Lauren was lying in the ironwork four-poster in the master bedroom at Sage Springs, chewing on her cheek.
She’d hardly slept a wink.
Would her plan from Dallas work in Surrender?
She hadn’t intended settling in California. She’d thought it best to stay in Texas, so had headed for Dallas with all her hopes. She’d found herself in the Bishop Arts District simply because she was being a tourist but kept going back and had met any number of women and chatted to them in stores, or had coffee in the cafes. But from the moment she’d seen the wall mural of a redbrick archway with a pathway meandering toward a lake, she’d been reminded of the home she’d left. Maybe it had been homesickness or fear of what she was heading into in the future, all on her own, but in that instant, she’d known what the petite, three-roomed premises should be. Even though she hadn’t stood a real chance, she’d been daring enough to pursue a dream.
So could she fulfill that dream here?
She’d need to find a way for her idea to work around what Surrender already offered, plus the businesses she hoped to rejuvenate, not to mention the saloon.
Then there was the house itself. It was large, overly ornate in places, and drafty. Obviously, she’d need a wall up first. Some parts would have to be redecorated too. She loved the hardwood floors and the solid oak half-paneling, but the thick, dark green, floral wallpaper above it would have to be stripped. She’d need a lighter, more serene ambiance.
And how was her great-grandfather going to take all this enterprise while his house was overrun with women?
“Tough,” she told him, looking up at the ceiling in case he was hovering around, sticking his nose into her business.
Was there some way to get rid of his spirit and the bad sensations that had descended on the house like a thick cobweb over the years? Could a person shift the wheel of fortune or govern the power of fate? It looked like she was about to try.
Her ears popped and the air around her stilled.
She was trapped again. She struggled against it, clutching at the cool, silky bedspread, attempting to push it off, to move, to run. But the air calcified and she was carried to another time.
It was an early-summer day, the sun bright and her long hair flying as she ran across the grasslands toward the lake. At her side was a child, holding her hand. She was the image of Lauren as a little girl. It was her daughter, and the little girl’s name was Juliette.
Behind them, Lauren’s husband was laughing at something their other children were saying. He held the little hands of twins Danton and Alexandre firmly as they ran with him, two-year-old chubby legs almost airborne as they tried to catch up with their mother and older sister.
Mark.
Lauren gasped for air as the vision faded, clutching at her throat.
What was at the back of her mind, slinking in her subconscious, to make her see things like this? It wasn’t a muddled daydream. She’d been on those grasslands, she’d felt her child’s fingers in hers, and the wind on her face.
She sat up, dazed.
Was it because she’d made the decision to push away all hopes for a normal, happy life after what happened in Santa Ynez? Did she really want to be single for the rest of her life? Was that why she was envisioning Mark and her together?
Perhaps she was a little attracted to him. Not the man who’d bought the bar but to the man who’d wined and dined her. The man who’d taken her to Paris. The man who’d preferred Scarlet to Lauren.
Was there really a difference in the two women? Had Danton seen Scarlet as spontaneous while Mark saw Lauren as uninspiring?
She was going to prove him wrong. Not because she wanted him to like her, but because she needed to believe in herself, be happy with herself, no matter what life threw at her.
Although, it was currently throwing quite a bit.
She hadn’t closed the heavy, damask curtains last night, and a bright glint of morning sunlight pierced the window. As its beam hit the Victorian dressing table, it bounced off something shiny. The white, diamond-shaped stone. It had been in her jeans pocket yesterday. How had it gotten onto the dressing table?
“You are crazy!” she said as she flung the bedsheets aside and got out of bed.
She was a Mackillop. Daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter of soothsayers. She’d had the ability to hold conversations with Ava in her head since she’d turned seven. That wasn’t normal! She wasn’t normal—and she never would be. But what had she done? Turned her back on it.
The stone had moved because of forces she’d ignored. Forces that were inside her. Forces she’d inherited from her Mackillop ancestors.
Her heart was pounding and her brain firing in all directions.
“Ava!” she called telepathically. “I know what I’m going to do with Sage Springs and my guess is—so do you.”
Boy, did she have a few things she wanted to say to her grandmother. But she wasn’t going to do that.
She pulled her laptop out of her Louis Vuitton suitcase and set it up on the Victorian dresser, then looked out the window onto the wanderlust gardens as something caught her attention.
The topiaries were no longer topiarized, just great big blobs of green leaves, overgrown and trailing along the stone walls on either side of the entrance pathway to the house. There was nothing there. No noise. No movement—but an image of Mark’s face was reflected in the pane of glass in the window. He was smiling at her, perhaps taunting her.
This was getting ridiculous!
She pulled her sunglasses off the dresser and slid them on. It was like he was following her around, spying on her.
