Phantom Bride
Page 31
The charred remains of the other tree had been hauled away many months since. She hadn’t liked to see it go, but the new tree that was part of the old softened the loss. Alex had hesitated about having the stump torn out, roots and all, fearful of what might be found entangled underneath. She had insisted, though, knowing somehow that whatever had remained of her old body was part of her now, used in the forming of this new one.
She touched the place on her face where the scar had been. It was no longer there, nor were any of the scars she had gained over the years of her previous life, however small or large. It was as if she had been born anew, a babe full-grown emerging from the womb of the cherry.
Instead of a skeleton, what they had found when they pulled up the stump was a golden chain: the girdle that had belonged to her mother. She wore it now, loose around the waist of her pale blue gown. Beth and Sophie had assured her that it was all the fashion to add medieval touches to one’s wardrobe—which was a good thing, as she still could not bring herself to dress completely as most women did, with their corsets and ridiculously full sleeves.
She was learning, however, the beauty of shopping, and of female friendship as well. Alex sometimes gave her a mock-frightened look that had nothing to do with her past, and everything to do with packages and a growing fascination with dress designs. It was as if she had spent her life locked away from girlish pleasures, and had finally been set free.
Clothes were only a small part of what she was discovering, though. Her reading skills had progressed rapidly, and half of any given day found her in the newly filled library, stacks of volumes around her, bits of this and that stuck between the pages to mark her place.
The other half of the day invariably found her on the back of a horse, Alex riding at her side. The valley she had watched from above for so long she now knew again from up close. They had ridden to what was left of Clerenbold Keep, as well. As she suspected, nothing was left of it under the trees and shrubs except for a few stones. It didn’t sadden her, as she thought it might. It was too far in the past for her to feel that, and she’d had too much time already to dwell on what was lost forever.
Beezely suddenly appeared out of nothing, sauntering down the path toward her. He brushed against her skirts, passing through the edge of them. “Mrrow?” he asked up at her, purring.
She squatted down, holding out her hand, and Beezely tilted his head, trying to rub the top of it against her. He went through her hand, but didn’t seem to notice, his purring uninterrupted. He lowered himself to the ground and rolled onto his back, his belly to the sun.
Serena stood, feeling the breeze ruffle through her white-blond hair, paler now than it had been when she lived, more the color it had been when she was a child.
“Serena?” Alex called from the courtyard, where she knew the carriage was waiting, Nancy at the reins. They were to leave today for Bristol, and from there they would take a ship to the Americas. It was his wedding present to her, a trip to see the world, although she knew it was something he himself had longed to do since a child.
Alex’s sisters had eventually come to accept their marriage, although they still refused to believe she had been a ghost—all except Sophie insisted she was an actress, a strumpet from the stage. His brothers-in-law, from what Alex said, tried not to think about it at all. Rhys believed she was who she said, though, and after several weeks of looking wide-eyed at her whenever she was near, had eventually begun to relax in her presence.
She turned and saw Alex come to the garden gate. He looked more handsome to her now than he had the first time she’d seen him. She didn’t know if it was the deepening of her own feelings that made him look more appealing, or the sparkle that now lit his eyes, even when he wasn’t talking about shooting stars and the vastness of the universe. It was as if he had come back to life after a sojourn in his own purgatory, just as she had.
“Everything’s ready, Mrs. Woding,” he said, coming toward her. “Are you?”
“The question is not if I am ready, Mr. Woding,” she said, taking his hands as he reached her. “The question is, is the world ready for me?”
“God help it if it’s not.”
She laughed and let him lead her toward the garden gate. “I do hope we get to see a pirate while in the Caribbean.”
He groaned and squeezed her hand. “You’re all the pirate I can handle.”
At the gate they stopped to take one last look at the garden, with its beds of flowers in bloom, and the young cherry tree reaching its thin branches toward the sky.
“We’ll be back soon,” Alex said.
“But not too soon,” she said, turning to him. “There’s a whole world waiting for us.”
About the Author
Lisa Cach is the award-winning author of more than twenty romantic novels and novellas, ranging across sub-genres from Paranormal, Historical, Contemporary, and Chick Lit, to Young Adult. Her novel “Dating Without Novocaine” was named one of Waldenbooks’ “Best Books of 2002,” and she is a two-time finalist for the prestigious RITA Award from the Romance Writers of America.
Ms. Cach was raised in the moss and mud of the Pacific Northwest, where she still suffers through the long grey winters today. She has used travel to inspire her fiction for decades, and in service to her art has hiked the foothills of the Himalaya, picked leeches off her legs in the jungles of Borneo, eaten dinner in the childhood home of Vlad the Impaler in Transylvania, and worn out her feet following an ancient pilgrimage route in the southwest of France. She has sailed the Caribbean as a working crew member of a research schooner, and taught writing aboard the MV Explorer on a voyage up the Amazon. Her professional background includes teaching conversational English in Japan, an M.A. in counseling psychology, and several years working the graveyard shift on a mental health crisis line.
When not writing or traveling, you’ll find her gardening, drawing, taking urban hikes with her husband, or digging for treasures at estate sales. And, of course, reading.
Visit her online at http://lisacach.com, or like her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lisacachbooks.
Books by Lisa Cach
The Changeling Bride
The Raven Witch (original title: Bewitching the Baron)
Phantom Bride (original title: Of Midnight Born)
The Wildest Shore
The Mermaid of Penperro
The Dragon, the Virgin, and George (original title: George & the Virgin)
Come to Me
Dream of Me
Dr. Yes
The Erotic Secrets of a French Maid
A Babe in Ghostland
Have Glass Slippers, Will Travel
Dating Without Novocaine
Great-Aunt Sophia’s Lessons for Bombshells
Wake Unto Me (Young Adult)
Novellas:
The Flirting Season
The Trouble with Truffles
My Zombie Valentine
A Rose by Any Other Name
Get all four of the above stories together in:
Crazy 4U
Warm your chestnuts with three romantic, humorous Christmas novellas under one cover:
Mistletoe’d!