“Come on, now, fess up,” Leah goaded. “I know it’s not bad stuff, but good news. What’s going on with you two?”
“Well, he had to go to a meeting for work. That’s why he wouldn’t drink a beer. Not that he’d get drunk on one, but he didn’t want to smell of it. He’s getting a promotion.”
“Yeah, and what else…” Leah was trying to pull the words out because Billy was being guarded, and she really didn’t know what was happening between the two of them.
“Are you going to need the truck to help him move in?” James asked. He could see what was going on. “I mean, it’s yours to do whatever you want with. Shoot, I’ve got my chauffer here and won’t need the truck until the night of the 16th.” James looked over at Leah and winked.
She grinned in return, then sat up straight as she flashed on what James was insinuating. “Peter’s moving in with you? Will this place be big enough for both of you? I mean, shoot, it’s not as if you’re going to need another bedroom or… Crap, I think I’ll just shut up before I cram my foot in my mouth all the way up to my kneecap.”
“He said he didn’t have much to move because he was renting a furnished apartment. He never felt like putting down roots until he met me. I guess it was pretty much the same with us as with you two. We just knew from the very beginning that it was the right thing to do. So, what about you two? When’s the big day?”
“The day after tomorrow,” James and Leah said at the same time, then looked at each other and smiled.
“Why do you have to get married so soon? I mean, shoot, you already told me that you weren’t waiting…” Billy looked over at both of them to make sure he wasn’t being too familiar.
Leah and James both shrugged shoulders, but it was Leah who spoke up. “You’ll probably think this is weird, but James insisted that we be handfasted before we, you know…”
“I think the proper words are ‘consummated the relationship.’ That’s the way Ramona and Gregg did it in that one ‘Lost’ book, right? When they didn’t want to wait or look for a preacher?” Billy recalled.
“You’ve read them?” James exclaimed.
“Well, yeah! Leah was such a nut about them that I pretty much had to, just to keep up with her and her ramblings and ravings about them. Hey, I think I have the whole series over here now. They weren’t burned in the fire! You let me borrow them, and I never gave them back.”
Tension started to fill the air around James and Leah as Billy started retelling his favorite events in the Lisa Sinclaire novels, commenting on Lord Julian, and how he thought that he should have gotten a partner somewhere in the stories. After a few minutes of rambling, Billy realized they weren’t contributing to the conversation.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you two? You look like you’ve seen a ghost, and I know I’m not that pale,” Billy joked. They didn’t answer. “No, really—why do you two keep looking at each other like that? Leah, I thought you liked those books.”
James literally gathered himself together—sucking in air, pulling in his elbows to rearrange his body into a formidable entity—wordlessly letting Billy know that he wanted to avoid that topic of conversation. He definitely didn’t want to comment on the ‘Lost’ novels. Hopefully, Billy would recognize his blatant avoidance of the subject as a request that they ‘discuss this later.’
“All right,” James said in a formal tone, pretending he hadn’t heard Billy’s remarks, “so Leah and I are already handfast—or is that handfasted?—and morally wed. So, if you think Mum is up to it, would you be willing to stand up for me if we got a preacher or magistrate to come to the hospital and perform a little ceremony in her room? I want to make this legal, and the sooner the better.”
Billy looked back and forth between the two of them and realized that something was amiss, but that they didn’t want to talk about it now. That was okay; they were all cool. They’d spill the beans when they were ready.
“All righty,” he said, then began to speak voce basso, as if announcing a news announcer. “Wedding ceremony to be held in ICU room with long, lost mother and brother as witnesses. Assailants kept at bay by ever vigilant members of the Greensboro Police Department.”
He laughed at his own silliness, then reverted to his own voice. “Sounds good to me. Leah, do you have a preacher in mind, or should I call Jake?” he asked, then looked at James to make sure he wasn’t left out of the decision.
