Happily Never After (6 page)

It didn’t matter that something controlled
her or, as I started to suspect, possessed her. Her change of heart
still hurt, more than I cared to admit.

Occasionally, as I watched, I got a sense of
the shadow thing. I was wondering if it was stronger at the house
when the twins interrupted. I braced myself for a continuation of
the incident earlier.

“Mom! Mom! He’s throwing an actual masquerade
ball out at that new fancy resort. And he’s going to be a guest
judge at the pageant.” Suzie squealed at the top of her lungs.

Marietta came out of the back. “What are you
talking about, sweeties?” She laid a hand lovingly on each of their
cheeks.

“Jason Preston. In honor of the movie, he...”
Anna began.

“His studio,” Suzie chimed in.

“Fine, his studio is throwing an old
fashioned masquerade ball, with costumes and masks and dancing. In
the spirit of the old South or something like that. And he’s
judging the pageant! You have to find a way for us to go to the
ball so he can meet us.”

“Oh, that won’t be a problem at all. The
resort manager’s wife gets her hair and nails done here once a
week. I’ll make the arrangements.”

“You should go lie down, Mom. Do you have one
of your headaches again?” Anna asked as she inspected Marietta
closely.

Marietta’s response was lost to me as I let
my mind wander into dangerous territory, into a hope I never
thought I had before.

I pictured myself in a beautiful gown
waltzing with Jason to the envy of everyone. I felt so accepted.
The room sparkled, the faces of the people looking on blurred as we
moved past. It reminded me of Mama’s fairy tales and even though I
knew it was stupid, I found myself uttering damning words. “It
would be fun.”

All three of them stopped talking and stared
at me as if I’d grown a horn in the middle of my forehead. Then,
they erupted into hysterical laughter.

Marietta was the first to recover. “You? At
an actual ball? With actors and important people? That’s the most
ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Who do you think you are? You
don’t belong anywhere near this ball.”

Suzie walked up and got in my face. “You’d be
the laughing stock of the entire evening. Look at you! Have you
seen the way you dress? This is a classy masquerade ball, not a
devil worshipping convention for sluts.”

I froze as they put me in my place. I knew I
had crossed a line for even trying to hint that I wanted to be part
of their world or seen at the same public event as them. Studying
their hateful faces I remembered the coffee incident earlier and
something inside me snapped.

“If I really was a devil worshipper don’t you
think I’d have done something awful to you a long time ago? Do you
think I enjoy the three of you tormenting me all day, every
day?”

There was no warning for the slap that
cracked across my face. Before I had a chance to recover, Marietta
took a handful of my hair and yanked my head backwards.

“You are an ungrateful child! Instead of
sending you to family services and foster care, I let you live in
my house. I felt sorry for you so I kept you.”

“The only reason you keep me around is
because Daddy’s will ordered you to! And it’s not your house!”

She threw me on the ground and stood over me.
“The minute you move out, I’m selling that evil house. Oh, you look
surprised at that. I realize you plan to leave at the end of the
summer when you turn eighteen. So you have a choice, your freedom
or your precious house. Once you leave, I can do whatever I want to
it, maybe even burn it to the ground.”

The darkness leapt up behind her and rushed
at me. The cold breeze pierced through me and shattered my flimsy
courage. Something vile coursed inside my body and all I wanted to
do was throw up. From a distance I heard one of the twins
complaining about the air conditioning being too cold. Then, as
quickly as it started, it was over.

For the second time that day, I ran away and
hated myself for it.

She knew exactly how to play me and I let
her. She knew how strongly I felt about my family and how much I
loved our house. The surge of hatred crashing through me was
something I’d never felt before. It scared me a little. When I
finally took note of where I was, I saw I had stopped at Colonial
Park, where Abby and I ran into Jason.

Stumbling through the gate and past some
surprised tourists, I made my way deeper and deeper into the sea of
tombstones. Even after being attacked by a spirit of some kind on
these grounds, I knew I would find quiet acceptance here. No one
would hurt or disappoint me. I came to the same tree where we met
Jason and sat down at its base, trying to calm down.

