Fairytale Come Alive (Ghosts and Reincarnation #4)(122)

At his office where Dougal had arrived unexpectedly to show him the spread in the magazine, Prentice had been surprised to see two photos of Elle and Prentice taken twenty years ago mingled with the others.

Which meant Hattie had also given them photos, photos Prentice didn’t know she had, intimate photos of Elle and Prentice that made Prentice feel unsettled that Hattie had at all.

One was at a party at the beach. He remembered that night though he couldn’t recall Hattie being there. The night was, as always with Elle, a good night. The photo was obviously shot without Prentice or Elle knowing it was being taken. They were standing by the bonfire, her arms were around his neck, his hands were resting at her waist. She was pressed against him, gazing lovingly up at his face. They were both smiling.

The other was on the pavement in the village. He remembered that day as a good one too but again couldn’t imagine why on earth Hattie had a photo of it. The photo was also shot without Prentice or Elle knowing it was being taken. Elle had been horsing around and had jumped on his back. She had her thighs tight to his hips, her arms were around his chest. He had his arms behind him, his hands on her ass. She was leaning into his back and his neck was twisted to look at her as she peered around his shoulder. They were both laughing.

Seeing the photos he realized with disbelief that he’d forgotten exactly how beautiful Elle used to be when she was younger.

He thought he’d remembered but he had not.

Also seeing them he was stunned at how much more beautiful she had become. Especially now, when she slept deep and peacefully every night and had gained back some weight.

He would have thought that was an impossibility but it was not.

Those photos were mingled with others he hadn’t seen but he knew they likely existed, these taken recently. One, shot the day Sally left the hospital, showed Prentice lifting his daughter to put her in the Rover. Elle was close to them, Jason close to Elle. There was also a photo of Elle and Sally standing on the pavement talking animatedly to Denise and Gordon. Another was at Jason’s football match showing Elle standing in the curve of Prentice’s arm, her head tilted back, her face smiling as they spoke to each other. Sally was gazing into the distance but her arms were wrapped around Prentice’s leg.

And finally, there was another photo of Prentice and Elle that Prentice wasn’t aware it was being taken, shot only days before the article ran. They were alone at the beach, Debs had taken the kids for the day.

The final photo was almost an exact replica of the first one, except it was day rather than night and there was no bonfire. They were in each other’s arms, looking in each other’s eyes and they were smiling.

The magazine the article ran in (and the article got it mostly right, though it dramatized some of it and made Carver seem even more of a monster than he already was which was quite a feat) was popular and had a huge circulation.

The bad news about this article was that there was a possibility that Jason and Sally could see it or hear friends talking about it. They didn’t know Elle and Prentice had a history and Prentice didn’t want them to know, not now. He would find a way to tell them later, when things were settled, when Elle was settled, which she gave too many indications that she was currently not.

The good news about the article was the possibility that Carver had seen it.

But even if he hadn’t, it was now obvious Carver had seen the photo of Elle holding Sally’s hand, her other arm around Prentice’s waist, Prentice holding her close with his arm around her shoulders and Jason walking in front of them but looking back. All of them were laughing as they came out of a restaurant the first night they were in Chicago.

A photo which was printed that day in a Chicago newspaper.

A photo with the caption, Reunited lovers Isabella Austin and Prentice Cameron, out on the town with Cameron’s children.

Prentice would have paid them to print it.

Prentice would have paid them double for dropping Laurent Evangelista’s name from Elle’s.

Luckily, he didn’t have to do either.

He turned on the light in the foyer and pressed the button for the speaker on the security panel by the front door.

“Yes?” he asked and listened to the static that seemed satisfyingly heavy.

Finally, Carver Austin demanded to know, “Is my daughter there?”

Prentice grinned before saying, “Carver, it’s late. If you want to see Elle while she’s in town, call her. We’ll meet you for lunch.”

“Let me up,” Carver commanded.

“No. It’s late. Elle’s sleeping.”

“Cameron, I’ll stand here all night pressing this infernal button, damn it, let me up.”

“Suit yourself,” Prentice replied casually and hit the button to buzz him up.

He looked back into the apartment filled now with boxes.

Although Elle’s apartment was large, roomy and had an amazing view of Chicago, it was pristinely clean and decorated in a beautiful but cold way that was vaguely unwelcoming. It was as if it was a show apartment, meant to be viewed not to be lived in.

Upon entering it, he’d felt a not vague at all sense of alarm at the thought of his Elle inhabiting this impersonal space until he’d seen Elle nervously surveying her own home likely looking at it through Prentice’s eyes.

So he’d kissed her, open-mouthed and long, even in front of the children.