EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND
“Aren’t you done yet?” Salazar was standing in the doorway of the hotel bedroom, watching Natalie rub her vanilla body oil over her naked body. It was a lazy, sensual movement that was an act of pure seduction. “You’ve been in here an hour. Manuela never takes this long.”
“Perhaps that’s why you prefer me to your wife.” She turned to face him and lifted her naked breasts and offered them to him. “I take time in everything I do. Haven’t you noticed?”
“Yes,” he said hoarsely, his gaze on her breasts. “Sometimes you drive me crazy. Why don’t we just go back to bed and start over?”
“Because I have things to do.” She pulled on her red-silk robe and came toward him. “And so do you. Before we leave Scotland, we’re going to have this problem resolved.” She gave him a kiss as she passed him and went into the bedroom–sitting room. “And then we have to make other decisions.” She sat down on the couch and reached for her phone. “But first, I have to call my father and prepare him.”
“You think that Castino may call your father and check up to make sure that you flew to see him?”
“Perhaps, but that’s not what I meant. I’ll let you listen if you like.” She started to dial. “Call room service and order breakfast, will you?”
Salazar shrugged and picked up the room phone. “That’s not what I have an appetite for right now.”
“Perhaps I’ll concoct something wonderfully exotic for you after—” Her father had picked up, and she spoke into the phone, “Natalie, Daddy, I had to speak to you. Are you too busy to talk? I don’t want to bother—”
“Hush,” her father said impatiently. “When am I ever too busy to speak to you? What do you need?”
“Nothing. I just wanted to hear your voice, speak to you. I’ve been feeling so alone … without my girls.” She cleared her voice. “It will be Cara’s birthday in a few days. I don’t even know if she’s alive, Daddy. Sometimes it gets to be too much.”
“You should come home to me.”
“It’s my duty to stand by my husband. We’ve been through so much together. Jenny, Cara … You know he’s been very good to me.”
“And so he should be. You’re the mother of his children and he should have kept them safe for you. I remember when you brought them to Moscow the summer before they were taken.” His voice was hoarse. “It was like having you again when you were little and happy…”
“It was a great summer,” she said unsteadily. “I never dreamed this could happen to my little girls. If I hadn’t had you to talk to, I don’t know what I’d have done.” She paused. “I have to tell you something. I know you probably won’t like it, but I’m desperate.”
“Natalie.”
“Just listen. I’ve had a telephone call from a man who says he has my daughters. He’s promised to return them to me if I give him money.”
Her father was cursing. “It’s a scam, Natalie. After all this time? How much money?”
“Four million dollars.”
“What does your husband say?”
“He says he won’t pay it. He says it’s a scam, like you. But what if it isn’t? What if I could have my girls back?” Her voice lowered. “Or what if they kill them because I don’t pay?”
“Then I’ll search them down and tear them apart.”
“Too late…”
“I’ll give you the money, Natalie.”
“I know you will.” Her voice was shaking. “But I can’t ask that of you yet. I have to be sure they have my girls. I just wanted to tell you what was happening. I’ll call you later after I hear from them again. Good-bye, Daddy.” She hung up.
“Quite a performance,” Salazar said. “Daddy’s little girl. How long have you been playing him like this?”
“Don’t be disrespectful of my father.”
“How long?”
“We’ve understood each other from the time I was a teenager.”
“And he’s never caught you in a lie?”
“He never looked too deep. Everyone else lied to him. He needed to believe I wouldn’t do it.” She smiled. “So I made him happy, and he gave me what I wanted.”
“What was all that business about ransom?”
“Preparation. What happens if you don’t pay ransom? The kids end up dead. And I’m not under suspicion.”
“It would be tricky.”
“I don’t know if I’ll do it. I just want to be prepared. I think I could work it out.” She got up and wandered over to the table and took a piece of toast from the tray. “I’ve gotten this far, haven’t I?”
“You’ve had me.”
She nodded. “We’ve had each other.” She sat down and lifted the dome off her plate. “Though you’ve been close to failing me, Salazar.” She started to eat her eggs. “I did everything to make it easy for you, and you couldn’t even follow through for me.”