The comforting presence of a familiar spirit
settled next to me. It was the one I felt so often and the one that
saved my life. Cold surrounded me and I almost got the impression
of arms hugging me. I closed my eyes and let myself relax.

“Are you okay?” a voice asked.

Opening my eyes and turning towards the
sound, I saw it was Jason of all people. The presence disappeared
instantly, leaving me a little disoriented. I’d gone so far down
today it didn’t even faze me that he was seeing me in this state.
My eyes were probably red and puffy from fighting the urge to cry,
one cheek redder than the other because of Marietta’s vicious slap.
I wondered briefly if I looked better with coffee spilling down my
face.

I nodded wearily at him as he sat down beside
me.

“I saw you earlier,” he whispered.

“A glimpse of my charmed life... I’m fine,
just another typical blowout with my evil stepmother and
stepsisters.”

Jason laughed softly at that. “Evil
stepmother? What does that make you? Cinderella?”

“There are days when I think I have more in
common with her than anyone could imagine.” He studied me
skeptically. “Never mind. What are you doing here again?”

A slight shrug of his shoulders was all I
thought I’d get in reply but after a few seconds he answered, “I
wanted to make sure you were okay. Had a hunch to try the cemetery.
And maybe I’m here hiding from something, looking for
something.”

Then I remembered the story I read about
Jason and his brother and how I wanted to help. The best thing I
could do was change the subject from me to him, a subject I was
sure he loved.

“The night you ran into us here you said you
wanted to see what it is we do. Are you still interested?”

In his eyes I saw a flicker of something
resembling hope.

“Okay, I’ll warn you, I’m far from an expert
but I can answer some of your questions and show you how we use
what little equipment we have. Do you have any plans for the rest
of the day?”

“No, I’m done with filming for today. It’s a
vampire movie so a lot of my scenes are at night but I’m free until
tomorrow.”

I stood up and brushed off the back of my
shorts. “Good, I’ll have Abby meet us later with the equipment.
First, I need to go somewhere and it's kind of personal. Do you
want to come or meet me later?”

My polite Southern manners betrayed me.
Inviting him along had not been part of the plan.

He studied me for what seemed like an
eternity. “Let me go with you, if that’s okay. I don’t want you to
conveniently forget meeting me later,” he joked. “Besides, it seems
like you could use a friend.”

My traitorous heart leapt so I turned and
headed out of the cemetery. This wasn’t the moment to get all
gooey-eyed. After what Marietta had said about the house, I wanted
to find Daddy’s old partner at the law firm and get some answers.
Right now, he would be the only person capable of helping.

Chapter Seven

Jason and I walked in silence the two blocks
to the bus stop. Martin Bradley had been a partner in Daddy’s law
firm for as long as I could remember. After Daddy died and Marietta
cashed in his half of the partnership, Martin opened an office in a
newer part of town. I hadn’t seen or talked to him in years.

Only a few people we passed on the way to the
bus stop seemed to recognize Jason. Or at least they gave him a
second look that said they recognized him from somewhere but
couldn’t quite place it.

The most impressive part to me was he didn’t
even seem to notice. In fact, the more time I spent with him, the
more I believed his cocky movie star attitude was a bit of an act
itself. He appeared perfectly content walking alongside me and not
caring where we were going. It was unsettling and dangerous.

I had to keep thinking of him as an
egotistical ass. It was safer that way. Even a foot away from him
on the sidewalk, I felt such a strong magnetic pull between us.
Pretending not to be aware of his proximity, his charm, or his
looks was a fulltime activity.

He didn’t seem to have any bodyguards or
security following him today so I constantly expected to be overrun
by a group of crazed girls.

We stopped at an intersection and waited for
the crosswalk light to change. The bus stop was located in the next
block. I caught the sight of our reflection in the store windows
next to us.

I almost did a double take.

