Lucky Stars

by Kristen Ashley

  “Miles –” Belle whispered.

  “Look at me,” Jack ordered before Belle could say any more.

  Miles ignored Jack too, his eyes riveted to Belle. “I swear to Christ, Belle, I did not fucking push you.”

  Jack got close. “Eyes to me, Miles.”

  Miles stopped struggling against Lachlan and glared at Jack. “I did not push her.”

  “You didn’t,” Jack said quietly. “I know that.”

  “Then why did you tell Mum I did?” Miles fired back. “She –”

  “You didn’t push Belle and I know it sounds insane but although you didn’t push her, you still did.”

  “I did not!”

  “You were there, Miles,” Jack told him. “You were seen.”

  “That isn’t fucking true,” Miles hissed, his eyes narrowing.

  “You were seen,” Jack repeated.

  “Yes, by a ghost,” Miles spat. “They told me. Jesus, Jack, seriously? You believe that shit? All these years, now you believe that shit? That is fucked up!”

  “Okay, so where were you that night?” Jack asked.

  “Not here,” Miles immediately answered.

  “Where were you?” Jack pressed.

  Miles again jerked against Lachlan’s hold but Lachlan held true.

  He stopped just as suddenly and clipped loudly, “Tell the ginger to let me go!”

  “I’ll let you go, mate, you don’t throw another punch,” Lachlan said from behind him.

  “I won’t throw another punch,” Miles bit out.

  “Right, then I’ll let you go you don’t call me ‘ginger’ again,” Lachlan went on.

  “Lach, let the lad go,” Angus said low.

  Lachlan looked to his uncle then pushed Miles off and stepped back.

  Miles immediately twisted around to glare at Lachlan then he turned back to Jack when Jack pressed on, “Miles, the night Belle was hurt, where were you?”

  “I wasn’t fucking here,” he shot back.

  “All right. Then where were you?” Jack kept at it.

  “Not here.”

  “Then where?”

  “Not… fucking… here!”

  “Miles, if you weren’t here, where were you?”

  “Not fucking here!” Miles roared, stepped swiftly to a table that was close, grabbed a vase and threw it across the room. It sailed safely between Jack and Lachlan but exploded against the wall.

  Belle jumped as did others and Joy cried, “Miles!”

  The men closed in on Miles but he was now staring at the floor, body mostly motionless except he was breathing heavily. Jack correctly sensed he was no threat and lifted his hand to the other men to stop their advance so they did.

  He gave his brother a moment then, quietly, he said, “Miles, if you weren’t here, tell us where you were so we can –”

  Before he could finish, Miles’s head snapped up and his eyes locked on Belle.

  “I dream you.”

  The air in the room went still and Belle figured this was because everyone had stopped breathing. She figured this because she had.

  Therefore, she had to force her question through stiff lips.

  “What?”

  “Since then. Since it happened. I wasn’t there. But I dream it. I dream of pushing you.”

  “Oh my God,” Joy whispered and Belle felt tears sting her nose.

  “I didn’t do it.” Miles’s voice was now raw. “In my dreams, I feel my hand on you, I see you going down the stairs. But I didn’t do it. It’s been torture but I swear to fucking Christ, Belle, I didn’t do it.”

  “You dream it?” Angus asked quietly and Miles tore his eyes from Belle and looked to Angus.

  “Yes,” he bit off.

  “Do you dream of anything else?” Angus questioned and Belle watched in horror and distress as Miles’s face became ravaged.

  “I lose time,” he whispered his admission.

  “Bloody hell,” Jack muttered.

  Miles closed his eyes tight then opened them and looked at Jack. “Since I met her. Since I met Belle, I’ve lost time.”

  Jack held his brother’s gaze even as he ordered, “Lila, Rachel, take Mum out.”

  “Jack, I –”

  Miles and Jack both looked to Joy but it was Miles who spoke. “Mum, please.”

  Her teeth worried her lip as she studied her youngest son. Then she looked at her oldest but she nodded to the floor before she went out, Rachel and Lila following her.