“It wasn’t my fault. Walsh screwed up.”
“We won’t argue.” She gave him a brilliant smile. “Just so it ends well.”
He watched her eat with voracious yet delicate hunger. “You set it up to end well with your father.”
“It’s more complicated than that. He’s very important in anything I plan. He has power, he has money. I just had to make sure he would believe me if the time came.”
“Everyone believes you.” He shook his head as he sat down opposite her. “They have from the beginning. No one thinks that a mother would have anything to do with the death of her children.”
“Kidnapping. I have to keep correcting you.”
“When you came to me and asked if I wanted to do something that would hurt Castino, you never mentioned kidnapping. You just said get rid of them. No specification.”
“I assumed you’d know what I meant. But I left it up to you.” She smiled serenely. “After all, I’m only a woman.”
It wasn’t the first time that he’d heard that from her. But she’d known that if she turned him loose on her children exactly what the result would be. “Manuela would never have thought about doing anything like that.”
“Manuela was not married to Juan Castino. It was a completely different situation.” She looked up at Salazar. “And she was a wimp who would never argue with you or hunt for a way to better herself.”
“Is that what you did? Better yourself?”
“I defended myself.” Her voice was suddenly fierce. “I’d had two girls, and Juan wanted sons. He blamed me. He’d started taking mistresses. It was only a matter of time before one of those whores gave him his damn boy. His current whore, Gracia, already had a son by another man.”
“So?”
“He would have discarded me. He would have put that slut, Gracia, in my place. That would never happen. I liked being Castino’s wife and having everyone bow down before me.” She wrinkled her nose. “Even your dear Manuela. She came to my parties and applauded when my Jenny played the piano.” Her lips tightened. “She told me about her boys. She even showed me photos. She was a little too pleased with herself.” She poured coffee into her cup. “And that’s when I decided we had to meet, Salazar.”
“Why, Natalie? You’ve only told me you wanted to get rid of them, that they were in your way. But weren’t you afraid that getting rid of the children would do exactly what you were trying to avoid? That Castino would leave you and go try to find some woman to give him a son?”
“Not if I handled it the right way. And I always handle my affairs in the right way.” She leaned back and smiled at him. “I was never meant to be a mother. Can’t you see that it would get in my way? But I tried, when that bastard, Juan, insisted. It wasn’t my fault that he couldn’t produce a son. He even tried to blame me. Did he think I was a breeding animal? I was ready to be done with him when he took that Gracia as his mistress.”
“But you weren’t ready to be done with being Queen of Mexico City,” Salazar said softly.
“No, that would have been unfortunate.” She took a sip of coffee. “And completely unfair to me after all I’d done. So I decided to go another way.”
“Get rid of the children.”
She nodded. “In such a way that I would be a tragic figure for the rest of my marriage to Juan.” She smiled. “And everyone would think Juan was a monster if he even thought of divorcing me and going to another woman. Particularly my father. My father was the key to it all.” She took another sip of coffee. “Did I mention that my father had a great fondness for Jenny and Cara? He didn’t have Juan’s foolish prejudice that a man must have sons. I saw to that. Did you know that I had a brother, Salazar?”
“No.”
“Alex was a great disappointment to my father. He finally betrayed him on a drug deal and had to be disposed of. My father was very sad.” She met Salazar’s eyes. “But I comforted him. He learned once again how valuable a daughter could be.”
“And you had nothing to do with his ‘disappointment’ in your brother?” Salazar asked sarcastically.
“Why, I don’t know why you would think such a thing. My father certainly didn’t.” She leaned back in her chair. “He believes I’m close to perfect. He’s correct in many ways. But Juan always knew that he’d better step lightly with me, or all his deals with the Russian Mafia could go right down the drain. He even pretended to be besotted with the girls to please my father.” Her lips twisted. “But his obsession with having a son was growing all the time. I knew he’d take the risk of tossing me out soon.”
“And what would your father have done then?”
