Grief filled Glorianna’s eyes, and Caitlin wondered again what the woman had seen in her garden that had caused such distress.
“No,” Glorianna said, “there’s nothing for her here.”
“I’m sitting in the room,” Caitlin said, guilt that she had done something wrong making her testy. “And I’m old enough to do some deciding for myself.”
Glorianna’s eyes never left Brighid’s, but she smiled. “Then we’ll let your auntie get some rest while we discuss those decisions.”
That didn’t sound like she was going to be the one doing much deciding, but at least she’d have her say.
“I’ll be back a little later,” Caitlin said, smiling at her aunt. As she rose, she saw the undiluted sadness in Michael’s eyes before he made an effort to hide his feelings.
She held on until they were in the hallway outside her aunt’s room before the feelings spewed out. “I don’t want her here. There’s a syrupy meanness in that room. They’re taking care of her right enough, but they’re glad she’s hurt. It’s her punishment for taking care of me and Michael all these years.” She glared at her brother. “You know that’s what they’re thinking.”
“Caitlin,” Michael said.
She wanted to shout, wanted to scream out the anger, but she kept her voice low. “You’ve been gone, Michael. These past twelve years, you’ve been gone. And you only stayed four years after Mother died. Then you were off having your adventures.”
“I was off trying to earn enough money to take care of the three of us,” Michael said heatedly, but he, too, kept his voice down.
“Let’s go to one of the rooms we’ve taken before continuing this discussion,” Glorianna said.
“There’s nothing more to discuss,” Caitlin snapped.
“Caitlin.”
She didn’t respond to Glorianna. She was too stunned by the way Michael suddenly paled.
“What did we do to the world?” he whispered.
“Somewhere around this village, a fine crop of rocks has sprung up,” Glorianna replied after a moment.
“What?” Caitlin asked, wondering why Michael looked ready to faint while Glorianna looked sympathetic but amused.
“Anger makes stone,” Glorianna said. “Something you can’t afford to forget. Now, would you like the rest of this to be discussed in private or would you rather go down to the parlor and put on a show so the people downstairs who are trying to eavesdrop won’t have to strain their ears?”
“What does sass make?” Caitlin muttered.
“Tart fruit.”
She wasn’t sure if Glorianna was teasing or not. Based on his expression, Michael wasn’t sure either, but the answer had brought some color back to his face. So she let herself be herded into one of the rooms they had rented while Michael knocked on the door of the other to fetch Lee.
Once the four of them were seated, Caitlin plucked up her courage to have her say. “Aunt Brighid doesn’t belong here. Michael has been on his own for a time now, and I’m old enough to make my own way. Besides, we’re going to have to start over in one place or another, and I don’t want it to be here.”
“Ah, Caitie,” Michael groaned. “Why did you never say things were so hard here?”
“It was all we had.”
He closed his eyes as if her words had hurt him.
“A piece at a time,” Glorianna said. “What do you want for your aunt?”
“She’s a Lady of Light,” Caitlin replied. “She should go back to the White Isle. I don’t think she’ll ever really heal if she stays here.”
“And you?” Glorianna asked.
“I want to find where my garden truly belongs. And I want to learn who I am. I want to learn to be Landscaper.”
“Aren’t you going to ask what I want?” Michael asked.
“No,” Glorianna replied quietly. “I feel your heart well enough.”
“So we go to the White Isle?” Lee asked.
“If you have a way of reaching it once we get there, I have a ship that can take us,” Michael said.
Glorianna nodded. “Then it’s settled.”
“Captain Kenneday and Nathan are having a meal downstairs,” Lee said. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but my stomach says it’s mealtime.”
Since there was nothing more to be done, Caitlin followed the rest of them down to the dining room.
Michael stripped down to his drawers, then slipped into bed and stared at the ceiling. “Tell me again why I’m sharing a room—and a bed—with you?”
Lee tucked his hands under his head and grinned. “Because we could only afford two rooms, and the beds being what they are, you cut up stiff about sharing one with your sister. And as much as I like her, I didn’t want to share a bed with Caitlin Marie either.”
“You’re damn right you wouldn’t be sharing a bed with her. No matter how grown-up she thinks she is, the girl is just eighteen and an innocent.”
Lee rolled over on his side and propped himself up on one elbow. “My sister is thirty-one and, in some ways, just as innocent.”
“Nooo,” Michael said, shaking his head in denial. “You aren’t telling me a woman as lovely as Glorianna has never been pleasured by a man.”
“I won’t tell you she’s never had sex, and I hope it gave her pleasure….”
“But?” Michael prodded when Lee seemed to sink into his own thoughts.
“None of them would have had enough heart to reach her island.”
Lee’s words filled him with hope and scared him right down to the bone. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to be Glorianna’s first love, but he kept thinking he wanted to be her lifetime’s love. Because he was certain she was his lifetime’s love.
If you do what you must, you won’t have a lifetime with her.
Lee rolled onto his back. After a long moment of silence, he said, “So how old were you?”
“What?”
“If you’re thinking Caitlin is too young at eighteen, how old were you when you were initiated into the pleasures of sex?”
Recognizing Lee’s effort to lighten the mood, Michael said, “Are we talking brag or lie?”
Lee closed his eyes and smiled. “Whichever provides the best story.”
Chapter Twenty
“I’ve never seen a landscape do that,” Glorianna said. As Kenneday’s ship sailed closer to the White Isle, she watched the island fade like a mirage in the early-morning light.
“It’s not a comfort to hear you say that, Glorianna,” Michael scolded. “Couldn’t you tweak the truth a bit and say it doesn’t happen often?”
She pulled her scarf up to cover the bottom half of her face, both to hide her smile and to warm up skin that was chilled by the brisk sea air. Then she pushed the scarf back down long enough to say, “It doesn’t happen often.”
Michael looked at the now-empty sea beyond the bow of the ship, then looked back at her. “I’m thinking there’s not much sincerity in that answer.”
This time she laughed out loud. “Half the time I’m not sure if you’re teasing or really mean what you say. You’re a hard man to please, Magician.”
“Not so. I don’t ask for much, I’m grateful for what I’m given, and I’m willing to give a great deal in return.”
Glorianna looked away, glad for the cold air that soothed her suddenly burning cheeks. The man wasn’t talking about enjoying each other for a few nights of sex. And yet, there was always that bittersweet resonance in his words. “You barely know me.”
And she barely knew him.
The heart has no secrets, Glorianna Belladonna. Not even yours. That’s why he scares you. If you let him, he’ll slip into your life—and you’ll slip into his—as if you had always been there for each other. As if there had always been love’s shining light welcoming you home.
“I can hear the music in you,” Michael said quietly. “It’s a glorious song, as heartbreaking as it is beautiful, so full of sorrow and joy. A man could listen to that tune for a lifetime and not grow tired of it.”
“I don’t know what you’re saying.”
He took a step closer, his body now sheltering hers from the wind. “You know exactly what I’m saying, and it scares you. If it’s any comfort, it scares me too. Maybe it should. Love is not a small thing. It can change a life.”