Authors: Jane White Pillatzke
A Grave Exchange
A
Grave
Exchange
Jane White Pillatzke
Table of Contents
I would like to dedicate this book to my
family
—J
oe,
Jack
,
and Jemma
J
ane.
Y
ou are m
y
inspiration
on a daily basis
; I love you forever and always
. K
eep laughing
and loving
.
Y
ou are everything to me.
I would like to thank my editor,
Nicholas Denmon and Heidi Cormode's editing team
for without your guidance
,
I would have drowned in a sea of confusion.
Y
ou truly kept my head afloat and grounded me when I needed it
. F
orever obliged and totally recommend.
I would like to thank a few authors who have rocked my world time and time again with the stories they created, their characters making me laugh, cry
,
and shout for joy
.
I am forever indebted to you ladies:
T
ina
F
olsom,
T
essa
D
awn,
L
arissa
I
one and
K
resley
C
ole
. K
eep inspiring
me
; keep making me stay up all night just to scream in frustration when the book ends.
I would like to thank a very special
muse
of mine
, a beautiful man,
J
immy
T
homas
,
who happens to be the cover model on my book
;
your
kindness
and knowledge know
s
no bounds
. T
hank you for your time and unending ideas.
K
eep up the good work!
I would like to thank cover artist Angela Waters for her beautiful talent on creating the cover for my story.
I would also like to thank some beautiful friends of mine
, without
whom
,
this story would not have been told
. L
adies
,
you are awesome
. K
eep believing in
fairytales
. I love you all. For Jamie Salisbury,
J
amallah
B
ergman,
S
haron
Hamilton, S
hannon
R
eads,
N
atalie
H
ancock
,
and
M
ichelle
P
illatzke.
Of course
,
I realized the folly of my ways as I
crisscrossed
my way over
the old mounds in the cemetery, but to my credit
,
I felt I
as if I
was ok
ay. T
he neighbors
,
after all
,
w
ould
not disturb me this quiet night
. S
o what if it was after midnight
? S
o what
if
a black cat hap
hazardly
ran in front of me
?
I
felt certain I’d made
a wise decision
. And yet,
my heart
beat so hard, I felt as if it might
jump out of my
chest. My
mouth
was
bone dry,
and no doubt,
the full moon played
a
part in this seduction of my nerves.
Quietly
,
I walked around an
eighteenth-
c
entury tombstone
,
noting
the
name
carved in its
granite face:
Lucius Roman Valentine
. G
oose bumps rose
on my arms
as I stood there,
and
I roll
ed
my eyes
.
T
his is what
you
get
for coming here after dark
, dumb ass
. B
ut
the route
cut several minutes off the time it took for me to reach
my apartment
,
and
the graveyard
wa
s far safer than
the
alleyways.
Cursing my waning bravery
,
I pull
ed
my jacket tight
er
around me.
I hurr
ied
along the old cobbled pavement
,
trying not to let my overactive imagination
cause
me
to die of
a heart attack.
A branch crack
ed
,
and I stop
ped
dead in my tracks
.
“It’s just
a squirrel
,” I whispered into the sudden silence. “Um . . . r
ight
? I mean
, they do make noise w
hen they walk
,
don't they?
”
Another crunch, this time obviously the sound of footsteps on the path behind me, had me spinning around. V
iolent
shivers wracked my body.
Don’t scream
, I told myself.
Not straight away
. Perhaps someone else had chosen to take a shortcut this night. I squinted into the darkness,
and my breath
stuck in my lungs. H
im
!
The man
who’d haunted my
dream
s. He stood before me like a specter
,
and
sweet
,
divine God's
. . .
Michael Angelo would weep
were he to lay eyes on the man. H
e
was
perfection personified
,
and every pore in my body ooze
d
pheromones in reaction to his beauty
.
I realize
d
I
was
gawking
and quickly shut my mouth
. M
y breath
ing
ha
d
turned to
feeble pants
. The stranger chose
that moment to smile,
and
to my utter shame
, I reacted as if this were my first time faced with a handsome man
. M
y
legs
buckled, and I fell to my knees.
W
ho
are you?
The
man
tilted
his head
,
as if he
were
contemplating
my question
. No way
. Absurd to think he could read my mind.
Lord
,
I
was
fast
losing my grip on reality.
His smile broaden
ed
,
and
although I would not have thought it a possibility,
he grew even more beautiful,
like an angel
come to stand before
me
.
Thinking clearly
grew difficult
, so affected was I by his exquisite form.
I
found myself longing to kiss him, and the shocking
thought quickly led to another.