“Cut off dealings with Juan, but my father is a practical man. He was making a good deal of money using Juan’s connections in the U.S. He would have eventually resumed dealing, then tried to make it up to me in other ways.” Her eyes were suddenly glittering in her taut face. “There would have been no other way that would have satisfied me. But I might have lost the power I had over both of them if I’d had to go to battle.”
“So you used the children.”
“Why shouldn’t I? They were mine. I brought them into this world, and I had the right to do what I wished with them. I was the one who was important, they were nothing.”
“And your father would have had a completely different viewpoint if Castino had broken up with you after the kids disappeared.”
“Yes, I was a mother who’d had a tragic, life-changing experience. My father wouldn’t have tolerated me being hurt more after that blow.” She looked at him over the edge of her cup. “Would you like me to tell you how he would have retaliated? First, he would have broken off the deals, then he would have started undermining the cartel, then, after a discrete time had passed, Juan would have suddenly been terminated in a very painful manner. Juan is not stupid, he knew what would happen. So he became a very sympathetic husband, and I kept my position intact. It will remain intact, Salazar. I may have to shift strategies a bit, but I won’t let your carelessness destroy me.”
He was silent, gazing at her. “Why did you tell me all this?”
“You asked me.”
“I’ve asked you before, and you’ve only put me off.” He smiled grimly. “Which usually involved sex.”
“Which you enjoyed enormously.”
“Why did you tell me?” he repeated.
“We’ve reached a crossroads. You like to screw me, you regard me as an accomplice, but you don’t have the respect for me that you must have.”
“I respect you.”
“Not enough. But after you think about what I’ve told you, it will get better. You’ll think twice about acting without me.”
“Not necessarily; all your future plans involve keeping Castino powerful. That’s not going to happen. I’m bringing your husband down and his cartel with him.”
“I said I might have to make adjustments.” She shrugged. “If you succeed, and Juan is destroyed, I’ll look at the situation and decide what’s best for me to do.” She put her cup down and leaned her arms on the table, smiling at him. “It may include you getting rid of your sweet Manuela.”
He stiffened. “I like my life. I like my family. I’m not going to let what’s between us interfere.”
She chuckled. “Like all men, you want it all. We’ll have to see how it all plays out. The only thing you can be sure about is that I will come out on top. With or without you.” She got to her feet. “Now I have to go dress. Why don’t you call Franco and see what he’s found out about Jane MacGuire?” She headed for the bedroom. “Just a suggestion…” She closed the door behind her.
EDINBURGH
TWENTY-FOUR HOURS LATER
“Wake up, Natalie.” Salazar came into the bedroom and started to dress. “I just heard from Franco.”
“It’s about time.” It had annoyed her when Franco hadn’t answered Salazar’s call yesterday. She hated waiting for anything. “If I’d have had to stay in this hotel one more day…” She threw the coverlet aside and swung her feet to the carpet. “I told you that you should have put someone else on finding—” She stopped. Men were very touchy about I-told-you-so’s, and she needed to know what was going on. “Anything happening?”
“Maybe. Franco was nosing around the gallery and talking to MacGuire’s agent and other personnel. He found out that she was pretty much of a loner, but there were a few people she knew who occasionally dropped into the gallery.” He looked down at the list on his phone. “A Seth Caleb, John MacDuff, he’s an earl and Lord of MacDuff’s Run, Michael Trevor. Scratch Trevor. He died recently. So we’re left with Caleb and MacDuff who she might have turned to for help.”
“Does Franco have addresses?”
“I’ve got them. But Franco is already on his way to MacDuff’s Run, where MacDuff lives most of the time. He tried to call him, but MacDuff wasn’t picking up on the number the gallery gave Franco.”
“Face-to-face is always better anyway from what you told me about Franco’s success with that pilot,” Natalie said. “Though he may have trouble using the same methods with an earl. Perhaps it would be better if we went to see him. I might have a better chance with him.”
Salazar shook his head. “We’ll go to Caleb’s place. MacDuff might be a waste of time, and we have to hedge our bets.” He got to his feet. “I told Franco to keep in touch. If he needs me, he’ll let me know.”
“Whatever you say.” She got to her feet and headed for the bathroom. “I was only trying to help.”
