Lucky Break (19 page)

“That's because Clara's being deliberately cryptic,” Jason said, his frustration clear.

“Trust yourselves. Your instincts.” Clara leaned closer. “Your
feelings.”

Lauren smiled. “Thank you. I really appreciate your time.” She drank from her cup for the first time. “Mmm. This tea is delicious.”

Clara smiled. “Let me send you home with some. It will help relax you.”

“That would be nice.” Lauren gathered her coat and stood.

Rising, Jason helped her put it on before shrugging his own jacket over his shoulders. “Thanks, Clara. I appreciate it, too.”

“My pleasure. You're family to me. If you'd like, I can put some items together for you that will lure good spirits to the house.” She'd have to give some thought to what would help the most.

Lauren's cheeks flushed with excitement and interest. “I'd love that.”

“Good. I'll drop them off with the tea later this afternoon.” She walked them to the door.

“You don't mind coming over?” Lauren asked, suddenly hesitant.

Clara paused at the shop entrance. “Why would I?”

Lauren glanced at Jason, as if unsure whether she should speak.

“My father and Uncle Hank refused an invitation to come in,” he explained. “Nice and neighborly, huh?” Embarrassed, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket.

“Don't be too hard on them. It's difficult to overcome years of ingrained fear. Give them time.” Clara's voice was gentle.

Jason shook his head. “Why bother when some things never change?”

Clara gently tapped his cheek with her hand. “You're too skeptical for your own good.”

He grinned. “What can I say? At least I'm here.”

“Which I take as a very good omen. And speaking of good omens, did you know your father paid a visit to Edward?”

Jason's shock rippled through the air around them. Clara could feel it.

“What for? Did he threaten to steal you away if Uncle Edward didn't step up?” Jason exuded anger.

The poor man had mixed feelings toward his parent. Not that Clara blamed him. His father's generation of Corwins were a confusing, complex lot.

She hoped she could soften his attitude. “Actually
he apologized and said he wanted to reconcile. He told Edward about his original plan to make him jealous by pursuing me.” Clara shifted uncomfortably at the thought. “Then he changed his mind and opted for honesty with his brother instead.”

“Really?” Lauren asked. “That's such a positive step. Jason?” She nudged him with her arm. “It sounds like you got through to your father.”

Jason nodded slowly. “Maybe. Did Uncle Edward accept the olive branch?”

Clara sighed. “Not yet. But he did relay the story to me clearly, without anger, without ranting and raving. And
that
is progress of another kind. Who knows what will happen next.”

Lauren wrapped her arm around him. “It's a step, Jason.”

He didn't reply.

How big a step remained to be seen, Clara thought. Not just for his uncle but for himself, Lauren and the fate of their families.

Because what they didn't know yet, what they couldn't know, was that Jason and Lauren held more power together than alone. A Perkins and a Corwin in love would go a long way to defeating the centuries-old spell. Fate would dictate the outcome…and there was no predicting the ways of the heart.

 

I
N THE WEEK
since their visit to Clara's shop, Lauren hadn't mentioned going to see her sister. Jason wondered if she still wanted to keep him separate from her family or whether they'd just been too damn busy to focus on anything but the house.

In the week since the fire, they'd gone to work with a determination that impressed him. From his crew, who pulled extra hours, to Amber and Gabrielle, who'd come in when they could to help, everyone had stepped up. Of course until the already delayed insurance adjuster showed up tomorrow, nobody could touch the fire-ravaged area, but there had been progress with the rest of the house.

Lauren hadn't told the buyers about the fire, hoping the repair would be under control by closing on December first. She intended to disclose the truth but she wanted to finish the job before she did. Jason suggested she level with the buyers now. After all, when they'd gone to contract and agreed on the renovation prior to sale, nobody had anticipated a fire destroying a part of the house. He thought maybe the buyers would close regardless of whether they could fix the fire damage in time as long as they agreed on a new completion date. But Lauren was determined to stick to the terms of the contract.
Move-in condi
tion.
Unless she had no choice, she intended to live up to that clause.

Jason respected her spirit and determination, and he'd been doing everything he could to help her meet her goals, pushing aside the niggling thought that at least one of them had something meaningful to work toward. He buried his personal frustration and headed into town to run errands.

Lauren had asked him to pick up food for Trouble and some other items at both the grocery and pharmacy. On a whim, he also found himself buying an oversize kitty condo for the cat and flowers for Lauren, spontaneous purchases he hadn't been able to resist.

He'd also purchased a cleaner for his car, since Trouble tended to leave paw marks on the hood every time he slept there, which tended to be most of the day. At night he ended up in their bed, snoring.

