Wraiths of Winter (The Haunting Ruby Series Book 3)

by Joy Elbel

  “Even Popeye didn’t eat his spinach until he had to,” I said, crinkled it into a tiny ball, and threw it onto my plate. “Now we can go.”

  I laid down enough money to cover the check and slid out from behind the table. “What did you think I was talking about earlier when I said there was still enough time? You seemed confused when I said we needed to get to The Village before it closed.”

  “Me? Nothing,” he replied distractedly. “Let’s go get those glasses.” My rough estimate of how many stores we would have to go into was far rougher than I realized. With only minutes to spare, we found the exact set of glasses we needed to replace the broken ones—the one Zach dropped in shock when he saw Lee/Lucas at the door and the one I broke when I fainted.

  Once back at the mansion, Zach helped me clean up the mess. We rolled the broken shards inside the paper towels we used to mop up the wine and threw all of it into a plastic bag. Zach placed the bag inside his car and promised to throw it away somewhere that neither of our parents would find it. With a few sprays of air freshener, there was no trace of what we’d done. When I said that I was going to hide the two extra glasses in my room, Zach hurriedly announced that he was heading home.

  “Oh, okay. Do you have plans tonight?” I asked casually. Zach shoved his hands in his pockets. “Plans? Nope, no plans. I just want to see how Rachel’s doing, see if there’s any news about Crimson. So I’ll see you in the morning, then?”

  Was he acting strange or was it just me? “Okay, you’re picking me up for school, right?”

  “Sure,” he said and gave me a kiss. “See you in the morning then?” He seemed sad almost. “Yeah, see you then,” I replied, squeezing him extra hard when we hugged. Was he worried that I would break up with him to be with Lucas? If that’s all it was, he had nothing to concern himself with. Nothing in the world could make me forget how much I loved him, how much he’d done for me since we’d met. I watched from the porch as he drove out of sight, then I shook off the snow and retreated to the attic.

  When I opened the door to the attic, the scent of perfume seemed even stronger than before. My bottle of Midnight Kiss must have fallen and broken or something—it was the only possible explanation. I thought I had Coco trained not to jump up on my bathroom sink—I must have been mistaken. Great. More broken glass to clean up. After I hid the wine glasses in my closet, I would take care of the mess.

  But after opening my bedroom door, hiding wine glasses was the last thing on my mind. One look at my room and I knew why Zach seemed so sad. I was the worst girlfriend in the world. And the actual words I found printed inside that cookie flashed into my brain.

  “You cannot connect the dots by looking forward, only by looking backwards.”

  2. Thinking It Through

  How could I have forgotten something so monumental? I looked around the room and felt sick to my stomach. Zach went to so much trouble to ensure that my first time was perfect but in the end I was the one who ruined it. Now I knew why he seemed so sad earlier. And come to think of it, we didn’t even say “I love you” before he left.

  The overwhelming scent of Midnight Kiss didn’t come from a broken bottle of perfume—it came from the candles placed strategically around the room. I counted six altogether. If I knew Zach, there was one to symbolize each month we’d been together. They weren’t just ordinary candles either, they were custom made. Rose petals embedded in the wax formed a ring around the bottom of the clear glass candleholders and red velvet ribbons were tied around the top. I knew those candles—they were from Something Wick-ed and they were wickedly expensive. Rita’s new line of custom scented candles were popular at the shop but usually only purchased by her wealthier customers.

  But that wasn’t all he’d done. On my pillow was a bouquet of ruby red roses and on my nightstand was a bowl of strawberries and a fondue pot. Lifting the lid, I found what I expected—chocolate. I dipped one finger in and licked it off. It was the sweetest chocolate I’d ever tasted. Now I understood why he took off so quickly when I said I was taking the extra wine glasses to my room.