“And taking control of the action,” Salazar added as he followed. “I’m not going to let that happen.”
She smiled. “You sound defensive. I didn’t mean to intimidate you.” She opened the door. “Naturally, we’ll work to do this together. Why else am I here with you?”
GAELKAR CASTLE
“I asked MacTavish to rush those notes and photos, and he said that he’d get right on it,” MacDuff said the next morning as he paused to talk to Jane at the site where she was working next to Eve. “It may be awhile. He’s trying to clarify the prints.”
“Thank you.” She sat back on her heels and looked up at him. “I suppose you’re anxious to look through them again yourself? Do you think you’ll find anything more at second glance?”
He shook his head. “Maybe. Perhaps I didn’t know what I was looking for. What do you think?”
“You probably know as much as I do.”
“Do I?” he murmured. “I’m not at all sure about that.” He turned away. “I’d better get back to work. Though I’m not certain that we’re getting anywhere. I’m having a few second thoughts.”
Eve watched him walk away before turning to Jane. “What was that all about?”
“I asked him to have his assistant, MacTavish, send copies of notes and photos some college kids managed to get when they went exploring at that lake we went to yesterday.”
“Why?”
“Just curious. It intrigued me.” She looked away. “You’re the one who was telling me all about it before I asked to see it. It must have intrigued you, too.”
Eve nodded. “But evidently not as much as it did you. I forgot it once Joe brought me back to the real world.” She was silent. “But you were really fascinated when you were there yesterday.” She added deliberately, “Almost as if you were in another world yourself.”
Jane turned and looked directly at her. “Ask it.”
“No, you tell me.”
“The Cira dream,” she said briefly. “It concerned the lake. As I told you, it might have been triggered by all kinds of influences to which we’re being subjected here. I just wanted to get some proof that would discount any validity.” She paused. “I didn’t mean to be elusive. I just didn’t want to worry you.”
“I lived with those Cira dreams for years, we worked our way through them. Why should I worry about this one?”
Because there was a dead child that made me cry, Jane thought, and I didn’t want you to take it as some kind of foreboding.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe because pregnant ladies are supposed to be high-strung.”
“High-strung? Me?”
“No, you’re sturdy as a rock.” She went back to work. “I’ll let you see those photos after I pick them up if you like.”
“If you wouldn’t mind. Caleb said that area was vulnerable, and I’d like to know everything I can about it.”
“I don’t mind. I just don’t know if those photos and sketches will help.”
Eve shrugged. “They might.” She was silent a moment, digging in the earth. Then she said, “Things aren’t the … same with me. It bothers me. I should have paid more attention when you told me about the Cira dream yesterday, but then you blew me away when I realized you knew I was pregnant. It was all I could think about. Nothing seemed as important as the fact that you knew about my child.”
“Perfectly natural, Eve,” she said gently.
“Is it? Maybe I can’t afford to be so absorbed. I have to be aware of everything around me.” She looked out at the hills. “It’s so beautiful out there, yet there’s a … waiting, isn’t there?”
“Waiting?”
“It seems as if this place has been here forever, but it’s still waiting for something. You can almost feel it, can’t you?”
“Maybe.” Jane’s gaze followed Eve’s. Then she moved her shoulders in a half shake. “Hey, I’m the one MacDuff is sure has a connection to this place. You’re supposed to be practical and keep my feet planted firmly on the ground.”
“Sorry.” Eve was grinning. “Maybe it’s just me that’s waiting.” She glanced down at her flat abdomen. “Waiting for the baby to change and grow. Waiting for Joe to come, so that we can be together.” Her glance went across the courtyard, where Cara was sitting cross-legged on the stones, drinking a bottle of water and watching Jock shovel down at the dungeon level. “Waiting for her to be safe.”
“Did Joe call you last night?”
Eve nodded. “He’s very frustrated. I don’t think he’s going to last much longer.” She made a face. “Which probably means an explosion. I guess I should be sensible and worry about it, but I’m feeling very primitive. I want Joe here with me.” She sighed. “And I’m getting tired of digging with these damn spoons; I’m yearning for a shovel.”