Jason wondered if they made nose plugs to prevent the godawful noises they heard each night. He was even tempted to take Trouble to the vet to make sure there wasn't anything seriously wrong with a cat who sounded like a running freight train. Even more unbelievable, Jason was contemplating keeping the cat after Lauren was gone. But he refused to let his mind go there until he had to.

When he pulled his car into the driveway, he im
mediately noticed something was off. Lauren's Porsche wasn't in its usual spot. He figured she must have gone to town to run errands, when a different thought struck him: Why wouldn't she have just called him and asked him to pick up whatever it was she needed?

He checked his cell, but Lauren hadn't called. He hoped her sister hadn't had another incident, sending her running for the prison. Though she'd been visiting that place alone for a long time, Jason hated the idea of her being on her own. He'd been kicking himself for not accompanying her on her last visit.

His family's reaction would be explosive and he had no real desire to make the trip, but he
did
want to be there for her. Maybe that was why she'd sent him on the cat food run. So she could leave without him pushing to join her.

He hoped like hell that hadn't been her plan. He grabbed the shopping bag and the flowers in one hand, put the kitty condo under his other arm, and headed for the house.

He was braced to find a note. Instead he found Lauren curled up in the den with a box of tissues by her side.

Jason dropped his gifts onto the couch and sat down beside her. “What's wrong?” he asked, wrapping an arm around her.

Her eyes were damp. “I thought I could do this and not look back, but I can't.” She blew her nose and tossed the tissue into a wastebasket beside her.

A distinct sense of unease crawled up his spine. “You thought you could do what?”

She straightened her shoulders and stiffened her posture, definitely a bad sign. “I sold my car,” she said as she pulled out a fresh tissue. “I needed a minute but now I'm fine. Ready to get back to work.” She started to head past him.

As if he'd just let this go. “You sold your car,” he repeated, needing to say the words in order to make them real.

She raised her chin. “Yep.”

“The Porsche.”

She nodded.

“Your symbol of success.”

She drew a deep breath. “Exactly. It's just a symbol. Success will still come. Or not. Either way, I'm okay. It was silly to cry over a car.” She walked back to the couch where he'd deposited his purchases. “What is all this?”

“Don't change the subject.” He grasped her arm, turning her back around. “You aren't crying over the car, you're crying over resentment. Understandable resentment at your sister and your parents for putting you in this position to begin with.”

And if he could get any one of them in front of him for five minutes, he'd give them a good piece of his mind. None of them would ever forget what Lauren had done for them or how grateful they should be.

“You're dead wrong. I was crying because I had some stupid sentimental moment. As for my family, I do not resent them! I'm doing what has to be done because that's what family members do for each other!” she yelled at him, as if trying to convince herself more than him.

He knew better than to point that out. Instead he asked her a question. “Would any of them do the same for you?”

W
OULD ANY OF THEM
do the same for you?
It was a low blow but Jason had to ask.

Lauren sucked in a ragged breath, one he felt in his own gut.

“Are you kidding?” she asked him.

He shook his head, determined to see this through. “Your parents have already proved they wouldn't,” he said gently.

She speared him with a deadly glare. “This isn't about my parents.”

Okay, so she did truly accept that she wasn't at the top of their priority list. “So it's about your sister.”

Lauren folded her arms over her chest, already defensive. “Of course she'd do the same for me if I were sick. It just so happens, the situation has always been reversed.”

He wasn't so sure her sister would look out for anyone except number one. But Lauren wasn't going to see that particular truth. Jason's point
went beyond whether or not her sister would be there for her in her time of need. It went beyond the money she was spending on her sister's appeal. And surprising even to him, it went beyond the fact that she'd sold her beloved convertible instead of taking his money.

His real concern was for Lauren's state of denial when it came to her sister. “What if Beth isn't sick?”

Lauren's expression turned from outraged to incredulous. “What are you suggesting?”

That your sister is as crazy as your grandmother was, Jason thought, and immediately realized he'd boxed himself into a corner. At first he'd been upset she'd sold her car instead of taking his money. His initial reaction had been all male ego. He could admit that much.

But when he stepped back, he knew that there was more to it. He'd wanted Lauren to see the truth. That unlike the house, which would bring her a return, investing money in her crazy sister was the equivalent of throwing it away. But he couldn't say that without hurting her and putting a wedge between them.

“Well? Are you going to explain?” She tapped her foot impatiently.

This was what he got for reacting to her news without thinking things through. Big mistake. Now he owed her an answer that wouldn't set her off.

