Because You're Mine(60)

“Why are you here?” Barry demanded. “You have a home to go to.”

“We need him,” Ciara said. “We’ll be practicing all hours if we’re to be ready in time. It’s much more convenient to have us all together.”

Barry shut his mouth with a snap, but his gaze lingered on Jesse. Jesse knew he’d just made an enemy.





Twenty-Five


By evening the rooms were as ready as they were going to be. Barry had grudgingly handed over his credit card, and Alanna had gone to town with the group to get bedding. Jesse drove. The group had made fast work of shopping at Target and stepped out to wet pavement and gray skies, but the rain had finally stopped.

The minute they got back to Blackwater Hall Jesse disappeared with his shopping bag. She wondered where he was going in such a hurry. An air of excitement surrounded him.

“Let’s practice a bit before supper,” Ena suggested later as Alanna smoothed the new sheets on Fiona’s bed.

Ena had her camera in her hand, and Alanna had heard the clicking of it all afternoon as Ena snapped shots of them working. “Thanks for sticking up for me today,” Alanna said. “About my family being Travellers.”

Ena brought the camera to her face again. The only part of her head visible was her pink hair. “Righto. We can’t choose our family, and it’s not fair to be judged by our past either.” The shutter whirred as she snapped a picture of Alanna.

Liam used to say the same when Alanna moaned about her past.

“Put the camera down and look at me, please.” Alanna waited until the other woman lowered the camera and exposed her eyes. “I wish you’d quit hiding behind that thing, Ena. People love you, you know. You’re the first one to try to bandage a hurt. You don’t judge others.”

“Been judged too many times meself,” Ena mumbled under her breath.

Alanna was the only one in the group who knew Ena’s full story, because it was so similar to her own: shuttled from one Traveller’s home to another. The only difference was what Ena had had to do to survive and support a foster brother who’d ended up in the same abusive home. The shame of being forced into prostitution for a time had left her unable to look other people in the eye.

The story could easily have been Alanna’s, so she had a special empathy for her friend. Barry had said nothing more about Thomas’s accusation. She needed to ask him if he’d heard from his friend on the status of her citizenship.

Alanna put her hand on Ena’s shoulder. “Thank you for not judging,” she said. “What do you think of Jesse?”

Ena met Alanna’s gaze briefly, then glanced back at her camera. “He reminds me of Liam. Something about the way he protects you.”

Alanna inhaled sharply. “I thought it was my imagination. He really does think Liam has possessed him or that something from Liam transferred to him at the moment of death. It is a bit wonky though, don’t you think?” Her hand rested on her belly, where she felt a small flutter.

“I like Jesse,” Ena said. “He’s real, just like Liam was. He cares about people.”

“Liam didn’t care as much as I thought,” Alanna blurted out. “He told Jesse things I thought he’d never be sharing with another person.”

Ena frowned. “I want to show you something.” She flipped her camera over to the view mode and toggled back a few frames. “Look at this picture.”

The photo was of Jesse. The way he stood with his hands in his pockets and his head tipped to the side was a carbon copy of Liam’s usual stance. He even had one knee bent with the other one mostly supporting his weight, the same as Liam.

Alanna averted her eyes. “I can’t look at it. It hurts too much to see him imitating Liam.”

“What if he’s not imitating him?” Ena whispered. “He was with Liam when he died. What if he’s right? What if his soul moved to Jesse? Maybe a piece of Liam is in there.”

“A soul doesn’t transfer to another person. It goes one of two places,” she said. “And I know Liam is in heaven waiting for me.”

If she made it there. With the anger she felt, her destination was in doubt. A real Christian wouldn’t be angry with God, would she?

“Watch him,” Ena pleaded. “Don’t discount a mystical connection.”

“I’ll be watching him. But that’s all I can promise.” Alanna smiled at her friend. “You want to call the others? I think they’re down having tea in the kitchen. I’ll be in the ballroom.” She wanted to sweep up some debris before they started.

Ena shrugged and flicked her pink hair behind her ears. “Just think about what I said.” She left the room.

Alanna followed her as far as the hallway, then turned right when Ena went left. She followed the hall to the rear stairs and climbed them to the ballroom. Grady was already there and had cleared away much of the debris. The wood floors shone from a polishing, and he’d arranged the instruments on the raised stage.

“Blimey, it looks fabulous, Grady,” she said. “I was going to do it.”

He leaned on the broom handle. “You got guts, little sister. Defying Barry like that.”

Her pulse jumped. “He said something to you?”

Grady grimaced and began to sweep again. “He didn’t have to. It was all over his face. He’d planned to have you all to himself, and your friends are spoiling his romantic interlude.”