Seduction of Souls (14 page)

“What do you mean?”  Charity and Nathaniel faded from view, following the bright light leading to what she instinctively knew to be heaven.  All she could do was wave as they departed, wondering what in the world Charity had meant.

Now that she remembered the gift
, she was excited to get out of bed and start searching for it.   What in the world could a spirit leave her?  When she felt Ryker roll over, freeing her body, she carefully crept out of bed.  Before going in search of the gift, she had to take a shower.  She felt like a wrung out rag.  Silently she slipped into the bathroom, showered quickly and tip-toed out of the room. 

After searching the entire house
, she still couldn’t find anything even out of place.  She reminded herself to thank Bryn for cleaning up for her last night.  With a little disappointment, she grabbed a cup of coffee, also set-up by Bryn.  She settled at her desk, to update her journal.  If she didn’t get it down now she might begin to believe that it never really happened.  What if she someday had dementia and babbled about it.  Her caretakers would never believe her, not that she’d know that either if she had dementia.  Regardless, it was her habit to journal about her life, and this was no different.

Glancing at the clock in the corner of her computer screen
, she couldn’t believe she had been writing for over an hour, not skipping a single detail.  She closed this entry a little differently than her others, playing the devil’s advocate by asking questions she anticipated others might ask, just to make sure she was staying objective.  Who was she kidding, how objective could a person be about getting rid of an evil spirit and uniting two souls for the rest of eternity?  She jumped when she felt Ryker put his arms around her, nuzzling her neck while she smelled the cup of coffee he was holding.  Startled, she closed her journal with one quick click of the mouse.  This journal was personal, for her eyes only.

“What are you working on now?”

“Oh, nothing important, although I would still like to research Kade, just out of curiosity.”

“You know what that did to the cat, right?”

“Very funny.  I dreamt of Charity and Nathaniel last night, only this time it was a good dream.”

“Really?  Tell me.”

And she did, leaving out the confusing part about forgiveness.

“Did you look for your present?”

“Yes, but I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.  Maybe you could take a look around and see if I just missed it.”

“Sure thing, just let my coffee kick in first.”

“I’m sure you won’t find anything.  What could a spirit possibly leave as a gift?  Is there such a thing as a spirit gift shop?”

“I have no idea
,” He chuckled. “but I’ll look anyway.”

“Good.  I’m starving, how about if I make breakfast while you look around?”

“Sounds good.  Can we have pancakes and sausage?  You know it’s my favorite.”  He batted his eyelashes at her, giving her a puppy dog look she couldn’t resist.

“You’re so spoiled.  Did you mother spoil you like this?”

“She loves me so, yeah, she did.”

“So
if I love you I should do it, too?”

“Absolutely.”

“Crap, I was hoping that old saying wasn’t true.  You know, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”

“Well, that’s one of the ways.  I could think of a few more.”  He began to stalk her like a tiger, stealthily moving toward her and growling a very low growl.

“If you catch me you’ll never get your pancakes and sausage.”  He straightened immediately, taking a sip of his coffee and looking wide-eyed and innocent.

“That’s what I thought, stomach first.”  She turned and headed for the kitchen, humming quietly to herself. 

She poured herself another cup of coffee, took several fortifying sips, then started breakfast.  When she smelled the cooking sausages, her mouth began to water and her stomach gave a little grumble.  She was grateful that pancakes didn’t take long to make.  She sampled the first two.  Okay, she ate them, and without bothering with syrup. 

“Ryker, breakfast is ready
,” She called loudly while she set the syrup and butter on the table, stealing a link and shoving it in her mouth.  When she got no response, she started walking through the house, looking for him.  Maybe he was downstairs or in the attic.  After checking both spaces she called his name again.  No answer.  She went back into the library, straight to her desk, which was the last place she’d seen him.  He sat in her desk chair, staring at her computer screen as if in a trance.

