Madison rushed out of her tutorial and onto George Street. She stifled a yawn with the back of her hand. Again. She had been repeating the same gesture all day. Her first night in her new house hadn’t been as restful as she’d expected. Beside her, Rupert had barely contained his tension. He had tried not to toss and turn but after a while he had left their bed and paced around the house.
Damn Aurélie. Plus, there was this unknown element now in the “Greensleeves” equation. If Laura Vance had actually been Liliana in a previous life, did it mean anything? Surely there was a similar type of love triangle: Liliana-Henry VIII-Anne Boleyn back then, Laura-Hugo-Camilla in modern days. But the modern triangle was invalidated since Laura had died in a car crash four years ago.
Something was missing. Until she had figured it out, she wouldn’t share her discovery with Rupert. The subject of his mother was still a painful one.
Shaking her head, Madison straddled her bike and put on her helmet. She didn’t want to think what an idiot she looked at that moment. The helmet was Rupert’s latest gift. He could have opted for a neutral color, but no, instead he had gone all stars and stripes. Since then she had been cycling through Oxford dressed for a Fourth of July parade.
After a quick glance at her watch, she hurried forward. She had to arrive at the Turf before peak time. Sam had been at every twist and turn since her return from Louisiana, but … She realized she didn’t have his cell phone number, and that all she knew about him for sure was that he worked at the Turf and she had met him on the night of Henry’s first appearance at the concert. Could Sam be linked to the “Greensleeves” mystery?
Ten minutes later she chained her bike to the railings opposite the Radcliffe Camera and hurried up toward New College Lane, down St. Helen’s Passage, giving a mental kick to Aurélie’s memory, not even a day old. Hopefully Rupert’s warning would have discouraged her.
When Madison entered the Turf, relief flooded over her. Sam was where she needed him to be: behind the bar. The pub was empty, a very rare occurrence. The only other person there apart from Sam was Cassie. Hmm. Based on the way Sam held the girl tightly in his arms, it was clear these two were more than co-workers.
She was about to retreat outside to give the two some privacy when Cassie’s warm voice stopped her.
“Please, don’t go away.”
Sam’s first reaction was to scowl at the interruption. His gaze softened when his eyes met Madison’s.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude.” Madison curled the tips of her toes.
Cassie waved for her to come back in. “Don’t worry.”
The girl had been crying. Her cheeks were all blotchy, her eyes red-rimmed, her nose runny. Despite her distress, Madison saw that Cassie still managed to look incredibly pretty, with her cute turned-up nose and aquamarine eyes.
“What can I do for you, Pumpkin?”
Sam kept his arm wrapped around Cassie’s shoulders in a possessive grasp. His gesture reassured Madison. The guy couldn’t have any plans to make a move on her after displaying his feelings toward the other girl. Maybe getting in the sack with Madison hadn’t been the motivation behind his recent overwhelming presence in her life after all.
“I came to talk to you.” Giving an all-encompassing wave to the room, she explained. “This is the only place I know I can find you.”
“I was expecting you,” he answered.
Cassie gave Sam’s chest a tender pat and he dropped a light kiss on her forehead. He came around the counter to stand in front of Madison.
“Let’s go and sit somewhere quiet,” he said, heading toward a table nestled in the alcove overlooking the pub’s courtyard.
Madison remembered having her first dinner with Rupert at that exact table, just before Christmas. She and Sam now sat opposite each other. Madison entwined her fingers on the table, mirroring Sam’s own gesture. Their eyes met and they measured each other up. She broke the silence.
“What’s happening with Cassie?”
“An asshole is playing with her heart.” Sam’s answer had the merit of being terse and clear.
“Who? Do I know the guy?” Really, LeBon, none of your business. But if someone she knew was playing havoc with Cassie’s feelings, Madison wouldn’t hesitate to give him the cold shoulder. Or worse. Female solidarity and all.
“Her husband.”
What? Cassie was married? She wasn’t much older than Madison.
