Time Travel Romances Boxed Set (162 page)

Not to mention that Lilith knew Mitch would
have listened to any concerns his partner voiced. It was just the
way he was.

It was one of the many things she loved
about him.

“
I’m sorry.”

“
Don’t be.” Mitch shook his
head. “If was bad news all around.” He tipped his head back and
looked at the stars for a long moment. Lilith knew he had many
thoughts on the matter. She was by no means sure he would give them
voice.

But Mitch did.

“
Do you know why Jen is
afraid to be alone?” he finally asked, his question so low that
Lilith barely heard the words.

“
No.”

Mitch met Lilith’s gaze abruptly, his own
dark with intent. “Janice left when Jen was two weeks old.” He
swallowed and averted his gaze, a thread of wonder in his next
words. “She just walked out of the apartment.”

“
No!” Lilith was
incredulous. It was incomprehensible to her that anyone could leave
their own child in such circumstances. “She left a baby
alone?”

Mitch nodded, the memory obviously still
troubling to him. And no wonder! “She left a note, said she’d
planned it so that I’d be home from work in less than five minutes.
Easier that way for both of us. That’s what she said.”

Mitch looked to his feet and propped his
hands on his hips. Lilith felt a tremor of premonition before he
spoke. “But I was an hour late that night, Lilith. I didn’t take
the time to call.” He winced. “Some story broke, I don’t remember
what and it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that Jen was
crying, alone in that apartment, for a whole hour.”

Lilith laid a hand on his arm, guessing who
he was going to blame for this situation. “But were was Jason?”

“
Andrea had taken him for a
couple of days, to give Janice some time with the new baby.” He
heaved a sigh. “But clearly she didn’t want time with the
baby.”

His lips tightened and Lilith saw the
shimmer of tears in his eyes.

“
She was just a baby,
Lilith! And all alone.” His frustration was clear. “Jen was all
read, so upset that she was nearly choking with fear when I finally
got there and lifted her out of her cradle.”

“
Mitch, that’s
horrible.”

“
Yeah.” Mitch looked drawn.
“And it was my fault.”

“
What do you mean?” Lilith
wanted to give this big caring man a shake. “How could it have been
your fault? She left!”

“
I shouldn’t have been
late,” Mitch said grimly. “I should never have been late. I should
have known better. I should have called, and then I would have
known no one was home. I should have skipped that meeting. I should
have known that Janice needed someone to talk to, that she didn’t
want to be home alone.” His lips thinned. “I should have taken more
time off right after Jen was born. I should have
known
.”

“
Did she ever talk to you
about it? Or ask for help?”

Mitch snorted. “Janice? No. She never
confided in me, she never had. It only got worse after we were
married. Whenever I asked her anything, she just clammed right up.”
He heaved a sigh and managed to summon a weak smile that didn’t
fool Lilith. “Maybe I never asked the right questions. Or maybe I
wasn’t persistent enough.” His gaze flicked to hers. ‘or maybe I’m
just not any good at relationships.”

Lilith folded her arms across her chest,
more than ready to argue that point. “Then why are you so good with
your children?”

Mitch shrugged. “Kids are easy. You pick
them up and dust them off, kiss it better and pretend you know
best. They believe you. They trust you. They don’t ask hard
questions.”

“
Baloney,” Lilith declared
with resolve. “You’re not giving credit where it’s due. Look around
you – how many other people are parenting with your kind of
determination? Those kids are crazy about you, and they know they
can count on you. It’s not your fault, Mitch, that Janice made a
mistake.”

He studied her for a long moment and Lilith
had the definite sense that he wanted to believe her.

But then Mitch shook his head and smiled
apologetically. “This really isn’t the ending to this evening that
I’d hoped for.’ He met her gaze. “Are you still going to have
pleasant dreams?”

