The Ring of Fire: The Dragon Dream: Book Two

by Robin Janney

  Not a literal ghost. Jared Carman was very much alive. And very much the image of his dead brother. She’d never had the opportunity to see the boy before today. After her release from prison, she’d tried to go home. Her mother had refused to even look at her. Her mother! Father had given her the money in his wallet and told her to start over somewhere else, all the while looking over his shoulder at his wife. Mable Flynn had always worn the pants in her parents’ marriage, but her father had made it easy for the woman to do so.

  Her mind fought the images forming in her mind. Her foolish father driving even though she’d been sent to pick him up. The pickup they’d almost hit as her father made the turn too quickly. The broken body of the boy…and the terror filled screams of the little girl with him. Everything had happened so quickly after that. The college boys from the pickup truck left their broken vehicle to come help, one of them must have used a mobile phone to call for help.

  She had tried to hold the little girl back from the wounded boy, but the brat had been so strong…kicking and scratching as she screamed. It had taken two of the college boys to hold her until she’d calmed enough for one; the rest had gone to Randy’s side even though there was no hope for him. The irony of that was the girl had grown up to marry one of the boys who had restrained her.

  After the boys had taken charge of the little girl, Nikki had just stood to the side, helpless tears coursing down her face. It wasn’t supposed to have happened! Her father should have let her drive! She had been too weak to stand up to him. Well, she had fixed that hadn’t she? Fixed him good and dead.

  After ten years in prison, no one could say that Nikki was weak anymore – even if they were to see the silent tears sliding down her cheeks right now, because hatred glittered in those wet eyes.

  T he Beast lurked in the morning shadows as he followed Nikki to her car, careful not to let the others see him. He was far afield from his own territory, but this wasn’t the first time he’d ventured after the couple who made his existence so very frustrating.

  They weren’t his plans anymore even though he’d laid the foundations trying to weaken Everett Crane’s powerful position. It would have helped to know exactly who held the reins of his old plans for that man’s biological daughter, but as it was right now, there were too many players involved for him to be sure. Too many humans, and too many of his own kind.

  He had inadvertently drawn the attention of beings more powerful than himself to this couple. And it was frustrating to watch those old plans unfold. Especially knowing there was nothing he could do to stop them. Or the new ones which had sprouted. How had the Dragon Queen come about her power and influence in a realm she should never had access to?

  Beast cared nothing for the man the Little Angel was married to, but he knew they were one now…whatever harmed him, would bring her pain. How was Beast going to be able to stop any of this?

  Being evil was becoming more and more difficult.

  A ngela smiled broadly at the sight of her home. Just the sight of their large stonework home wiped away the last vestiges of anxiety caused by Tyler’s Grove. The last bit of tension eased out of her shoulders and peace filled her.

  They were home.

  Once the truck was parked in the garage, Angela slid out and looked up at her husband.

  “Do you mind if I run down and see my horses really quick?” she asked him.

  Craig grinned at her, feeling the same peace she was. Home felt so good. “Go ahead. Just remember: no riding.”

  Instead of rolling her eyes at him, she shot him a mischievous smile. “Yes, Dr. Moore.” She flipped her hair at him as she walked away with a bounce in her step.

  “She’s in a good mood. Dr. Moore?” asked Jared.

  “Inside joke,” Craig told him, eyes still following his wife.

  “Uh-huh.” Looking at his distracted brother-in-law, Jared shook his head and grinned. “What did the doctor say? Other than she can’t ride or drive yet?”

  Craig sighed, eyes still on his distant wife. “Come back in another week and if she’s not feeling better yet, he’ll order tests. Blood work, CT scan…that kind of stuff.” He began pulling their duffle bags from the back seat of the truck. “You got your bags alright?”

  “Yeah.” Jared grabbed his two bags. “Hey, thanks again for the iPhone.”