James shook his head in wonder. “Hey, I don’t know anyone, but personally, I’d rather have a minister or priest than a magistrate. Leah and I can get the license first thing in the morning—that is, if you can get my birth certificate. Then we can meet back at the hospital at what…is 9:30 okay for you?”
“9:30’s fine. I already have the birth certificate.” Billy saw the surprised look on James’s face. “Hey, I work fast when it’s important. It’s on the counter. Don’t forget to take it when you leave.”
“Jake would be great,” Leah said. “Would you call him for us? But remember, it has to be a short ceremony. Even if Bibb is out of ICU, which I believe she will be by then…” Leah gave them both a grin of smug self-assuredness and saw it come right back at her. Her men knew that all would be fine with their mother, too. “Well, the rooms are small, so it’ll just be the five of us, and then…” Leah looked at James and grinned, “We’ll be ready for our honeymoon.”
James gasped at her words. The magnitude of leaving this world hit him suddenly, leaving him woozy and shocked. He grabbed a kitchen chair and sat down. Whoa! They were going to be gone from this realm, this time dimension, probably forever. He had just met his real mother and brother, and now he’d never get to know them…
“Hey, dude, are you okay? I mean, you’re just getting married to the most wonderful woman in the world for the rest of your life. It’s not that scary now, is it?”
James looked at him, his face pale and stunned. “It’s not the marriage, but the honeymoon that has me spooked. Really, look at me, can’t you tell?”
Billy could see he was telling the truth. “So why is the honeymoon scaring you? Where are you two going, Mars?” he asked sarcastically.
“No, even further away than that,” Leah said softly, now frightened, too.
“Ho-kay, now you’re both scaring me,” Billy said. “Where exactly are you going?”
“Well, where we’re going isn’t far…” James began, not knowing how he was going to finish.
“Can we talk about this later, Billy,” Leah interjected, saving James from the awkward and phenomenal explanation. “I want James to know more about you. I mean before we go. I, um, well, let’s just say that now I’m curious, too, about how all this came about.”
“Well, there’s not much to it,” Billy explained, still a little concerned about the secretive attitude of his two friends. “There’s just me. That’s all there is and all there ever has been—nothing more, nothing less. Just me.”
“So Bibb just dropped you off at a hospital and you were raised in an orphanage?” Leah asked rhetorically, trying to find an opening for a different topic of conversation.
Billy shrugged his shoulders in answer. She knew he had been raised as an orphan and wasn’t sensitive about it. He had it better than most kids from divorced or ‘let’s stay together for the children’ families.
Leah shifted in her seat, then asked the question that was really on her mind. “I never thought about it before just now, but how did you get your name?”
Billy snorted. “I asked that too when I was in kindergarten. The other kids were talking about how they were named after a grandparent or uncle or their Dad’s favorite superhero. I just walked away from them and went and played with the puzzles. When I got back home to the orphanage, though, I asked the housemother who I was named after. Well, it turns out she had been one of the nurses at the Winston-Salem Hospital when I came in and knew all about the naming process. She was a real nice old lady, God rest her soul, and made me and every one of her children feel loved. Anyhow
, she and a lot of the nurses were all fascinated with the movies that were made in 1939. There were lots of us named for characters from ‘Gone with the Wind’ and ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ I guess they’d been doing it for years and had just about run out of names. I got the name Billy Burke after the actress who portrayed the Good Witch of the North, Billie Burke.”
“Sounds reasonable,” Leah replied, then added with a chuckle, “at least that’s better than Glinda.”
“Or Toto or Hattie McDaniel. The boy’s names had pretty much been used up by the time I came around. No, I think Billy Burke is a decent name. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now that I have an acknowledged mother and father, though.”
Now it was Billy’s turn to feel uncomfortable and shift positions. He looked at James and asked sincerely, “Am I supposed to change my name now?”
“Well, it wouldn’t be a bad idea. I mean, we can get the blood tests done so there’s no basis for dispute. Just looking at the two of us, though, I’d say we’ll have a high percentage match. After that, I would like to have you officially recognized as my brother and the legitimate heir to the Melbourne title and,” James cleared his throat, still a little uncomfortable with the revelation, “family fortunes.”
