Harbinger in the Mist (Arms of Serendipity) (16 page)

“That was a rather interesting introduction. But still, good thing your mom sent me to find you, don’t you think?”

“Why did my mom send you to ‘find’ me?” Lindsey stopped and faced the man, one eyebrow higher than the other.

“I am going to be using your guest room for the next month or two while I am here on retreat.”

“Wait, what? My mom is letting a complete stranger move into our house?” Her gratitude toward this man was turning into cynicism. She had enough to worry about as it was and now this strange man was added to the mix?

“Your mom and my Aunt Darby were having coffee this morning and the topic of my visit came up.  I was staying with Aunt Darby but there’s simply not enough room in her little house for the both of us. Your mom offered the guest room at your home.”

“So?”

“Well, I think your mom wanted to introduce us sooner rather than later. I also got the distinct feeling that she also wanted some private time with Aunt Darby."

“Oh. OK,” was all she could say.

It was hard to concentrate on speaking coherently when all she could think about was the way he smelled like freshly laundered cotton sheets mixed with a ripe peach, or the way the heat from his body had penetrated the back of her shirt as she leaned against her earlier, or the way his hands felt on her waist as he held on to her during the ride or when he removed her from the mare. Or the way he was standing much too close to her at that very moment. It was electrifying.  They walked the rest of the way in silence.

“Everything alright?” Darby drawled as they ascended the stairs on the front porch a few minutes later. Darby was sitting in one of the rocking chairs drinking a glass of iced tea. Aimee was in the other seat, looking half asleep.

“Yes, ma’am. Just a little excitement with the horses. Nothing to worry about though.”

“Lindsey, this is Eli. He came to stay with Darby this summer but she really doesn’t have enough room for him to have a private space all his own, a place where he could be alone,” Aimee explained, unaware that he’d just told her as much. “When Darby introduced us and told me why he was here, I offered the guest room downstairs. He said that he’d trade handy services for room and board. I figured we could use someone to help us keep the yard up and it might help you feel a little safer in the house when I’m working. So…”

Lindsey tried to appear calm. She didn’t want to raise her questions in front of Darby or her nephew. But what she really wanted to do was ask her mom if she was crazy. She had agreed to let a complete stranger move in with them. A strange
man
. She couldn’t believe it. No matter how gorgeous he was, no matter to whom he was related, he could still be an axe murderer. 

She looked at him again and he smiled encouragingly at her. Well, he
had
just saved her life… maybe this could be a good thing.

“Eli here,” Darby started, “is entering the seminary in the fall, you see. He wants to be a priest. He’s taking the final couple months of summer to reflect before he leaves for Rome. And Retreat house seems to be the perfect setting for reflection, don’t you think?”

Nope, not a good thing. This was even worse than what she’d envisioned. A normal man would still on the market.
Disgusting, Lindsey!
She chided herself. But honestly, she couldn’t speak freely around him, flirt with him, or go out on a casual date or something with him. He was going to be a priest? No way. She tried to imagine him in all black with the little white tab collar. He was too good looking to give his life over completely to God. But that was his choice and that was that. Yes, she could flirt with any other kind of man taking refuge in their guest room for the time being.  But not a priest. Or a soon to be priest. She would feel damned to hell if she tried to tempt a man of the cloth.

The she wondered if priests even have testosterone anyway?  Did they check their hormones at the church door? Would he even be able to tell if she was flirting with him? She wondered if she should try it, just to see. Then she felt guilty for thinking that way. She should be relieved, though. This was the safest kind of guest possible thing. She’d have someone in the house, which really would make her feel safer at night, and she wouldn’t have to worry about him sneaking into her room at night. But she had to be honest with herself. She wouldn’t mind at all if
this
man did just that.

Bad, Lindsey, bad!
She scolded herself again.

“Lindsey? Are you OK?” Aimee was looking at her with concern.

“Um, yeah. I’m fine. It’s just been a long day already, full of excitement. The foal was born a little while ago, which was cool. But I didn’t sleep well last night, so I’m dead tired. And dirty. I’m going to take a shower and then head back over to the Robbins’ to check on the colt, see if he’s up and walking yet. Then I’m going to come back and take a long nap.”

“Alright, dear,” concern was still written all over her mom’s tone.

Lindsey walked slowly into the house, grabbed the cordless phone from its cradle on the credenza, and headed for the stairs. She was sure that Maddie and Michelle would be waiting by their phone. And she couldn’t wait to tell them about this.

She looked nervously around her room, but it looked all clear. She sat on bed and dialed the phone. Once her back was turned, a large dark shadow moved in the corner of her room, just out of her line of sight. It hovered for a moment before silently backing up and disappearing back through the bedroom wall from which it had come.

Twelve

“He’s going to live with you? No freaking way! You lucky dog!” Maddie exclaimed when Lindsey explained everything what transpired since they had parted ways. “I would be too nervous to freaking eat around him, let alone be in the house
alone
with him!”

“He’s going to be a priest, Maddie. I wouldn’t have an ice cube’s chance in hell, so why worry about it? Plus having him here will make me feel safer about, you know, the house and its other … guests.”

Michelle, who was listening to the conversation on speaker phone, chimed in, “Oh, honey, he’s not in the seminary yet. You have time to work your charm, make him see the
benefits
of opting out of the whole celibacy thing.”

“Michelle! Good Lord, you have to bring sex into everything? I hope Mom and Dad send you to Clemson with a large supply of condoms,”  Maddie feigned disgust, but Lindsey was sure she was thinking something similar.

“Uh-huh. This coming from the girl who’s wearing a hat that has the word ‘Cocks’ written in bold letters across the front! And hey, God said to be fruitful and multiply. He invented sex, so why should any of us thumb our nose at it? Bow chicca wow, wow!”

