“What?” Yasmin asked, looking between the two.
“Oh, nothing,” Lila explained. “Rachel always gets a little freaked out about ghost stories. We lived in a haunted mansion once and both Belle and Rachel were a total mess.”
“That wasn’t a haunted mansion,” Belle said, desperately latching onto something that had nothing to do with the fact that her and Jack’s story so closely resembled Brenna and Joshua’s. “You’d angered the neighbours, Gram.” Belle twisted around to look at Jack and added, “They were not very nice, by the way, wild parties at all hours and they let their dogs do not good things in our front yard and never cleaned it up. They definitely deserved Gram having a word with them.” Belle looked back to the room and carried on, “She just didn’t stop at a word and painted about twelve of them, none of them nice, on the side of their house.” She turned back to Jack. “After that, they kept playing tricks on us, nasty tricks that made Mom and I think the place was haunted.” Belle twisted back to the room and finished, “We left shortly after that.”
“You painted words on their house?” Yasmin asked Gram, grinning.
“Yep,” Gram answered.
“She not only painted them, she stayed up all night. It was practically a mural,” Mom put in. “It was awesome. Too bad they painted over it.”
“What were they?” Yasmin queried further.
Gram opened her mouth to answer but Belle got there before her and suggested, “Why don’t you share that later?”
Belle’s words said later. Belle’s face said never.
Gram threw Belle a smile and closed her mouth.
“Now that I find sad. A Cavendish mural painted over. Tragic,” Jack stated dryly and everyone burst out laughing.
Except Belle, who turned to him and smiled.
Jack smiled back.
Belle felt his smile in lots of places, the best being her heart.
“Feel better about Myrtle and Lewis, poppet?” he asked softly.
Belle nodded.
“You’ll feel safe in the castle now?” he went on.
Belle nodded again.
He bent his head and brushed his lips against hers before he murmured, “Good.”
Then Jack’s arm wrapped around her back and he pulled her close right before Belle thought of the little ghost girl waving at her from the window.
Then she wondered if she was the one that would help release those children and send them to heaven.
Then she wondered if she’d have the courage to do whatever it was that might be required of her.
Then she decided that she probably wouldn’t even as she vowed to find a way.
Then they heard the first roar of thunder.
* * * * *
It was hours later, when they were all in the dining room, the pudding dishes had been cleared away and everyone but Belle was enjoying coffee, that Belle turned her head to Jack.
“Jack,” she called softly, intending to ask if he would mind if she accompanied him on his nightly after dinner walk with the dogs.
Jack looked at her, his beautiful green eyes gentle with enquiry.
Belle wondered if she’d ever get used to how handsome he was (especially his eyes) and she opened her mouth to speak only to be cut off by her Mom.
“Bellerina, after dinner, can I have a word?”