  “No problem. It’ll help when you’re out on the range. The work horses are trained not to react when a cellphone makes a noise or vibrates. The same can’t be said for the horses Angela rides, so be careful around her horses. She’s pretty sensitive about it.” Craig opened the door leading into the house and Princess darted out. She paused long enough to allow Craig to pet her, her canine eyes questioning him. “I’m fine,” he told the dog, and she raced off to find Angela. “Nan!” he called as they entered the kitchen fully. “We’re home.”

  The smiling housekeeper appeared before they’d reached the other side of the large kitchen. “I could tell from the way Princess was behaving, Mr. Moore. I see Miss Angela left you to unload on your own again.”

  “That she did.” Craig shrugged good-naturedly, adjusting a strap over his shoulder. “It’s a good thing she doesn’t pack heavier.”

  Nan chuckled. “Would it really bother you if she did?”

  “Nope. Nan, you remember Angela’s brother Jared.”

  “Of course.” The housekeeper smiled as she nodded. Her gaze turned to the young man. “I have your room ready, Mr. Jared. Do you remember where you stayed at Christmas?”

  “Uhm…” Jared peered around the attractive woman, looking deeper into the large house. “Vaguely.”

  Nan chuckled again, a deep rich sound. “Follow me then.”

  The trio headed into the living area and began the journey up the wide curving stairway to the second level. Craig peeled off at his room, with a quick “Catch up to you later,” to Jared. The teenager followed the raven-haired Nan.

  The housekeeper never ceased to amaze Jared. She didn’t seem too much older than his brother-in-law. There was little gray in her dark hair, and her face looked smoothly comfortable. Her blue eyes hinted at unvoiced humor. Too bad he wasn’t older.

  “You know, Nan, I’d really like it if you just called me Jared,” the teen requested as the woman opened the door to the bedroom and stood to the side to allow him to enter. Dumping his bags on the bed, he continued, “All that mister business makes me feel old.”

  Nan gave a slight nod of her head. “Of course. I believe you requested the same at Christmas. I apologize for not remembering sooner.”

  “Do you ever relax? I mean, you always sound so prim and proper.”

  The woman smiled, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “I’m certain it all depends on the circumstances.”

  “You mean it all depends on who you’re talking to.”

  She quirked an eyebrow at him, her smile turning much more amused. “You’re going to be just like your sister, aren’t you? You’re going to worm your way into my affections despite my efforts to keep it professional.”

  Jared grinned widely. “Absolutely.”

  10

  C assie watched her mother move around the kitchen of their home. Her mother looked tired as she moved about her routine motions of preparing the evening meal. Her father was out tending to farm chores, though she suspected he would be in before too long. After twenty years here, their life had become routine.

  Clearing her throat, and startling her mother, the young woman asked, “You want some help, Mom?”

  “Oh Cassie! I didn’t know you were there.” Maude pushed at a long dark curl which had come loose from her hair clip. “Sure, dear. I’m about ready to put the chicken on, so if you can finish slicing the onion for the salad I’d appreciate that.”

  Cassie started the chore without complaint. Her brother and sister had only been gone for a few days, and their mother didn’t seem to be coping with their absences very well.

  “Which kid do you miss the most?” Cassie asked as
she angled herself in front of the kitchen fan in the hope of avoiding onion tears.

  “I miss all my children when they’re not here,” answered Maude as she carefully placed four chicken breasts in her cast iron frying pan. Cassie wondered if the fourth piece was meant for Jared. And when would her mother realize she’d made one too many?

  “Even when you’re not happy with them?”

  “Yes,” was Maude’s short reply.

  The two women worked in silence for several minutes, the old clock on the wall above the sink quietly ticking away the seconds and minutes. Cassie tried thinking of a good way to ask her question, but none of her versions sounded very tactful. Maybe the best method was to just lay it all out there.

  “Mom, are you feeling alright?”

  Maude didn’t pause in her dinner preparations but glanced over in surprise. “What? Of course! Why do you ask?”

  “Because you’re my mom and I’m worried about you. Being upset with Jared leaving or my experimenting at college is one thing. Being upset with Angela because she’s not feeling good is unlike you.”