Why, oh, why did I choose to walk through this cemetery tonight
? I truly wished I had not.
"Why not
,
little one?"
My
eyes
grew wide.
Holy
—! S
eriously
! Had
he
really
just read my mind
,
or
had
I
unknowingly spoken aloud?
Again
,
he smile
d.
"My name is Lucius
,
but you know that already."
Dear God. M
y labored breathing worked up a hundred notches to
reach crisis
level
. If
I weren’t c
areful, I might well
hyperventilat
e.
This couldn’t be real
.
I couldn’t be kneeling here on the ground in the middle of a graveyard, gazing up at
the very man I ha
d
dreamed of over and over again, night after night
, for longer than I could remember. And every night, I’d
hoped
and
prayed
he would
somehow
become a reality
—like that old song goes, “step out of my dream
,
and into my arms.” But
how c
ould
this possibly be
?
Answer—
it c
ouldn
’t
. Women weren’t able to simply dream up a man and have him appear out of thin air. Right
?
S
trong
, cool
hands
touched
my shoulder
s
,
defying me to deny the man’s existence. He stood there—in the flesh;
I d
idn
't need to
look
to confirm he was still there.
He’d given his name—the same name on the headstone I’d just passed.
“Breathe, little one,” he said, brushing
my hair out of my
face
. “D
eeply and slowly.
”
I struggled to obey his command, but my
breath
s
came out painfully quick, my heart exploding into a bloom of desire
. He dropped to kneel
in front of me,
cupp
ed
my face with
a
strong
yet tender touch
.
Momentarily weakened by his presence
,
I could not speak. My mind
fought
to explain the impossible
.
Lucius Valentine
—man of my dreams, literally—
knelt before me, gazing into my eyes
. M
y heart
raced,
bordering on a dangerous
rhythm
.
Captured by his gaze, I studied him intently. H
is eyes were a molten grey with
emerald
fleck
s
, his face
looked as if it were
hand
-
sculpted by
heavenly
angels
,
and surely they wept when they let him go.
As I pondered his unrivalled beauty
,
he moved forward
. M
y breath
hitched
, my heart stopped it's frantic tango
. W
as he going to kiss me
? S
urely not
!
H
e stroked my cheek with his thumb
, while
gazing into my eyes
.
T
his ha
s
to be a dream
,
I thought, and
Lucius smile
d.
I swore
the clouds parted over the full moon, the animals stopped their
nocturnal
chorus,
and
we all waited
silently
in that suspended moment.
“Dear
,
sweet
,
beautiful Ivy, you are my
guiding light, like the brightest star in the
universe
, shining down to show me the path I must take in this life. I would follow you anywhere, do anything to please you,
be
anything you need. S
weetest Ivy, there are not enough words
in any language
to convey what I feel for you.
”
Focusing on
all the delicious words
falling
from Lucius’
lips
,
I closed my eyes and drew a deep breath. What was happening, here? Had I tripped? Fallen to the ground, knocking myself out on a headstone on the way down? Was this all nothing more than a dream, brought on by my unconscious mind? But no . . . this felt too real. Perhaps, Lucius was my dream man’s doppleganger. The spitting image of the handsome guy who’d haunted me forever, who just happened to stumble upon me here, in the middle of a graveyard. I shook my head. That didn’t make sense, either. And yet, to deny the man’s existence meant admitting the possibility I’d lost my mind. Gone crazy, for some reason, and now I was standing here having a conversation with a man I’d created out of thin
air
.
Yes, that must be it. I’d gone mad, insanity brought on by the unnecessary heartache heaped upon me by an uncaring world. Either I’d gone crazy, or he was
crazy
—some unstable man, who just so happened to look exactly like the man of my dreams, and who also knew my name and other important, personal details a stranger would have no way of knowing.
A low
,
deep rumble escaped Lucius’ chest
.
“
S
weetheart
, I am very sane,
and so are you. Stop questioning what is happening; trust yourself to know the truth.
”
“I don’t understand,”
I
said “
Why me?
You don’t even know me
,
Lucius.”
“I have heard your heart cry out for so long now, your soul broke through the hardened walls of my cold heart and sang to me a lullaby so serene
,
I knew immediately you were my chosen
. M
ake no mistake
;
I am yours for eternity
.
”
Oh
,
good God, he can’t mean what he
is saying
. M
y heart
beat
thundered in my ears,
and
my face flushed a violent
blush
.
I desperately looked around, searching for something, anything to distract my wanton body and delirious mind
.
I knew then as I do now, I
was falling dangerously in love with
the
man in front of me.
How
he
could capture my heart so quickly unnerved me to no end
.