It took her a few minutes to work the Skype program, since she’d never used it before, then suddenly, Molly’s face appeared onscreen.
“Hey! You got Skype! Why are you wearing your sunglasses?”
“Don’t ask.”
“Hang on! Don’t say a word until Pepper gets on.”
She waited, tapping her fingernails on the dresser. They’d never once had a conversation about the valley or the curse without all three of them being involved.
Pepper’s shining face came onscreen.
“Hey, girls! What’s new? Why have you got your sunglasses on?”
“I’m having a bit of weird time.”
“Ooh,” Pepper said, hunching forward. “Tell.”
Lauren took a breath. “I’m having strange visions, and I need to talk to you about some other things too.”
“Visions about what?”
“Me and Mark Sterrett.”
“I knew it!” Molly said. “It’s happening.”
“Who’s Mark Sterrett?” Pepper asked.
“I never thought I’d genuinely be asking this question,” Lauren said to Molly. “But the gift. What happens to you?”
“I can’t talk to you about that or how it works because we have to experience it individually.”
“The gift? You two,” Pepper said, shaking her head. “Can you hear yourselves?”
“There’s something else I want to know,” Lauren said as she pulled off her aviators and plonked them onto the dresser. “What happened at your hacienda? What did the great-grandfathers do?”
“The GGs? Can’t say.”
“You mean you won’t. Come on, Molly! I need backup here.”
“Um,” Pepper said. “Can I just remind you both—the GGs are dead. And who’s Mark Sterrett?”
“Pepper,” Molly said. “Just listen. It’ll help when it’s your turn.”
“My turn to what?”
“Find the man of your dreams!”
Pepper rolled her eyes and ripped open a packet of popcorn.
“She’s eating junk food again,” Lauren said. “Are you stressed, Pepper?”
“Totally. Molly goes home and starts saying she has the gift, now you’re home and suggesting you might have some of the spooky abilities. I’m definitely staying in Arizona.”
“Look,” Molly said to Lauren. “There is something I have to tell you, because you need to be prepared.”
Even Pepper stilled.
“Be careful when Mark’s at Sage Springs.”
“There’s no bad feeling here at all.”
“That’s because you’re in the house. You’re clearing the air, but when Mark’s there, you’ll feel the change. The GGs don’t want him around you. They’ll try to get rid of him.”
“Is that what happened at the hacienda?”
“It’ll be different for you. I’m just warning you to take care.”
“Mark hasn’t been here,” Lauren said, “and he’s not likely to visit.”
“Well get him over there! Test the waters. Just make sure you’re dressed,” she added, pointing to the short, flimsy tee Lauren wore to bed, “or you’re going to be giving him ideas.”
“Now the conversation gets interesting!” Pepper said. “Is he good-looking?”
“Very handsome,” Molly said. “If you like that sort of sexy. Me? I’ve got my own kind of handsome and he’s more than sexy enough. My satisfaction levels are off the scale.”
“You’re showing off again,” Pepper said, digging into her popcorn. “Don’t get too enamored with this Mark guy,” she told Lauren. “He’s not going to stick around, remember.”
“Mine did!” Molly reminded her, with a smug smile.
“Girls—I’m not enamored!”
“Well, you’re the one who says you’re having visions of him,” Pepper reasoned. She leaned in closer to the screen. “What’s he doing in these visions? What are you and he doing together?”
“Not what you’re thinking.”
“I bet he’s good at it though,” Molly said. “You can tell with some men that the experience is going to be—otherworldly.” She giggled. “Pardon the pun.”
“I like those type of men,” Pepper said, thrusting her hand into her packet of popcorn. “Except they don’t exist.”
“I hardly know this man. And I don’t trust him.”
“That’s too bad,” Molly said. “Since I heard he’s on your town committee.”
Lauren had given more thought to that overnight. If he was up to no good, being on the committee would give him ample ammunition to do whatever it was he was here to do. She’d have to keep a very close eye on him.
The battery light flashed on her laptop.
“I’m going to lose power any second! What else do I need to know, Molly?”
“Just get that man to Sage Springs!”
The screen went gray, then black.
Lauren slapped her thighs. But it was her own fault for not charging the laptop last night.
The sun shone through the windows and made the stone on the dresser sparkle.
She picked it up and held it. What had Ava said? You can’t make anything work without hope, or a wish, and maybe a prayer.
Luck wouldn’t go amiss, either. She clutched the stone. From now on, she wouldn’t go anywhere without it.
She yanked off her tee and pulled on fawn-colored skinny pants, threw an ivory, long-sleeved sweater top over her head, then dug out a bright yellow belt and lemon-colored sandals from her suitcase. The sun was shining, spring was in the air and it was time for a splash of color. She had a plan for the house, plus a committee—and a deputy sheriff to expose.