Sam shifted on the wooden bench and Madison could see he immediately regretted having disclosed these details about Cassie’s private life. Time to change the topic anyway.
“How do you know so much about me?” she threw at him.
“I came to Oxford for you.”
Good heavenly days. At least the guy didn’t beat about the bush. She swallowed hard. Countless questions and scenarios wrestled inside her head. There was no need to go around her elbow to get to her thumb.
She summarized her thoughts into one single word. “Why?”
“I’m your brother.”
32
MADISON JUMPED TO her feet. “You’re lying like a no-legged dog.” She burst out from the corner where they sat.
With one cat-like movement, Sam stood in her way and grabbed both her elbows. He toned down his dominating stance by pleading, “Give me a chance to explain.”
She stepped sideways with a clear intent of getting out of the pub.
“Please!” Sam begged.
Madison wanted to push him aside and get the hell out of there. That was what she should be doing. The dude was delusional. But … but there was this tiny, weeny voice whispering promises into her ear. A brother.
“My mom would never lie to me. She decided to keep me and she was barely twenty when she got pregnant. If she were your mother, she would never have abandoned you.” Her jaw tensed and she shook her head. “My mom isn’t like that.”
“We share the same father, Pumpkin, not mother.”
He delivered the explanation as if it would make perfect sense from then on. It didn’t. Madison didn’t want it to.
It had taken her years to understand that her dad had only been a sperm donor, years to accept he’d never attend her Christmas party at school, or her graduation. She had stopped searching for his face in her own each time she paid attention to her reflection in the mirror.
“We don’t look anything like each other,” she blurted out. Strong argument, Madison, you’re making your case well. No wonder she had never shone in debating class.
Sam laughed. “Now that must mean what I said is a lie.” Returning to a more serious tone, he added, “Please, sit down. I need to explain.”
Madison didn’t resist when he led her back to their seats. There, his hands settled over hers across the table.
“I don’t expect you to just open your arms and call me ‘bro,’ but I’d do anything to prove to you that I’m telling the truth. We can take a blood test, if you want.”
Real life wasn’t like in CSI. Madison knew it would take weeks to get the results back.
“Trust your instincts.”
Damn . Sam had voiced her inner thoughts.
“Don’t you think it’s asking me to take a massive leap of faith?” She forced sarcasm into her voice. “What’s his name? Our father, what’s his name?”
Sam’s shoulders slumped. “It’s not for me to say. Our dad travels a lot, but he should be back here in Oxford for us in a couple of days. Maybe you can meet then.”
Madison took her hands back, cutting the bond between them. “Why should I believe a word you’re saying?”
“Because I’ve been there every time you needed a big brother.” He leaned forward, betraying his eagerness to convince her.
“We haven’t even known each other for two weeks. It hasn’t exactly been a lifetime commitment, has it?”
“I’ve known about you for no more than a month.”
This was too much. Too much. “My aunt freaked out when she met you. Is that because she knows who you ar
e?”
“I doubt Louise LeBon knows I even exist. But she must have recognized my tattoo.”
Madison felt her eyebrows reach her hairline. Sam couldn’t be more cryptic.
“Our dad has the same.”
“Our” dad.
Madison shut her eyes to hide the tears now itching behind her eyelids. She wasn’t going to cry. But the squeeze of Sam’s hands over hers tore her defenses apart. She wanted to believe. She so wanted to believe she had a big brother. And the single tear winding its way down her cheek betrayed that fact.
“Pumpkin, you need me. I know you see things other people don’t see. I also know everything about those crazy bastards you’ve been meeting late at night. You must cut yourself off from them.”
“That woman should leave me alone for a while. Rupert told her off.”
“Your boyfriend is a helluva fighter.” Sam touched his jaw absently, as if he remembered where Rupert’s fist had hit. “But these people are like the mob. They’re not just a bunch of crazies. They have money, powerful support and a belief system that’s centuries old.”