“Fortunes, as in plural?” Billy asked, wide-eyed and slack-jawed in shock.
“Correct.” James looked around as if to make sure there wasn’t anyone else within hearing distance, although he knew it was just the three of them. “There’s the Melbourne account that is, well, the amount is not public information, but consists of the acknowledged finances of the family. And then there is…” James sighed. He had to tell someone if he was going to be gone. He didn’t want the monies to just disappear because of attrition, lack of heirs, or because no one knew about them. “The Pomeroy-Hart estate, the secret funds to be used only in case of extreme hardship. I thought I was going to have to access them when it appeared that Clotilde, the woman who is now my ex-wife, was going to wipe me out in the divorce. Here, give me your cell phone and I’ll Bluetooth the files with all the account numbers to you. You’re the primary heir now, the eldest.”
“What? That’s not what I wanted! All I care about is having a real brother, mother, and father. Hey, where is our father? You never said he died, but he’s obviously not in the picture right now. Do I need to do a little detective work?” he asked as he laced his fingers together and pushed them out, cracking his knuckles in preparation of a tough task.
“No!” Leah and James exclaimed at the same time.
“What?” Billy replied, stunned. The two of them were all wound up about the subject and for no apparent reason. It was a simple question, and he just got a very emotional answer. “Why not?” he argued, “I’m pretty good at that stuff. I mean, that’s how I make my living.”
“We…we know where he is,” James said reluctantly. “It’s just that he’s not, um, too available at this time, and I don’t know when or if he will be…”
“Ever again? Is that what you were going to say? Hey, what’s going on here? It sounds like a bad horror movie.” He laughed, then saw their faces fall at his remark. “Or a real good mystery novel. How does it end?”
“We don’t know yet,” Leah answered before thinking. “I mean… Oh, shit, James, we have to tell him. He knows we wouldn’t lie to him, so it’s time for a leap of faith.”
“Now you’re really starting to scare me. This isn’t ‘ooh dee doo dee’ Twilight Zone stuff, is it? You’re not going to tell me Dad’s off in some other dimension, are you?” Billy was trying to be light about the whole ‘where’s Dad’ scenario, but he was truly concerned.
“Those tracks that disappeared into nowhere after the Jane Doe disappeared, how do you explain those?” James asked, trying to put the ball in Billy’s court to see how open-minded he was.
“Well, I don’t, or can’t, or…shit, man, that’s one I should have given to Leah instead of you. She’s the great mystery solver.”
“You gave him the report? The one you said you couldn’t give me? Why, why, what the…” Leah was babbling with frustration and anger at her best friend and soon to be brother-in-law. She thought he trusted her.
“Well, there really wasn’t anything in it and I… Shoot, Leah, do you want to see it now?” Billy asked, unable to explain his reasons, but willing to offer the report to her as a gesture of good will.
“That’s too little too late,” she replied sharply. “Besides, I already know about it.” She looked over at James and smiled softly. “And he knows I do, too. AND, we both know who the first Jane Doe was, is,” she proclaimed with pride.
She paused, waiting to see Billy’s reaction, then saw he was mildly intrigued, but really not too excited about it. Well, he was sure to have a different reaction with her next declaration.
“She was—is—my mother. And she went back to be with her other family. And I think that’s where your father is, too, right now.”
Billy was now paying close attention to her, his body leaned forward, his eyes waiting for her to finish the thought. But it was James’s turn.
“They both went back to 1781,” he stated simply. “And that’s where we’re going; we’re going back to be with them.”
Billy scowled, was mum for a whole five seconds, then sat straight up and pronounced, “Bullshit,” never taking his eyes off them, waiting for the ‘gotcha’ he was sure would follow their explanation.
James and Leah shared a look of exasperation then identical shrugs. “Should we show him the video?” Leah asked.
“I think it’s the only way, now that the letters are gone.”