  Rachel closed the door.

  Belle’s eyes went back to Miles to see he was addressing Angus when he said, “I dream of a woman. A woman and a man. I’m watching them. They’re not from this time.”

  “Joshua and Brenna Bennett,” Cassandra murmured and Miles looked to her.

  “I don’t know who the fuck they are but I wake up pissed off.”

  “He’s got hold of you, laddie,” Angus said gently and Miles’s eyes swung to him.

  “That’s insane,” he whispered.

  Cassandra moved cautiously closer. “We can help.”

  Miles stared at her for long moments as everyone was silent.

  Then his eyes moved slowly to Belle.

  “I didn’t push you, gorgeous,” he whispered, his voice an ache, his eyes filled with pain and it was the first time she didn’t mind Miles calling her “gorgeous”.

  “I know Miles,” Belle said softly and moved to the side of the desk but when she sensed Jack’s eyes on her and glanced briefly at him to see his face hard and his head shake once, she stopped. Then she looked back to Miles. “Let them help.”

  She watched Miles pull in a ragged breath.

  Cassandra sensed capitulation and pushed, “We have a potion.”

  Miles turned to her. “It’ll stop this?”

  She nodded.

  “It’s safe, mate,” Lorna put in.

  Miles moved his gaze to hers when she spoke then he lifted a hand and tore it through his hair with no small amount of agitation. When his hand dropped it seemed as if it took every effort for his eyes to move to his brother.

  “I killed your child.” The words were tortured.

  “Miles,” Jack murmured.

  “Yasmin was right. It’s like I’m possessed. All my life –”

  “Don’t,” Jack interrupted, his voice a low rumble. “Just let them help.”

  For long, tense moments the two brothers held each other’s eyes.

  Then Miles nodded.

  Jack looked to Belle. “Go to Mum, poppet. We need to talk with Miles.”

  She took one look at his beautiful, desolate face and nodded.

  Then she moved swiftly to the door.

  “Gorgeous.”

  She stopped at the door and turned at Miles’s call. His eyes were wet with tears and she felt her stomach clutch.

  “Like Jack said, Miles, don’t. It’ll all be all right,” Belle whispered.

  “I –” he started but Belle cut him off.

  “Get help, Miles and it’ll all be all right.”

  He looked away, lifted a hand to the back of his neck and she saw him squeeze before he dropped it, again caught her eyes and nodded.

  Belle nodded back.

  Then her eyes swept through the occupants of the room and ended their journey resting on Jack.

  She gave him a trembling smile then she opened the door and ducked through, closing it behind her.

  * * * * *

  The wind was high, there were clouds hiding the moon so the cliff path was dark before them. The dogs, usually happy to wander away and roam afield during their evening walks with Jack and Belle, sensed the mood and stayed close.

  Jack held Belle’s hand and Belle walked close beside him. So close their arms brushed as they moved and Jack held a torch to the path in front of them as they strode through the dark night.

  “Talk to me,” she whispered.

  An hour after Belle left the room, Jack had come into the drawing room to guide Joy to Miles.

 
; Five minutes after that, he came back to ask Belle to get her coat so they could walk the dogs.

  Now they were on the path and it was Jack who had lapsed into a heavy silence.

  “He’s volunteered for the ceremony.”

  The words were harsh with concern and disquiet, as they should be.

  Belle was instantly concerned and disquieted too. So much so, she stopped dead on the path.

  Jack stopped with her, turned and looked down at her.

  “I’ve advised against it,” he went on. “He won’t hear of it. He wants Caldwell out of him.”

  “So he believes that Caldwell is in him?”

  “He admitted he’s felt not himself often in his life. In fact, since he could remember. He also shared he often was driven to behaviour that, later, he didn’t understand but couldn’t control. He never understood it. It even, at times, frightened him. He thought it was an unhealthy compulsion. Now he believes it’s Caldwell. Because of this, it didn’t take a lot of convincing.”

  “So he should take the potion. The potion works,” Belle replied. “Cassandra promised.”