“Did you hear me, breakfast is ready.”  He cast an angry look at her, his lips tight and straight and his brows furrowed deeply while his eyes grew darker by the second.

“What’s wrong?  Why are you on my computer?”  She walked behind her desk, looking at the screen but not believing what she was seeing.

“Tell me what in the world you’re doing reading my journal?”  She struggled to keep her voice even, holding back her temper while she waited for an answer.

“When were you going to tell me you’re writing an investigative article about how fake paranormal investigation is?”

“What in the world are you talking about?  I have no intention of writing any such article, but the real question is how dare you invade my privacy?
”

“No, I believe the real question is why didn’t you tell me you were a journalist?”

“I did.  I’m sure you knew, it’s not any deep dark secret.  Why does it matter and why won’t you answer my question about invading my privacy?”

“Oh come on, you told me you were a researcher.”

“When did I say that?  I said I do a lot of research, which, as you know very well, is the truth.”

“The night we met at the Blue Bull you told me you did research.”

“No, I’m sure you took it that way, but that’s not what I said.”  Her hands rested in fists on her hips as she paced the room, seething and hurt at the same time.

“That doesn’t change the fact that you’re writing the fucking article!”

“I don’t believe this.  First, I’ll write anything I damn well please and I certainly don’t need your permission.  Second, you invaded my privacy.  What I write in my journal is my business and no one else’s.  I would never dream of violating your privacy like you just did mine.  What’s worse is that I’m sure you knew it was wrong, but you did it anyway.”

“When it concerns me and Soul Search it is my business.  Who did you sell the article to?  Maybe you sold it as a series.  If you need the money that much I’m sure I could scrape up enough to buy it from you.  How much?”

“Do you not have one ounce of shame?  I don’t want your fucking money, you moron, and I’m not writing any stinking article for anyone.  Why can’t you get that through your thick skull?”

“Oh
, now you think I’m dense?  Isn’t that convenient for you rather than face the fact that you’ve been busted.”

“Apparently you and I seem to have some trust issues.  You don’t trust or believe me and I feel like I can’t turn my back on you now.”

“Not to worry, I’m leaving,” he stood.  “For good.  Have fun with your article and have a nice lonely little life.”  He stormed out of the office, running up the stairs two at a time to his room.  Within minutes he had his duffle bag in his hand as he ran down the steps.  He paused at the front door.

“I’ll have Tim come and get the rest of my equipment
. I hope I can trust you to keep your hands off of it for about an hour.”

She stood there, arms wrapped around her waist tightly, while he slammed the door shut and walked out of her life.  Forever.

Crushed, she slid down the wall and sat on the floor, sobbing into her hands.  What had the whole fight really been about?   It certainly wasn’t about any fabricated scenario of her writing a scathing report about Soul Search.  Maybe if she talked to Bryn about it they could figure it out together, except she wouldn’t be coming back any time soon.  No one would.

Suddenly her heart hurt, knotting up and spasming painfully.  She scraped herself off the floor and headed for the kitchen
.  She threw the breakfast she had prepared out the back door for the birds.  Like a robot she did the dishes and cleaned the kitchen before heading back to her desk.  Without knocking Tim and Bryn burst through the door, calling her name loudly while they searched for her.

“I’m in here.”  Both of them stood in the doorway of the library, hands on their hips and staring at her.

“What the hell happened?”

“I wish I knew.  One minute I
was happily making breakfast and the next I found him on my computer and reading my personal journal.  You tell me, maybe you can figure it out, I know I can’t.”

“All he kept talking about is some stupid article he thinks you’re writing.  Are you writing an article?” 

“No, but you won’t be able to convince him of that.  I seriously doubt if it has anything to do with any trumped up article excuse.  He was either too afraid to be happy or scared because he was so happy.  Doesn’t really matter, bottom line is he’s gone and not coming back.  The fucking coward.”

“Maybe he…”  Bryn began until
RayeAnn raised her hand to stop her.