Billy snorted in resignation. “I think I need a drink or six.” He plopped back into the overstuffed chair and resolutely put one foot then the other on the ottoman. His eyes were still focused low, not wanting to see the faces of his friends—family, he reminded himself—right away. He brought his right hand to the bridge of his nose and rubbed his eyebrows in circles with his thumb and index finger, trying to make sense, not so much out of what they had said, but why they had said it.
Leah could see what was going on in his head, even if he wasn’t looking at her. “We’re not messing with you, Billy. It’s just…well, the direct explanation is the easiest in this case. I mean, how can I soft pedal, ‘my mother went back in time and got younger and, oh, by the way, she had triplets and I think your father went back to join her.’
“What the fu…?” Billy exclaimed, leaning forward, ready to come out of his chair.
“Hold on there, mate,” James said, with his hand held up. “Leah, don’t say another word.” James saw her glare at him for telling her what to do, then added sweetly, “Please.” Her face softened and he continued. “Let’s just show him the video and then talk, okay?”
“Okay,” Leah and Billy said at the same time.
They looked at each other without words, then Leah broke the tension, “Scoot over—we’ll both fit,” then snuggled up to Billy.
James had Dani/Evie’s smartphone. He handed it to Leah, then squatted next to them and looked over her shoulder. Leah did the button pushing, taps, and swipes to find the file.
The three of them watched the little video in total silence. Neither Leah nor James even commented that the young, very pregnant woman in the little picture-show was her mother. If Billy couldn’t tell, they’d explain later, but by the look on his face, he knew. He had been forewarned.
Billy’s dry response surprised them. “So why do you think you can go back to be with her? And where is our father in all of this?”
“You believe us?” Leah asked incredulously.
“Well, yeah. I don’t think that this is some prank you’re pulling on me. It isn’t, is it?” he turned to look at each of them in turn, making sure he hadn’t just been punked. “I mean, ‘If you eliminate the impossible, then whatever is left—no matter how improbable—must be the truth.’ That’s Spock from the J.J. Abram’s movie version of Star Trek™, by the way.”
/> “Sherlock Holmes said the same thing. And it’s the truth, all right,” James said. “And there were letters that collaborated this, but,” he drew out a long breath, “they were stolen, and I think by that slimeball, Eight.”
“Or his brother, Niner, but we haven’t figured out where they could have stashed them.” Leah turned in the seat and looked into Billy’s eyes intently, her face splashed with fear. “They’re still in custody, aren’t they?”
Billy winced, “Well, Eight is, but Niner got bailed out. Regardless, how would you go back, and why?”
“’Why’ is because I want to see my mother again. And here, James, show him the file with the map and note you got the other day.”
James tapped and slid his finger across the face of his smartphone to open the file, then handed it to Billy so he could examine the documents closer.
Billy pinched and swiped his thumb and index finger over the face of the screen to enlarge the photo. “There’s a forgery here,” he said. “Here, look. See, right on the edge of the XX’s is where someone overlapped another piece of paper. It’s been cut, and you can see the juncture. If you look closely at the thickness and consistency of the pen stroke on the XX’s compared to the other writing on the map, you’ll see that it was a different pen used, too. I would say someone pasted another piece of paper on top of the original map, then used a felt marker to alter the location of the XX’s.”
Billy looked up and saw their smiling faces. “What? Did you already notice this? Gee, I thought I was doing a good job.”
“Oh, you are, big brother. Neither of us had seen the alterations, but I had, well, done a little séance-type drawing, and Leah had a dream…” James nodded to Leah, giving her credit. She nodded back, proud of the discovery, “And our sixth senses told us that the XX’s were in the wrong spot.” James’s attitude dropped like a fart in an elevator. “Oh, shit,” he moaned.
Leah started to ask what, then gulped, “Yeah, oh, shit. Someone else knows about all of this, and I don’t think they’re friendlies. Do you think that the MacLeods have anything to do with this?”
Aye, I am a Fairy Page 36