Inheritance (The Lost Bride Trilogy, #1)(93)

As he walked to it, a wave of icy air hit him.

He’d felt it before, in the Gold Room.

“So it’s you,” he murmured. “Good to know. Next thing I’d like to know. Why three a.m.?”

He heard piano music from the music room, stepped back.

“Midnight’s supposed to be the witching hour, right?”

“Yeah. I thought—” He turned, expecting to see Sonya.

And looked at her grandmother.

“Man. All right.” His heart gave two hard beats before it settled again. “It’s you. I saw you once before.”

“Sure. You were such a cute little guy. You had good hands on that guitar. You grew up.”

“Yeah.” You never got that chance. “Did you make the clock chime?”

“Not me, baby. You’re right, that’s all that bitch. Every freaking night, bong, bong, bong.”

“How come I can see you now?”

She smiled, a pretty teenager who’d never grow old. “Because you’re here, and she’s here—Sonya—and you guys did the it.” She shrugged. “Cool with me. Free love. I missed most of that. Things were just happening when I, you know, died. Bummer. But I loved Charlie. We really had it together. I’d have loved my babies.”

“I’m sure you would have.”

“We were going to live here, start a commune. Art, music, poetry.” She did a little spin. “Lots of spiritual stuff, too. But.”

She lifted her shoulders, let them fall. “I had a ring, too.”

“I’m sorry.”

She lifted her left hand, tapped her ring finger with the other. “That fucking witch took it, so you watch out for her, got it? Then that old bitch—Charlie’s mom—she took care of the rest. He shouldn’t’ve done what he did, kill himself like that. I mean, wow, I didn’t have a choice, but he did. And that’s how she got her hands on my babies, my little boys. I was pretty pissed at him for a while. But, well, shit, I love him.”

“Is … Is he here, too?”

For a ghost, he thought, she had a smile like the summer sun.

“Well, yeah, what do you think? Lots of us here. It’s the freaking curse. So, that’s it for now. You need to help Sonya—it’s so far out I’ve got a granddaughter. I mean, far out! You need to help her get those rings back.”

She smiled again, sweet as spun sugar. “You were real good to my boy. It’s weird calling him a boy because he got to be an old man. Anyway, coming out like this really fries me after a while. You should go back to bed.”

“Wait. I’ve got questions.”

But she was gone, and the music left with her.

Deliberately, he opened the glass cover on the face of the clock, moved the hands, at random, to twenty after four.

He checked the music room anyway, then did a long circuit around the main floor, and another on the second before he went back to Sonya’s room.

She slept still. Both dogs opened their eyes to watch him as he went back to the bed. He pulled off his jeans, slipped into bed with her.

In sleep, she turned to him. Because she shivered, he drew her close.



* * *



He woke in the morning to see her pulling on a sweatshirt.

“Early riser.”

“Oh.” She turned and laughed. “Yeah, sorry. I thought I was quiet.”

“You were. I have to be an early riser. I’ve got court this morning.”

“Court? Do you really wear a tie with your flannel shirt, or an actual suit?”

“Yeah, an actual suit. It’s court.”

“I bet you look good in one. I’m going to let the dogs out, make coffee.”

“Right there, you’ve earned undying gratitude.”

“I’ll take it. There’s spare toothbrushes in the bathroom. Either you guys stocked them or Collin had them. Help yourself.”

“I will. Okay if I grab a shower? It’ll save me time at home.”

“It’s all yours. Come on, boys, let’s go outside.”

The outside had them both scrambling up and out, with her hurrying after.

She looked good in the morning, he thought. But then, to his eye, she always did. He thought it a shame he couldn’t talk her into the shower with him. But besides court, he needed time to tell her about three in the morning.

He could’ve spent a year in that shower, and gave Collin full marks on it.

When he’d dressed and walked downstairs, he found coffee waiting while she put pizza on plates.

“You want it warmed up?”

“Why?” He went for coffee first.

“That’s what I say. What’s wrong with us?”

“I’ve got time to sit down here with it. Do you have time?”

“Sure.” She sat at the counter with him. “When I go up, the bed’ll be made as perfectly as in the best hotel. I’ve gotten over the oddness of that, and appreciate the time saved.”

He jumped right in. “Do you know the old grandfather clock in the second parlor.”

“The second parlor is … Right, that one. With the big clock. I haven’t really used that room.”

“Have you wound the clock?”