by Maeve Hart
On my walk back to the penthouse clutching my bag with my new dress inside, I had the strangest feeling I was being watched. Looking around, I couldn’t see anyone. As a child, I’d always felt I was being observed and with all the weird spirits around my grandmother’s house, I probably was.
When I stepped out of the elevator into the penthouse, my phone beeped. I pulled it out of the bag hoping it was Jacques, but saw from the caller ID it was my mother. I hope this isn’t her canceling dinner.
“Hi, Mom.”
“Hello. Are we still on for tonight?”
“Yes. It’s still alright with you, isn’t it?”
“Yes, I’ll be there with Flora and Granny.”
I relaxed and kept walking into the living room. “Good.”
“Are you on your own?” she asked.
Looking around and not hearing any sign of Jacques home yet, I answered, “Yes.”
“I’ve been doing a little research on your new boyfriend.”
The breath caught in my throat and I slumped down on the couch. “Where have you been doing this research?”
“On the Internet. Since I couldn’t afford a private detective.” My mother giggled, but I wasn’t laughing.
“And I’m guessing you’re calling to tell me something you’ve found out?”
“Yes. It says on the Internet that he’s got a girlfriend.”
Phew! I was glad that was all she’d found. “A lot of that would be old information. Once it’s been on the Internet it’s there forever. He’s probably had many girlfriends, Mom. But trust me, I’m the only girlfriend he has now if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“I see pictures of him with a girl called Eloise. I’m looking at them as we speak. She’s very attractive and she’s slim.”
Eloise? That was the name Kylie kept bringing up to me. I didn’t want my mother to know I was concerned. “He’s got everything going for him. I would imagine he could have any woman he wants, but he happens to want me,” I said, sounding as confident as I could after I’d heard that same name again and from someone other than Kylie.
“Well I was Googling this woman, and I can’t find out what’s become of her. There’s no mention of her after she dated Jacques.”
I laughed. “Are you worried he’s killed her or something?”
“No, don’t be silly. It’s just that she’s got an unusual name and it would have turned up somewhere.”
“What’s her name?”
“Eloise Stewart-Phillips.”
“How old is the information?”
“From two years ago to six months ago.”
I wondered what had become of the woman. Jacques had never mentioned he’d had a significant girlfriend, although he’d said that he’d had other girlfriends, of course. It was only normal at his age and my age that we’d had other relationships. We weren’t teenagers and it wasn’t the dark ages.
“And you’re telling me about this why, Mother?”
“I was just wondering if he’d ever mentioned her to you.”
How was I going to answer that one? If I said no it would sound like Jacques had been keeping this from me, and if I said yes I would have to tell my mother what became of her. “He’s probably said something about her. I don’t really remember. I do recall the name.” I hoped like hell that was enough to get me out of trouble.
“Perhaps he’ll talk about her tonight.”
My mouth fell open in horror. “Don’t you dare ask him about his past girlfriends! Or I’ll keep him away from you, and you’ll never meet anybody I date ever again.”
“It was a joke, Destiny. You’ve been so crotchety over the last few months.”
“I really like him and I don’t want anything to go wrong. Please behave and don’t try to sell him a painting.”
“Why would I?”
“You generally do. That’s all you can talk about when you meet someone you don’t know.”
“You can tell a lot about someone’s personality when you find out their taste in art.”
“He likes art, okay?” I hoped that was enough to satisfy her.
“Everyone likes art, but it’s what kind of art they like that shows what they’re really like.”
I held my head in my hands and kept quiet.
“Have you told him we’re witches?” she asked.
“Yes, I have.”
“Oh, really?” She sounded doubtful.
“Uh huh. I told him when we first started dating, which was kind of recently.”
“And how did he take that news?”
“He seemed to be okay with it. Yes, he’s fine with it.”
“That’s good.”
“I think you’ll really like him, Mom.”
“I hope so. We shall see. I’ll see you tonight.” And with that, my mother ended the call.
I threw my phone back down into my bag, wondering if there was some truth to what Kylie said about Eloise. I knew she was doing her best to get under my skin, but I knew now that someone called Eloise actually existed. I had never Googled Jacques, but I’d known his name and who he was before I’d met him and not only because he was Don’s boss.
That got me wondering whether Eloise was a shifter as well, but she couldn’t have been because Jacques said he was going to mate for life. Perhaps Eloise had died and that would mean my mother was half right in what she’d said and that’s why there wasn’t anything more recent about her on the Internet.
CHAPTER 9
While I was deciding whether to ask Jacques about Eloise or not, I heard the elevator doors open and the next thing I knew Jacques was walking into the room.
It was so good to see him. Every time I saw him I smiled.
“Hello. What are you doing just sitting there like that?” he asked.
“I’m just thinking, that’s all.”
He walked over and gave me a quick kiss on the lips and then sat down next to me. “Are you having second thoughts about me meeting your family? It’s fine with me if you are.” He gave a little chuckle.
