Time Travel Romances Boxed Set (172 page)

The woman clicked her teeth in agitation. “I
must tell him in
Rom
. It is not a tale for
gadje
words.” She seemed to get much more upset suddenly and stirred in
her chair. “This wicked
gadje
place, I do not like it, with
all its white and bad luck and death. It is wrong, it is evil, it
is not where I should be!”

The grandmother struggled now to get up, as
though she would walk right out of there, but she was obviously too
frail to do so. She railed against her weakness and made a sound of
frustration in the back of her throat, cursing the
gadje
with unexpected vigor. Lilith reached out to reassure her, and the
woman grasped her hand with surprising strength.

At the move, the older woman’s bright shawl
fell back and Lilith saw the blue tattooed number on the woman’s
forearm. A shiver ran over her own flesh at the sight, then she
looked up to meet the woman’s eyes.

“
You see it,” the elderly
woman whispered with triumph, her voice less even than it was just
a moment before. ‘You
do
know without knowing.”

Before Lilith could agree, or dismiss the
dark images that crawled into her mind, the older woman’s fingers
tightened around Lilith’s like a claw. “I think you know what it is
to be hunted.”

That Lilith did. Her mouth went dry, her
gaze strayed again to the tattoo. She heard the dogs; she felt the
ground tremble; she smelled fear.

The woman leaned closer, the shimmer of a
tear in her bright eyes, anxiety in her words. “But tell me, child,
tell me. Your
gadjo
is not such a man as these were, is
he?”

“
No.” Lilith shook her head
vigorously. She had seen pictures of the Holocaust, she had heard
of the trials faced there. But she had not considered that her own
people had suffered.

“
They said they came to
study us, but that was not enough for them.” The old woman
straightened with a snort. “We called it the
porraimos
.”

The Devouring. Lilith closed her eyes as a
cold hand clenched inside her. As was so often the case when the
Rom
reapplied a word to a situation for which their language
had not words, the choice was more than apt.

She felt foolish now that she had never
guessed what was happening within a Germany run by people so
concerned with the purity of bloodlines. Though she had lived
through those years, Lilith had never known, never imagined that
the
Rom
had suffered too. She wondered what she would have
done if she had known. Lilith wondered whether she, like so many
others, would have believed that there was nothing she could do to
help.

It was only now that she saw the weakness of
not even trying.

“
How many?” she whispered,
knowing that even one was too many.

“
Half a million, maybe
more, maybe less.” A tear worked its way down the elderly woman’s
cheek. “He must know the story,” she said urgently. “He must
understand. You must help me.”

“
Yes,” Lilith agreed
without hesitation.

It was late, too late for those half a
million souls, but Lilith would do what she could to help. This
woman’s acceptance of Lilith despite her
mahrime
status
undermined all of Lilith’s own rejections. She was Rom. Her legacy
coursed through her veins, just as Dritta had declared it always
would.

Mitch had been right. This woman did need
Lilith’s abilities, just as Lilith had needed her acceptance.

There had been absolutely no reason to be
afraid.

And now, now Lilith could help this woman,
could do some healing, could set matters to rights. Mitch had given
her this gift, for Lilith wouldn’t have been here without his
example and his encouragement.

They were going to make a good team. Just
thinking that made her smile, but Lilith had work to do. “What will
you tell your grandson?”

“
He must know of my soul
mate. He must know of the grandfather he never knew. He must know
what it means to be hunted, what is the price of trusting
foolishly. He must know the legacy that comes to him in
blood.”

The woman’s voice faltered. ‘I must tell him
in
Rom
, but he does not understand it. And I, I am
forgetting what little
gadje
that I did know.” She shook her
head. “I think it is a vengeance of my tongue, maybe the
mulo
of my love does not want to hear me speak thus. I hear
him in the wind now. He is close.”

The two women looked into each other’s eyes
and Lilith saw that this one task left undone was all that gave the
woman before her the will to continue.