“Voodoo isn’t just a bunch of crazies …” The words fell harshly between them. She shifted in her seat, tasting her own surprise. She had never really thought about what voodoo meant to her, what it really meant. “Voodoo isn’t just needles and dolls and snakes. It’s as much about life as death. There’s poetry, goodness, and joy in it too. It gave my people hope when they’d lost everything—their freedom, their dignity … everything.”
Pride stiffened her spine and she fought back the tremor in her voice. Getting all soppy, LeBon.
Sam’s fingers tapped on the tabletop. The tip-tap, tip-tap filled the silence between them until he finally broke it.
“I know that, Pumpkin. I’m not one for clichés. My mother is a Navajo. I know what it’s like to fight for your heritage and your memories. I know how it is to face people’s prejudices. The last thing I want is to inflict them on my own sister. But those people we’re talking about, they’re not about real voodoo.”
Sam had a mother. Well, sure, dummy. It’s a biological requirement. Madison wondered if the woman had anything in common with her own mom, beyond the obvious: sleeping with the same commitment-phobic jerk. Madison was about to ask Sam more about his maternal family, but he started talking again.
“Let me help you. Put your trust in me. Very soon, we’ll be able to tell you everything.”
It would come as a nice surprise if, once in her life, someone didn’t ask her to wait before she received full disclosure. Aunt Louise, Aurélie, Jackson, they were all ready to tell her “everything,” just “not quite yet.”
A mouthful of air rattled her cheeks and her shoulders slouched like a deflated balloon. “What’s in this for you?”
Sam escaped the hold of her gaze for a couple of seconds. She thought she saw a blush spread across the dark skin of his cheekbones.
“Well, you know, I was an only child too.” He cleared his throat. “I’d like to have a little sis. I figure we have a lot of catching up to do.”
“We do.” This time Madison was the one sliding her hand across the table and touching Sam’s. “I’m ready to trust you as long as you come up with a very convincing explanation very soon, starting with how you know about Aurélie, and …”
“And what, Pumpkin?”
“I’ll need to know who your, my, our father is.”
“Deal.”
“Deal.”
Students had started filling the pub, and with Cassie alone behind the bar Madison felt it was probably time for her, hmm, brother to go back to work. So she stood. She was about to grab the satchel she had dropped at the foot of the bench when an idea crossed her mind.
“Do you want to come to my place after work?”
Her question took Sam aback and he didn’t answer right away. “Yeah, yeah, I’d love that.”
“My friend Ollie’s coming to help me with a problem. Since you know everything about me, you already know that I see dead people.”
Sam stood up next to her and smiled. “Yeah, I’ve heard that about you, sis. I’d like to know more.”
“Six P.M., tonight. My place. You’ll get more than you asked for. And refresh your knowledge of the Tudors by then.”
“Pumpkin, my best friend’s name is Google.”
She buried her need to give him a hug. Whatever her heart told her about him, she had to wait more before lowering all her defenses. But hey, if Princess Leia had finally met her long-lost brother, Sam Blackhawk could be Madison’s very own Luke Skywalker.
Now, who was hiding behind Darth Vader’s mask? Aurélie? Hugo? Or even her own father?
33
STILL REHASHING THE morning’s conversation with Louise, Rupert climbed the staircase to Madison’s studio, two steps at a time. They had agreed he would give her a lift back to “their” place once she had finished studying. Her moving into his house in Jericho wasn’t entirely acted out yet. Madison wanted to keep her study space at Christ Church. But right now his car was parked illegally at the curb on St. Aldate’s and they had to move soon or he’d get a ticket. Another one.
He was about to knock at Madison’s door when he heard voices coming from her room.
Madison’s voice.
And Ollie’s.
And …
Fu—!
His fist banged against the door.
“Hey.” Madison welcomed him with a smile. She wore one of Rupert’s old rugby jerseys over tight jeans. Her feet were bare.
The girl was cute and Rupert couldn’t keep his hands off her. He didn’t. Sliding his fingers along the back of her neck, he pulled her toward him and covered her mouth with his. She tasted so goddamned sweet.