“I'm just saying that the doctors are treating Beth's mental breakdown, but the fact remains that the things she did were…criminal. Just like your grandmother.” He tried not to wince at his own description, which was painfully accurate.

“And you don't think I realize that?” Lauren's voice cracked as she spoke. “But she's my
sister.
My baby sister, and she's not as strong as she looks. She was weak enough to be manipulated by my grandmother, and
I'm
responsible for that.”

He hadn't seen that one coming. “How do you figure?” he asked, and braced himself for her reply.

She walked over to the mahogany bookshelves and picked up a small framed photograph he'd never noticed before. This was one room she hadn't tackled yet because she liked spending time in here and he realized why. It was the most personal of all the rooms, with the fewest reminders of her grandmother's position as mayor and her abuses of power.

Lauren handed him the photograph.

Two adorable young girls stared up at him. Lauren, the taller older sister, had her arm protectively around her younger sister's shoulder.

“How old were you here?” Jason asked.

She glanced at the picture. “I was eleven and Beth was six. We were always close, until the
summer I turned eighteen and took off. She never really forgave me for abandoning her, and when she came to live with my grandmother, she turned to her completely.” She drew in a ragged breath. “That's why it's my fault. Because I left her to be manipulated by my grandmother.”

He grasped her shoulders. “So you could live your life! You aren't her mother, you're her sister. You had every right to break away when you did!”

Lauren pulled out of his grasp. “I abandoned her to a crazy woman.” Her eyes filled with tears. “Which makes me equally responsible for the choices Beth made.”

Jason shook his head in frustration, disagreeing with her words. He desperately wanted to hold her, but her shoulders were so stiff he was afraid she'd break if he touched her again.

“I still say it wasn't your responsibility. And even if you feel it was, how could you know what your grandmother was capable of?”

Her eyes were sad. “It doesn't matter. She relied on me and I let her down. So whether or not she's sick or as crazy as my grandmother, I need to be here for her now, in any way I can. If that means selling my car for cash to pay her lawyer, so be it.”

Jason realized there was no arguing with her. She was bound and determined to see this situa
tion through distorted lenses. He was equally determined to get her to see she wasn't responsible for her sister's choices.

“You don't understand, do you?” Lauren said “Well, I'll show you in person. Let's go.”

“Where?”

“You said you wanted to go with me to visit my sister. Now's your chance. Oh. If it isn't obvious, I need you to drive, so let's move it.”

She started to walk out of the room, then paused and turned back. “Why aren't you coming?”

He closed the distance between them. “You took me by surprise, that's all. After our conversation, I didn't expect you to suggest a visit.”

She shrugged. “You know what they say. Be careful what you wish for.”

As he followed her out of the room, a serious foreboding shook him. Hard.

 

T
HEY MADE
the hour's trip to the Bricksville Correctional Institution in near silence. By the time Jason found himself standing outside Beth's door, he had a newfound understanding of what Lauren had to endure each time she visited. And a growing respect for her for doing it without complaint.

“Hi, Beth,” Lauren said as they entered the room, her voice high-pitched and deliberately cheery.

Beth Perkins lay in bed staring straight ahead. As Lauren had described, she appeared fragile against the white sheets.

Jason hadn't known Beth well. Like Lauren, he'd been gone by the time Beth had come to live with her grandmother in Perkins, and he had only a vague recollection of her from the summer he'd met Lauren. Her crimes, however, were as much town lore as the curse, and he was well versed in those. According to rumors, beneath the fragile surface was a core of steel and no heart. Because he loved Lauren, he wished he could believe differently. Because he was a Corwin, he found it incredibly hard.

“Beth, I brought a visitor.” Lauren eased herself into a chair beside the bed and took her sister's hand. “This is my friend Jason.”

Lauren had insisted that they wouldn't introduce Jason by his full name to avoid upsetting Beth.

For Lauren's sake, he'd agreed.

Jason watched Beth carefully.

She had no reaction to the introduction. She stared straight ahead at an invisible point in front of her, something he'd expected. Lauren told him Beth never did more than blink and she was right.

He couldn't help but be curious about this woman who was capable of setting fire to a
building full of innocent people in order to further her own personal goals.

Jason had personal experience with a woman who had her own agenda. Katrina wanted her lover to win gold and she'd manipulated Jason so he could do it. The only reason Jason hadn't seen through Katrina's act earlier was that he'd been thinking with his dick and not his brain. She was a former gymnast, and the tricks she'd done in bed defied description. He'd confused sex with love and that mistake had led him to this point. He was a contractor—a decent enough occupation—but since losing his Olympic dreams, he looked into the future and didn't like the emptiness he saw.

