Cursed by Love (27 page)

“In love? Gabe and I are not in love.”
At
least, Gabe wasn’t
. She had a sinking feeling she couldn’t say the same
thing for herself. It’s too soon to be thinking about love.

“Love arrives in its own time,” Mom
said. “Dad’s got a noon appointment, so he’s leaving in a little while. He’ll
bring the petals by your house on his way to the school. I’ll make sure Gabe
gets the stalk this afternoon. You can work out the details from there.”

Molly’s heart stilled. “Both halves of
the Sleeping Lotus are there in your house? Right now?”

“Yes, sweetie. Gabe brought his half
over for me to see yesterday, like he promised he would. I asked if I could
keep it for the day. I put it together with my half. And your father just
happened to stop by. It’s kind of beautiful how that worked out, isn’t it?”

Molly’s heart palpitated as she thought
of the curse and the promise of the Sleeping Lotus.
When joined together
like man and woman, the Sleeping Lotus bestows passion, good fortune, and
fertility upon its possessor. Separate the Yin from the Yang by design or fate,
the hearts, spirits and souls of the possessors of the incomplete halves are
doomed to lives of unrequited love, loneliness, misery, and death
. “But,
Mom, when Dad came over yesterday—”

Molly heard her dad calling her mom in
the background.

“Sorry, I’ve got to go. Dad wants me to
come, um, play for him again.”

“TMI, Mom. These are the things a
daughter doesn’t want to know.”

“Just think how I feel, dear.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if there’s a good reason why Dad
and I are still at home on a Monday morning, it makes me wonder if you’re at
home for a similar reason.”

The petals of the Sleeping Lotus sat in
the middle of Molly’s dining room table all day, pulsing there, like a
malevolent presence. No matter what room she was in, she couldn’t escape it.

When she opened the door to Gabe, he
came in carrying a small velvet sack in one hand and what looked like Chinese
food in the other, Molly’s annoyance with him held her firmly in its grip. She
wanted to talk to him about his attempt to get the Sleeping Lotus from mom
before they did anything else.

“Molly.” His lips smiled with delight as
his eyes ravaged her from head to toe. He pulled her into a hug, and she
battled the desire to melt into him. “I haven’t thought about anything but you
all day.”

She shoved him away and narrowed her
eyes. “Then why didn’t you call?”

“I’m sorry, babe, I got busy.” Crossing
over to the couch, he placed his packages on the table next to the pink jade. “Despite
the chaos around me, I solved the one remaining problem with the Quigley
project today, I signed a new client, and I ran a few errands. Everything I
touched today was golden, and it was all because of you.”

Molly crossed her arms.  “I think
you should leave.”

He stopped and stared, his smile fading.
“What?”

“You should leave,” she said, firmer
this time.

“Why?” He looked charmingly confused.

She lifted her chin. “Mom told me what
you did yesterday.” Her indignation expanded, rising up to an unreasonable
proportion Molly couldn’t contain. “You tried to get her to go in with you to
sell the Sleeping Lotus.”

“True, I did, but you know how desperate
the situation was at Contract Communications.”

“Maybe so.” She turned away. “But if
you’d betray me once for a good reason, you’d betray me again.”

He stopped her with a hand on her
shoulder. She felt his energy through every pore of her skin. “I’m sorry,
Molly, but I won’t.”

“How do I know that?”

“Because I love you?”

Her heart skipped a beat. The anger started
to fade, but other doubts crept in. Did he love her? Really? Hadn’t William
said the same thing once upon a time? “Is that a question or the answer? I’m
not sure if you love me or the Sleeping Lotus. I want you to leave until this
is settled.”

He looked around the room, then zeroed
in on the Sleeping Lotus. He frowned. “Damn, I should have known.” He turned to
Molly. “You don’t really want me to leave, do you?”

Molly nodded, not trusting herself to
speak.

“I don’t think so.” He stepped closer.
“I think you love me. Just like I love you. I want us to be together, forever
bringing one another love and luck for every day of our lives from here on
out.”

Now that was one thing she could
definitely refute. “You don’t believe in luck.”

“I believe in you. Meeting you was the
luckiest day of my life. Don’t turn me away now, because of some inanimate
thing
that threatens to keep us apart.” He picked up the velvet bag from the table.

Taking her hand in his, he wrapped her
fingers around the bag, too. The material grew warm from within. Her gaze fixed
on the blue material, feeling its heat. Of their own volition, her fingers
tightened around the bag. “Here,” he said. “I speak for the last four
generations of
Shaws
, and the next four, in
relinquishing all claim to it. It’s yours now no matter what happens next.”

She tore her gaze from the bag in her
hand. In his eyes, she saw more love and joy than she’d ever seen focused on
her before.

“Tell me you love me, Molly. Don’t let
the Sleeping Lotus be more powerful than we are, than the luck we make for
ourselves.” He placed his palm against her heart. “Break the curse, Molly. Tell
me how you feel.”