They would have to hurry, to see it finished
in time. Lilith was suddenly very glad that she had come.

And she was humbled that she held the key to
grant this woman her one desire.

Lilith smiled and squeezed the older woman’s
hand. “Then we shall teach him, you and I. And then he will know
both your story and your tongue. It is a fitting legacy for your
only grandson.” Lilith leaned closer, easily remembering the
Rom
superstition of naming those who have passed on. “And he
will know of the one we cannot name. He will know not only what it
is to be hunted, but what it is to be loved.”

With that pledge, the older woman began to
weep silently.

She didn’t bow her head. She didn’t sniffle
or wipe at her tears. She simply let them flow, looking every bit
as proud and determined as she had when Lilith had entered the
room. She clutched Lilith’s hand, though, her own a withered shadow
of what it once must have been. Lilith sat silently beside her,
watching the tears roll and shed one or two of her own.

“
Grandmother?” A young
man’s voice carried from the doorway.

Lilith looked up to find a familiar young
man hesitating on the threshold, fresh flowers clutched in his
hands. The woman stiffened and sniffled.

“
Puri daj
,” Lilith
corrected softly. “That’s
Rom
for ‘grandmother’.”

The concern eased from the grandson’s
features, relief brightening his eyes as he stepped into the room.
“
Puri daj
,” he repeated carefully. His gaze flicked to
Lilith, then back to his grandmother. “Are you all right?”

“
Ov yilo isi?”
Lilith supplied. He looked to her questioningly. “’Is it okay?’”
she whispered, blinking back her own tears. “Or literally, ‘is your
heart still there?’”

The young man bent to kiss his grandmother’s
cheek. “
Ov yilo isi?”
he said with slow precision.

And she smiled. She clasped the flowers to
her chest and clutched at his hand, reaching up to kiss his cheek
in return. Then she tapped her heart and wiped away a tear. “Such a
good boy,” she whispered in
Rom
, then rapped Lilith on the
knee with sudden severity. “You will find him a nice
Rom
girl, a
drabarni
like you.”

Lilith smiled and glanced to the mystified
man before her. “I will try.”

“
Try!” The woman snorted
disdain. She rallied and snapped her fingers under Lilith’s nose,
once again the grand and proud lady in command of her domain. “If
your
gadjo
is not smart, my grandson will steal away your
heart to make it his own!”

There wasn’t much change of that happening,
which suited Lilith just fine.

*

Mitch walked up the street Thursday night,
kids in tow, and found himself whistling under his breath. His
pulse leapt when he spotted Lilith lingering on her porch, then Jen
broke free and ran.

“
Lillit! I made you a
picture!”

Lilith stepped from her porch and scooped up
Jen with easy familiarity, the two having bonded something fierce
in the last few days. The picture was duly admired, Lilith’s dark
gaze dancing repeatedly to meet Mitch’s while the children shared
their news with her.

For the first time in his entire career,
Mitch was not looking forward to attending this annual conference.
It was a huge meet and greet, a terrific networking opportunity,
but he didn’t want to pack up and leave in the morning.

He wanted to have another weekend just like
the last one. He wanted to go to the zoo, and laugh with his kids,
and lose himself in the sparkle of Lilith’s dark eyes. The kids
climbed Lilith’s porch, Jason opening her door and Jen looking for
D’Artagnan, leaving Mitch and Lilith momentarily alone.

Lilith threw her arms around Mitch’s neck
and kissed him as though there was no tomorrow. He was more than
happy to enjoy the moment, to cradle the sweet weight of her
against him.

When she finally pulled away, he couldn’t
help but smile. “What was that all about?”

“
I went to the hospital,”
she confessed breathlessly, her smile telling Mitch all he needed
to know about what had happened. “And I want to thank you in every
way I can imagine.” She stretched to her toes and would have kissed
him again, if Mitch hadn’t landed a thumb against her
lips.

He grinned. “How about some ways
I
can imagine?” Mitch felt her lips curve under his thumb.

