Lacybourne Manor (62 page)

However, he’d heard Mags say
something damning.

“What about yesterday?”

“Sorry?”

Colin prayed for patience.
“Yesterday. Did you talk to the reporters yesterday?”

“Me?”

Colin’s prayers went
unanswered.

“Yes, you.”

“No, no, er… not me. I didn’t
talk to the reporters yesterday. They came to the Centre, after the
police but I didn’t talk to them and I know Sibyl didn’t and… well
it was all a big hustle and bustle about the carrier bags and…”

She’d left someone out.

And she was a worse liar than
her daughter.

“Put my mother on the phone,”
Colin ordered.

“Phoebe?”

He ground his teeth.

Then through them, he remarked,
“Yes, Phoebe does happen to be my mother.”

“I can’t imagine why you’d want
to talk to Phoebe,” she declared with sham innocence.

“Put her on the phone.”

“I think she needs a bathroom
break,” Mags stalled.

“Put her on the phone.”

There was a pause and then a
grumbled, “Oh, all right.”

Then there was another
rustle and he heard, “It’s your son,” and then more in the
background as the phone was passed, “You’re right, Billie,
he
is
ruthless.”

Colin again gritted his
teeth.

“
Hello Colin,” his mother
greeted him. “How’s your day?” Before he could answer, she
nervously continued, “We’re in the library because Rick thinks one
of the reporters could be a murderer in disguise. It’s like he
wasn’t even
there
yesterday and doesn’t know we have the all
clear. He’s instructed us not to stand by the windows
and…”

He cut her off, his patience at
an end, “Mum, did you talk to the reporters yesterday?”

“
Why, yes. I do believe I
had a word,” she said lightly,
too
lightly.

“Don’t do that again,” he
commanded.

“Colin, you shouldn’t talk to
your mother that way,” she courageously scolded, looking into the
eye of the tiger and thinking he was a pussycat. “There is
certainly no reason why your extraordinary story shouldn’t be told.
It’s beautiful and I’m so happy for you, I want the world to know
it. True love reigns…”

“We aren’t out of danger, the
person who ordered the man to hold a knife to Sibyl’s throat is
still out there. We don’t need to be goading them with stories of
true love, exposing our defences or making them think our defences
are down so they’ll act before we’ve caught them. I’m asking you,
don’t do it again.”

She was silent.

Then she said a shaky,
“Okay.”

“I don’t want Sibyl to know
that she’s not out of danger.”

“You have to…”

“Don’t say a word. I’ll speak
to her when I get home.”

She was again silent.

Then she let out a breathy,
“Okay.”

“There will be someone there to
clear the reporters within half an hour and they will remain there
to watch the house. If Sibyl sees them, make something up but carry
on as normal.”

“Oh…kay.” This was even
shakier.

“Give the phone to Rick.”

She didn’t hand the phone
to Rick. Instead she asked nonsensically, “Colin, are
you
, I
mean, are they… and are
you?
”

But Colin understood her.
“Nothing is going to happen to Sibyl or me,” and when he said this
his voice was far quieter and definitely gentler.

Hers was no less tremulous.
“Okay.”

“I’m asking her to marry me,”
Colin found himself saying, simply for the sake of giving his
mother a happy thought instead of leaving her with images of
possible murder and despair.

There was silence again and
then, “Okay,” and this time he heard tears in her voice.

“Don’t tell her that
either.”

A sharp gasp then, “I wouldn’t
dream of…”

“Put Rick on the phone.”

“Colin?”

“Yes?”

“I’m so proud of you, my
darling. You’re a good man.”

He’d heard that before recently
from Sibyl and he feared his carefully cultivated reputation as a
ruthless bastard was soon to be in tatters.

She gave the phone to Rick and
Colin related the current situation and gave him his instructions.
Then Colin rang off, called Robert and ordered men to oust the
reporters and watch the house.