  Unfortunately, that was the only thing I understood. I sunk down onto my bed in disbelief. Today started out so perfect—why did everything have to go so wrong? If Lucas hadn’t knocked on the door, I would probably be lying naked in this bed with Zach instead of sitting glumly on the edge of it pondering what went wrong. But really, it wasn’t his presence at the door that affected me the most. It was the echo of Lee’s words in my head and what they could actually mean that ripped the proverbial rug out from under me.

  My one true love could have blond hair and blue eyes—duh, that was Zach. Or he could look more like Lee— obviously, that applied to Lucas. Either way, meeting him would come as a great shock to me—unfortunately, that also applied to both of them. Automatically, I assumed it referred to my first meeting with Zach. The second he touched me a bolt of electricity shot through me. But opening the front door to see what I thought was Lee standing there—well, that definitely counted as a shock, too. If we never met, his life wouldn’t be complete. Which one of them did that pertain to?

  Lucas—that’s who. I held a key to his past that he would never find without me. I spent twelve years of my life with what had to be his twin brother, a brother he probably had no idea existed. There was so much I wanted to share with him about Lee, so much I wanted to find out about Lucas himself. Was Lucas the boy I was destined to be with?

  I loved Zach in a way I never thought was possible but being together seemed to cause both of us so much heartache. Our chemistry was the fuel Scarlet used to torture me. Garnet pushed Zach down the stairs to get my attention. Our relationship brought out anger and jealousy in Zach which almost got him kicked out of school. Would we both be better off without each other?

  Grrr! Confusion was so, well, confusing. My relationship with Lee was quiet and comfortable. The time I’d spent with Zach was nothing but a series of highs and lows, going from turbulent to passionate and back again at whiplash speeds. If I knew for certain that my battle with the paranormal was over, things would settle down between us and we could be happy. But if there were any more ghosts in my future, maybe everyone involved would be safer if we weren’t together.

  I picked up the bouquet of roses and inhaled wistfully. At least one thing was clear—I owed Zach a huge apology. I reached for my phone and brought him up on speed dial. As I waited for him to pick up, I rehearsed an apology in my head.

  “Hello.” Zach sounded even more depressed than he did when he left Rosewood. “Oh, Zach—I’m so sorry! Seeing Lucas really shook me up and passing out sure didn’t help either! Dad and Shelly still aren’t back yet—if you came back right now….”

  “I don’t think that would be a good idea, Ruby. “I’ve been thinking things over since I left and—” Oh no! What did I do? My heart began to pound violently. “Zach, you’re not breaking up with me are you? I can make it up to you—I promise!”

  “Slow down, Ruby. Of course I’m not breaking up with you—I love you. You know that. I just think that we should slow things down a little. Your reaction today made me see that you still have unresolved feelings for Lee. You need to deal with them before we go any further. I don’t want to feel like I’m second best.”

  My heartbeat slowed down a little but was far from normal. “You’re not second best, Zach! You never have been and you never will be!”

  His voice softened and I could visualize the emotions on his face as clearly as if he were sitting beside me. “But that’s how I felt today.”

  I felt truly terrible. Thinking you were second best was an awful feeling and I never meant for him to think that was the case. “If it makes you feel any better, I love everything—everything you tried to do for me today. More than anything, I just wish I’d never answered that stupid door.” I dipped my finger in the chocolate again and rolled it around on my tongue. Chocolate always made me feel better but today’s dilemma was too much even for its creamy richness.


  “You know, I thought that, too—at first. Then I realized that if you hadn’t, it just would have prolonged the inevitable. We would have slept together and then you would have seen Lucas tomorrow at school and had the same reaction.” Zach paused for a second. “And I would have felt even worse than I do now.”

  “I’m sorry, Zach. I never meant for any of this to happen!”

  “I know you didn’t, but it happened anyway. Now all we can do is deal with it.” “I know but I just feel so awful about everything! At least let me pay you back for all the things you bought for me today—I owe you that much!”

