Time Travel Romances Boxed Set (148 page)

“
Trust me, I know. I’m a
journalist
, Andrea. We dig up stuff on people all the
time.”

“
Oh.”

Mitch inched closer, his words persuasive.
“Of course, you’re going to meet some guy on this cruise, some guy
who knows in advance -“ he counted off on his fingers “- one, that
you’ll be there; two, that you’ll be looking for him, courtesy of
Lilith; three, just exactly what your net worth would be; and four,
that he and Lilith have a deal to split the profits of any ensuing
match. Fifty-fifty at divorce court, that’s the law. Even splitting
it between your Romeo and Lilith will leave them both with a nice
chunk of change.”

Andrea bounded to her feet in horror. “Mitch
Davison! How could you think something so perfectly awful about
your new neighbor? How could you think that Lilith is so
calculating as that? That she’d take advantage of
me
? That’s
just horrible!”

Mitch spread out his hands, unapologetic.
“We don’t really know her, Andrea, or very much about her. These
people thrive on establishing quick trust. They’re very, very good
at it.”

“
These
people.”
Andrea straightened with disdain. Oh! She knew Lilith wasn’t trying
to swindle her! “Lilith isn’t that kind of person! Just look at how
nice she’s been to you and Jason already. And she gave me that
reading for free!” She shook a finger at her stepson. “You’re not
behaving as graciously as I know you are. What’s gotten into you?
And where are your manners?”

Mitch, to his credit, looked a little
shamefaced by this. And so he should, to Andrea’s way of thinking.
A lot of people would have been nasty about that fence.

“
Maybe she has a partner
who does the dirty work,” he suggested quietly. “The details aren’t
important.”

“
Mitch Davison!
The
details
are
important!” Andrea cried. “I don’t know what’s
gotten into you. You never used to be so suspicious of people.” She
poked him in the chest and he didn’t even flinch. “Maybe you just
don’t know what to do when a pretty woman is
nice
to
you.”

“
Ouch one more time,” Mitch
retorted grimly.

Andrea lifted her chin defiantly. “Mitch, I
don’t care how suspicious you are or even why. I trust Lilith and
because of that, I’m going on that cruise.” She waved her finger
beneath his nose. “And when I marry the wonderful man I’m going to
meet there,
you
are going to be the first to toast the happy
couple.”

“
Andrea!” Mitch’s
exasperation was more than clear. He was in hot pursuit when she
swept regally from the room. “You can’t do this!”

“
I most certainly can. And
I’m going to.” Andrea let her eyes narrow as she glared at the most
stubborn and protective man alive. “Just watch me.”

Andrea knew Mitch wouldn’t stop her when she
turned to march up the stairs. Just as she knew that he wouldn’t
stop her from going on that cruise. And he would gradually,
grudgingly accept any man she married, provided that man was good
to her.

And how could the man of her destiny be
anything else?

Of course, that didn’t mean that Mitch would
give up very easily.

“
Well, don’t sign any
prenuptial agreements before your lawyer reads them!” he called
behind her and Andrea smiled as she climbed the stairs.

He was just a protective old bear, that was
Mitch’s problem. Trying to save the world from itself, just like
she told Lilith. It was endearing in a way.

When it wasn’t downright irritating.

She pivoted at the top of the stairs and
eyed her disgruntled stepson saucily. “Tsk tsk. If you’d been nice
to me, I might have volunteered to do your grocery shopping
tomorrow.”

Mitch snorted, but Andrea could hear his
usual even temper already being restored. “Right. Cheetos and
Popsicles all around. Don’t do me any favors.”

Andrea grinned. “I was thinking more of
chocolate bars and bubble gum.”

Mitch groaned in mock agony and she
laughed.

“
What if I make you a
list?” he suggested.

“
Oh, all those boring
nutritious foods. Fruits and vegetables, whole grain bread. I know
how you are.” Andrea wrinkled her nose and sighed in mock
concession. “But I
suppose
I could be convinced to follow a
list. With just a few embellishments. There is a tragic shortage of
frozen burritos in this house.”

