Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 129951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 650(@200wpm)___ 520(@250wpm)___ 433(@300wpm)
I’d told her about what happened when I walked through the ballroom, and she hadn’t experienced it, but I knew that sounded cray-cray to her.
And of course, there was passing out the second I laid eyes on Battle.
But Prue did go to Ravenna and write fantasy books. Maybe she would think what just happened was, indeed, freaky, but meaningful, like I did.
And maybe, with her, we could ask Chassie if there was anything Harmony-and-Charlie-related in her room.
She might not understand it, so perhaps we could all have a look.
I thought this because I thought the phantom couple I saw walking out of the ballroom, the ones who I ran after, were Harmony and Charlie. I didn’t see their faces, just their backs. I had photos of my great-granddad, and I’d seen some of Harmony. It could have been them.
I mean, I wasn’t completely at one with cats being motivated by supernatural forces to guide you where you were supposed to be.
I was no UFO, conspiracy theory, reincarnation, etc. believer.
But I still thought there were things that were unexplained.
I didn’t believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, for one.
And I saw what I saw in that ballroom.
That was not jetlag.
Nor was my reaction to seeing Battle. The bolt that hit me, the charge I got when he first touched me.
And I saw Ravenna throw my cards…twice.
Not to mention, she said Charlie’s letters were in the house.
Okay, so it was more than minorly loopy that I thought maybe the cats were pointing me in the direction of Chassie’s room to tell me Charlie’s letters were in there.
But everyone on board The Mary Celeste disappeared without a trace, and to this day, no one knew why. And hundreds of people danced for days, some of them dropping from exhaustion and even dying in Strasbourg during the Dancing Plague, and to this day, no one understood how that happened.
So I wasn’t closing my mind to anything.
This taking my thoughts, along with avoiding any cats at my feet, I was rounding the south landing of the stairs only to see Battle climbing the first grand sweep.
“Hey, take care of business?” I asked as he stopped to wait for me to get to him.
“A quick email I needed to read and respond to, and not on a phone keyboard.”
Yeah, those phone keyboards were no fun to type on.
“I hear you,” I said as I made it to him.
He turned and curled an arm around my shoulders, mine went around his waist, and we walked down the rest of the stairs.
We hit the plum parlor that had Tempie and Prue, both with drinks.
Battle deposited me in a chair and then locked eyes with me.
I understood his look.
“Amaretto sour,” I ordered.
He jutted his chin and went to the drinks cabinet.
Tempie opened her mouth to speak.
But Prue got there before her. “If you’re going to say something about Battie and Vivi and afternoon sex, I’m throwing a pillow at you.”
“I don’t need to, dear, you just did,” Tempie replied.
Prue shot her a pointy face.
It glanced off Tempie.
“Where’s Chassie?” Battle asked from the cabinet.
“On her way, I expect,” Tempie said.
“You can relax, Battie,” Prue told him. “I saw her come in from the gardens earlier.” She turned to me. “She didn’t look happy.”
Hmm.
I wasn’t sure hard to get was Christian’s best play.
“Didn’t look happy?” Tempie queried, the thread of worry in her voice going undisguised.
“Chassie has a thing for Christian,” Prue announced.
Tempie, for the first time since I met her, seemed thrown.
She blinked and asked, “She does?”
Prue took a sip of her old fashioned before she answered, “No one wears three-hundred-pound dresses to garden, Tempie.”
Tempie appeared stunned.
Miracles never cease.
“We’re not to get involved,” Battie commanded while walking our drinks toward me. After he gave me mine and folded in beside me, he looked at Prue. “Any of us. I’ll repeat, your stalking is done.”
“Fine by me,” she replied and looked at me. “The curator from the V and A is coming on Tuesday anyway. I’m going to be busy.”
“I cannot wait to hear what they have to say,” I enthused.
“Me either,” Prue agreed.
I took a sip of my drink and said to Battle. “This is yummy, honey. Thank you.”
“My pleasure, darling,” he murmured into his G&T.
“I forgot to inquire,” Tempie said. “Did you call your sister?”
I nodded. “Wednesday night.”
“All good on the home front?” Prue asked.
“Yes.” I smiled big. “And Lenny and Al are thinking of bringing the kids over to visit in June or July.”
“That would be so lovely for you!” Prue clapped. “And we’ll get to meet them.” She sat back in the sofa. “It’s been forever since we’ve had kids in the house.” Her brows shot down. “Wait, except for when I was a kid, I don’t know if we’ve ever had kids in the house.”
“I’d love for them to see the house,” I remarked.