Moriah's Landing Bundle
Page 77
David still woke up every morning trying to convince himself all over again that his new life wasn’t a dream. He held Tasha’s hand as they walked through the crowd and toward the back of the gazebo where they were to meet Drew and Brie. They never made more than a few steps’ progress without someone stopping to hug her and tell her how glad they were to have her back.
Amazingly enough, a lot of them shook his hand, as well, and thanked him for his part in stopping not one but two killers. His status of town beast was slipping fast, but he had to admit he liked his new status of hero much better. Even the scar appeared to be growing on people, and it bothered him less and less every day, as did the rest of his mangled body. Tasha loved him, and that was good enough for him.
Tasha. He still had trouble getting used to calling her that after she’d been Becca in his mind for the last few months. He loved the woman she’d become as much as he loved the one he’d met and fallen in love with five years ago. But knowing that she was the same woman explained the immediate and overwhelming attraction they’d had for each other from that first brief moment when their eyes had met.
“Looks like the whole gang is waiting on us,” Tasha said, waving. “Drew and Brie, Kat and Jonah, and Elizabeth and Cullen.”
“Claire’s with them, too.”
Tasha strained her neck. “I don’t see Claire.”
“Standing next to Elizabeth.”
“Oh, my gosh, that is her. She looks absolutely stunning. It’s hard to imagine her as the frightened mouse of a woman that she was just a few short weeks ago.”
“And speaking of stunning, did I tell you how wonderful you look tonight?”
She put a finger to her chin flirtatiously. “I’m not sure. Better tell me again just in case.”
“No. You’re getting much too spoiled.” But he kissed her and knew he was the one leading the charmed life.
TASHA, ELIZABETH, KAT, BRIE and Claire sat at a table under the stars while the men in their lives stood in line for a round of drinks.
“I never thought we’d all be together again like this,” Brie said, tugging on the puffed sleeves of her dress. “Now that we are, I’m having trouble believing it.”
Elizabeth spread her hands on the table, her diamond engagement ring that accompanied her wedding band reflecting the sparkle from the strings of miniature lights strung over their heads. “We’ve come a long way from that night five years ago in the cemetery.”
“I had to travel back from hell,” Claire said. “I couldn’t have done it without all of you.”
Kat reached over and squeezed her hand. “I just wish I could have done more.”
“I guess most of the thanks goes to David Bryson,” Brie said. “If it hadn’t been for him, Tasha would have been killed without our ever having known that she hadn’t died in the explosion the night before her wedding.”
“I love him,” Tasha said.
“Like we haven’t noticed,” Brie said as they all started laughing. “You drool all over the man.”
“Well, he is the hero of the day. Not only did he save my and Claire’s lives, but he may have developed a drug that can save Brie’s mother’s life.”
“I’m keeping my fingers crossed,” Brie said.
“We all are,” they agreed in unison.
“It’s been some year for Moriah’s Landing,” Elizabeth said. “Murders, underhanded medical schemes, scams of all descriptions. It’s as if the evil finally crawled out of the old mansions and beat-up shacks along the wharves and got stamped under the feet of justice. And it’s touched each one of us in some unique way.”
“I’m still not clear on how it all fits together,” Brie mused.
Elizabeth said, “It’s like this—”
“The layman’s version, Elizabeth,” Brie interrupted. “No university criminology technical jive.”
“You got it.” Elizabeth smoothed the tablecloth, ready to illustrate with the cocktail forks and napkins the scenario as she saw it. “Geoffrey Pierce, Dr. Leland Manning and even before him, Dr. Rathfastar, were all part of the secret medical society, all searching for the elusive gene W that they thought existed in the original witches of Moriah’s Landing. Dr. Rathfastar was too radical for the other members and they dismissed him from the group.”
“Kicked him right out,” Kat said, taking away one of the forks Elizabeth had lined up across the center of the table. “And that pissed the guy off.”
“Big time,” Elizabeth agreed. “So he started grabbing Manning’s subjects and killing them, taking the blood for his own experiments and not leaving any blood in the body for Manning. That’s why when Rathfastar was arrested, the crime spree wasn’t fully over.”
“And that’s when my Jonah stepped in,” Kat said.
