“I did want to do it. It may be the last time we see her for a while. She’s off to new adventures and finding a life of her own.” She tried to steady her voice. “Just what we wanted for her. Look what happened when she came back from London to try to help me. She got shot and almost died. Now she’s well and going on with her life.”
But Eve was having problems coming to terms with the fact that Jane’s life as an artist often took her far away from her, he thought. He had seen this coming. In Eve’s line of work as a forensic sculptor and his job as a police detective, sometimes the evil came close to home. Most recently Jane had been one of the targets. Those weeks with her daughter, while she had been recuperating, had been strained and yet poignantly sweet for Eve. Jane had come to them when she was ten years old and she had been more best friend than daughter to Eve. But that hadn’t changed the love that had bound them all these years. For Joe, the relationship had been different, the love was there, but it had built gradually, and he’d always known that Jane belonged to Eve. That was okay with him because he belonged to Eve, too. She was his center and Jane had always understood. But now that Jane was out on her own and becoming a successful artist, it was terribly hard for them to adjust to the fact that most of the time she was thousands of miles away.
“It’s exactly what she should be doing,” Eve said. “What’s here for her? Hell, I’m a workaholic and always involved with a reconstruction. You’re a police detective who they tap to work cases that don’t give you normal hours either. It was just … difficult … to see her get on that plane.”
“And you didn’t let her see one bit of that pain,” Joe said quietly. “You smiled and sent her on her way.”
“That’s what every parent does. It always comes down to letting them go.”
“And more difficult for you than for others. First, you had to let go of Bonnie when she was killed. Now Jane is moving out of our lives.”
“Not out, just away.” She made a face. “And evidently I couldn’t let go of Bonnie because I insisted on keeping her with me, alive or dead. I was so stubborn that whoever is in charge of the hereafter let me have my little girl’s spirit to visit me now and then.”
And that had been the most difficult challenge of all for Joe to accept. He was a detective, and logic dictated that ghosts were off his radar. But logic had nothing to do with his feelings for Eve. Not from the day that Quantico had sent him down to Atlanta to investigate the disappearance and probable murder of seven-year-old Bonnie Duncan. He had been a Special Agent with the FBI at the time and had not even wanted to visit Eve Duncan’s house or go over old material the ATLPD had already covered very efficiently. But he had gone anyway, and life had never been the same for him. He had only been in that house for a few hours with Eve Duncan before he realized that something extraordinary was happening to him.
* * *
“I’m not a fool. I grew up on the streets, and know all about the scum who are out there.” Eve looked wonderingly up at him. “But I have to hope. She’s my baby. I have to bring her home. How can I live if I don’t hope?”
He felt as if he were breaking apart inside. He could feel her pain, and it was becoming his pain. “Then hope.” His voice was hoarse. “And I’ll hope with you. We’ll explore every way we can to find her safe and alive. There’s nothing I won’t do. Just stick with me and give me a little help.”
She hesitated, gazing up at him.
Believe me, he urged her silently. Put your hand in mine, trust me, let me guide you. Something strange is happening here, but it’s not anything bad. I won’t let it hurt you.
She stood staring at him. She could feel it, sense what he couldn’t say, he realized. In her pain, she couldn’t define the nature of what she was sensing, but perhaps it would become clear to her later.
As, God help him, it was becoming clear to him.
* * *
But it was years before Eve had healed enough to realize that they could become lovers instead of friends. During that time he had almost lost her. The depression had been too severe, the heartbreak of her loss a nightmare from which she couldn’t wake. But then something happened, she had begun to dream of Bonnie. Or at least that was what she had told him. She had thought she was hallucinating, thought that grief had made her mind fly to any solace possible. Before that, she had given up on life and wanted only to be with her Bonnie. She had only been stopped by the realization that the visits from Bonnie were not hallucinations.
It had taken Joe a lot longer than Eve to accept the possibility, but he had finally done it. Bonnie had kept Eve alive when he was losing her. Screw reality. Accept whatever miracle had kept her here with him.
Eve drew a deep breath and gave him a quick kiss. “Which makes me luckier than a lot of people. I refuse to feel sorry for myself. I have you. I sometimes have Bonnie. I’ll have Jane as she moves in and out of our lives.” She nodded at the FedEx box across the room. “And I have a chance to help the parents of that little girl find resolution.” She got to her feet and took a sip before she put the cup down on the coffee table. “So slap me if you see me go broody on you.” She headed for the kitchen. “How about lasagna for supper? There’s something about the smell of baking garlic bread that lifts the spirits and makes everything seem all right.”
“Besides outrageously tempting the taste buds. Sounds good. Need help?”
“Nah, you know my culinary expertise is nonexistent. I’ll do frozen.”
“Eve.”
She glanced over her shoulder.
He had to make sure that was the only problem. He was frowning, and his gaze was narrowed. “It’s just Jane leaving? You’ve been pretty quiet the last couple weeks. Nothing else is wrong?”
He could see she was tempted to deny it and put him off but she couldn’t do it. They had been together for years, and their relationship was based not only on love but honesty. “Nothing that can’t be fixed.” She shrugged. “I guess I’m just going through some kind of emotional adjustment. I wanted everything to stay the same. I wanted to keep Jane close to me. Mine. Though I always knew she didn’t really belong to me. She was too independent and was ten going on thirty when we adopted her. And Bonnie was mine but then she was taken.” She smiled. “And that spirit Bonnie, who comes to visit me now and then, is very much her own self now. Beloved, but only flashes of being mine.” Her smile faded. “But I’ll take it. I just want to keep her with me, too. I don’t want anything to change.”
“Why should that change?”
“It shouldn’t change. That’s what I told Bonnie. Nothing has to change.”
His brows rose. He had hoped the problem wouldn’t have anything to do with Bonnie. How the hell could he fix anything having to do with a spirit? “Ah, your Bonnie. She said something to disturb you? When?”
“A couple weeks ago. She scared me. She said she didn’t know how long she’d be able to keep coming to me. She said everything was going to change.”
“How? Why?”
“She didn’t know. She just wanted to warn me.”
“Very frustrating.” He chuckled. Keep it light and off-hand. “If your daughter has to pay you visits, I’d just as soon she not upset you like this.”
“That’s what I told her.”
He got to his feet and took her in his arms. “And so you should. Send her to me and I’ll reinforce it.” He kissed her. “Though I doubt if that’s going to happen. She only appeared to me a couple times just to make sure I knew that you weren’t hallucinating.” He looked directly into her eyes. “I know you need Bonnie. She’s the anchor that keeps you here with me. You were spiraling downward and almost died before you had your ghost visits from Bonnie. She brought you back, and I thank God for her.” He paused. “But if for some reason she stopped coming, I want you to know that we’ll make it all right.” He had to make her believe it. Their love was strong and yet he could still remember how fragile she had been during those first years together. There were times when he hadn’t been able to help her then, but he could now. There was nothing he wouldn’t do, no battle he wouldn’t fight. His voice was soft, urgent. “I have so much love for you, Eve. I’m full of it, you’re my center. You always have been and always will be. If your Bonnie drifts away from you, I’ll just pour more of that love toward you. I’ll find a way to stop you from hurting. I promise you.”