Then the clock hands
approaching noon, with an immense effort of will, he set all of his
current situation aside and set about making
back
some of the money
he was losing in this travesty.

At a quarter to four, Rick
phoned and without preamble announced, “She’s having a
barbeque.”

Colin couldn’t believe his
ears. “What did you say?”

“I should have confiscated her
mobile,” Rick muttered under his breath. “I thought she might need
it in case of emergency. I should have –”

“Tell me what’s happening,”
Colin demanded.

Rick didn’t delay. “Ten minutes
ago, a minibus loaded with old people and kids drove up and
unloaded. They all carried in a mass of grocery bags and even a
charcoal grill and now they’re in your back garden preparing for a
goddamned barbeque.”

“Is the team there?”

“Yes.”

Colin took in a steadying
breath and ordered, “Just watch them.”

“Mr. Morgan, I know this’ll get
me sacked but I got to tell you that your girlfriend is the most
annoy…”

Colin felt Rick’s pain, acutely
but he interrupted him before he said something Colin could not
ignore. “I know.”

Then Colin again rang off from
Rick and went back to work.

At ten to five, displaying an
amazing swiftness he’d never have expected when a woman was
shopping and had a great deal of money to spend, Mandy came back to
his office.

She set a small, glossy,
burgundy bag with expensively corded handles in the middle of his
blotter and stood back with her hands clenched in front of her.

When he just stared at it, she
jumped forward and grabbed the bag, upended it and then carefully,
even reverently, placed a small, burgundy, velvet box in front of
him. Then she resumed her position of hand clenching.

He opened the box. Then he
stared at the ring.

And it was perfect.

He looked his secretary
directly in the eyes. “Well done, Mandy. I knew you could do
it.”

Mandy beamed.

And then Colin did something
that he did not know and likely would never know (or even
understand), assured his secretary’s employ for the next twenty
years.

He snapped the case shut, stood
and rounded the desk to her. He then wrapped his hand gently around
the back of her head and, bending low (because she was quite
petite), he kissed her forehead like a loving older brother.

And then he went back around
his desk, grabbed his suit jacket off the back of his chair and he
walked out of his office.

And Mandy thought, watching him
go, that no matter what everyone else said, Colin Morgan really was
a good man.

* * * * *

Nearly five hundred years
earlier, at exactly ten to five in the evening, while Royce and
Beatrice danced at their wedding feast, the dark soul sharpened the
blade of a knife against a whetstone.

* * * * *

Meanwhile, Royce watched
Beatrice’s smiling face as she beamed at her father and mother
(then mock-scowled at her younger sister) as he whirled her in a
dance.

She had done the change
again this morning, turning into a different person, yet the same.
He could not put his finger on how he knew she was not her, she
just was
not
. She had done it before
dozens of times but this time instead of being oddly not the same,
she was both not the same and completely terrified. For him, for
them and because of tonight.

One second she was so afraid,
she was nearly in tears, the next second she was confused and
blushing at standing before him in her dressing gown, having no
idea how she got from her bed to the Hall, standing in his
arms.

Something was amiss and, as
usual when he felt something was amiss, Royce Morgan was on his
guard.

* * * * *

It should be noted at this
juncture, there was some pretty hefty magic flying back and forth
across nearly five hundred years.

The good kind.

And the bad.

Proposal

As instructed, at five thirty,
Colin met Rick in the Great Hall.

“What’s happening?” Colin
asked, throwing his suit jacket over a four hundred and fifty year
old chair with a dry, preserved oak leaf sitting in its seat, The
National Trust’s indication that tourists were not permitted to sit
there.

“They’re barbequing sticks with
vegetables on them. No meat, just vegetables. Vegetable sticks. On
the barbeque. Who does that?” Rick answered, completely at a
loss.

Colin speared Rick with at
glance. “I was referring to the imminent threat on my girlfriend’s
life,” he drawled.