“
Just how imaginative are
journalists, anyway?” she teased.

“
You might be surprised.
We’re very creative people.” Mitch chuckled and let his fingertips
slide along her jaw line. He felt her shiver and considered several
very interesting possibilities before voicing the one he had in
mind.

“
I want to spend tonight
with you and the kids,” he confessed quietly. “Tell me all about
the magic you’ve made this week.”

Lilith tilted her head to look up at him. “I
thought you didn’t believe in magick.”

Mitch smiled wryly. “I saw you with the
butterflies last weekend,” he confessed, “and I think I feel a
conversion coming on.” Mitch sobered as he watched his fingertip
slide across the fullness of her lips. “I have to leave at five in
the morning, Lilith. I want to have this evening to replay all
weekend long.”

Tonight he needed a little sample of
Lilith’s tranquility to take along with him.

And he saw in her eyes that she
understood.

But the twinkle that immediately appeared
told Mitch that she was going to give him a hard time about it
anyway.

Of course, Lilith always gave him a hard
time, in more ways than one. She challenged everything - not the
least of which was Mitch’s self control.

Maybe that was why she so thoroughly
captured his attention.

Lilith slipped her fingers into his hair,
her touch feather light, then brushed her lips against his. Mitch
felt an ember being to glow deep inside him. Then Lilith’s eyes
flashed and she pivoted, tossing a flirtatious glance over her
shoulder.

“
All this delay,” she said
archly. “I’m going to start thinking that you’re not interested,
after all.”

There was an opening that couldn’t be
refused!

Lilith barely made it into the foyer before
Mitch caught her in his arms. She laughed throatily as he held her
close, and returned his kiss hungrily. He only stopped when they
both were in need of a deep breath.

“
That should clear up any
doubts,” he growled, deliberately letting her feel the indicator of
her effect upon him.

“
Tease!” Lilith charged
with a playful wrinkle of her nose. Then she spun out of his
embrace and danced toward the kitchen, the flash of her bare feet
making his chinos tight.

“
Me?!” Mitch demanded in
astonishment. But Lilith laughed unrepentantly and ran for the
sanctuary of the kitchen.

And Mitch, ready to follow, paused and
looked around Lilith’s house for the first time. It was strikingly
cozy, welcoming and comfortable. He felt at ease just crossing the
threshold. He fought his smile as he followed her to the kitchen,
not surprised to find his kids already bumming cookies.

“
What would you say to
sharing a bit of your decorating advice?” he asked, unable to
forget Andrea’s early suggestion. Lilith turned with a smile that
told Mitch he already had her agreement. “I could definitely use
your help.”

*

It was when she popped in to pick up a few
things Friday morning that Lilith found the Death card.

She had come home humming from taking the
children to daycare, memories of the evening before making her
smile. She had dumped an armload of groceries on Mitch’s counter
and was happier than she could ever remember being. She had just
come home for a few things and saw the card waiting for her.

Lilith’s heart stopped at the sight of it,
then began to race. She stared at the card from the threshold of
the living room, reluctant to draw any closer to it, and felt the
blood drain from her face.

An Italian village square, its corners
haunted with the shadows of twilight, loomed in her mind with
sudden clarity.

Lilith thought about plane crashes, car
accidents, hotel bombings and elevators dropping like stones.
Flukes of nature, and earthquakes and rivers rising, jumped into
her mind. She thought about noble-minded men dashing into burning
buildings to save children, and pedestrians being mowed by drunken
drivers just for stepping off the curb.

Lilith’s stomach rolled at the realization
that there were a wealth of nasty possibilities that could keep
Mitch from ever coming back again.

But she couldn’t lose her true love again!
It wouldn’t be fair; it wouldn’t be right. Mitch couldn’t be stolen
away from her, not after all this time, not after all she had done,
not after all the hurdles they had leapt together. They were close,
tantalizingly close to making a commitment to each other - the
Fates couldn’t cheat Lilith again.