“Mom just called me. She’ll be there. You won’t get out of it that easily. I’m a little worried that Granny will think you look familiar.”
“Well, there’s nothing we can do about that.”
“Shouldn’t we have some plan in case?”
“No. Let’s just see what happens at the time. We’ll make it up as we go along.”
“It sounds like you’re describing my life.”
He frowned and picked up my hand and then put his other hand on top. “What’s upset you?”
I couldn’t bring myself to mention Eloise and ask him questions about her. She was obviously a woman from his past, and I didn’t want him to think I was a jealous girlfriend. “I met Abbie quickly today for a cup of coffee. And I’m sure I saw Detective Andrews get into a car across the road. If he’d seen Abbie, that would’ve been twice that he’s just happened to bump into her.”
He looked confused. “Did he bump into her today?”
“No, they bumped into one another when they were out one night and then a couple of days later when she was at the dry cleaners. I’m sure he’s watching her.”
“To get to us?”
“Yes.” I nodded.
“She doesn’t know anything about us.” He leaned forward. “Does she?”
“I haven’t told her that I’m a shifter or anything about you or the pack. She knows everyone in my family is a witch, but then again, so does the detective, but I haven’t told Abbie anything about the compound, or anything like that.”
“Don’t worry about it. There’s more danger from your grandmother than from the detective. Or should I say the handsome, blue-eyed detective.”
I giggled. He had read my mind. I realized he could do that when I started getting a glimpse into what was in people’s minds, but I’d never been able to do that with Jacques. “I suppose you’re right. I mean, I hope you’re wrong about my grandmother. But I can see what you’re saying.”
<
br /> He gave my hand a squeeze. “Now, we should work out a date to give them tonight.”
“A date for the wedding?”
A smile twitched at the corners of his lips and he nodded. “Yes.”
“So, will this be a real wedding or after our real wedding?”
“We could do it all on the same day. We could have our real wedding at the compound in the morning and in the afternoon, we could have a second wedding for the sake of your family and friends.”
“What date were you thinking?”
“Early March?”
“That seems good. It’s not too close and not too far away. I think my family would be happy with that.”
“Good. And there’s one other little matter.” He let go of my hands to pull something out of his pocket. I saw it was a small box and he opened it to reveal a huge diamond ring.
It took my breath away when he took it out of the box and it flashed and sparkled with the colors of the rainbow, and it was the perfect sized stone. “Jacques, it’s just perfect.” It wasn’t ridiculously overlarge, and neither was it too small.
He chuckled as he pushed it onto my finger. “It fits! I had to guess your size.”
I held my hand up in the air. “I’ll have to wear sunglasses,” I said, staring at it.
“I hope you don’t mind that I chose it. I know I said we’d do that together.”
“I don’t mind at all. This is just perfect—more than perfect if that’s possible.”
“As long as you’re happy.”
I giggled. “It’s a good way to get off on the right foot with my mother. She’ll be so impressed when she sees this and my grandmother will love it.”
“I hope we’ll all get along,” he said.
“I hope so,” I said, my eyes still fixed on the ring. “Granny can be a little unpredictable.”
“So I’ve heard.” He raised his dark eyebrows and then glanced down at his watch. “We’ve got plenty of time before we have to start getting ready. Do you want a drink?”
“That sounds like a good idea.”
“Champagne?”
I nodded. Jacques seemed pretty confident about the detective not becoming a problem. I wondered if I should have told Jacques about the tattoo I saw on Detective Andrews’ wrist—exactly the same tattoo that was on Seamus’ wrist. That had to be something significant in some way. If I told Jacques now about the tattoo, he’d know I’d been keeping it from him.
Jacques handed me a glass of champagne and sat down next to me.
“You’re not having anything?” I asked.
“No. Something tells me I might need to keep a clear head tonight.”
I pulled a face. “You might be right about that.” I took a sip of my drink. “I’ve been thinking over the last few days that it might’ve been the detective who posted me that information of Don’s.”
“That could be likely, considering they were emailing each other, but for what purpose?”
“The person who sent it to me clearly wanted me to know about you. And I just don’t know who else it could’ve been if it wasn’t Andrews.”
He rubbed his jawline. “He might’ve been scaring you about me so you could give him whatever information you had about me. It’s a possibility, but it’s also possible that there’s a third party we know nothing about.”
“I thought you might have been able to find out. Didn’t you have people looking into him?”
He nodded. “Andrews has covered his tracks well if you’re right about him.”
“Hmm. That’s why I was thinking of going to visit the detective to try to get a look at his handwriting. The handwriting on the envelope was very distinctive—large and blocky. I’d know it if I ever saw it again.”
“Let’s just say you visited him and got into his office, then what? He’s not just going to hand over some handwritten document for you to examine.”
I pulled my mouth to one side. “I guess not. I need a better plan.”
“What about Abbie? You’ve mentioned that he’s seen her a couple of times. Has he ever written anything to her?”
“I doubt it. People just call or text these days rather than write anything down. And I’d rather not get Abbie involved with anything.”