  Her mother sighed, pausing between the stove and the refrigerator. “I wasn’t upset because of that,” she answered, turning to look out the window over the sink. “Your father doesn’t see it. Like he didn’t with his sister Janine.”

  Now Cassie paused. Lowering the onion in her hand, she regarded her mother curiously. They didn’t talk about Angela’s birth parents often. “What do you mean? They seem happy enough, all things considered.”

  “Maybe.” Maude glanced at the stove, then the time, and sat down at the table upwind of the onions. “But it’s not about happiness. Not really. I’m hesitant at discussing this with you, Cassandra, but I guess you’re enough of an adult now. I see history repeating itself and it worries me.”

  The older woman sighed again and rubbed at her temples with her swollen fingers. It looked to Cassie like she was trying to soothe away a headache. “Jeannie used to have ‘accidents’ too, although they stopped for a time when she became pregnant with Angela. She always had a reasonable excuse: tripped over a shoe in the dark, slipped getting out of the tub on the soap, lost her balance on the stairs.”

  Cassie was quiet when she asked, “What are you suggesting?”

  “That either their partners abuse them, or they cause the accidents themselves to get their partners’ attention.”

  “Mom. You can’t be serious.”

  Maude reprimanded her daughter’s tone with a sharp glance. “For all your schooling, you’re young yet Cassie. And since you’re presently avoiding boys, you might not understand how a woman would bend over backwards for the man she adores, or the kind of secrets she would keep for him, protecting him even when he doesn’t deserve it.”

  “But Mom,” argued Cassie. “Dad was there, wasn’t he? Don’t you think he’d have seen if Everett was abusing Angela’s mother?”

  “Things were different then,” remarked Maude thoughtfully. She picked a paper napkin up off the table and wiped her face. “Your father wouldn’t have dreamt of standing up to Everett back then.”

  “What did Dad used to do?” Cassie asked, not for the first time.

  Her mother’s lips pressed together tightly, and she gave the same answer she always gave as she wadded the paper napkin into a ball. “Illegal things.”

  “So, you keep secrets for Dad too.”

  “Of course, I do. Some secrets need to be kept secret.” Maude’s eyes grew misty as she regarded her youngest daughter. “Some secrets are too dangerous to even be spoken.

  Cassie rolled her eyeballs. “Mom, no one seeing Craig and Angela together would ever believe that Craig hurts her. The man damn near worships the ground she walks on! He always has!”

  “Watch your language young lady,” Maude snapped sharply. “Every relationship has its private side, the things no one else sees. Craig and Angela don’t have a perfect relationship any more than…”

  “You and Dad?” supplied Cassie when her mother fell silent.

  Maude sighed. “Your father and I work hard at our relationship.”

  “And Craig and Angela don’t? You just got done saying every relationship has a private side. Just because you don’t see theirs, doesn’t mean it’s bad.”

  “What is there for them to work at?” Maude wondered aloud, her voice irritated. “He gives her whatever she wants. She wants to run away from her problems here, he takes her. She wants a horse, he buys a whole ranch.” Rising from her seat, Maude made a disgusted sound. “In that sense, he’s worse than Rhett ever was with your aunt.”

  Cassie watched her mother return to her cooking in silence, then tested to see how far she could push. “So, what’s the real issue here, Mom? You’re jealous of her lifestyle? Why? Dad’s a great guy and he works hard for the life we have. It’s not like we haven’t benefited from Craig’s money too. We still have the farm because he stepped in! I don’t understand your issue!”

  Her mother didn’t even pause in her cooking, flipping the chicken breasts angrily. Grease splattered. “Don’t try to psychoanalyze me, little girl. Save it for your classes.”

  “Oh, come on Mom! I’m just trying…”

  “Cassandra,” the older woman snapped again. “That’s quite enough. If you’re done helping me, you can go now.”

  Like mother like daughter like sister, the younger woman stomped her foot in frustration and left the room.