Forcing her fingers open, she let the
velvet drop to the carpet at her feet. She flung her arms around Gabe’s neck.
“I love you,” she said, holding tight, “I really do love you.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.”

Molly turned her head to kiss him, and
he was there, ready and waiting for her. The kiss turned them into a single
unit, entwined in one another’s arms, joined in thought, mind and spirit.

Gabe pulled Molly against him, chest to
chest, stomach to stomach, hips to hips. He cupped her bottom and lifted as she
clasped her ankles behind his back. He strode to the bedroom, lying her on the
bed. As they removed one another’s clothes, she knew nothing could keep them
apart any longer. He thrust inside her, touching her more deeply than anyone
ever had. Touching her, surrounding her with his love. Breaking the curse of
the Sleeping Lotus.

 
“I love you,” Molly said. “Thank you for not leaving
when I told you to.”

“I never will. I’m here to stay.” He
smiled against her cheek. “Because I love you, too.” Sometimes the simplest
words said it best.

“Good golly, Miss Molly,” Gabe said,
when his heart had finally slowed, and his brain cleared. “That was the best.
You’re the best.”

“It must be you. Believe me, I’ve never
been this good before.”

“Just like the Sleeping Lotus, we’re
better together than we are apart.” He smoothed his hand over her bare hip,
happy to have permission to touch her at will.

She plumped some pillows behind her.
“Yeah, but you know what else? I’m starving. Was that Chinese you brought in
with you?”

“Food?” His big surprise. He didn’t want
to give it away. “Kind of. Come see.

“Do I have to leave the bed?” she
grumbled, grabbing the sheet to wrap around her.

“Yeah, but you won’t need that.” He
pulled the sheet away and dropped it on the bed. Tugging her hand, he led her
to the living room where he’d left the little white box.

“What I meant to say earlier is that I
always believed in making my own luck. Nothing has changed about that, even
though this bit of statuary distracted me for a while. I thought I needed the
proceeds of selling the Lotus to save the company, but I can do that on my own.
I’m talented, I’m ambitious, and I’ll find a way to keep the company on track,
especially now that the family’s getting more involved. Like I said, I want you
to have the Sleeping Lotus. Keep it, sell it, or
give
it away. Do what
you want with it. I don’t care.”

He looked around for the velvet bag,
located it on the floor, picked it up and opened it. “This belongs to you.”

He handed her the base to the Sleeping
Lotus. Amazed, she fit the pieces together. “It belongs together.”

He stood behind her and ran his hands
down her sides. “Just like us.”

She slanted him a teasing look over her
shoulder. “But about that food.”

“I hope you’re not too hungry, or we’ll
have to order in. Because this is more like a snack. Or dessert.”

“You know how I feel about dessert,” she
reminded him. “It has to be worth the calories.”

“Just open it.”

Inside the white box, she discovered a
silver heart charm and a fortune cookie. She smiled.

Gabe sat on the couch and pulled her
into his lap. “What does your fortune say?”

With trembling fingers, she broke the
crispy cookie open, then her eyes misted over.

“What?” he said, as if he didn’t know.

“It says, ‘Don’t count your chickens
before they hatch.”

“It does not!” He took the slip of paper
from her to check
. “The man of your dreams has arrived. Marry him.”

“Well, I’ll have to keep my eyes open
for this mythical man.” Her eyes teased him, but her mouth wasn’t smiling yet.

He turned her head toward him with
fingers on her chin. “Was that too cute? Do you want me to say it?”

“Yes, please.

“Every day of my life, if that’s what
you want. I want you to marry me. I need to marry you. Will you marry me?” He
feared his heart might stop while he waited for her answer.

“Yes.” Her lips turned up with delight.
“Yes. Yes!” She bowled him over with her enthusiasm as she threw herself into
his arms.

Whether it was by love or luck, the
Sleeping Lotus proved its claim that night for inspiring impressive staying
power.

Even after a month, Molly was
uncomfortable displaying the Sleeping Lotus in her living room. Too valuable,
too exotic, and too graphic for her tastes, no matter what the critics,
appraisers and curators had to say about it. And all of them who had seen it,
raved about it. Warped as the appraiser James
Lindermann
was on the subject, he’d been right about its antiquity, rarity and value.

“Are you sure you don’t want to keep it
out? Storing it might affect its luck,” Gabe teased as they returned to her
house after Sunday dinner with her mom and dad.

At her parents’ house, the conversation
had been all about their upcoming vow renewal, which would be the weekend after
school let out for the year. Molly and Gabe planned to get married the week
before school started in the fall.

“You’re sure you don’t want a big fancy
wedding?” Gabe asked for about the tenth time.

“I really want to keep it small and
simple. A pretty dress, Chloe as the flower girl, and you waiting for me at the
end of the aisle. A nice dinner, a yummy cake with family and friends. My
parents’ garden, pool, and gazebo will be the perfect setting.”

“It doesn’t seem like enough.”