  “Yes, love, and he’s already taken it as a preventative measure in the short run. But he’s adamant. He wants Cassandra to perform the ceremony.”

  She moved into him, putting her hand light on his chest even as her other hand still in his squeezed tight.

  She leaned in and whispered, “Let me talk to him.”

  “You won’t sway him,” Jack stated.

  “Let me try,” Belle pushed.

  “My love, he’s wracked with guilt. He killed our child. He could have killed you. He’s come to understand that and he can’t live with it. Not like this. He’s determined to pay a penance.”

  “He has to take that potion the rest of his life, Jack. That’s penance enough.”

  “I’ve shared this with him. He disagrees.”

  “So let me share it with him.”

  “Belle,” Jack whispered, letting her hand go but lifting his to cup her jaw as he dipped his face close to hers, “put yourself in his shoes. He pushed you down the stairs and took away our child. He didn’t do it but he did. This knowledge is new and it’s destroying him. I understand why he wants this. This…” he hesitated, clearly searching for a word before finding one, “thing inside him has controlled him, it has made him lose time where he has no idea what he’s done, it’s beleaguering his dreams and it caused him to commit a despicable act. He wants it gone. And I don’t like it but, my love, I also don’t blame him.”

  Belle hated to admit it but this made sense.

  She leaned deeper into him and tried something else. “Okay then, when is this going to happen? Perhaps, given time, he can come to terms with it. He can see the potion is working. We can show him we’re good with him and maybe he’ll change his mind.”

  “Fortunately, he has no choice but to wait. The moon is waxing. Cassandra said it must wane before she can perform the ceremony.”

  Such was her relief, Belle relaxed all her weight into him and his arm stole around her as she did.

  “Well, at least that’s something.”

  “Indeed,” Jack muttered his agreement.

  Belle got up on her toes to kiss his jaw then she moved away, Jack caught her hand again, trained the torch to the path and they resumed their walk.

  After several long moments of walking in silence, Belle remarked, “I should tell Lewis what happened. It may make him feel better about the bad man.”

  “Not necessary. After we were done speaking with Miles, Lorna and Lachlan left to call to him in order to share that information.”

  “Oh,” Belle whispered then asked, “Does Joy know all that’s happened and going to happen?”

  “By the time we get back, she will. Miles, Angus and Cassandra are telling her.”

  “Oh,” she repeated on a whisper, her worried thoughts turning to Joy and her reaction to all this and Jack’s hand gave hers a squeeze.

  They walked on for some time in silence.

  Belle broke it, saying, “The bright side is, that’s one thing down.”

  Through a low, soft chuckle Jack replied, “Yes, poppet, it’s one thing down.”

  “Now we just have to free Myrtle and Lewis.”

  “Right,” Jack’s voice was still trembling with humour, “that’s all we have to do.”

  “Someone will think of something,” Belle declared with more hope than certainty.

  “I bloody hope so,” Jack muttered, the humour gone from his voice.

  They walked on in silence, the beam of the torch bouncing on the path in front of them, the dogs loping and circling the pair as they moved through the night.

  Finally, Belle called, “Jack?”

  “Yes, love.”

  “What are we going to do when there’s no more drama?”

  “Bloody enjoy it,” he muttered but she stopped, tugging on his hand as she did so therefore he did too.

  When he turned into her again, she looked up at him and asked, “Do you think it’ll be boring?”

  “Are you asking if I think life will be boring or if I’ll become bored of you?”

  When did he come to know her so well?

  She didn’t ask this out loud. She didn’t have the chance.

  This was because Jack ordered, “Wrap your arms around me, Belle.”

  She did as she was told and his arms returned the gesture.

  She watched his shadowed face get close and only when it was an inch away did he speak.

  “I thought we agreed you had me wrapped around your finger.”