“So am I. I’m beginning to think it’s a waste of time.” Jane chuckled as she started back to work. “We’ll have to do something about that soon. Jock and MacDuff may have to share.”
Eve nodded. “Yes,” she said absently. Her gaze had returned to those green hills bathed in shadows and mists.
Waiting.
Waiting for something.
And it was almost here …
* * *
“You look hot and thirsty.” MacDuff had stopped by the upper courtyard, where Jane was working. “I believe I’m feeling guilty about working you so hard.”
“And pigs do fly,” she said. “Where is this going, MacDuff?”
“Such a cynic.” He smiled. “I just thought I’d ask if you wanted to come to my tent and take a break and have a bottle of water.”
She looked at him.
“And maybe take a look at those e-mails that I just got in from MacTavish? I printed them out for you.”
She sat back on her heels. “You’re a devious man, MacDuff. You know I want to see them.” She got to her feet and dusted the dirt from her hands. “He was quicker than I thought he’d be from what you told me. You must have stressed a certain importance.”
“Of which I have no idea of the nature. But I’m always willing to try to please you, Jane.”
“For a price.”
“On occasion.” He turned and started across the courtyard. “I assume you’ll want to wash up a bit before you handle those papers. Ten minutes?”
“Would you mind if I bring Eve along to look at them?”
“I would actually. This is a private viewing.” The next moment he’d moved out of hearing.
She shook her head as she brushed the hair away from her brow. Private viewing? That didn’t bode well. And he had gone to the trouble of getting those copies at top speed, and it wasn’t to please her. It didn’t matter, they were here.
She entered MacDuff’s tent five minutes later.
“Ah, just as eager as I thought you’d be.” He handed her a bottle of water. “Take a deep breath and relax.”
“I want to see the prints.”
“And you will, but the timing is questionable. I think you’re aware of that, Jane.”
Yes, she had known it would come to this. She had only postponed the inevitability. “Blackmail, MacDuff?”
“Not at all. An exchange of information between two partners who are after the same prize.” His voice hardened. “But I did you a service, and it’s time for you to reciprocate. Why did you want these notes and photos, Jane? I want to know.”
She didn’t answer.
“You’re not being fair, Jane.”
No, she was protecting herself and the delicate balance that she’d always maintained about those damned dreams. But she wasn’t going to get what she wanted unless she gave MacDuff what he wanted.
“Okay. I had a dream,” she said flatly. “It was about Cira and the lake.”
He went still. “Ah, I thought maybe it might be that.” He grinned. “No, I hoped it might be that.”
“Don’t get your hopes up. It was a dream, and there were all kinds of reasons that might have caused me to have it.”
“But my hopes are up,” he said simply. “Don’t dash them now. Tell me about it, Jane.”
She looked at him for a moment, then briefly and concisely told him about the Cira dream. “I just wanted to—”
“I know what you wanted to do,” he interrupted. “I thought it was something like that. I was going to give you the chance to tell me yourself. But it seems time’s run out. Look at those photos and sketches, scan those notes. Let’s see if we see anything that collates.”
“You don’t have to ask me twice.” She looked at the photos. “They’re blurry, nothing here.”
“That was quick. You’re looking for something.”
“For something I don’t think is there.” She scanned the notes. “No mention here.”
“What are you looking for, Jane?” he asked.
“Caves.” She picked up the prints of the three sketches the students had made. “I thought I’d have a better chance with these sketches. It’s what the artist saw, not a camera. I’m looking for some sign of caves on that north bank. There didn’t seem to be any sign of them anywhere on the other banks of the lake. It would be reasonable that the north end wouldn’t have them either.”
“Except you said that Cira mentioned them repeatedly in your dream when she was talking about her son,” he said. “He played in them, ran out of them to greet her.”
“It wouldn’t be reasonable.” Jane was gazing at the first sketch, tossed it aside, looked at the second sketch. “See, I told you that there wouldn’t be any—” She stopped, as her gaze was caught by something on the upper corner of the second sketch. “It could be anything. It’s just a few scrawled lines, the artist was obviously in a hurry. It doesn’t have to be…” She moistened her lips. “It’s no proof.”
