Lucky Stars (32 page)

Then she wondered if she was the one that would help release those children and send them to heaven.

Then she wondered if she’d have the courage to do whatever it was that might be required of her.

Then she decided that she probably wouldn’t even as she vowed to find a way.

Then they heard the first roar of thunder.

* * * * *

It was hours later, when they were all in the dining room, the pudding dishes had been cleared away and everyone but Belle was enjoying coffee, that Belle turned her head to Jack.

“Jack,” she called softly, intending to ask if he would mind if she accompanied him on his nightly after dinner walk with the dogs.

Jack looked at her, his beautiful green eyes gentle with enquiry.

Belle wondered if she’d ever get used to how handsome he was (especially his eyes) and she opened her mouth to speak only to be cut off by her Mom.

“
Bellerina
, after dinner, can I have a word?”

Belle looked to her mother and saw her face was earnest. A look Belle knew she couldn’t deny no matter how much she wanted to walk with Jack and his dogs and, she was forced to admit, she very,
very
much wanted to walk with Jack and his dogs.

“Of course,” Belle said to her Mom and turned back to Jack to finish what she’d started but instead asking him to delay his walk a bit but Jack spoke first.

“I enjoy your company when we’re out with the dogs but I don’t want you in that weather, poppet. The path gets slippery in the rain,” Jack told her.

Belle looked to the windows. It was late evening but the day was not done as it stayed light until very late during summers in England. However, it was dark as night outside. The lightning and thunder had ceased but the rain was falling hard, heavy and steady and had been since that afternoon.

Belle’s eyes went back to Jack and she nodded.

“I won’t be long, love,” he finished on a small smile.

Belle nodded again and returned his small smile.

“Well, I’m going in search of Myrtle and Lewis. If there’s any time they’ll show themselves, it’ll be during a spooky, dark storm,” Yasmin declared, throwing down her napkin and standing.

“It was a bright, sunshiny day when I saw them,” Belle informed Yasmin.

“Same here,” Mom added.

Yasmin waved her hand in front of her face. “Matters not, everyone knows ghosts like a good old storm,” she said with authority then continued. “I’m off, anyone want to join me?”

“You go on, darling, I’ll find you in a bit,” Joy said.

“You got it,” Yasmin replied and left the room.

The minute she did, Joy turned to Jack and noted quietly, “I’m concerned about her.”

Belle’s eyes slid to Jack and she saw he was watching the door Yasmin just used, his jaw was tense and his chin lifted in acknowledgement of his mother’s words.

“Why are you concerned?” Lila asked.

“She’s trying to hide it but I can tell, this latest divorce is taking its toll,” Joy answered. “Quincy is a good man and he adores her. At first I think he was confused and thought he could talk her ‘round. That didn’t work and now he’s very angry that she’s doing this.”

Belle was surprised at this news, thus she shared, “Yasmin told me about him when she was in my shop. She didn’t make him sound like a good man.”

“Most of what she told you is likely untrue,” Jack explained and Belle’s startled eyes went to his. “Not that she’s lying but exaggerating or telling tales, not to convince you but to convince herself. Yasmin has a habit of sabotaging her happiness.”

Before Belle could respond, Joy continued, “Her first husband was a bit wild, just like Yasmin, but he loved her too. They burnt bright. Therefore, eventually they burnt out. It was probably for the best though he too was a good man and would have done anything for her.” Joy’s eyes moved to Jack. “Yasmin has always had good taste in men. She’s just constantly throwing them away.”

Belle felt a funny, very unpleasant feeling steal through her at this reminder that Jack and Yasmin used to be an item. She’d been informed of that upon meeting them but it hadn’t crossed her mind since. Mainly because Yasmin didn’t act like an ex-girlfriend but like an adopted sister/daughter.

Her mind moved to Yasmin opening the hidden bar cabinet and how Yasmin knew exactly where to go and what to do.

Then her mind, which often liked to torture her, moved to the couch where Jack held her, kissed her and touched her and she wondered if he’d done the same to Yasmin there.

She licked her lips and her eyes caught on her grandmother’s face.

Gram was smiling at her. It was a small smile and meant to be a reassuring one and Belle knew Gram knew her thoughts.

This small smile normally would work on Belle and had many, many times in the past.

But, at that moment, for some reason, it didn’t.

“Have you talked to her?” Mom asked, breaking Belle out of her tortured thoughts.

“She won’t listen,” Joy answered.

“Maybe you should try,” Lila suggested gently.

Joy looked to Jack. “Maybe Jack should try.” Then she turned fully to her son. “She’ll listen to you, darling, you know she will.”

Jack nodded and replied, “I’ll have a word.”

Joy smiled at her son and then murmured, “I better go find her.”

She left the table and this heralded a mass exit, Jack stopping Belle on her way up the stairs to her mother’s room.

When she’d tipped her head to look at him, he told her, “If you want to join me in the study later, you don’t have to knock.”

Then he leaned in, brushed his lips against hers and he was gone.

She stood where he left her for a moment, still feeling his mouth against hers and wondering if his open invitation to his study meant as much to him as it did to her.

Then she turned and climbed the stairs.

Gram was in her mother’s room when she arrived and Belle knew immediately her mother didn’t want “a word”. Instead, Belle was going to get what they both referred to as a “talking to”.

She walked across the room to the windows, saying, “I’m not sure I’m up to this, guys.”

“Probably not but then again, when would you be up to finding out you were likely the conduit to release the spirits of two children bound to earth for hundreds of years, sending them straight to heaven?” Gram remarked.