“Doesn’t matter
, I don’t want to talk about it anymore, because there is no answer.  I’ll help you pack up the equipment, that way you can verify that I didn’t break anything like he thought I would.”

“Are you kidding me?  He actually said that
?”  Tim asked, incredulous. 

“Yep.  In fact
, they were his parting words.”

“
Asshole.
”  Tim spat out as he began to pack the equipment.

“I’ll second that.  So what are you going to do now,
RayeAnn?”  Bryn came over and gave her a hug.

“I’m going to live my life.  He’s not worth another thought or moment of my time.”

CHAPTER 15

ONE YEAR LATER

RayeAnn
heard Lillyanna’s warning squeaks before she broke into a full fledged cry.  It was like she was winding up her battery before starting her engine.  RayeAnn smiled into her daughter’s beautiful little face, still amazed at what a miracle she was.  Her jet black hair insisted on sticking up wildly in all different directions, defying any attempts to tame it. 
Her own little wild
woman.
   How many hours had she spent over the last four months just staring into the beautiful violet blue eyes of her little wild child?  She would never tire of watching her baby. 

This was the gift Charity had spoken of,
RayeAnn was sure of it.  On the anniversary of Charity and Nathaniel’s souls reuniting she had gone back and read her journal, remembering how happy she was at their reunion. Looking back on the experience now, she knew it had all been worth it, especially Lillyanna.  Too bad her sperm donor was such a complete and total ass.  No matter how hard she had tried to get in touch with Ryker, he refused to communicate with her in any way, shape or form.  She had saved all the unopened returned letters she had sent him.  Hell, even Tim and Bryn had tried to contact him for her.  Where was he when she had been put on strict bed rest just four months into the pregnancy?  Nothing like five months of bed rest to give a girl time to think.  Eventually she came to the realization that Ryker couldn’t be referred to as the father, even though Lillyanna was the spitting image of him.  No, now he was no more than a sperm donor, an anonymous entity whose only link was typed neatly on Lillyanna’s birth certificate, and then only because it was a legal record.  Her daughter might someday need to know his name.   After doing so much research over the years, she couldn’t bring herself to list the father as ‘unknown’, no matter how she felt about him.

She sat at the table on this beautiful spring day
, enjoying the warmth of the sun on her face as she lifted her daughter gently out of the stroller.  She poured her love into each kiss on her baby’s chubby little cheek, holding her close.

“Did my beautiful baby
girl have a good nap?”  She cooed to the baby sucking relentlessly on her fist, a sure sign of hunger.  Using a blanket for modesty, RayeAnn discretely unbuttoned her blouse and moved the baby to her breast, covering her with the blanket as well.  Assuming the shadow that had moved across their bodies was Bryn returning from the restroom, she spoke before looking.

“She woke up starving
, Auntie Bryn, poor baby.”  Turning in her chair she gasped when the face she looked into wasn’t Bryn’s.  The sperm donor loomed over them, staring darkly.  Ignoring him, she turned away immediately.

“Where the hell did that come from?”  He growled out as if he were entitled to an explanation.  Fortunately Bryn returned to the table just as she stood
.  With the baby still at her breast, she grabbed a clean diaper from the bag.

“Bryn, I need to change her.  Would you mind gathering up our stuff and meeting us at the car?
”

“Sure, go ahead.  I’ll take care of it.”  Frankly
, she didn’t care if she lost everything at the table.  She had what was important in her arms.  Quickly she made her way to the ladies room, grateful for the sanctuary.  Taking a seat in the lounge area, she waited for the baby to finish nursing before changing her diaper.  Her hands trembled nervously as she fidgeted with the diaper tape.   She sensed that the sperm donor was hovering outside the door and waiting to jump her as soon as they left.  Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, she pushed the door of the restroom open.  Sure enough, there he stood, arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the door jam, blocking her exit.