  “No, I don’t want your money. You’re still worth every cent I spent—sex or no sex.” His words should have made me feel better but instead, I felt infinitely worse. Zach was one in a million and I didn’t deserve him. Honestly, how much more drama could our love withstand? Could I turn my back on my feelings of past guilt and go on with Zach as if today never happened? I wanted to think that I could but I knew that it just wasn’t possible. I needed to bury my past once and for all if I wanted a future with him. I had to make friends with Lucas and find Lee’s family as fast as possible. If he was Lee’s twin brother, he would be eighteen already and able to search for them without his adoptive parents’ consent. Once we pooled our information, the search would be quick and easy. Wouldn’t it?

  “You’re too good to me—you know that, don’t you?”

  “There’s no such thing. I just want you to be happy…even if it isn’t with me.” “Zach, don’t say that! Happy is with you—and only you! All I want from Lucas is to find some answers—and that’s all I want from him.”

  “Either way, I want to help you with this, okay? And not just because I love you and I want you all to myself— because I definitely do. I want to help you because I want you to be happy and I don’t think you really will be until you know the truth.”

  What could I say to that? He loved me enough to stand by me through this even with the fear that I could want to be with Lucas in the end. Now that was true love.

  “Thanks, Zach. I promise I’ll make this as quick as possible. I’ll find a way to talk to Lucas tomorrow and find out whether or not he knows he’s adopted.”

  “Okay, just be careful—you never know how he’ll react.” Zach had plenty of reasons to be protective of me— he’d saved my life twice already in the last few months. That was two times more than most people could say in a lifetime. I really just wanted to tell him to stop worrying about me— but I didn’t. He would worry either way so I decided to let him have this one.

  “I will, Zach. I promise. And I’ll keep you in the loop with everything I find out.”

  “Good, I’m gonna hold you to that.” The sound of voices downstairs meant that my parents were home from New York City. “Hey, Dad and Shelly are home—can I call you back later? I want to see how the show was.”

  “Sure thing, sweetie. I love you.”

  “I love you, too, Zach.” More than you’ll ever know. I stood nervously in the entrance hall with them as they took off their jackets and wet shoes. There was no trace of the wine or broken glasses but I was afraid their parent radar would go off anyway. The last thing I needed was to get into trouble for wine I never got a chance to drink before not sleeping with my boyfriend. When neither of them seemed to notice a thing, I calmed down a little and followed them into the kitchen.

  “So how was The Phantom of the Opera?” I asked, trying hard to sound casual as Shelly pulled the bottle of White Zinfandel out of the refrigerator. I slid my hand behind my back and crossed my fingers that she wouldn’t notice that there was less in the bottle than when she last looked at it.

  “It was sheer perfection Ruby!” Shelly replied as she poured a glass without even looking at the bottle. “I wish you could have come with us!”

  “Yeah, me too.” If Zach and I had gone to New York with them, I would have had one more peaceful day before meeting Lucas. And peaceful days were hard to come by for me lately.

  “Did you have visitors today, Ruby?” my dad asked curiously. “I noticed a set of footprints leading all the way back from the main road. And several sets of tire tracks.”

  Dammit! I never even thought of the fact that the snow might give me away. And since when did Dad start wearing his Sherlock Holmes hat? When Shelly didn’t notice anything weird, I thought I was in the clear. Oh well, I had a legitimate excuse for that tell-tale clue, one that didn’t include Zach or his “dad would definitely not approve” reason for being here. “As a matter of fact, yes. I met someone odd today. I think I met Lee’s twin brother.”

  Shelly almost had to kiss another wine glass goodbye. The stem started to slip between her fingers but she recovered it just in time, only spilling a drop or two over the rim. Her reaction caught me off guard.

  “What?”

  I recounted the story to them leaving out the part where I fainted and the fact that Zach was with me at the time. “Did you tell him about Lee—about your suspicions?” Shelly downed the wine in one gulp and Dad promptly poured her another glass.

  “Not yet—but I plan to talk to him about it tomorrow to see what he knows.” “Please be careful—this is a very touchy subject. If he doesn’t know anything about it, telling him could backfire on you. I know how I reacted when I found out that I was adopted.”