Mitch grinned. “That would be great, Andrea.
If you think you can manage with the kids.”

“
It’s no problem at all.
I’d be glad to do it.”

The pair smiled at each other with mutual
affection. “Have I thanked you enough recently for everything
you’ve done?”

Andrea shrugged, her smile turning loving.
“Probably not, but I know when I’m appreciated.”

Mitch suddenly sobered. “Just promise me
you’ll really think about the wisdom of going on this cruise,
Andrea. You’re too smart of a lady to get conned.”

Andrea’s heart melted, but she pointed a
finger at him playfully. “Now, why didn’t you remember that two
minutes ago?”

Mitch chuckled and raised a hand in
concession. “Just promise me you’ll think about it.”

Andrea smiled, having no intention of doing
any such thing, and her stepson turned back to the task of wringing
order from chaos in the kitchen. Mitch had made great progress in
setting things to rights - the house already looked
half-civilized.

And time would prove his worries about this
cruise wrong. Time and a big diamond rockeroo on Andrea’s left
hand. After all, Mitch didn’t know much about love and how good it
could be, thanks to Janice. No, it really wasn’t Mitch’s fault that
he couldn’t trust in the concept of love.

He’d learn.

Eventually.

What Mitch needed was a woman to tie a big
bow around his heart and drag him around behind her for the rest of
his life. A woman like Lilith. That would keep him busy! And give
him a much more appropriate focus for all that protectiveness.

Hmm. She’d have to think of a way to get
those two together somehow.

Andrea’s smile widened as she thought about
someone tying a bow around her own heart. Oh, she hoped the man of
her dreams would be a really good dancer, as Lilith predicted.
Three trips to the altar and she’d never yet married a man who
could dance worth a hoot. Andrea dearly loved to dance.

Especially waltzes.

She would dream tonight of a Captain’s black
tie dinner and dancing, dancing, swirling around an elegant room,
locked in a perfectly eligible man’s arms. Andrea made a mental
note to find a lovely swingy dress for that cruise.

You had to dress for success, after all.

*

The calls of “bye bye” brought Lilith to her
front window Monday morning. She peeked through the blinds, feeling
a bit guilty for spying, but unable to miss witnessing Mitch saying
goodbye to his kids. Little Jen gave him a big hug, that well-loved
blue bunny right in the middle of the transaction.

Lilith’s heart clenched and she bit her lip,
those tears threatening to rise one more time. But she was never
going to have children and she might as well get over it. Why on
earth had it just started to bother her now?

Maybe because her true love was back?

Lilith wouldn’t have believed it, but Mitch
looked even better dressed for work than he had on the weekend. His
khaki chinos were pleated to perfection, his plaid short-sleeved
shirt emphasized the breadth of his shoulders and his muscled
forearms. Her heart twisted when he winked at Andrea and Lilith was
certain he’d at least glance toward her house.

She braced herself for that look.

But Mitch just pivoted and walked toward
Bloor Street and the subway. He didn’t even glance back. Lilith
nibbled her lip and turned away, avoiding D’Artagnan’s perceptive
glance.

She had the very definite sense that it
wasn’t a coincidence Mitch hadn’t looked her way. No, Lilith was
knew that he was irked with her.

But why?

Lilith’s gaze landed on the tarot cards she
used for her readings, but for the first time in a long time, they
just wouldn’t do. Neither would the stack on her night table.
Lilith impulsively raced upstairs, rummaged in her cedar chest and
brought an ancient treasure to light.

The tarot cards Dritta had given her. The
tarot cards she had learned with. The tarot cards Lilith had not
used since Sebastian drew The Fool.

Since she left the
Rom kumpania.

They were heavy in Lilith’s hands, heavier
than she remembered. Just holding them prompted a wealth of
memories, she imagined the deck smelled faintly of patchouli. She
cradled them in her hands, for they were frail after so many years,
even with Lilith’s careful storage. She carried them down to the
living room and eased them from the protective cocoon of silk.

It had been so long since she had even
revealed them to the light. Lilith held her breath as she unwound
the last layer of silk, half expecting that the cards would have
disintegrated.

