Lucky Stars (Ghosts and Reincarnation #5)(69)

Before Belle could process this statement, Yasmin stormed in and Belle stared.

She looked entirely normal except for the fact that she was barefoot, there were toe separators between her toes and three toes on her left foot had not been coated with the bright, iridescent tangerine the others sported.

She looked around and then her eyes locked on Joy. “Did I miss it?”

“No, darling, you didn’t miss it,” Joy assured her, her eyes on Yasmin’s toes. “Did I catch you in the middle of a pedicure?”

Yasmin walked into the room, toes curled to the ceiling, her gaze moving to Jack and Belle. “I dropped everything and got in the car. I think I may have broken the land speed record to get here.” She looked to Belle. “I’ve been waiting years to see Myrtle and Lewis. If they’re appearing more often, I’m considering moving in.”

Belle began to wonder if maybe Yasmin wasn’t a little mad too but she didn’t get to process this either.

Suddenly, Yasmin rocked back on her heels, her arms crossed on her chest and she grinned a mischievous grin. “You two look cosy. We know we’ll soon be hearing the pitter-patter of little feet but are we expecting wedding bells too?”

Belle’s body went statue-still.

So did Jack’s.

Belle wanted to run from the room, from the castle, maybe even find a spaceship and ask the astronauts to take her to the moon.

Jack, as if sensing this, tensed his arms.

“Yasmin,” he said in that oh so scary low and rumbly voice that was even more oh so scary than ever before.

“What?” Yasmin asked with feigned innocence, her grin never slipping. “I need to be prepared. I have to have an outfit and a big hat. Huge,” she emphasised. “The hat has to be enormous.” Her gaze shifted to Belle. “Do you design hats?”

“No,” Belle replied in a small voice.

“You should,” Yasmin told her. “I bet you’d be good at it.”

Before any more could be said, Gram and Mom entered the room and, not surprisingly, they did it far more flamboyantly than either Joy or Yasmin.

Or at least Mom did.

“You!” Mom shouted, clearly in a state, her hand up, finger pointing at Jack then she demanded, “How dare you move my daughter into a haunted castle?”

“Oh dear,” Joy muttered.

“Oh dear is right,” Mom yelled at Joy. “I do not believe this. Ghosts. Creepy child ghosts. See-through creepy child ghosts.” Her eyes shifted to Jack and she screeched, “Child ghosts! Everyone knows nothing is creepier than child ghosts!”

Although Belle found nothing whatsoever funny about the current moment, Jack, of course, did. She knew this because she not only heard his chuckle but she felt his body shaking with laughter.

“This is not funny!” Rachel shrieked.

“Rachel Leonora, calm down,” Gram demanded.

Mom turned on Gram. “I will not calm down. We’re moving out, this instant.”

“You’re not moving out,” Jack stated, all humour gone from his voice and Mom whirled back to him.

She opened her mouth to speak then she stopped and her eyes moved over Jack and Belle. They rested on Jack’s arms and Belle’s hands then they lifted to Belle’s face.

Then they narrowed.

Belle didn’t know why they narrowed. All she knew, through a vast amount of experience, was this was not good.

“Oh my God!” Rachel shouted. “You two have been fooling around!”

Belle’s body gave a surprised jerk as she felt Jack’s go solid behind her.

Mom wasn’t finished.

“You’re fooling around with my daughter while there are ghosts in the house!” she accused Jack as if this was an act akin to rounding up innocent citizens randomly in order to torture them just for kicks. Then, bizarrely, she backtracked, “Not that I frown on fooling around, because, you know, everyone needs a bit of nookie. Especially on a Sunday afternoon.” Mom turned to Yasmin and shared, “Best time of the week, Sunday afternoon.”

Mortified beyond any mortification Belle had felt in her life (and that was saying something), Belle found her voice and snapped, “Mom! Shut up!”

Her mother looked back at Belle. “I’m just saying.”

Lila started laughing, Joy was biting her lip and Yasmin was grinning ear-to-ear but, although she couldn’t see Jack, Belle knew he was done.

She knew this because, in his oh so scary low and rumbly voice, he declared, “Enough.”

Belle saw Mom’s body give a small twitch and her eyes went to Jack.

Then Jack went on and she realised he was not just done, he was done and he was angry.

“Rachel, enough,” Jack repeated, the words vibrating with fury. “I cannot imagine, since you bore and raised Belle, that you and your mother have no idea how much you embarrass her. You are who you are and you behave as you behave, which is a credit to you both as you clearly don’t give a damn what people think of you and that’s commendable. Further, your behaviour is mostly interesting and often quite humorous. That said, from this point forward, you’ll consider your daughter’s feelings and control it when it might cause her discomfort.” While Jack was making this speech, Mom’s mouth had dropped open as had Gram’s but Jack wasn’t quite done. “Am I understood?”