  Wait? What? Shelly was adopted? How did I never know this? Oh yeah, that’s right—because I ignored her as much as possible until this past summer, that’s how.

  “You were adopted? How old were you when you found out?” With the second glass of wine gone, Shelly just took the bottle out of my dad’s hands and raised it to her lips. “I was sixteen. I’ll never forget that day for as long as I live. Bethany Morrell was a girl I hated in high school—she was always so snotty and mean to everyone. I guess she had a crush on my boyfriend at the time, Justin Fulkerson. So one day she started calling me a Garbage Pail Kid—they were these ugly knockoffs of Cabbage Patch Kids. It didn’t even bother me until she started telling everyone that I was so useless that my own mother didn’t even want me. She told anyone who would listen that I was born in the school restroom on prom night and thrown out with the trash. So I called her a liar and told her that I could prove her wrong.” Another hearty swig of wine.

  “She was right, though, wasn’t she?” Wow. For once, I wasn’t the only one in this house having an emotional day. Was there a “Misty” in every high school?

  “Yep, she was. I went home and asked my mom to find me some proof that I wasn’t adopted and that’s when she and my dad sat me down and told me the truth. My life as I knew it ended that day. It turns out that I was found in a garbage can outside the high school the morning after prom. Bethany found out because her uncle was the cop who investigated the incident and he knew who eventually adopted me. So not only was I not who I thought I was, I had to swallow my pride and face her the next day knowing that she was right. My last two years of high school were almost unbearable.”

  Dad pulled his chair over next to hers and put his arm around her shoulder. “She’s right, Ruby. Adoption is a serious issue—you can’t just approach him lightly. Are you sure it’s even a good idea to talk to him about it at all?”

  Good idea or not, it was something I needed to do for my own peace of mind. “Don’t worry, I’ll be delicate.” I turned to Shelly. “So did you ever search for your biological parents?”

  “I did for a while but eventually I gave up. If the cops couldn’t find anything back then, I really didn’t stand much of a chance. It was tough, but I learned to live without the answers. I would advise you to do the same. Lee’s at peace and he would want the same thing for you, Ruby.”

  Why did everyone sound so ominous in their warnings to leave this alone? Really, what was the worst that could happen?

  3. Breaking the Ice

  I was on my way upstairs when I heard a knock at the door. Sure, I was the closest and should have just answered it but after what happened ear
lier, I decided against it and just kept walking. It was probably just Andy looking for my dad. Rachel didn’t get out much these days and Zach knew I was going to call him back so it wouldn’t be for me anyway. Imagine my shock when fifteen seconds later my dad’s voice echoed up the steps after me.

  “Ruby, you have a visitor.” My feet froze to the step. If it was Zach or Rachel at the door, Dad would have just said so. One other option came to mind. Could it really be him?

  Slowly, I pivoted on the step to take a look. I was right. It was Lucas. Though the urge to faint was gone, it was still a massive shock to my system. Even from such distance, the similarities were striking. Same eyes? Check. Same smile? Check. Same skater boy fashion sense? Double check. His hair even hung down over his right eye in the same casual way that Lee’s always did.

  “Are you coming down or do I have to apologize from a distance?” Suddenly, I felt the same way I did the day I met Zach at the diner. Like a complete idiot. I simply had no skills when I was face to face with boys I was attracted to. Wait. No. I was not attracted to Lucas! I was simply stunned to see him and not without good cause. That was all it was.

  I held my chin high in a show of fake confidence and marched back down the stairs. “Sorry. I just wasn’t expecting any visitors. You especially.”

  Even through my astonishment, I could see the look of complete disbelief on my dad’s face. His eyes went wide, his jaw dropped. For lack of a better expression, he looked like he just saw a ghost. Shelly started walking into the entrance hall with the bottle of White Zinfandel still in her hand. I heard her mutter “Oh dear!” before she raised the bottle to her mouth and walked back into the kitchen. Great. They were supposed to be helping me out here, not making things more awkward. My support system needed a support system.