told her you came to check whether she was truly okay with us being together.”
“I’m sorry you had to lie.”