“There are no ghosts here and he can’t leave Kingsley House.”
“I’ll be fine, really. Jilly put my eReader in with the clothes and I saw that she and Dad have filled it with Cale Anderson books. I’ll be fine. Actually, I could stand some time alone.”
“Sure?” he asked.
“Absolutely sure.” She looked at him. “Did you take any photos of that house in Maine?”
Jared laughed in relief. “You are my girl! There are a couple hundred of them in the photo file on my computer under Warbrooke, and I made a rudimentary floor plan. Go through all of it so you can tell me your ideas.”
“If you give me access to your computer, I can’t guarantee that I won’t snoop around in your most private files.”
“Snoop all you want. The computer with all the juice on it is in New York.”
Alix laughed. “Okay, go do whatever you’re not telling me about. I’ll be fine. Any drawing paper around here?”
“In the upstairs bedroom closet is a box of my old supplies.”
“That paper is probably as old as Valentina’s journal.”
Jared put his hand to his heart. “You crush me. And when I get back, I’ll show you how old I am.”
“I can’t wait,” she said sincerely.
Alix would have liked for their kiss goodbye to be longer, but she could tell that something was bothering him and he wanted to leave and take care of it. A few days ago she would have pestered him to tell her where he was going and why. But not now. For the time being, her curiosity was sated and all she wanted to do was focus on a design project. No more ghosts! Or dancing with men who didn’t exist. Or supernatural glimpses of the past.
She needed peace and quiet and to lose herself in a project.
Chapter Twenty-five
At Kingsley House Jared threw the back door open so hard that the old glass rattled. Usually, he treated the house with the respect it deserved, but not today. He slammed the door just as hard.
He glared at the doorway, hoping to see his grandfather, but he wasn’t there. Jared went up the back stairs to the attic, two at a time. He pulled the string on the light so hard it came off in his hand. Angrily, he tossed it away.
“Come out!” he demanded, and turned full circle, but Caleb wasn’t there. “Are Valentina and Victoria the same person? I know you can hear me so you can damned well answer.”
“I am here,” Caleb said softly from behind him.
When Jared turned, he gasped, for his ghostly grandfather looked almost solid. No wonder Alix thought he was real! Jared almost reached out to touch him, but didn’t. He just stood there, glowering and waiting for him to answer.
“Yes, Valentina and Victoria are the same spirit.”
Anger raged through Jared so strongly that he thought his head might explode. “You are going to leave the earth! Are you planning to take Victoria with you?”
“I don’t know,” Caleb said in a quiet, calm voice. Only his eyes betrayed his worry.
“You can’t do that to Alix—or to Victoria,” Jared shouted. “She deserves life.”
“It’s not up to me,” Caleb said, raising his voice. “Do you think I want to be a … a …”
“Go ahead and say it. You’re a ghost!”
“Yes, I am,” Caleb said and his own anger started rising. “Do you think I chose to stay in this house for two hundred years and see people I love die? I see them as babies, watch them grow, laugh with them, cry with them, but always—always and always—I have to stand back and watch them die. It happens over and over, and no matter how many times I see it, the grief is the same. Each time it hurts just as much.”
Jared didn’t relent in his anger, but when he spoke he wasn’t shouting. “And now you’re going to leave the earth and take Victoria with you. All because you love her. Is that love to you?”
“Is that what you think of me?”
“I don’t know what to think anymore. Please don’t do this. If you leave, you cannot take her with you!”