Lucky Stars (30 page)

So she pressed her hands closer to her belly, looked down and said, with more hope than certainty, “Okay, sweets, it all seems very crazy right now, there’s a lot happening but I promise it won’t be like this forever. It’ll calm down and life will be normal and boring.”

On her last word, her body gave a small jolt and her head came up as she felt Jack behind her.

His arms went around her, one hand joining hers at her belly, his other arm wrapping around her upper chest to pull her against his tall, hard body.

She was so engrossed in her thoughts she hadn’t heard him approach and was completely still when his mouth went to her ear and he said low, “I’m not sure it’s a good idea to start lying to our child at this early stage. With your mother and grandmother, I doubt things will ever be normal and boring.”

Belle turned her head to look at him, he lifted his own and their eyes caught.

“
Your
mother isn’t exactly sedate and unassuming,” Belle reminded him with no disapproval in her tone whatsoever.

Jack grinned and Belle’s belly did a flip.

“This is true,” he agreed good-naturedly.

As if to prove this fact to them, Joy swept into the room, a bottle of tequila held aloft, announcing grandly, “I’ve got the tequila!”

Jack and Belle shifted slightly to watch her entrance.

Though Jack turned them, he hadn’t let Belle go.

Joy slammed the bottle down on the coffee table, straightened and looked at the couple in the window.

Her eyes did a sweep of them, they got bright then she went on, “I’ve called Yasmin. She says she’s dropping everything and will be here in ten minutes. That was five minutes ago.”

“Mum,” Jack’s voice was low and
rumbly
. Not the happy shiver causing low and
rumbly
but
the oh
so scary low and
rumbly
.

Joy ignored him. “I’ve ordered a late lunch to be brought in so we can all have a bite to eat while we’re chatting.”

“This isn’t a party,” Jack informed his mother, turning Belle fully to face Joy but still not letting her go. His hand moved from her belly and both arms wrapped around Belle’s upper chest, keeping her back close to the heat of his front.

She’d never been held that way in her life.

It felt nice.

So nice, of their own volition, her hands lifted to curve her fingers around one of his strong forearms and she held on.

“With a little effort,
anything
can be made into a party,” Joy replied breezily, her eyes dropped to Jack’s arms and Belle’s hands and she continued in a softer voice. “And these days, it seems we have more and more to celebrate.”

Before Belle could process this statement, Yasmin stormed in and Belle stared.

She looked entirely normal except for the fact that she was barefoot, there were toe separators between her toes and three toes on her left foot had not been coated with the bright, iridescent tangerine the others sported.

She looked around and then her eyes locked on Joy. “Did I miss it?”

“No, darling, you didn’t miss it,” Joy assured her, her eyes on Yasmin’s toes. “Did I catch you in the middle of a pedicure?”

Yasmin walked into the room, toes curled to the ceiling, her gaze moving to Jack and Belle. “I dropped everything and got in the car. I think I may have broken the land speed record to get here.” She looked to Belle. “I’ve been waiting
years
to see Myrtle and Lewis. If they’re appearing more often, I’m considering moving in.”

Belle began to wonder if maybe Yasmin wasn’t a little mad too but she didn’t get to process this either.

Suddenly, Yasmin rocked back on her heels, her arms crossed on her chest and she
grinned
a mischievous grin. “You two look cosy. We know we’ll soon be hearing the pitter-patter of little feet but are we expecting wedding bells too?”

Belle’s body went statue-still.

So did Jack’s.

Belle wanted to run from the room, from the castle, maybe even find a spaceship and ask the astronauts to take her to the moon.

Jack, as if sensing this, tensed his arms.

“Yasmin,” he said in that oh so scary low and
rumbly
voice that was even
more
oh so scary than ever before.

“What?” Yasmin asked with feigned innocence, her grin never slipping. “I need to be prepared. I have to have an outfit and a big hat.
Huge,
” she emphasised. “The hat has to be enormous.” Her gaze shifted to Belle. “Do you design hats?”

“No,” Belle replied in a small voice.

“You should,” Yasmin told her. “I bet you’d be good at it.”

Before any more could be said, Gram and Mom entered the room and, not surprisingly, they did it far more flamboyantly than either Joy or Yasmin.

Or at least Mom did.

“You!”
Mom shouted, clearly in a state, her hand up, finger pointing at Jack then she demanded, “How dare you move my daughter into a haunted castle?”

“Oh dear,” Joy muttered.

“Oh dear is
right,
” Mom yelled at Joy. “I
do not
believe this.
Ghosts.
Creepy child ghosts.
See-through
creepy child ghosts.”
Her eyes shifted to Jack and
she
screeched, “Child ghosts!
Everyone
knows nothing is creepier than
child ghosts!
”

Although Belle found nothing whatsoever funny about the current moment, Jack, of course, did. She knew this because she not only heard his chuckle but she felt his body shaking with laughter.

“This is
not
funny!” Rachel shrieked.

“Rachel Leonora, calm down,” Gram demanded.

Mom turned on Gram. “I will not calm down. We’re moving out, this
instant
.”

“You’re not moving out,” Jack stated, all humour gone from his voice and Mom whirled back to him.

She opened her mouth to speak then she stopped and her eyes moved over Jack and Belle. They rested on Jack’s arms and Belle’s hands then they lifted to Belle’s face.

Then they narrowed.

Belle didn’t know why they narrowed. All she knew, through a vast amount of experience, was this was not good.

“Oh my
God!
”
Rachel shouted. “You two have been fooling around!”

Belle’s body gave a surprised jerk as she felt Jack’s go solid behind her.

