Burning Down the House (37 page)

EPILOGUE

“I let you have the window seat. The least you could do is
stop hogging all the orange gummy bears.”

“The orange ones are my favorite.” Plucking one from the bag,
Rob decapitates it with his teeth before popping what’s left in his mouth. “You didn’t want to sit next to the window anyway, so don’t even try and pull that with me.”

“If we’re
about to crash, I don’t wanna have to see it!” I unbuckle my seat belt and return the friendly smile of the flight attendant in the Santa hat as he strolls down the aisle past me. He’s the one who gave the animated preflight speech, a very…shall we say “festive” young man named Devin. A definite improvement over Muppet Lady, if you ask me. Devin totally missed his calling as a stand-up comedian.

“Flying’s
a lot safer than driving,” Rob informs me.

“
Yeah, but if a
car’s
engine stalls, the car doesn’t plummet from thirty-two thousand feet in the air!”

“Chill out,
Debbie Downer. Here, have a gummy bear.” He feeds me a green one. I find it a little arbitrary that someone who’s never flown before can be way more relaxed about it than I am, especially considering I’ve traveled the sky at least half a dozen times. You’d think I’d be used to it by now. “You know, green is supposed to be an aphrodisiac.”

“That’s a myth. Anyway, you’re thinking of M&M’s.”

“So no Mile High Club jokes then?” He winks at me with a wicked grin. I can’t help but giggle because I know he’s teasing.

“Don’t even think about it, perv! I’m not doing it in some skeevy
airline bathroom. That’s just gross.”

“You mean those claustrophobic airline toilets don’t get you
all hot and bothered?”

“Not even a little bit.” I
swipe an orange bear from his fingers and lick it before handing it back to him. “There you go. Bon appétit.”

H
e eats it without batting an eye. “You’re right - it’s not the green ones. It’s definitely the orange ones.”

“I think a plate of liver and onions would give
you
a boner!”

“If you were
the one serving it, yes, it would.” He steals a kiss. His lips taste like candy. Orange is now my favorite flavor.

“Did I mention that’s what we’re having for Christmas dinner?” I joke.

He wrinkles his nose. God, he’s so cute. “Did I mention I just became a vegetarian?”

“Aww…I bet
Devin will be heartbroken to hear you’ve sworn off meat.”

“You’re fishing for a spanking, little miss.”

I pretend to be delighted. “Santa
did
get my letter!”

“
Oh, right - and I’m the perv?” he chuckles.

Okay, so we’re equally pervy. I can live with that.

“You better be good or you won’t get your Christmas present,” he threatens me playfully.

“I seem to remember specifically asking you not to get me anything.”

“Did you? I can’t remember - the thing is, I have selective hearing.”

“You do not!”

“What?” He points to his ears and shakes his head. “See, I didn’t even hear that.”

He really is impossible.

He is also sweet, generous, warmhearted, loving and just plain perfect in general.

One day I’ll find a way to show him just how special he is to me.

I never did buy him that Xbox. It’s okay though - my dad wound up getting him the Tacoma and they went to pick it up yesterday, so trust me, Rob’s a happy camper. While they were gone I used the opportunity to bake the handmade polymer clay picture frame I sculpted for him. I have it stowed away in my carry-on - it’s holding the photo Dad took of us the night of the homecoming dance. I know, sounds totally corny, doesn’t it? Somehow I think he’ll love it anyway.

All the cash I’d
hoarded from babysitting was useless to me - it felt dirty and tainted. The thought of where that money had come from was something I couldn’t get past, so in the end I decided to spend most of it on Peyton. I ordered a pair of pointe shoes in the smallest size available and had them overnighted to her aunt’s house. She and her mother are staying there temporarily. Maybe one day she’ll dance in them. At the very least, she’ll enjoy playing ballerina with them.

I haven’t seen her since that night.
The yard next door has become so quiet. I don’t know if they’ll come back, or if Mrs. Weston will put the house up for sale and remain in Pittsburgh. I’m guessing the latter. But then, you never know.

The
remainder of the money I used to buy the most adorable little ceramic lamb you ever saw. As soon as Rob and I get back from Greenville, I plan to visit the cemetery and leave it on Jordan’s grave. It’s for her baby. Kind of a symbolic gesture, I guess. I think she would’ve liked that.

Beyond that, I don’t plan to
dwell on the past. If there’s anything I learned from Rob, it’s that some things are better left behind. If you live your life constantly looking in a rearview mirror, eventually you’ll veer off the road.

My road only
leads in one direction. And that’s the one in front of me.

B
esides, as someone really smart once reminded me, today is the first day of the rest of my life.

And today is
looking pretty amazing.

BONUS EXCERPT

Winter’s Touch:
Immortal Touch – Book One

Eva
was just drifting off to sleep that night when her bedroom door flew open, startling her. In the darkness she could just make out Julian’s silhouette, tall and imposing, and her heart filled with dread even though she’d known the day was coming. Her account was past due.

Time for him to collect.

He sprang lithely onto the foot of the bed, crawling leisurely over her like a prowling animal. The obsidian eyes gleamed brightly with a ravenous look. Crouched directly over her, his face mere inches from hers, his lips curved slowly into a devious smile. He was so close she could smell his aftershave.

“What do you want?” She tried to sound defiant but her voice cracked, exposing her cowardice.