MacDuff was looking down at the sketch. As Jane had said, it was only a few lines, shrubs, a boulder … that appeared to be blocking the front of an opening of some sort. “But it could be.”
Jane glanced at the third sketch. “Nothing here.” She tossed it on the desk. “No proof,” she repeated.
“Stop struggling against it, Jane,” MacDuff said gently. “Not proof, but definitely a reason to explore beyond those mists.”
“You want to believe in that dream. It’s what you’ve always wanted.”
“I won’t deny it. I’m a desperate man. Hunting for Cira’s gold has always been an impossible dream on its own. I searched every practical avenue I can find and came up empty. Then I came across you, Jane MacGuire, and I knew that you could help me. I wanted a clue, a path, and I always knew you could give it to me.”
She shook her head. “None of this helps you.”
“Stubborn. Yet you clearly realized that those caves were important. I recognized the significance immediately.”
“I … thought that Cira might have buried her son in one of them.”
“And she very well might have done that.” He met her eyes. “But she might also have buried that chest with the coins in one of them. Cira liked caves, remember? That chest was hidden in a cave in Herculaneum before she took it away with her when she escaped the volcano. She obviously thought they were safe.”
“And she would have liked the idea of her son caring for it,” Jane whispered. “It would have been a way of keeping him as part of the family.”
“You were thinking about it,” MacDuff said. “Fighting against accepting it but thinking about it.”
He was right. It had been in her mind all along though she had tried to block it out. “So what are you going to do about it?”
“What do you think?” He smiled recklessly. “We’re going to go down to the lake and see what Cira hid in those mists.”
“Gently. Respectfully.”
“Cira is my family. She’s one of mine. Would I do anything else?”
“No.” She smiled faintly. “But you’ve been searching for that treasure for a long time.”
“She wants me to have it,” he said. “Why else would you have had that dream to help me along?” He shrugged. “And you know I was getting discouraged with searching here at the castle anyway.”
“It’s only been a few days.”
“But you’ve been feeling that it’s a waste of time, haven’t you?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“No, you were very careful not to say it. Because you didn’t want to lead me away from everything reasonable toward Cira and her son.” He looked her directly in the eye. “But you wanted to go and see if she’d sent you a magnificent lifeline to save us all from having her legacy and everything she’d built tumble down around us.”
“Saving you, MacDuff.”
“I beg to differ. You’re one of mine. Family is family.”
Jane felt a ripple of shock. Family. How many times had that word come into play in the last days? She had used it, Eve had used it. Now MacDuff was throwing it at her.
And Cira had been involved in the most tragic of family duties in her dream.
“Strike a note?” MacDuff’s gaze was fixed on her face. “You knew what this was about all along. It’s not about the money, it’s about saving what Cira created.” He paused, then said, persuasively, “Let’s go do that, Jane.”
“It may be a red herring.”
“Let’s go see,” he challenged softly. “I dare you.”
She could feel a surge of the same recklessness she sensed in him. Why not? It was what she had wanted to do. Why else had she been so insistent about being proved wrong.
Because she had wanted desperately to be proved right.
“I don’t take dares.” She smiled at him. “But I have a boundless curiosity. When do we go?”
“Yes.” He threw back his head and laughed. “Now. A few hours. The sooner the better.”
“A few hours? You’re going to move camp?”
“That’s what I said. Go back to your tent and pack up. I’ll call Caleb and Jock and tell them to do the same.” He turned toward the desk and rolled up the papers. “Then I’ll call MacTavish and tell him to arrange to send special cameras and powerful floodlights that will let us pierce that thick mist.”
“Those students didn’t have those lights?”
“They were trespassers. They didn’t know what they were getting into.” He smiled. “Neither do we. Isn’t it exciting?”
She wanted to back off, to say no. But she did feel the excitement. She felt as she had when she was a very young girl, reaching out for adventure, wanting to see what was around the next curve in the road. She turned to leave. “Make sure MacTavish does his research and gets us the right equipment.”
“I’ll convey your concern.” He was dialing his phone. “Go tell Eve and Cara to get moving. I want to have our tents set up at the lake by nightfall.”