Mom wasn’t finished.

“You’re fooling around with my daughter while there are ghosts in the house!” she accused Jack as if this was an act akin to rounding up innocent citizens randomly in order to torture them just for kicks. Then, bizarrely, she backtracked, “Not that I frown on fooling around, because, you know, everyone needs a bit of
nookie
.
Especially on a Sunday afternoon.”
Mom turned to Yasmin and shared, “Best time of the week, Sunday afternoon.”

Mortified beyond any mortification Belle had felt
in her life
(and that was saying something),
Belle found her voice and snapped, “Mom! Shut
up!
”

Her mother looked back at Belle. “I’m just saying.”

Lila started laughing, Joy was biting her lip and Yasmin was grinning ear-to-ear but, although she couldn’t see Jack, Belle knew he was done.

She knew this because, in his oh so scary low and
rumbly
voice, he declared, “Enough.”

Belle saw Mom’s body give a small twitch and her eyes went to Jack.

Then Jack went on and she realised he was not just done, he was
done
and he was
angry
.

“Rachel, enough,” Jack repeated, the words vibrating with fury. “I cannot imagine, since you bore and raised Belle, that you and your mother have no idea how much you embarrass her. You are who you are and you behave as you behave, which is a credit to you both as you clearly don’t give a damn what people think of you and that’s commendable. Further, your behaviour is mostly interesting and often quite humorous. That said, from this point forward, you’ll consider your daughter’s feelings and control it when it might cause her discomfort.” While Jack was making this speech, Mom’s mouth had dropped open as had Gram’s but Jack wasn’t quite done. “Am I understood?”

“See here –” Gram snapped, moving forward.

Jack’s arms tensed on Belle’s chest and he leaned forward, only slightly, but very threateningly (she didn’t see it, she
felt
it), taking Belle with him and Gram halted.

“Am I understood?” he
asked,
his tone so far past low and
rumbly
, it was not funny.

“She’s my daughter,” Mom noted in a far quieter tone.

“She is,” Jack replied, his voice less menacing. “But there’s a time to discuss personal things and Belle isn’t comfortable doing it with an audience. I’m simply asking that you consider her feelings. Something I’m sure you’ll have every desire to do.”

Belle decided it was time to intervene and she looked up at Jack’s jaw.

“I really don’t mind,” she lied softly.

Jack moved back a few inches so he could catch her eyes.

“You do, poppet. I feel it, I see it but you’re too kind to say it.”

He was right.

“Is this true?” Mom asked and Belle looked at her as Jack shifted to her side, his arm around her waist keeping her close.

“Kind of,” Belle answered.

“
Honeypot
, you should have said something,” Mom said softly.

Belle shrugged, about as comfortable having this conversation as she was when her Mom was announcing to everyone that she and Jack had been fooling around (okay, so, she was more comfortable with this conversation but still).

Jack, somehow, felt that too and announced, “We’re moving on.”

Then Jack led Belle toward the couch and Belle saw Gram was studying Jack, a thoughtful look on her face but there was a smile playing about her lips.

Belle thought this was slightly more ominous than Jack’s tone earlier (and this was also saying something) but she decided to ignore it.

She had other things to worry about.

Lots
of them.

Jack sat in the corner of the couch bringing Belle down by his side. His arm curved around her shoulders and he tucked her body into his.

The others settled too. Mom and Yasmin dragging chairs across the room and, Belle noticed belatedly, one of the chairs from in front of Jack’s desk somewhere between her falling asleep and waking up had been angled toward the couch.

Belle had no time to question this. Joy sat on the opposite end of the couch to Jack and Belle and Jack spoke.

“Lila tells us you drink tequila,” Jack said to Mom and Mom looked at him.

“I drink everything,” she replied honestly.

“I recommend you take something to calm your nerves,” Jack suggested. “At Lila’s advice, Mum has brought tequila.”

“
Oo
, I love tequila, especially at two o’clock in the afternoon. I’ll get the glasses,” Yasmin offered, jumped up and walked to a standing chest, the top of which she opened and there unfolded a veritable bar, including decanters filled with different coloured liquors and shiny, expensive-looking glasses of all shapes and sizes.

“Cool,” Belle whispered and felt Jack’s fingers give her shoulder a squeeze.

She decided not to look at him.

He would probably be smiling at her which would make her scalp tingle or her belly dip and Belle was pretty sure she’d had her quota of both of those for one day (in spades).

As Yasmin was pouring tequilas all around, though she poured something else for Joy, Jack declined and Belle, obviously, couldn’t partake, Elaine came in. She was rolling tray filled with sandwiches, bowls of potato chips, another bowl of salad, small glass pitchers filled with dressing, a large glass pitcher filled with iced water, a teapot, a coffee pot and a tray of cakes.

Belle was slowly but uncomfortably getting used to being waited on hand and foot. It made her feel weird especially when she went back to her room after breakfast to find her bed made, her dirty clothes carried away (only to be returned, cleaned and, if needed, pressed) and, quite often, fresh towels in her bathroom.

She had thought of talking to Jack about it.

Then she thought better of it and kept her peace.

They all dug into the food and drank their beverages and things calmed down considerably as partaking of food and beverages was wont to achieve.

Once Joy’s plate was clean, Jack ordered, “Mum, tell the story.” He paused, Joy opened her mouth to speak and Jack went on, “No embellishments.”

“The embellishments are the best part!” Yasmin protested.

“No embellishments,” Jack asserted.

“I don’t think I can do it without the embellishments,” Joy told Jack.

“Yes you can,” Jack told Joy.

“It’ll be boring,” Yasmin told Jack.