“He stopped the illegal medical supplies—or rather, mummified corpses—that a member of the secret society was bringing into the county. And during his investigation, we found out that Ernie McDougal was the man who killed my mother twenty years ago.” Kat took away another fork.
“And then came a new villain,” Brie said. “Dr. Leland Manning, the monster who tried to do experiments on my daughter. And who killed his own wife and tried to kill Drew.” She picked up a fork.
“And finally Geoffrey Pierce. Strange how it all runs full circle,” Tasha said, picking up all the forks and holding them in the circle of her right hand. “All the searching for gene W and I have it. So now we know that there’s nothing to the theory that drove so many men to such heinous crimes.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure,” Claire said. “You’ve cheated death five times now. The night of the explosion, being buried alive, the crash on Old Mountain Road, the knife of Kevin Pinelle and the cyanide-laced needle of Geoffrey Pierce.”
A shudder rippled up Tasha’s backbone and she let the forks drop to the table with a clatter. “You don’t really think I’m a witch, do you?”
“Of course not.” Elizabeth said. “Just one lucky woman.”
“Let’s join hands,” Kat said, “the way we did that night at the cemetery. Only this time we’ll all think of all the things that bind us as friends.”
“Friends forever,” Tasha said, taking the hands of Brie and Claire. They closed their eyes and Tasha let her mind float from one to the other of the women at the table. She was so lucky to have friends like this, fortunate to have found her way back to Moriah’s Landing and the people who loved her. The moment seemed to pass in an instant, but they all held on to one another’s hands until the men returned, no one willing to break the bond that held them.
Friends forever. Lucky in love. Fortunate to be alive.
“IT WAS A PERFECT NIGHT,” Tasha said, slipping inside David’s arms.
“Almost perfect,” David agreed.
She propped a hand on her hip seductively, and his heart rolled over inside him.
“We could make it perfect,” she teased, “once we get back to the Bluffs. Are you ready to go?”
“Not quite.” He tugged her beneath a cover of twinkling lights that threaded around the bare branches of an oak tree.
“You look so serious,” she said, her eyes shining as brightly as the lights. “You’re not about to dump me, are you?”
“Not in this lifetime, but I am serious.” He fumbled in his front pocket for the ring, making sure it was still there. He’d done this five years ago, but he was certain he couldn’t have been any more nervous then than he was now.
He took her left hand in his and got down on one knee. “I loved you as Tasha and I loved you as Becca Smith.” He had practiced a flowery speech. He couldn’t remember a word of it now. “Will you marry me?”
She fell to her knees beside him. “We never made it to the altar, but I married you with my heart and soul five years ago, David Bryson, and our love was so strong that it drew me back to Moriah’s Landing even though I couldn’t remember the place or you.” She cradled his face in her hands, and he could see the moisture glistening in her eyes. “It�
��s always been you. It always will be.”
“Is that a yes?”
She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. “It’s a yes.”
He stood and tugged her to her feet. “Should I ask your parents’ permission again?”
“Let’s just ask their blessing, David. And I’m sure they’ll give it. Since you saved my life, twice, they’re ready to nominate you for man of the year. Drew, too. As soon as he’s elected mayor, he’ll probably give you the keys to the city.”
“I don’t need a key to the city. I have everything I need right here in my arms tonight.” He slipped the ring on her finger, and the tears she’d held in check started to roll down her cheek. He kissed them away as the band started playing. The beautiful, haunting theme from Beauty and the Beast wafted across the green.
“May I have this dance?” he whispered, his mouth close to her ear. “They’re playing our song. Just don’t expect me to turn into the handsome prince.”
“You already have.”
An owl hooted somewhere overhead. Tasha trembled, instinctively, afraid that the owl was an omen that their happiness would be ripped away from them again. But David took her in his arms and held her close as they moved to the music. The fear was swept away in the magic of the moment. Love was the only omen she’d believe in anymore.
A love that had lived inside both of them and drawn them back together against all odds. Claire had been right all along. She was bewitched by David, and he by her. He lowered his mouth to hers, and she lost herself in his kiss.
Bewitched forevermore.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-1587-4
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Howling In The Darkness
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Scarlet Vows
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Behind The Veil
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