Time Travel Romances Boxed Set (169 page)

The first light began to ease beneath the
shade in Jen’s room, just as it had that morning over three years
before. It had awakened Janice that long-ago morning, and Mitch
deliberately stopped the replay of his memories without going any
further down that particular path. He didn’t want to review
Janice’s demands and accusations. He didn’t want to relive that
fight.

Mitch straightened and winced at the kink in
his legs, glancing out the window before heading back to his own
bed.

But what he saw made him stop and stare.

Despite the earliness of the hour, Lilith
sat in her garden, so perfectly motionless that she could have been
a statue. She was sitting on a little stool, her hand outstretched.
She was wearing a dress in shades of gold, colors he had never seen
on her before, and her dark hair hung past her waist, its length
wound with matching ribbons.

The morning was still – there wasn’t even a
breath of wind – but Lilith’s dress fluttered ever so slightly all
the same. Mitch watched surreptitiously as the sun rose in the
front of their houses, the shadows of the buildings stretching long
across their yards.

And still she sat there.

A band of sunlight painted the fence along
the common driveway in rosy hues, then moved closer to the houses
in a slow progression. Lilith didn’t move. Mitch watched the
sunlight touch each sunflower along her far fence in succession; he
watched each blossom in Lilith’s garden be touched by the golden
finger of the sun’s light.

The garden slipped out of shadow, crossing
the line from night to morning, each plant in succession, each
moment changing the view. Lilith’s dress moved a little more,
although there was something odd about its flutter.

When the sunlight finally fell across
Lilith, Mitch abruptly realized what the oddity was. Her dress
moved in sudden agitation beneath the heat of the sun. It fluttered
and flowed, its color changing to vivid hues of orange and
black.

And when the monarch butterflies – for that
was what they were – absorbed enough of the sun’s caress, they
stopped stretching and quivering.

As one, they took flight in the early
morning light.

Mitch had never seen anything like it. In a
heartbeat, the air was filled with a cloud of sunlight and shadow,
thousands of delicate butterflies simultaneously taking wing. The
sunlight glinted over the golden glory of their wings and the air
filled with the faint rustle of their flight.

They rose from Lilith’s garden in a swirling
spiral, not so different from a migratory flock of birds. They
danced higher and higher, their ranks swelled by even more
butterflies hidden on the fence and in the trees, their presence
unnoticed by Mitch until they took flight.

He stared in wonder until they began to
disappear high up in the pal blue of the sky, then he looked back
down at Lilith. She blew gently on one last monarch that lingered
on her fingertips. The butterfly flapped, dipped, then chased its
fellows as the sun illuminated Lilith’s delighted smile.

She was wearing a sheer white sleeveless
nightgown, its hem ruffled around her knees. Although it was not a
magnificent gown wrought of golden butterflies, it was as feminine
as the lady herself. Lilith’s feet were bare and her hair was
unbound, those “ribbons” having flown away. She stood, unaware of
Mitch’s presence, and waved farewell to the migrating
butterflies.

They must stop here every year. Mitch knew
monarchs migrated from Canada to Mexico and back every year, but he
had never seen a butterfly flock take to the skies. He supposed he
had never rolled out of bed early enough on the right August
morning.

Mitch thought about Lilith’s comments about
magic. He thought about butterflies making their way over thousands
of miles to a particular haven in Mexico, without ever having done
it before.

He thought about a woman who could hear them
coming, in the whisper of the wind.

And as he watched the last butterfly
disappear into the endless blue of a summer sky, Mitch Davison
wondered whether there really could be such a thing as magic, after
all.

*

Kurt whistled as he flicked curled shingles
free on Mitch’s roof. It was a warm morning, sunny and clear, but
not hot enough yet to make a guy regret getting up on a black roof
without a tree in sight. Mitch was making short work of replacing
the flashing on the chimney, and actually there weren’t that many
bad shingles.

A couple of hours’ work and Mitch could get
another year or two without redoing the whole roof.

Kurt slanted a glance at his buddy and tried
to think of a good way to bring up the suggestion that was kicking
around in his mind. It was about time Mitch admitted that he was
still alive, to Kurt’s way of thinking. A man couldn’t baby sit and
deny his basic urges forever.