“By all means.” She headed for the entrance. “We all have to do as the Laird decrees.”
“As is right and proper.” He chuckled. “I’m glad you understand that concept at last, Jane.”
“I was joking.” She looked back over her shoulder. “This is what I want, what I decree. Or I wouldn’t be doing it.” She smiled. “I’m just using you, MacDuff.”
She heard him laughing as she left the tent. She was still feeling that charge of energy and adrenaline, but her smile was fading. She had started MacDuff on a new phase of his hunt for Cira’s gold. She could have lied, she could have not said anything, but she had been infected with MacDuff’s recklessness. How was she to explain the sudden move to Eve?
By telling her the truth. By telling her all the details of the dream. By telling her that Cira had emerged from the past, and she had to go with her one last time …
* * *
“Why didn’t you tell me all this before?” Eve asked quietly. “You didn’t give me any details. You just sort of brushed it off.”
“I was fighting against believing that it had any significance. I’m still fighting.”
“But not too hard.” Her gaze was on Jane’s face. “I’m seeing something in you that I haven’t seen in a long time. So many things have happened to you … You’ve been hurt, and life hasn’t been easy. You’ve lost a lover and discovered that you can still survive. I think one of the reasons you were fighting so hard to not let Cira back into your life was that was the time you met your Trevor. Another painful memory linked to Cira.”
“None of the memories of Trevor were painful until the last one, when he was shot.” Her lips were tight. “Cira was just a part of a grand adventure we played out together. He was like MacDuff and was after the treasure.”
“And now the adventure is back.” She added shrewdly, “And you’ve discovered that you want to see it through. You want to do what Cira would want you to do.”
She thought about it. “I guess that’s true.”
“But that still leaves the question, why didn’t you tell me all the details of that dream before this?” She was silent, then said, “Never mind. I can figure it out. It’s the child. You were afraid I’d read something into the fact that the dream was about a dead child. You mentioned a child, but not that the child was dead.” She shook her head. “But that dream was also about hope and love and family. It was about life. And it may have been about how Cira intended to preserve the family fortunes far beyond what even she could imagine. You thought that I’d zero in on the little boy?”
“It occurred to me.”
“Of course, it did. Because you’re loving and protective, and there was something that could possibly hurt me.”
“And it doesn’t?”
“Look, if Cira is a fantasy, then the dream is a fantasy. If Cira is somehow reaching out and trying to tell you something, it wouldn’t be to warn me that children sometimes die. I know that.” She added fiercely, “And there’s one way that Cira and I are very much alike. We take care of our own. I’m not going to let anything happen to my baby. I’ll fight and I’ll claw and I’ll do anything I have to do. Cira would think it ridiculous that she would have to tell me that. No, any message she has is for you, not me, Jane.”
“Well, I’m glad that’s settled. I guess I was pretty foolish to worry about—”
“No.” Eve took a step closer and gave her a warm hug. “Not foolish. Loving.” She released her and stepped back. “And now I’d better go and tear Cara away from Jock and get her started on packing if you think MacDuff was serious about the camp being set up at the lake by nightfall?”
“He was serious.” She gazed at Cara. “Are you going to tell her about the Cira dream?”
“If you don’t mind.” She smiled. “Cara and I had a discussion about dreams when we were flying over here. She’s had some experiences with them. I think she regards your Cira dreams as a kind of wonderful fairy tale.” She glanced at Jock. “And maybe Jock is part of a fairy tale, too. I’ve tried to gently disillusion her about both, but I don’t have the heart to take all the fairy-tale ambience away. I’m not sure that she’s ever believed in fairy tales unless they were full of beasts and monsters. Your Cira had a hard life, but she worked her way through to a happy ending.” She motioned toward Jock. “And I don’t know about the happy ending for him, but he’s grown very strong, and he’s actually quite wonderful. So yes, I don’t mind letting Cara believe in those kinds of fairy tales.”
“Neither do I,” Jane said as she turned away and started for her tent. “Both Cira and Jock learned to defeat all the beasts and monsters. I’d say as role models they put Cinderella in the shade.”