Shifting Shadows (23 page)

“
And you really believe you were this Elizabeth Dupard and I was Shawn Fitzpatrick.”

“
We were, and we are. Our bodies changed, but not our souls. We were meant to be together, but we didn’t make it last time. Something happened. Somehow Blake must have found out.” Suddenly an idea hit her. “Your house. Rachel had a hiding place too. After Papa made mine, she had to have one, so she loosened a board in the corner of her bedroom. Maybe she left a journal too, or at least some notes.”

For a moment she thought he would argue with her, tell her she was being ridiculous, but he only shrugged.
“Let’s go look. You won’t be happy until we do.” He might not completely believe her, but he didn’t totally disbelieve either.

As they crossed the yard from one kitchen door to the other, Dylan wrapped his arm about her waist and held her close. She felt warm and comfortable against his body and marveled at how different this trip was from the one she
’d made only a few hours before.

“
How did you know I broke into your house?” she asked.

“
I don’t know. It was like I could sense your recent presence. I caught a faint whiff of your scent. I seem to have a sixth sense where you’re concerned.”

At least he
’d admitted that much.

In his bedroom—Rachel
’s former bedroom—she went straight to the far corner and, with very little effort, lifted the floorboard.

In the revealed space lay a letter. It was addressed to Elizabeth in
a handwriting shaky with age but recognizable to her as Rachel’s.

Dylan leaned over her shoulder.
“This gets eerier all the time,” he admitted.

Tears filled
Analise’s eyes as she retrieved the last communication from her dear friend. With trembling fingers she opened it and pulled out a single sheet of paper.

My dear Elizabeth, I know you
’re dead, and I’m not quite sure why I’m writing this. Maybe I’ve gotten dotty with age. Everyone says I have. But somehow I feel you’re going to read it. Maybe the angels will take it to you. I should be able to tell you in person soon, and I do so look forward to that. At least I look forward to leaving this life. I’m ashamed to face you and can only hope you’ll be able to forgive me.

Elizabeth, believe me when I say no one ever loved a friend more than I loved you, and I would never have done anything to hurt you. But I did. The night you ran away with Sh
awn, Blake came here. He’d wakened and found you gone. Then he came here and demanded to know where you’d gone.

He was furious! Mama and Papa left me alone with him because he was your husband and a rich and powerful man. He hit me and threatened to kill my parents and me. He
beat me until the pain was so bad the words came out, and I told him.

Elizabeth, I
’m so sorry! I could have bitten off my tongue when I realized what I’d done. If only I’d bitten it off before I betrayed you!

Even so, I had no idea he
’d kill you and Shawn, but when they found your body, I knew that’s what had happened. I went to the sheriff, but it was no use. Blake owns him too. He just laughed at me. For all the years of my life I’ve lived with this secret and never forgiven myself. I only hope that when I pass through to the other side, you’ll be able to do what I haven’t and forgive me.

A tear dropped onto the paper, blurring part of Rachel
’s signature. “It’s okay,” Analise whispered. “Everything’s okay, Rachel. Oh, Dylan, why did she have to die blaming herself?”

He wrapped his arms about her and pulled her to him.

“You know, if I believed in all this stuff, I’d say she’ll probably pop up as one of our kids.”

His determinedly frivolous tone and the implication that they
’d be having children together brought a smile to her lips. She leaned back in his arms to look at him. “How can you not believe after all this?” she challenged. “What about that picture of me you painted?”

“
Which picture? I’ve seen your face enough to do the portrait, and the nude...well, I confess, I fantasized about you. A lot.” He ran a hand over the curves of her breasts, down her waist then clasped her bottom. “But the reality’s even better.”

“
Not those paintings. The one of the woman with dark hair who’s drowning.”

He shifted uncomfort
ably, looked away and cleared his throat. “Oh, that one. Actually, that’s from a dream I’ve had all my life. A nightmare. Strange thing about it, after you lost your memory, that woman kept turning into you in the dream.”

“
The woman is Elizabeth. That’s the face I expected to see when I looked in the mirror after falling down the stairs. That scene, from just that angle, is the last thing Shawn saw before he died.”

His eyes clouded over, and he walked away from her, over to the bed,
and sat down. “You make a pretty strong case, lady.”

She went to sit beside him.
“I don’t see how it could get any stronger.”

“
If it’s true, that would explain why I was so drawn to you the first time I saw you, in spite of the fact that I thought you were involved in my brother’s death.”

“
And the way you sometimes break into speech patterns that aren’t quite yours. You have almost an Irish brogue at times.”

“
I know one thing.” He wrapped his arms about her again, his face only inches from hers. “I love you, Analise or Elizabeth or whoever you are today.”

“
And I love you, Shawn and Dylan and whoever you may be in your next lifetime.”

“
I don’t know about reincarnation, but I know I’ll love you for all of this lifetime.”

She smiled as she cuddled closer to him. That was all that mattered. They loved each other in the here and now.
She could have—should have—trusted her instincts, the voice of her soul.

But maybe she wouldn
’t try too hard to get this part absolutely perfect. She wouldn’t mind another lifetime or two of loving him, working on getting it just right.

THE END