The Piper
Page 31
‘It’s you that’s going to be embarrassed now,’ Olivia told him. ‘I’m going to wear it like this all night.’
‘I keep forgetting how shameless you are,’ McTavish said, and there was something in his grin that made Olivia’s cheeks turn pink.
‘Here, Mommy.’ Teddy was out of her seat, helping Olivia put the ear buds on. ‘It gets Internet radio. You can have music from all over the world. This is a station from France.’
Teddy adjusted the volume, and Olivia tilted her head, waiting for the music to come through.
Heart and soul, I fell in love with you
Heart and soul, I fell in love with you
Baaaby . . .
Olivia grabbed the edge of the table.
‘Mommy? Is something wrong?’
‘I’m fine, Teddy. I feel good. This is a happy night.’
Olivia had just a moment to hug her daughter before the waiter arrived, with plates that steamed with lasagna, and pasta with meat sauce, Chicken Marcela, another basket of warm bread, and the second carafe of house Chianti. Olivia sat on the edge of her seat while the plates were sorted out.
She still felt it sometimes, the compulsion she’d had when she’d reached for that ghostly hand, and she sometimes felt the lure, that yearning grief for her childhood home, thought she heard the piper whispering in her ear. But when the urge got too strong, she had only to touch her throat, to listen to the hoarse damage in her vocal cords, and it was enough, it was, to keep her safe.
She wondered, if she turned her head just right, would she get a glimpse of them, the good things and the bad? Did Decan Ludde still watch, was her family close – Chris and Emily, maybe her mom and dad? Did Chris know she had forgiven him, and wasn’t angry anymore? Was Hugh watching from across the room, smiling at Teddy from another booth?
Where were they now, Olivia wondered. Maybe they were right beside her. Maybe they had always been there.