“What do you suppose?”

“Don’t,
Julian.” Her words might as well have been tossed into the air for all their weight.

“This is what you’re here for. Or have you forgotten?” The raw malevolence in his voice showed there was to be no mercy from him. Tonight he meant to assert his dominance.

She didn’t even have time to suck in a breath with which to scream before he snatched her head back and sank his fangs savagely into her jugular.

Struggling beneath his weight, she thrashed her head in an attempt to extricate herself from the searing pain, but he was as immovable as concrete. The scream, when it came, was a useless waste of energy. Her cries would mean as much to him as the antelope’s did to the lion. Eventually the pain subsided and her body went limp.

He remained hungrily clamped to her neck for some time before finally pulling away, satiated and spent. A thin trickle of blood ran down her throat, warm and wet, but she hadn’t the strength to wipe it away. The rhythm of her heartbeat was all wrong, pounding rapidly against her chest in a way that alarmed her. She’d lost too much blood.

He lay beside her, breathing heavily. One arm came up to rest on his forehead and he stared at the ceiling silently.

She shivered, cold permeating her thin silk chemise. The covers had fallen to the floor and he suddenly reached for them, pulling the white comforter up to tuck snugly around her. What he said next was so completely unexpected she wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly.

“Forgive me.”

“I’ll nae longer stay here wi’ ye, Jules.”

He looked up from the sheet music he’d been studying, surprised by the normally docile woman’s abrupt announcement.

“You have a more pressing engagement? Let me see if I can guess. Oh, I have it. You’ve met a dashing and wealthy man who’s promised to make an honest woman of you. It was love at first sight, you say? Tell me, when is the wedding?” He knew the words were cruel. For once the rancor brought him no pleasure.

Lainie flushed an angry crimson. For a plain woman who had always been overlooked by the opposite sex, the sarcasm cut deeper than it should have, even after all these lonely years. She’d made her peace with the situation long ago, but after all she’d done for the ingrate he might at least have the fortitude to hold his tongue. Not for the first time, the unhappy thought occurred to her...
he should have stayed dead and buried.
At least the heartache would have eventually healed, instead of carrying on to afflict her forever.

But this wasn’t about her.

“Ye’re killin’ her, ye know! Ye’re killin’ that child!”

He picked up a pencil and erased one of the notes on the staff paper in front of him, then scribbled a replacement. “Why the sudden awakening of conscience? You’ve known all along what I do.”

“Aye, and there’s nae doubt I’ll be cursed for it, but as long as I ne’er saw the results o’ what ye did I could pretend it wasn’t happening. God forgive me, I ignored all those deaths, but I cannae stay here and watch ye slowly murder that poor girl! Jules, ye must send her away.
Please.
I cannae have her blood on my hands.”

Her pleas annoyed him, for no other reason than something unfamiliar and unwelcome acknowledged that she was not wholly incorrect. He shot her a scathing look, and his reply was laced with cold venom. “Your hands could not begin to hold all the blood I’ll wring from her dying body.”

Lainie shook her head in despair. “God in heaven! There truly is nae hope for ye. I’ve waited and wanted so much for my boy to come back to me, but now it appears I was foolin’ myself. He’s dead, and there’s nothin’ left o’ him, is there? Nothin’ at all.”

Julian
played a few idle notes on the piano, avoiding her eyes. “If you wish to leave, then leave. There is nothing keeping you here.”

“
Send her home,
Jules, I beg o’ ye! She won’t live to see the spring if ye keep her here. Ye’ve lost control o’ yerself and ye very well know it!”

He pounded his fist on the keys, creating a discordant clang. “Leave me
be,
woman! How can I concentrate with you prattling on? You are as stupid as you are useless! Am I to release her so that I can be arrested and imprisoned in her place? Are you honestly that daft?”

“Perhaps...if I spoke to her, she wouldn’t say anythin’.” Lainie made the suggestion hesitantly, knowing perfectly well it was an absurd one. Of course the girl would inform the police. Why on earth wouldn’t she? His mind control might work for a short time, but she’d remember soon enough. For whatever reason,
Eva seemed resistant to his hypnosis.

The long fingers coaxed an eerie tune from the keys, and his sudden smile sent a cold chill down her spine.

“I would keep her here regardless.”

“
Why?
For God’s sake, what is it ye
want
from her?”

“My reasons are not for you to know.”

“Do ye even know yerself? I’m not that convinced ye do!”

“Oh, but I do.” The secretive smile he continued to hold was maddening. She desperately wanted to slap him, restraining herself only for fear of deadly reprisal.

“I’ve had my fill o’ your depravity. I’ll not stay to watch ye torment an innocent girl.”

“As I said before, you are free to leave.” He glanced up at her. “Shall I book you a flight back to
Scotland? Or did you have someplace else in mind?”

“Nae, I’ll handle it myself.” Defeated, she stared sadly into his eyes, the very ones that had once shone with all the love and devotion a son feels for his mother. So many years ago, and still she couldn’t forget. No matter what happened, he’d always remain the child she’d never been able to bear herself. Her only son. It was because of this he would allow her to leave unharmed. He knew she’d die before she would condemn him.

As for the girl...there was no help for her. Evangeline would die as surely as the sun would rise.

The knowledge broke her heart.