With her hand now on his chest, she pushed him away and turned her head. Rupert followed her gaze and found Ollie and Sam sitting on the threadbare carpet with Mamie’s diary between them.
“Since when are you sharing your family secrets with a stranger?” He came one step closer to Sam. The guy didn’t budge.
“He’s family.”
It took a few seconds for her answer to reach Rupert’s brain and his brain cells to fire up. “Family? You don’t know that guy from Adam.”
Ollie coughed and stood. “Time to work on my paper.” He passed Rupert and gave him a light slap on the shoulder. “Good to see you, mate.” The door closed behind him.
Rupert tilted his head to the side and planted his hands on his hips. Explanation time.
“Sam and I might be related.” Madison had moved so she stood between Rupert and Sam, making her body a barrier in case Rupert lashed out at Sam.
“Qualify ‘related.’” There was no way Rupert was going to beat around the bush, and if he sounded rash, so be it.
“He could be my brother … my half-brother.”
“What the fuck?” Rupert’s lungs constricted. He needed some air. To regain some sense of control, he rubbed his hand through his hair and broke eye contact with Madison.
“I know. I know it sounds crazy, but I’m ready to believe him. He said he’ll be able to prove it to me soon.”
“Prove it to you.” Rupert mimicked her words, giving a brainless spin to them.
Madison stood back, her lips tight together.
Jerk, he reproached himself. “Sorry.”
Rupert started marching the width of her tiny study. In the meantime, Sam had stood and was now immobile, his hands buried in his pockets, silent. Rupert stilled, trying to showcase the same control as the American.
“So, the LeBons are an ever-extending family.” Rupert teased. “After the aunt, the half-brother.”
“Sam isn’t a LeBon. We share the same father.”
“I see. It does make some sense now.” Rupert’s voice grated on his own nerves. He sounded so much like his own complete ass of a father.
“Listen, dude, I know we haven’t had the best start.” Sam tucked a wisp of his chin-length hair behind his ear. “But you s
hould be relieved. At least I’m not trying to sleep with your girlfriend. That’d make me a sick bastard.”
“No, you’re just trying to move into her life. Madison longs for a family and you’re exploiting that weakness in her.”
Rupert pointed his index finger at Sam and struggled with the confusion inside. He was still jealous. If Sam weren’t talking total crap, Rupert would have to share Madison with someone else. He knew he should be happy for her, not resent the bond she would share with her … brother.
A vibrating buzz sliced through the silence. Sam grabbed his phone from his pocket and checked the message. Despite Rupert’s outburst, he had remained calm. But now he started biting on his fingernails and his eyebrows merged into a mono-brow. His whole demeanor showed his tension and concern.
“I have to go,” Sam said.
“Really?” Disappointment weakened Madison’s voice.
Her reaction tugged at Rupert’s heart. He felt even more like a moron for not sharing her earlier hopes.
“Something came up.” Sam turned the doorknob and stepped outside the room. “Rupert, you don’t like me. I get it. But believe me when I say that you and I want the same thing: for Madison to be safe. From that Aurélie, and even from the ghost she’s fighting to save your stepmother.”
When Rupert found himself alone with Madison, his reaction was to stare blindly at the tip of his shoes. “Sorry.”
Madison released a loud breath. “That’s okay.” Her answer was feeble. “I want to trust my gut. And my gut tells me he’s telling the truth.”
“Then I believe it to be the truth too. As long as he accepts a DNA test.” The thought of his car outside sprang back into his mind. “Let’s get back to our home.”
Madison nodded with a smile. She took off his rugby jersey to reveal a tight black top. She grabbed her trench coat and satchel. “Vamonos!” She went out in the corridor.
Rupert followed her and shut the door behind them. “Let’s hurry. I’ve left the Morgan in a perilous position.”
“We wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to your other girlfriend.” Madison always took the piss out of his jewel.
Oxford Shadows Page 17