“It’s more than enough. And just that
will cost a lot more than you imagine. And you heard Dad. He’ll pay for a
wedding with all the bells and whistles if we want that, or for the honeymoon
if we don’t. I’d much rather have a nice romantic honeymoon where your family
doesn’t call you constantly, and I won’t lose you to your computer three hours
out of every four.”

“We’ll figure it out. But I’m not sure I
want your Dad to pay for stuff for us. It’s my responsibility.”

“He wants to do it. You have enough on
your plate already. This will be a perfect wedding, and we need your money for
the business.”

“The business will be fine. With Sierra
finally regaining some movement in her legs and dating Roland, Sierra and
Chloe’s situation doesn’t seem as desperate as it did.”

“And the other members of the family are
taking on more of the responsibility, so you can get away long enough for a
honeymoon...”

“All right, we’ll have it your way.”

“I don’t want to separate the parts of
the Lotus again,” Molly said, returning to their original subject and preparing
to store the Lotus away. “I’m going to loan it to a museum for a while. They’ll
put it on view for people with more sophisticated taste than mine to
appreciate. But it will still belong to us, an inheritance for our children one
day.”

Or until they needed it for more
matchmaking down the road. Maybe they could use it to push Sierra and Roland’s
relationship along. And she wondered if Granddad was seriously interested in
Mama Leone. She’d noticed them sneaking a kiss in the
breakroom
the other day. Now, those two together would be a hoot, but she wasn’t sure how
Gabe would feel about it. She’d better keep that thought to herself for a
while.

“I like the sound of that.”

“What? The museum?”

“The future children.” He scooped up
Houdini who came to check out what his humans were up to now. “And it will be
an awesome part of Bella’s history and heritage. You’re doing an amazing job
organizing all her stuff.”

Molly put down Bella’s hatbox. “Yeah, it
will be great to have all her memorabilia in one place. That way it’s not just
the history of a woman’s too-short life, but a reflection of a successful woman
in the early nineteen hundreds, with a connection to the Titanic,
entertainment, and the Sleeping Lotus. I like that a lot.”

“I like you a lot.” Gabe moved in behind
her and nuzzled her neck.

Molly smiled at him over her shoulder,
but removed the loose papers from the inside of the hatbox where she’d
originally found the Webber half of the Sleeping Lotus. “I’m being careful with
every part of her life. You never know what scrap tells an important part of
the story.” She spread the faded newspaper on the table. “Look, the paper the
Lotus was wrapped in was from the day your great-grandfather
Jebediah
died. I wonder if Bella did that on purpose.

“Out of sight, out of mind, maybe.”

With the newspaper and other strips of
packing paper removed from the hatbox, Molly discovered a stiff old vellum
envelope. On the front, Bella’s name was written in bold script. She pulled it
out and lifted the flap.

Her breath whooshed out as she turned to
Gabe. “I wonder if—Could they be—Oh, my God. You’re not going to believe it.”

He took the papers from her shaking
hands. The top sheet of expensive writing paper had a brief note scrawled
across it. “Darling Bella, Transacted some business for John D. He gave me
these in return. Consider them my wedding gift to you. Keep them safe. They’
may be worth a fortune someday. Love, Jeb.” As he looked at the attached
documents, his expression shifted from curiosity to awe. “Original Standard Oil
stock certificates?”

“Are they real?” Molly whispered, staring
at the ornately scrolled and scripted certificates.

“They look like it.”

They stared at one another for a long
moment in stunned silence, then threw themselves into one another’s arms,
whooping and dancing around.

Breathless, Molly gasped. “They’ve been
stored away all this time.”

“I can’t grasp it yet,” Gabe said. “Let
me see them again.”

“How much are they worth?”

“A fortune, if they’re authentic. I’ll
call my buddy who’s a broker. Or go online and see what I can discover.”

“If these are real, you’ll never have to
worry about money again.”

“
You
’ll
never have to worry about money again.” He squeezed the breath
out of her with another bear hug. “They’re more yours than mine. Jeb gave them
to Bella.”

“They were his first. Like the Sleeping
Lotus, they belonged to the two of them. Think about what money like this will
mean for Sierra. And Granddad. And Chloe.”

“And they’ve been hidden away in a
hatbox all these years. Do you think Grandma Bella was so unconcerned with
money she just set these aside, without thinking about what they were worth?”

“Maybe it wouldn’t have been such a big
deal in those days.”

“Maybe when
Jebediah
died, she wasn’t sure what to do with them. And then, when she died
unexpectedly, she hadn’t told anyone where they were.”

Gabe stopped and hugged Molly. “It’s
like she left them there for us to find.”

“Why, Gabe, that doesn’t sound like
you.”

“It does now. I’m the new Gabe. Now that
the Curse of the Sleeping Lotus has been lifted, I’ve been blessed by love. I
owe all my good luck to you.”

Molly laughed as they said at the same
time, “And Bella and
Jebediah
.”

“No more jinxes or curses,” Gabe said.
“As long as we’re together, we’ll live a charmed life.”