It wasn’t natural.

And there were dangerous signs that Mitch
was reaching the end of his tether. The August 1976 issue of
National Geographic had been on the kitchen table when Kurt arrived
this morning, left open to an article on butterflies.
Butterflies
! That had to be a sign of desperation.

Kurt would think that a guy who wasn’t
getting any would choose a more provocative kind of reading
material.

One that he wouldn’t leave lying around in
the kitchen. But Kurt had peeked and hadn’t found a single
interesting thing.

He hoped it wasn’t too late.

“
Hey, Mitch,” Kurt said as
casually as he could manage. “You should see this chick I’m taking
out tonight.”

Mitch made a noncommittal sound in his
throat and frowned at the last end of the flashing. “Uh huh.”

“
Vivienne,” Kurt continued
with enthusiasm. “What a knock-out. French,” he declared with a
significant glance to his clearly uninterested friend.

Things were much worse than Kurt had
suspected, because Mitch showed no appreciation of this
information.

He cleared his throat. “Major curves in all
the right places. You know, those how those French women are. Dark
hair and red lipstick, black lacy lingerie. Oh là là.”

Mitch finished replacing the flashing on the
chimney and sat back on his heels. He glanced over to the next roof
and frowned. “Can you see what kind of shape Lilith’s flashing is
in from there?”

Kurt blinked. “Mitch, I’m talking about one
hot woman here.”

His friend shrugged. “And I’m talking about
flashing.”

Kurt frowned, and barely glanced at the
neighbor’s house. “What? You don’t have enough to do around this
place, without looking for extra work? It’s not a sin to have some
fun, you know.”

“
When were you last in
church?” Mitch demanded with a grin. “Last time I looked, your kind
of fun
was
a sin.”

“
Technicalities.” Kurt
waved off this argument. “You want me to see if Vivienne has a
friend or not? We could make a foursome tonight. Andrea’s coming,
after all.”

“
Nope.” There wasn’t a
flicker of interest in Mitch’s expression or his tone. “Thanks, but
no thanks.”

“
Mitch! You’re divorced,
not dead, you know!”

Mitch grinned. “Yeah, I know. It’s okay -
everything still works. Now, look at that roof.”

Kurt grumbled under his breath and looked.
“Looks about as good as yours did half an hour ago.”

Mitch eased his way across the steeply
pitched roof to Kurt’s side, shaded his eyes with his hand and
peered across the gap between the houses. “I think it needs to be
replaced, too. And there’s some extra flashing. We might as well
fix it while we’re up here.”

“
Watch out,” Kurt said
grumpily, not liking how quickly a plan he had seen as brilliant
had been shot down. He pried another rotten shingle loose. “This
could turn into a regular charity drive.”

Mitch rolled his eyes and squatted down
beside Kurt. “Hey, it’ll take five minutes, it’s probably not
something she’d get around to doing herself. And besides, she’s
watching my kids.”

Kurt’s head snapped up and his eyes
narrowed. “Wait a minute. Isn’t that the fortune-teller’s
house?”

“
Uh huh.”

Kurt squinted at his buddy. “You leave the
kids with
her
?”

“
Well, next weekend. I
don’t have a lot of choice.” Mitch looked supremely unconcerned
about all of this, which Kurt thought was pretty odd. He knew how
protective Mitch was of those kids and he thought Mitch didn’t
trust that babe. “I’m off to that conference next weekend and
Andrea leaves for a cruise tomorrow.”

“
Why is she going away?
Usually Andrea watches the kids.”

“
Something came
up.”

Kurt frowned. “Andrea doesn’t usually do
stuff like that.”

But Mitch waved off the question. “It’s a
long story, but the good news is that the kids really like
Lilith.”

Kurt considered his friend for a moment.
Slowly, he realized there could be something else causing Mitch’s
disinterest in the possibility of Vivienne having a friend. “Yeah,
and what about you?”

Mitch just smiled and headed for the ladder.
“You coming down now? Or do you mind if I move the ladder over for
a few minutes?”

“
Wait a minute, wait a
minute.” Kurt quickly followed his friend, not in the least bit
sure he liked the sound of this. “You’re the one who warned me
against her. You’re the one who said she was a witch!”