Jason looked the same, his normal attractive
self. But my gaze didn't linger on him.

I focused on the girl standing next to him.
She wasn’t anything special, especially since her eyes were red and
her hair was flat. The girl in the reflection didn’t belong there
with him. If he were the sun, she was a mostly cloudy day with a
high chance of rain.

Honestly, how stupid could I be?

Martin Bradley’s office was located in a
modern building dominated by huge walls of glass and concrete, the
kind of building I hated. It didn’t fit with the rest of the
city.

The receptionist told me he had a meeting in
twenty minutes but she went to ask if he could see me right
away.

“Quinn!” Martin boomed as he strode out of
his office and wrapped me up in a fierce hug. “I’d recognize you
anywhere, sweetie. Did you get the package I sent to you for
graduation?”

“I-I, no I didn’t, Mr. Bradley.” Without
saying so, I already knew what happened. Marietta must have kept
whatever it was for herself.

Martin looked confused. “That’s weird.
Perhaps your stepmother forgot to give it to you.”

I didn’t want to get into family issues in
front of Jason. “Can we talk for a few minutes? I have a couple
things I need to ask you.”

“Sure, I’ve got some time. Come on in.”

He led the way into his office and I peeked
over my shoulder at Jason who gave me an encouraging smile.

“Have a seat,” Martin said as he closed the
door and sat behind his desk. “Now, what is it I can do for you,
Quinn?”

I fidgeted in my chair suddenly not sure
where to begin. “I had some questions about Daddy’s will. When he –
when it happened, I was still too young to understand what his
wishes really were.”

Confusion crept over his face and he leaned
forward in his chair. “I assumed Marietta went over it with
you.”

“We don’t have the easiest relationship.” I
almost laughed that the extreme understatement. “In fact, I liked
to think if Daddy had known how my life turned out, he would have
made other arrangements, such as sending me to live with my aunt
and uncle in Seattle.”

Martin shook his head. “I don’t understand.
Surely, if things were that bad you would’ve come to me sooner or I
would’ve heard about it. Because your father remarried, Marietta
was the logical choice instead of sending you thousands of miles
away. She never requested differently.”

The thought of living somewhere cold and
grey, the way I imagined Seattle, did not appeal to me at all. I
knew I would have fought it. My mama’s sister and her husband were
strangers to me anyway. We hadn’t seen them since Mama died.

“Sometimes it’s easier to let things happen
than to try and do anything about them.” The sound of maturity in
my voice surprised me. How was it fair that a seventeen-year-old
sounded weary of the world already? “But that’s not important now.
I’ll be eighteen in a little under a month and Marietta told me
something disturbing. She said she would be kicking me out and
selling the house. I planned on leaving already but I always hoped
the house would be mine.”

“I’m confused, Quinn. I was the executor of
Andrew’s will but I never had the chance to speak with you. You
were too distraught.”

I didn’t remember much about the days after
Daddy died but the parts I did remember filled me with such sadness
and loneliness that it made reflecting on it hard.

“I discussed the matter with both Marietta
and her lawyer. We agreed since she became your legal guardian, she
would judge when you were strong enough to hear the contents of the
will. Being a friend of the family, I agreed. I felt I had no
reason to distrust her. I even got back the document you
signed.”

This made me weary. I didn’t remember signing
anything. “What document?”

“The one stating you heard the terms of the
will and understood them. “

I had the strange and sinking feeling that
Marietta had lied to me about something very important. “What did
the will say, Martin?”

“I remember it vividly, as I drafted it up.
Andrew Roberts willed all of his assets to his wife, Marietta.
Guardianship of you also went to her as well as the house. But the
house remained under her control only until you reached the age of
eighteen.”

It felt as if the entire world stopped in its
tracks and silence descended over it. The only sound I heard was
the intense beating of my heart, thudding in my chest as if I’d
just run a marathon.

“I always believed the house passed to
Marietta, period. In fact, that’s what she told me back then and
has continued to tell me for years. She never said anything about
the house passing to me.”