  “Jack –”

  “Belle, after a still remains to be seen clairvoyant white witch, a mad Scotsman and his twin niece and nephew who have supernatural gifts dispatch the spirit that is controlling my brother. And after we figure out whatever bloody thing we need to figure out to send two child ghosts who have apparently been haunting my ancestral home for over two hundred years to some other plane though we have no idea what that plane is nor how to do it nor did I even believe any of this existed mere weeks ago. And after your father, mother and grandmother drift to their next location where they can amuse and frustrate new people who are both lucky and unfortunate enough to be their next victims. And after I hopefully convince Yasmin not to break her husband’s heart but also not her own… again. Then we can concentrate on three things. First, getting married. Second, being married. And, finally, third, creating a family.”

  Belle stopped breathing.

  Jack did not. He kept talking.

  “So, as you can see, I’ll have no chance in the future to be bored, not, poppet, that you would ever,” his arms gave her a fierce squeeze, “bore me because you won’t. I can only imagine what Lila and Rachel have in their heads about their only grandchild and child’s wedding, not to mention my mother. And then we might, might have a brief respite before I hope to God we fill that house with children. Then, we’ll have decades of God knows what before we retire on an island, perhaps in Greece. By that time we’ll be old and decrepit but, my guess is, you’ll still be beautiful and definitely you’ll be well-dressed.”

  After his spectacular, amazing and beautiful speech, Belle blurted, “I love you, James Bennett,” and his face dipped even closer.

  “I know, Belle Abbot,” he whispered.

  “And, in future, when you ask me to marry you as in officially, just for your information, the answer is yes,” she told him.

  “Good to know,” he muttered, his lips a breath from hers.

  “And thank you,” she whispered and she felt his eyes look deep into hers through the dark.

  “For what, poppet?”

  “For being all that’s you.”

  Belle barely finished the word “you” before her mouth was taken in a deep kiss while two strong arms closed tight around her. She returned the kiss, her arms closing tight around Jack’s shoulders.

  And after Jack broke their kiss, he turned them toward home.

  Their wa
lk with the dogs was done.

  And they walked back to The Point a lot faster.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  The Omen

  Jack

  Jack walked into the austere room. A room in the old servants quarters that hadn’t been used in decades. A room that had nothing but a table draped in scarves, cluttered with vials, scales, jars and bottles and holding burning incense and candles, more candles burned in all the corners and last, there was a bed on which his brother was tied with rope.

  And when Jack walked into the room and took all this in, his throat closed.

  He swallowed against it, locked eyes with Miles and strode directly to the bed.

  “You don’t have to do this,” he told him quietly.

  “I do,” Miles returned firmly.

  “Miles –”

  “Jack, we’ve discussed this. Repeatedly. I need him out,” Miles gritted then his eyes shot to Cassandra who had moved to stand on the other side of the bed.

  If it was possible, which Jack wouldn’t have thought it would be until he witnessed it, she was wearing more scarves and more silver. Apparently, Wiccan ceremonial regalia included significantly over-accessorising.

  “The time is nigh,” she said softly.

  Jack’s eyes sliced back to his brother. “Give it more time. You’ve said you’ve felt more yourself. You’ve lost no time. Give it until the next waning of the moon. We’ll do it then if you’re so fucking determined to do this.”

  “No,” Miles stated curtly.

  “Miles, you could end up not you,” Jack reminded him, his voice harsh with concern.

  “And how’s it been, Jack, living with me being me?” Miles returned.

  Jack closed his eyes and only opened them when Miles spoke again.

  “I must do this and you know it.”

  Jack pulled in a sharp breath before he nodded. There was nothing more he could do. He’d talked himself sick, so had Joy as had Yasmin and, even once, Belle.

  Miles was determined.

  With nothing for it, he took a step away from the bed.

  “You know the plan, mate?” Lachlan, who’d moved in silently beside Jack, asked and Jack jerked his chin up.

  In the weeks between Miles’s realisation that he was possessed by the spirit of a murderer and his understanding of all that was happening at The Point, Miles had had an idea. An idea unfortunately or, perhaps, if it worked, fortunately he shared with Cassandra and Angus. An idea they thought was brilliant but, as usual with this group, Jack was not entirely sure.