Lilith smiled. “Of course.” She stepped into
the circle of Mitch’s arms and tapped a fingertip on his chest.
“I’m going to dream and bout the wonderful man who captured my
heart, then came galloping back to claim it all over again.” She
reached up and kissed Mitch’s jaw. “And then I’m going to figure
out a way to persuade my champion that he’s a pretty rare
find.”

Mitch grinned. “Now I’m in trouble,” he
teased, not looking too upset by the prospect.

Lilith smiled back at him, having no doubt
that she’d see the job done. She’d had a lot of practice with
spells, after all.

“
How about we dig some
garden beds tomorrow?” he suggested, seeming reluctant to
leave.

“
That would be great. I’ll
supervise.”

Mitch chuckled, then bent and kissed Lilith
gently. He returned to his own porch, pausing there until Lilith
went inside and closed the door. When Lilith turned the lock, the
sound of Mitch’s door opening and closing made her smile.

He was so protective – even wanting to make
sure she had good dreams.

Lilith leaned back against the wood and
smiled to herself, knowing she was living the very best dream of
all.

*

The cards she had left on the table days
before seemed to be shimmering in the starlight, even though that
light couldn’t have managed to slant through the window and shine
on them. Lilith knew well enough to pay attention to such things.
She slipped into the living room and stared down at the old tarot
cards.

They were not as she had left them.

Ten cards lay face up now, almost the entire
left circle on display. Without turning on a light, Lilith sat down
and touched them with her fingertips.

The Pope was number five, Mitch in his fury
over Andrea’s cruise. The upholder of a code of acceptable
behavior, a man unafraid to speak out for what he knows is
right.

Even when he’s wrong. Lilith smiled with
affection and touched the next card.

The Lovers, card number six. A card of the
choice between lingering in the past and stepping on to the yellow
brick road to the future. A card marking the threshold that
everyone crosses between the security of parents and the potential
of partners. A card indicating a realization that any choice bears
a cost as well as a prize, that something must be lost in order for
something else to be gained.

Something had changed the day that Kurt came
knocking, not just Lilith’s choice to evict the men in front of her
house, but Mitch had clearly come to a realization, as well.

Lilith’s smile broadened with the
understanding of what that was. Mitch had begun to remember. Mitch
had decided he wanted to remember more. Mitch had come to talk to
her. Not to mention that Mitch had come to protect her from his
friend’s seductive plans.

And she and Mitch had very nearly become
lovers themselves in the process.

The next card was one of Lilith’s favorites
- The Chariot, number seven. A card of partnership and pairing, of
two different steeds pulling together toward a single goal. A card
also that represents the harnessing of animal desires, the act of
putting them to work for the individual’s own good instead of his
detriment.

Mitch certainly had shackled their passion.
Lilith traced the silhouette of the charioteer and decided it was
not such a bad thing. She rather liked his determination that they
should be lovers on every level when they came together again. It
would make the moment a truly special one, a threshold to their
future together. Lilith admired the strength of character and
discipline he had developed over the years.

Because Lilith knew that when they did make
love, it would be magickal in every way. She and Mitch had their
own personalities, their own views of the world and ways of doing
things, but like the two different steeds on the card, their
objective was as one.

And lifelong partnership was a pretty good
goal.

Number eight, Justice, was next. The voice
of conscience and morality, it was clearly the voice of Mitch. It
was also, incidentally, the card of Lilith’s creed, of living as
blamelessly as possible.

But Justice rested upon the presence of
laws. As well as the written laws of society, the world of men was
governed by another unwritten law, that of morality. And morality
rose from conscience.

Conscience, the voice within one’s own mind
that governs choices, right or wrong. Lilith recalled that the
first circle laid on the table represented external challenges, the
second of those invisible hurdles that had to be conquered before
the quest was done. The seated lady of Justice on the card, then,
was the first glimpse through the portal from the world of the
physical to the world of the spiritual. She provided a hint of the
second half of the journey.