“You told me he visited your mother’s art gallery once, correct?”
“That’s right. He said he was thinking of buying some paintings for his apartment.”
“Does your mother have a visitors’ book at the gallery?”
“Brilliant! Yes, and she’s very fussy about people writing their name in the book. She can be very forceful when she wants to be.”
“I kind of guessed that.”
“All I have to do is go to Mom’s gallery and look through her book.”
“You’re welcome.”
I giggled and put my head on his shoulder. “I always wanted to marry a smart man.”
“I can’t claim that title until we see if he signed the visitors’ book.”
“I’ll go to the gallery tomorrow.”
“Why don’t we both go tomorrow? You can keep your mother busy while I have a look through the book.”
“No. You keep her busy and I’ll look in the book. She loves to drag people around explaining about all the paintings to them and she’ll know I’m not that interested.”
“Okay. Sounds like a plan. Anything to keep you out of the way of the blue-eyed detective,” he said, grinning at me.
I picked up a nearby cushion and hit him lightly.
CHAPTER 10
I told Jacques I wanted to get to the restaurant before my family so I’d have time to settle my nerves. We were shown to a table, and I made sure that we were sitting together so no one could edge their way in between. I thought my mother might try to do that to unsettle me.
“Relax, it will be okay,” Jacques said, stroking my back. “Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight?”
I giggled. “Only about six times, but you can always tell me again.”
“You look stunning. And that dress is amazing.”
“I’m glad you like it. I just got it today.”
“You’re gorgeous.” He leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Now relax and don’t worry about a thing. Everything will go fine.”
“I hope so.”
“And if not—”
“I know, I know.” I knew he was going to tell me once again how I should leave my family and forget about them since he didn’t regard them as my family anymore since I’d turned into a shifter. I wasn’t ready to leave them behind. They were the only family I knew.
“You didn’t let me finish. I was going to say, if not, we’ll run out and leave them with the bill.”
I laughed. “They wouldn’t be impressed.”
“You’re so beautiful when you smile. You shouldn’t worry so much about things. Things always have a way of leveling themselves out.”
I looked over when I saw movement near the door of the restaurant. “Here they are.” My heart beat uncomfortably fast and then I couldn’t breathe. I felt like I was going to have a heart attack. Then I coughed.
Jacques stood up as they came closer and introduced himself as I was no use, being doubled over having a coughing fit, gasping for air. All the introductions were over by the time I’d managed to pull myself together.
“Have some water.”
My mother pushed my iced water closer to me and I took a gulp. Then I closed my eyes when I suffered from ‘brain freeze.’
I looked up to see my mother glaring at me. “Are you all right?” she asked as Jacques pulled out her chair.
“I’m okay. Something I drank went down the wrong way.”
Now all eyes were on me. Granny was overdressed as usual. I couldn’t see if her dress was long and flowing, but her dresses usually were. The fabric of her dress was iridescent purple with green flecks through it. As usual, she wore her platinum blonde wig, and her green eyes were enhanced by dark eyeliner, and long dark lashes. Today, her li
ps were baby-pink and her long nails were matching. “You look lovely tonight, Granny.”
“Yes, I can see where Destiny gets her looks from,” Jacques said, sounding sincere.
It was a corny line and one I was surprised to hear Jacques say, but when I looked over at Granny I saw she was lapping it up. My attention turned to Flora.
“I love your hair, Aunt Flora.” Last time I’d seen Aunt Flora, her hair was blonde, but tonight it was chestnut brown with a hint of red.
“Do you like it?” she said as she touched her hair.
“Yes, I do.”
“What about me?” my mother asked.
“You look good too, Mom.”
“I’m surrounded by beautiful women,” Jacques said which made everyone smile. He was certainly getting off on the right foot with everyone.
After the waiter had taken our order, Jacques turned to my mother. “Destiny tells me you have an art gallery.”
Now he was going in for a touchdown. There was nothing my mother liked to talk about more than her gallery.
Mom nodded. “I do. You should stop by and have a look at the art sometime.”
“I’d love to. Destiny was telling me so many nice things about your gallery that I thought we’d go there and have a look tomorrow.”
My mother was delighted. “Wonderful.”
“Will you be there?” Jacques asked.
“Yes, I’m always there. I’m so pleased you’re coming.”
Jacques glanced at me.
“We’ll be there,” I confirmed.
Jacques smiled at Flora. “And you’re a potter, I believe, Flora?”
“I am. It keeps me busy and off the streets,” Flora said with a laugh.
“Yes, Granny, and I also told Jacques what you do for a living. Since I know you were wondering.”
“I should hope so. It’s not a secret, Destiny. One day witchcraft will be mainstream and respectable. It shouldn’t be something shameful or something that’s whispered about. Mainstream religion has a lot to answer for.”
Oh no! Religion wasn’t a good topic to have when people didn’t know one another too well. There were bound to be disagreements.
“I’ve always found magic to be fascinating,” Jacques said, showing off his diplomatic skills.