But Mitch’s grin just widened. “Sure, doc, I
know, but aren’t they all witches inside?” He wiggled his eyebrows
and Kurt smiled despite himself, remembering the Bugs Bunny cartoon
in question.

Then he sobered again. “But Mitch, you don’t
know what you’re doing. There’s something
weird
about your
neighbor.”

“
Like what?” Mitch smiled
crookedly. “She turned you down?”

“
Well, that too.” There
wasn’t anything funny about that. Kurt shoved a hand through his
hair and flicked a glance to the woman’s house. He dropped his
voice. “But there’s something about her eyes, the way they look
right through you.” He shivered despite the heat of the sun. “It’s
like she can see what you’re thinking.”

Mitch arched one brow. “Kurt, any woman with
a brain can see what you’re thinking.”

“
No, no, this is different.
She’s
different.”

Mitch smiled slowly. “I know. That’s what I
like about her.” And he turned to descend the ladder.

“
Mitch! Come out tonight
with me and Vivienne.” Kurt leaned over the edge of the roof as
Mitch descended. “You’ll have a great time, maybe get lucky, you
never know.”

He heard Mitch chuckle before he saw his
smile. “Don’t worry so much about it, Kurt. I’ve got all the luck I
need right here.”

*

Lilith was watching a pair of tanned and
busy children splash in the pink pool on Saturday afternoon when
Andrea popped out through the kitchen door.

There was a chorus of joyous greetings for
Nana - who just happened to have picked up some licorice twisters
in the course of her shopping - before the children dashed back to
the pool. Andrea dropped down beside Lilith with a sigh of
satisfaction, and poured herself a glass of pink lemonade.

“
Mitch is on the roof,”
Lilith supplied.

Andrea rolled her eyes. “Honestly, he never
stops.”

Lilith smiled at the affection in the older
woman’s tone. “Are you all ready for your trip?”

Andrea smiled in turn. “Oh yes. Ten o’clock
tomorrow morning. I can hardly wait.” She turned suddenly and
looked steadily at Lilith. “I have to thank you, Lilith, both for
reading my fortune and for agreeing to watch the children.”

“
I’m looking forward to
it,” Lilith confessed.

“
I know.” Andrea sipped her
drink and wiped the faint sheen of perspiration from her brow. “But
Mitch trusts you, too. That’s not a small thing after what he’s
been through.” She put the glass down and turned it in the wet
circle it made on the wood, her tone suspiciously idle. “I don’t
suppose he’s told you much about it?”

Lilith’s attention was instantly snared.
“Just that Janice left when Jen was a baby.”

Andrea shook her head. “And that’s not half
of it.” She looked at Lilith again. “Am I wrong, or is this
something you’d like to know?”

“
I don’t want to pry,”
Lilith said carefully.

Andrea grinned. “But you’re itching to know
- and you know as well as I do that getting the story out of Mitch
will be like pulling teeth.”

Lilith couldn’t completely stop her smile.
“He is a bit reticent.”

“
Gun-shy,” Andrea affirmed,
taking another long sip of lemonade. “And rightly so. But even if
he won’t talk about it, I will.” She patted Lilith’s hand. “You
see, Lilith, I think this may help you understand him a bit better.
I may not have your gift for seeing lovematches, but I still have
eyes in my head. And you’re the first woman that Mitch has taken
notice of in a long time. That can’t be insignificant.”

Lilith smiled, hugging the details to
herself. It was true love, no doubt about it.

Andrea took a deep breath. “Now I have to
admit that I never liked Janice. Not from the first moment I met
her. There was something calculating about that girl, something
that got my back up. And I don’t care for vanity, frankly. But no
one else saw it, and since I was new to the family, I kept my mouth
shut.”

“
New to the
family?”

“
Well, Mitch is my stepson.
I don’t have any children of my own. Mitch’s father, Nate, was my
third husband and oh, what a man he was! But I’m getting out of
order here. You see, first there was Bernard, a wonderful man. He
was so trim and athletic, so clever and handsome. I moved to
Toronto from Montreal to marry him. We were very happy, but he died
quite young. A skiing accident, which was fairly rare in those
days.”