Lilith thought about Mitch’s certainty of
his own responsibility for Janice’s departure and knew this was
something he would have to resolve to see his own journey
complete.

She’d have to consider how to help him with
that when the opportunity arose.

Lilith touched the final card facing up. The
Hermit held his beacon before the darkness and Lilith knew it
represented the next step on Mitch’s voyage. Another seeker, like
The Fool, The Hermit has the wisdom of experience, though he shuns
material aid. He sets out alone, to plan, to think, to unravel
mysteries. The Hermit represents contemplation and a coming to
understanding with one’s own past and one’s own self.

Lilith sat back in her chair and frowned at
the card, unable to understand what it meant for Mitch. Was he
going to disappear on his own for a while? Had it been closer to
his conference, that possibility might have made more sense than it
did.

Something flickered in her crystal ball like
a beacon, but when Lilith frowned at it, there was nothing really
there.

How strange.

But she was really tired, after all. Lilith
smiled at the reason for her exhaustion. She yawned finally and
stretched, knowing she wasn’t going to see this solved tonight. At
least not without some sleep.

And as Lilith climbed the stairs, she smiled
once more at the prospect of her pleasant dreams.

*

But unbeknownst to Lilith, as she slumbered
contentedly through that night, her very first grey hair unfurled
like a silver thread in her dark tresses. It was a stark statement
that things had not remained as once they were, that perhaps the
elixir she had sipped so long ago was finally losing its grip.

Lilith, though, had such an abundance of
hair that she would not immediately notice this herald of
change.

*

Mitch rolled into the newsroom Monday
morning, quite certain that the world was a good place. He and
Lilith and the kids had had a great time the day before, all
working together in the garden. Mitch had managed to more or less
mow the lawn - even if most of what was growing there wasn’t grass,
the yard looked green. Jen’s pool had a permanent location for the
rest of the summer, Jason and Lilith had managed to get one bed in
place and plant some beans before the skies burst open.

It had been a great thunderstorm and they
had watched its show from the shelter of the back porch. Much to
Jason’s delight, the power went off, and they ate Lilith’s
vegetarian quiche cold, by candlelight.

And the more Mitch talked to Lilith, the
more he became convinced that one little kink in her system could
be put to rights.

Mitch didn’t even blink when Isabel bounced
up to his desk in neon pink biker shorts. Her hair was woven into a
thick ponytail, she had sunglasses perched on her head and what
looked like a butterfly tattoo on her upper arm. Mitch thought she
had a few more earrings than she used to.

“
New guy?” he
guessed.

Isabel grinned. “Bike courier.” She whistled
under her breath and rolled her eyes appreciatively. “Legs like you
wouldn’t believe. And
stamina
.” Isabel giggled, then
blushed.

Mitch grinned and shook his head. “Hey, can
you do something for me?”

“
You know it.”

“
Try to dig me up some
stuff on selective amnesia, repressed memories, basically whatever
the brain does to protect someone from reliving a nasty experience.
And, if you run across the names of any clinics or psychologist who
are particularly good at treating this kind of thing, jot them
down.”

“
Another juicy
lead?”

“
No, no.” Mitch got waved
in to the editorial meeting, so he scooped up his notepad. He
dropped his voice. “This is personal, so don’t spend the company
dime on it. I’d just appreciate any quick pointers you could give
me.”

He’d figure out how he was going to run this
by Lilith later.

“
Sure.” Isabel shrugged,
her expression immediately serious. “Anything I can do to
help?”

Mitch smiled. She was a good-hearted kid.
“Not so far. I’ll let you know what comes out of this meeting.” He
waved, sipped the horrible excuse for coffee and headed into the
morning meeting.

*

An Irish Wolfhound is a large dog, a
very
large dog. In fact, many books cite the wolfhound as
the Largest Dog. It is not uncommon for a male wolfhound to tip the
scales at 140 pounds of lean strength, as Cooley did. Jen wasn’t
even tall enough to look Cooley straight in the eye.