Belle ignored her grandmother’s remark, looked out the window and saw the rain had stopped. She also saw Jack, Baron and
Gretl
heading up the cliff path. Jack was wearing a dark rain slicker, his head bare,
the
wind blowing his thick hair.

Jack, Belle noted, looked good from behind in his rain slicker with the wind blowing his hair. She liked the way he walked, even on the slick path, with long, confident strides, his body at his command.

“Earth to Belle, come in Belle,” Mom called and Belle turned to see Gram at her side, peering out the window.

“She’s mooning over Jack,” Gram informed Mom.

“Lots to moon over,” Mom commented. “The man’s got a fantastic behind.”

Gram turned from the window, looked at Mom and shared, “I like his hands.”

Mom grinned. “Yeah, he’s got great hands. And, from Belle’s look this afternoon, I’m guessing he knows how to use them.”

“Mom!”
Belle snapped as she walked from the window and threw herself on the bed in front of her mother.

She rolled to her back and her mother leaned over her. “It’s just my way of saying I’m happy for you,
honeypot
.”

Belle sighed and asked, “Can we not talk about Jack’s hands?”

“Okay,” Mom agreed happily. “Let’s talk about his behind. That’s a
much
better subject.”

Belle rolled her eyes.

“Or his eyes.
That man has unbelievable eyes,” Gram noted as she joined them on the bed. “I was convinced they were contacts when I first met him but I don’t think they are.”

“They’re not,” Belle informed her, Gram smiled and Mom giggled.

Then Gram said gently, “I think you found yourself a good one this time, my sweet.”

Belle was beginning to think her grandmother wasn’t wrong.

And this budding knowledge scared the dickens out of her.

Therefore, she broadened her limits on the evening’s subject matter. “Can we not talk about Jack, at all?”

“Sorry, baby, can’t do that. That’s why we called you in here,” Mom told her.

Belle rolled to her side and crooked her elbow, putting her head in her hand and looking at her Mom who was lounged the same way as Belle. Then she looked at her Gram who was leaning back against the pillows.

“Does he know about Calvin?” Gram enquired and Belle closed her eyes, hating the idea of thinking of Calvin and Jack in the same thought.

When she opened her eyes again, she answered, “No.”

“You can’t tell him,” Mom said.

“You must tell him,” Gram said at the same time.

Mom turned to Gram and asked, “What?”

At the same time Gram turned to Mom and asked, “What are you thinking?”

“She can’t tell him,” Mom reiterated.

“Why on earth not?”
Gram queried.

“Cast your mind back to this afternoon, Mom, when Jack put us both in our place,” Mom demanded. “In case you didn’t get it from
that
, not to mention about half a dozen other examples I could give you, Jack’s a
wee bit
protective of Belle. If he learns what Calvin did to her, he’ll go ballistic. He might even spontaneously combust!”

Belle winced at the idea of Jack spontaneously combusting however she had to admit, the very idea of Jack finding out about Calvin made her heart hurt.

Not only his reaction to this knowledge but what he might think of Belle knowing she’d made the choice of Calvin in the first place and let his abuse carry on for as long as it did.

He’d think she was an idiot and worse, a coward for not putting an end to it the minute it started.

“That may be so, Rachel, but
it’s
clear things are moving full steam ahead with Jack and Belle and he’s got the right to know,” Gram returned.

“Okay, I agree, just not now. We need to wait until after Belle releases the ghost children,” Mom replied.

“What?” Belle asked.

At the same time, Gram asked, “Why?”

Mom turned to Belle and declared, “Obviously, you have to release those children.”

Belle felt her lungs expand and it wasn’t a good feeling.

“Yes, that
is
obvious but I don’t understand why Jack needs to be kept in the dark about Calvin for her to do it,” Gram retorted before Belle had the chance to speak.

“First, if Jack knows Belle’s history, he’s going to cotton onto the fact that he shares Joshua Bennett’s characteristics just as Belle shares Brenna’s both of them
exactly
. Once he understands this, do you think Jack, for one instant, would allow Belle to lift even a finger to help those children?” Mom asked.

This was, unfortunately, true.

Who knew what Belle had to do to release Myrtle and Lewis?

It might be dangerous.

Jack would
never
agree to her doing anything dangerous.

He wouldn’t even let her take a walk on a rain slick coastal path, something she’d done hundreds of times. It
was
England. It
was
Cornwall. Rain slick coastal paths were the norm and Belle walked
a lot
.

“Hmm,” Gram muttered, which was her way of agreeing without actually having to agree.

Mom pressed her advantage and looked at Belle. “You can’t tell him.”

“I think,” Belle said softly. “That something is happening between Jack and me.”

Mom grinned and teased, “You think?”

Belle shook her head but went on to say, “Yes, Mom, I do. I also think it might not be a good idea to keep Jack in the dark about
anything
. He won’t like it.”

“Hmm,” Gram muttered again, this time more firmly non-stating her agreement.

“Not mentioning it is the same as lying to him. I kept the pregnancy from him and he wasn’t happy about it,” Belle reminded them.

“You can say that again,” Gram mumbled.

Rachel, however, was not deterred. “I saw those children today and, okay, they freaked me out. But once I knew their story, I thought about what I saw. The little girl gave me a wave and the boy was grinning at me. They seem sweet but it’s too sad for words that they’re stuck here. Something has to be done and we all know Jack will never agree to you doing it.”

This, too, was true.

“Let me think about it,” Belle suggested. “Maybe there’ll be a time when I can explain things to Jack and get him involved. Maybe I can talk him around. Maybe he’ll feel better about it if he has some control over the situation.”

“What if that time doesn’t come?” Gram asked.