He pushed those thoughts aside and concentrated on Lauren, who lovingly stroked her sister's hand. Lauren had wanted him to come here and see the fragile woman Beth had become. Jason acknowledged that fragility.

But if she came out of her state, would she change?

He leaned against the wall, watching as Lauren updated Beth on the progress they'd made in the house.

“We're so close,” Lauren said. “The walls are patched and painted, thanks to Jason. The floors need buffing, but that will come last, after all the
work is done. It was all coming together except…” Lauren's voice trailed off and she turned to Jason.

He nodded, encouraging her to continue. There was no reason not to tell Beth about the fire. It was in a contained area and the damage would hopefully be fixed soon.

“We had a little incident.” Lauren drew a visible breath. “A fire. But no one was hurt,” she said quickly. “We…I mean, I wasn't even home when it happened. The fire started in the electrical box, but the fire department came quickly and only one small area was damaged. Luckily there wasn't much smoke damage. As soon as the insurance adjuster shows up, hopefully tomorrow or the next day, I can start fixing the area, so the fire shouldn't hold up the sale.” Lauren's voice was forcefully optimistic.

Jason knew she was determined to finish in time but he was nowhere near convinced they'd meet the deadline.

“Oh! I have interesting news,” she went on. “In my cleaning, I found an old diary. At first I thought it was Grandma's, but it wasn't in her handwriting and it was too old.”

A muscle twitched in Beth's jaw.

Jason wondered if he'd imagined it. He glanced at Lauren, but she wasn't looking at her sister's
face as she continued talking. “I think the diary belonged to one of our ancestors.” She held on to her sister's hand. “You'd be fascinated. It talks about all sorts of history, like the curse…” Her voice trailed off and she stared down at the bed. “I shouldn't have mentioned that,” she said softly.

“Don't worry.” Jason sought to reassure her. “I'm sure she's not processing.”

Lauren glanced at Beth, then jumped up. Her eyes flamed with disbelief. “Hey! Quiet with that kind of talk. I've been talking to her for the past year because the doctors said she might eventually respond to something I said.” Her voice cracked with emotion.

Jason groaned. Stepping closer, he wrapped his hand around her shoulder and pulled her against him, whispering in her ear. He tried not to allow his body to react to her familiar, fragrant scent.

“I'm sorry,” he said. “That came out wrong. And you're right. I don't know anything about this…situation. Go on.” He jerked his head toward the woman in the bed. “If this is a subject she'd enjoy, keep talking.”

Appeased, Lauren nodded and sat down beside her sister again, picking up where she'd left off. “The diary mentions an offering. A woman I know—she's Wiccan—she read from a book and explained how offerings are something people use
to place a curse.” Lauren glanced down as if to gather her thoughts. “If only you were able to talk to me, I'm sure you'd have some great theory about what it could be.”

To Jason's shock, Beth's eyes began to move rapidly. Almost as if in response to Lauren's words.
But it can't be possible,
Jason thought.

He remained silent, deciding to observe more.

“The diary also mentioned the heart of the house,” Lauren continued. “I keep wondering where that could be?”

Beth gripped the bedrail harder, her knuckles turning white.

Uneasy, Jason glanced at Lauren, but she was still staring down at the floor. She must have long grown used to talking to herself.

“I really need to look into our family history,” Lauren said, surprising Jason. “I know our family founded the town. The original Perkinses were shipping magnates, right? So what could they have had of value to use as an offering? Unless it wasn't of monetary value but emotional?” She swiveled in her chair until she faced him. “Maybe I'll research curses, too. Or at least I can ask Clara what she thinks.”

Jason enjoyed how her cheeks flushed pink whenever she was excited about a topic. Or when
she was excited about
him,
he thought wryly at a completely inappropriate moment.

A sudden gurgling noise interrupted them and Jason redirected his gaze. Beth's eyelids were fluttering like crazy, her jaw twitching.

“Beth?” Lauren looked up and began stroking her sister's cheek.

Her sister calmed down, silent once more.

“The doctors said there can be periods where she'll act like she's coming out of it, but it's just the body responding to stimuli,” Lauren said sadly.

Jason frowned. He didn't see it quite the same way. From no reaction to boring topics to an extreme reaction at mention of the curse. Coincidence?

Very odd, Jason thought.

And extremely curious.

 

H
OW COULD HER SISTER
be with
him,
Beth wondered.

And how stupid did Lauren think Beth was?