“Oh right. That.” Rick said
with a jerk of his chin. “No activity. We’ve got a bloke doing the
perimeter just in the woods beyond the cleared grounds and garden.
Got another bloke patrolling in the wood, another at the gatehouse.
I’ve got the house. Someone’s relieving me at eight.”

Colin nodded.

Rick kept speaking. “Your alarm
men started yesterday. As you instructed me, I instructed them to
install the warning light and panic button first. They did that
yesterday and tested it today. All is a go. Left side of the bed,
like you asked. That is, left side when you’re lying in it.”

“Good,” Colin muttered.

Then he turned to go and change
his clothes so he could join his guests at the impromptu vegetable
barbeque but Rick stalled him by continuing. “Mr. Morgan, you
should know, what I said earlier…” He stopped, searching for the
right words. “Any other time and I’d think your bird was…” He
stopped again then shrugged. “Whatever, she’s a little mad but
she’s all right.”

Colin nodded again, indicating
he held no ill-will against Rick’s unsuitable but understandable
statement about Sibyl earlier.

He then went to his bedroom to
check the work of the alarm company. While there, he changed into
jeans and a grey, lightweight, v-necked sweater and walked down to
the Great Hall. He heard laughter and the drone of happy, relaxed
conversation drifting in from outside. He found it strange that
he’d lived at Lacybourne for over a year and that was the first
he’d ever heard those sounds in the house.

Because of that, before he
joined his guests, with curiosity, he went to one of the two
semi-circular windows on the outer wall and looked into the
terraced garden.

At the paved area close to the
house, chairs and tables had been set up. Kyle was manning the
barbeque and his daughter Jemma stood beside him, holding a basting
brush. Meg, Mrs. Griffith and Annie were all seated together with
Mags and just watching them, Colin could not tell which ones were
talking and which ones were listening as all their mouths were
moving. Mrs. Griffith had Bran curled in her lap and Mallory was
lying at her feet. His mother, Tina and Marian were in another
group of chairs and Tina was relating some story that made the
other two women smile.

Colin’s eyes searched for Sibyl
and found her, two terraces up, racing in a patch of lawn with
Flower, three younger boys and Jemma’s two children. They were
kicking a football in a rag tag game of soccer.

Sibyl nearly collided with one
of the younger boys and instead of falling on him, she threw her
body forward in a graceful dive to avoid him. Correcting herself
swiftly, she burst up from her reclining position and grasped him
at his waist, pulling him down to the turf to tickle him.

The other children took this as
an invitation to pile on top of Sibyl, a huge wrestling match
ensued and Colin could hear the giggles and high-pitched screams
through the window.

And then, right before his
eyes, the scene melted.

It was the same garden but the
colours of the flowers were different, the garden was less formal,
it looked wilder and immensely more beautiful.

There were fewer children, only
four. One boy, perhaps eight years old, tall and straight with
leonine hair but, aside from his hair, he was a replica of Colin at
that age. He was standing partially away from the mess with an
expression on his face that clearly showed it was beneath him but
regardless of that fact, he still wished to join in. Colin saw two
girls, both rolling all over Sibyl. One had dark, nearly black hair
and Sibyl’s features, another had leonine hair and a pleasing
mixture of both Colin and Sibyl in her face. And the last was a
very young lad of about two with dark hair and a face that nearly
matched his older, blonde sister. He was partially cradled in
Sibyl’s arms but struggling against her hold and her fingers at his
sides.

Sibyl giggled, tickled and was
tickled in return and then, for no apparent reason, she stopped
abruptly, her head turned and she stared at Colin straight through
the window.

Then she smiled at him with all
the love of the world shining clearly in her eyes.

He saw it as distinctly as if
she had been standing right in front of him.

And he felt it like it was a
physical touch.

And then the scene melted back
to the present time and Colin found himself shaken so deeply he had
to put his hand to the window to steady himself.

He was in love with her.

Christ, he was in love with
her.

He had no idea what just
happened and he blinked to try and clear the vision from his
mind.