Lucky Stars (Ghosts and Reincarnation #5)(151)

Lewis shook his head.

“Does Myrtle?” Belle asked.

Lewis shook his head again.

“Well, darn,” Belle muttered, looking at the floor.

“You need to beware of the bad man,” Lewis told her quickly and her eyes came back to him.

“I know, darling.”

“He wants to hurt you.”

“I know, Lewis. We’re taking care of that.”

“If something happens to you, Jack will never be happy. He’ll never be happy again. And we’ll never go home,” Lewis kept going.

“Nothing’s going to happen to me, Lewis,” she said gently.

“Poppa was never happy. He smiled and he pretended. Sometimes, with the others, his other children, the ones he had with his new wife, it looked real. But when he was alone, we knew. Myrtle and me, we knew. He was always at the window, looking at her cliff. And when he did, his face was sad.”

He watched the tears gather in her eyes as she scooted even closer and lifted her hand up, palm toward him and she whispered, “Stop, Lewis. Stop thinking about that, darling. Nothing is going to happen to me. I promise. Nothing. And we’re going to get you home. I promise that too. Do you believe me?”

He held her eyes as he watched one tear fall and slide down her cheek.

Then he nodded again.

“Put your hand up, sweetheart, up against mine,” she urged.

“You can’t touch me,” he informed her.

“Yes, I can. Put your hand up, Lewis, up against mine,” she repeated and he did as he was told.

Just as he thought, his hand went through, melding partly with hers but when his eyes went from their hands to her face, he saw more tears, her lips quivering and a tenderness so deep, so familiar, so beloved, so longed for in her eyes, if he had breath, it would catch.

“I promise, darling,” she whispered, her voice scratchy, “I’m going to get you and your sister home.”

“I believe you, Belle,” he whispered back and he did. He saw it. He felt it.

“Think, Lewis, if you have any ideas, you let one of us know. You’re safe with all of us. Anyone in this castle.”

He nodded.

“You can’t appear before Jack,” she stated but it was a question.

He shook his head.

“Do you know why?” she asked.

He shook his head again. “Just that, something bad will happen.”

She nodded. “Okay, Lewis. Jack understands. He’d like to talk to you, meet you, but he understands.”

Lewis knew that. Jack was very understanding.

“Myrtle is going to be scared. Can I go to her now?” he requested.

“Of course, sweetheart,” Belle replied.

He drifted back a few feet and she dropped her hand.

“I’ll think, Belle, I promise,” he told her. “And I’ll tell you if I figure something out.”

“Okay, sweetheart. Give Myrtle a hug for me.”

Lewis screwed his face up and Belle smiled at him, dashing her hands on her cheeks to dry her tears.

“You were just holding her a few minutes ago,” she reminded him.

“I just do that when she’s scared,” he informed her.

“Well, for me, give her a hug just because,” Belle ordered gently.

“Oh, all right,” Lewis gave in.

“Go to your sister, darling,” she urged on another small, sweet smile.

He nodded.

Then he looked around at the gentle eyes on him.

Then he disappeared and went to his sister.

* * * * *

Belle

“I told you so,” Jack’s quiet voice that held a hint of humour rumbled through her and Belle, lying in the window seat between his bent legs, her upper body pressed to his, her cheek on his chest, lifted her head to look at him through the dark.

“Be quiet,” she whispered.

She saw the white flash of his smile as his hand came up, his fingers sifting into her hair at the side and he pulled it gently back. “It’s going to be okay,” he assured her and she nodded.

“I felt it, Jack,” she reminded him of what she’d told him earlier that evening. “When Lewis touched me, I felt it. I don’t know what it was but I felt it.”

“That just means you can help, poppet.”

She drew in an unsteady breath.

Then she nodded again and rested her cheek back on his chest, giving him a squeeze with her arms that were wound around him.

Jack’s hand left her hair so both his arms could close around her and he returned the squeeze.

She studied the inky night out the window.

After some time, Jack repeated on a murmur, “It’s all going to be okay, my love.”

“All right, Jack.”

“Can we go to bed now?” he queried.

She nodded again, her cheek sliding on his chest.

Jack shifted, moving her with him. Picking her up in his arms, they exited the window seat and he carried her to bed.

The dogs settled on her side.

Jack settled curled into her.

“Sorry our Sunday was ruined, honey,” she muttered into the night.

“It started brilliant and it’s not ending all that badly. You’re upset about Lewis and Myrtle but you’re also right here,” his arm around her tightened, “and that works for me.”