But they hadn’t, they were still whole, even
though their edges were frayed and feathered. They were so thick!
The colors of the paintings had faded, she supposed it was tempura
paint or something equally perishable that had been used all those
years ago.

The images made her smile in recollection.
Lilith went slowly through the cards, Dritta’s voice echoing in her
ears with the sight of each one. When she reached The Fool, she
paused, her fingertips easing over the painting, then lingering on
the zero above his head.

The first card. The null. Nothing on its
own, The Fool increases everything it joins tenfold. A magical
number, a mystical number, a card to be reckoned with.

A card of journeys, follies, adventures.

Lilith suddenly remembered an assertion
Dritta had once made when they sat together late one night, a claim
the other woman had never repeated. Lilith had never been able to
coax Dritta to acknowledge again that she had even made the claim,
let alone repeat it.

But she had and Lilith remembered. Dritta
had said that the high cards - those twenty-one numbered
individually - marked the path of a journey or a transformation, a
coming to wisdom.

Lilith shuffled through the old deck with
shaking fingers, unable to deny her sudden sense that she had
remembered something very important.

Sebastian had drawn The Fool, the zero
card.

On Saturday, Lilith had drawn The Magician,
the one card.

After Mitch left Saturday night, The High
Priestess had separated herself from the deck. Her number was
two.

Yesterday, Lilith had drawn the Empress,
number three.

She spread the four cards out on the table
and looked at them carefully. It couldn’t be a coincidence that
they had been coming to her in order. Just to test her belief that
there was no such thing as coincidence, Lilith drew another card
randomly from the deck.

It was The Emperor. Fifth card in the
sequence, carrying the number four.

Lilith’s heart skipped a beat and she was
instantly reassured at the state of matters between herself and
Mitch. The Emperor, signified an audience with authority, with the
man in charge, with a charismatic and decisive man. A man who
valued logic and tangible evidence, a man who could be relied upon
to do what is right.

Lilith had a pretty good idea who that man
was.

Mitch was coming to see her.

But when?

Lilith had a sense that the cards were
telling her something, just as they did in every consultation. She
studied the five cards more carefully, the horizontal figure eight
hanging in the air over The Magician’s head reminding her of
something Dritta had done that night. She had lain out the court
cards in a strange way, a way that represented the journey upon
which they were guideposts.

Lilith quickly separated the rest of the
court cards from her old deck and laid them out in her best
recollection of how they should be. A few adjustments, some lip
nibbling and concentration, and she was certain she had it
right.

Immediately in front of herself, Lilith had
laid The Fool, followed to his left by the next ten cards. They
made a circle - or the left half of the sideways eight - each card
facing outwards, their toes into the circle. Closing the circle was
the eleventh card, number 10, The Wheel of Fortune, at what could
be called three o’clock.

From there, Lilith had echoed the
composition to the right, making the right half of the figure eight
with the remaining cards. These ones, though, she had faced
inwards, with their heads into the circle and their toes out. The
twenty-second card - The World, number twenty-one - lay on top of
The Wheel of Fortune.

The result was a figure eight turned
sideways.

The symbol of infinity.

Lilith traced the curve with one fingertip,
beginning with the Fool and ending with The World. Then she did it
again. Dritta had talked that night about the endless cycle of
reincarnation, the cycle of renewal and transformation. The path of
the lower cards she had called sunwise, outward, male; the path of
the higher cards being moonwise, inward, female.

Lilith understood instinctively that
Sebastian had been reborn as Mitch, that he was on this journey,
and somewhere, somehow, the course of his travels would mesh with
Lilith’s. She supposed the cards were already telling her that it
had.

The Fool was the beginning of it all, the
new threshold that Sebastian had crossed, Lilith supposed the one
that she had crossed when she was declared
mahrime
.

The Magician defined the moment she had
chosen herself to have some influence on events, the moment Lilith
had decided to act and create a spell. Perhaps it also represented
the moment Mitch had chosen to buy his house, to make a home out of
a neglected property, to conjure gold from dross.