“You are so vulgar. You just wish you could wear a U.S.C. hat. Instead you’re going up to that farm school with a little pussy …
cat
as its mascot.” Maddie retorted.

“Oooh! Who’s the vulgar one now?”

They laughed and giggled over the inappropriate comments, but Lindsey couldn’t deny that there had been an instant attraction, at least on her end. Nor could she deny that she was extremely relieved to have a strong, young man of faith living in the house. She would feel so much safer at night knowing that he was there if, no,
when
something happened. Seriously, she hoped his constant prayers and such would keep the thing at bay.

Dinner that night was subdued. Aimee was home and ordered pizza and breadsticks. While they waited on the delivery guy, she put together a large salad. They ate in front of the T.V. and watched a movie on pay-per-view. Eli joined them but didn’t say very much, he was more interested in hearing Aimee’s stories of “helping bring babies into the world.” He laughed when appropriate and interjected thoughts here and there. Every once in a while, Lindsey felt his eyes on her, but he would look away when she looked up.

After dinner, Eli excused himself to take what he called a “reflection walk.” He said that in seminary he would be attending vespers at this time and needed to train himself for the nightly prayers. This retreat and his reflection walks were supposed to help him learn to manage his time and to focus.

“Kind of a shame, isn’t it,” Aimee remarked after he left through the back door toward the estuary.

“Well, at least you don’t have to worry about any hanky panky while you’re at work.”

“This is true,” Aimee laughed as she cleared the plates from the coffee table.

The next morning, Lindsey came down for breakfast. Eli was nowhere to be seen. Aimee left a note saying she had some errands to run – grocery store, Wal-Mart, lunch with Darby, and then to get her hair cut. The note said she would be gone until the afternoon and that there was money on the counter in case Lindsey wanted to order a takeout lunch for herself. Lindsey put the note down, tore a bagel in half, and stuck one of the two pieces in the toaster. She opened the cabinet above the toaster, grabbed a glass, turned to the fridge to get cream cheese and juice, the unheated bagel half hanging from her teeth.

Above her, a faint shadow moved across the ceiling and nudged a small plastic lid from the top shelf of the open cupboard; it fell into the toaster slot below and began to slowly melt.

Lindsey didn’t smell the smoke right away, she was too lost in her inner ramblings – the ghost, Eli, the ghost, Eli.  She chewed slowly on the cold bagel half as she looked blankly through the windows. When the acrid smoke finally drug her from her reverie, she turned around and dropped her glass, sending orange juice and shards of broken glass skittering all over the floor.

Eli rushed in from the front of the house and jerked the toaster from the wall before the flames dancing out of it could ignite the cabinets above. He threw it in the sink and sprayed it with water until the fire was completely extinguished. Dark, choking smoke boiled up into the air, causing the smoke detectors to blare. The phone rang seconds later; the alarm company was checking in, having been notified that smoke had been detected. The man on the phone wanted to know if she needed them to alert the fire department. Lindsey explained what had happened, at least the parts that didn’t contain what she suspected might be paranormal activity, and that there was no fire. She thanked them for their help.

She hung up the phone and ran to open the French doors for Eli who was carrying the ruined toaster to the back porch. While the doors were standing open, she used a kitchen towel to fan some of the smoke out of the house. When she turned around Eli was searching the kitchen and living room suspiciously; his eyes were squinted and he was looking in every corner of the space with concern etched all over his face.

“Are you OK?” she asked.

“This wasn’t just an accident, Lindsey. I found this in the toaster oven.” Eli held up the cooled, melted remains of the plastic lid.

“How … how did that get in there?”

“I think that it wants us to believe that it just happened to fall in there, but I am not that stupid.”  Eli didn’t look at her when he spoke. He glared around the open room accusingly.

“It? What do you mean?” Lindsey feigned ignorance; she knew damned well what he meant.

“Lindsey, I know there is something abnormal in this house. I felt it the first moment I entered it. And, based on what just happened, I’d say it’s dangerous, too. Have you told your mother about this?”

Lindsey felt like a balloon; inflated at the idea that he believed her, then popped when she had to admit that her mother thought she was being ridiculous. “She doesn’t believe me. Nothing ever seems to really happen when she’s here. And on the off chance that something does, she rationalizes it away.”

Eli looked around, whispering under his breath. “Well, I think we’d better keep an eye out when she’s not here then. We don’t want another repeat of this morning.”

They spent the rest of the morning airing out the house and cleaning up the mess on the floor. Lindsey had forgotten about the glass in the melee; she walked back into the kitchen and nearly sliced her foot open on a large chunk of jagged glass. Eli reached a hand out and pulled her back just in time. He swept up the mess once she was safely out of the kitchen. Lindsey went behind him with hot, soapy water to mop up the sticky residue.

The phone rang again just as they were finishing up.

“Hey, girl! What are you doing later?” Maddie was way too excited.

“Um, nothing, I guess. Why? What’s up?”

“Michelle and I are finally going turtle watching tonight! She leaves for Clemson next week so it’s going to be her unofficial going away trip. We’ll bring some food and drinks. It’ll be fun. Can you come with? You can even invite Father Hottie if you want to, too.”

Eli was standing close by and Lindsey hoped that he hadn’t overheard as Maddie was fairly loud.

“Tell her I’d love to go,” he leaned toward her, his soft breath caressing her cheek.

Lindsey blushed – he had damned good hearing – and told Maddie that they would both like to tag along.

“Cool. Meet us at the house at 6:30. We’ll take Michelle’s jeep since it can navigate on the sand a little better than either of our cars.”