  Maude again pushed at her fallen curls; the only sounds in the kitchen were the frying chicken, the gentle whir of the fan, the steady tick-tock of the clock on the wall and the occasional sniffle. Soon the equally frustrated mother began to slice the onions Cassie had left unfinished.

  The tears the onions caused would help cover other tears.

  A fter dinner, Philip sat in his farm office playing at paperwork when his youngest daughter came in and sat down on the stool by the window. He kept that silly stool in here, just for the kids when they wanted to talk. And it looked like she had a lot on her mind.

  And talk she did.

  Philip heard his daughter out, managing not to sigh once – not even when he took his reading glasses off and placed them on top of the papers he’d been working on. Cassie laid out for him the behavior changes the kids had all noticed, and discussed amongst themselves, and told him in detail the fight the women had the day before Jared’s party.

  “Mom’s always been hard on Ange, Dad. I know that. But I know things changed when Ange confronted you guys about the circumstances around the adoption.” Cassie seemed to be winding down. “I’m not sure what’s happened between them, but lately it just seems that Ange can’t do anything right and I don’t see where she’s doing anything wrong. She’s just living her life with the man she loves.”

  “That she is,” he agreed. “I understand her concerns about Craig and Angela, but I don’t agree with her. There’s no way Craig could ever lift a hand to your sister. Your mother…” Philip cut himself off. No, those thoughts couldn’t be shared with his daughter. He’d talk with his wife later. Did she know how worried her children were about her? “Thanks for coming to me, Cass. I’ll talk to her about it.”

  “Do you see what we’re worried about?” his youngest daughter asked. “Or do you think we’re imaging things?”

  “No, I see it too.” Philip rubbed his face tiredly. “I noticed some changes about a month ago.”

  “Okay, then.” Cassie stood, took a long look out the window at the family cemetery. Her father wondered if she was thinking back to sitting out there with her sister. The two had sat out there for quite some time.

  “Is there anything else you want to talk about?” Philip asked her.

  Cassie sighed. “Not really.”

  “You know, nothing you ever do will make me stop loving you. You’re my little girl just as much as Angela is. I hope you know that.”

  The young woman nodded. “I know, Dad.” She sat back down on the stool.

  “Are you ready to
come out?”

  She shook her head. “No. I’m…just experimenting right now. I’m not sure about anything yet.”

  Philip considered his daughter, looking at her thoughtfully. He looked over his imaginary reading glasses at her. Ever since he’d seen Angela wilt under the full-bore look, he’d never been able to do it to any of his kids again. “I think you are, and you’re just afraid of what your mother will say.”

  Cassie blushed, clearly embarrassed at being so easily read by her father. “Yeah, well, Angela’s not the only one with that problem.”

  “No, that she’s not.”

  “You’re easy, Dad. You love us no matter what. Mom…I don’t know what it is about her, but we feel like if we don’t live up to her standards, then we aren’t loved. Do you ever feel that way?”

  “It’s a little different with me, honey,” answered Philip. “The relationship between two married people is different from the one between a parent and child. There have been times when your mother and I have failed each other, but we never stopped loving each other. Even when there were times it would have been easier to walk away from each other.”

  Cassie nodded, running her hands through her colored hair. Philip wondered when she’d be switching back to the peacock blue she had favored ever since her brother-in-law’s father had complimented her on it.

  “Now, when it comes to you kids, I see what you’re talking about. But I have no idea how to ‘fix it’, for lack of a better term and I’ve been trying for years. I know your Grandma Pearl was hard on your mother and her sisters, so maybe it’s something to do with that. A repeating of the cycle she herself grew up with. Even if it were to change now, I’m not sure it would do any of you any good.”

  “No, but it would make things easier.” Cassie grinned at him wryly, an echo of her sister. “I mean, I get what you’re saying. I’ve had enough classes to understand it, and Jared might too. But Dad, Ange won’t understand some of it. She was pre-vet, not pre-med; the courses are different.”