by Lexi Post
Jessica’s face paled.
Blast, he hadn’t expected anything like this. “She looks young because things are different when you are a Spirit.”
“Oh, that makes sense.” Holly turned back to watch the interaction between the Tinders, young Jessica, and herself and her mom.
Duncan pulled Jessica aside to converse privately. “What’s wrong?”
“What isn’t? I thought I’d only been in training a few years.” She looked devastated.
He laid his hand on her shoulder. “The Spirit Guide training is very long. I dinna ke—know what it is in the time of the living because it’s irrelevant. Time doesn’t matter anymore.”
Jessica nodded, but was clearly not convinced. “Did it take me longer to complete it than most recruits?”
He smiled as understanding dawned. “Actually, you were one of the quickest to finish in my entire memory of training Spirit Guides.”
“Really?” Her wish to be the best was endearing and not unlike a number of male trainees he’d had, but he sensed the need for success stemmed from a different place with Jessica. From her need to help others. From her heart.
“Aye.” He squeezed her shoulder then forced himself to let go. “But you were nervous even before Holly brought up your age difference. What are you afraid of?”
“What?” She looked away. “No, I’m just trying to figure out why this event is considered a happy one for Holly. If I remember correctly, she and her mom lost everything.”
She wasn’t telling him the entire truth. Something else bothered her. But she made a good point. He had a feeling it had to do with her brief moment in Holly’s life, but he wouldn’t tell her that. “I’m sure Cameron knows what he’s doing. It is his wife and he wants her happy.”
“Of course, you’re right. We should get back there.”
“Jessica?”
She halted after floating a foot or so. “Yes.”
He’d been about to tell her no’ to get too wrapped up in the visit to Holly’s past, but his gut said it would fall on deaf ears and it would make him sound like he cared far more than he did. “Your choice of clothing was perfect for this.” He let his grin widen as relief and confidence filled her face. “And ye look good enough to eat.”
She rolled her eyes and sped back to Holly.
He laughed loudly, sure she heard him when Holly glanced back. He winked at her and she smiled.
Holly glanced at Jessica before turning back to watch her history unfold.
He drifted toward them, enjoying himself far more than he’d first expected. The Tinders, along with young Holly and her mom, were just entering one of the moving conveyances that were everywhere in the current time period when he joined Jessica and Holly.
“Can we follow them to their house?” Holly addressed him directly.
“Of course.” He glanced at Jessica. “Is that acceptable to you?”
She bestowed a fake smile on Holly as she nodded, but Holly was too excited to notice. He noticed though. “Take my hands, ladies.” This time he purposefully put himself between the women, a chance to touch Jessica could no’ be passed up. Jessica’s light cranberry scent mingled with Holly’s, who smelled like apples to him. The combination reminded him of the kitchens at Rossan and caused him to grin. No wonder journeys into the past could make people happy.
As he sped them to the Tinders’ house, he squeezed Jessica’s hand. She glanced at him, her expression filled with worry, and he gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. There was something she hadn’t told him about this night. He needed to get her away and discover what it was.
As they arrived, everyone had just finished dinner. He purposefully timed it so Holly could see what happened once she went to bed. Cameron had told him about this episode.
Holly inhaled deeply. “Can you smell that lasagna? Grandma Tinder had made a big batch to bring to her daughter’s house, but they cancelled their plans when they got the call that we needed help. I should have felt bad, but that night I was too selfish and was thankful I got to eat the food instead. Talk about comfort food.”
Jessica placed her hand on Holly’s shoulder. “I’m sure the family understood. You had just lost everything. Sacrificing a meal for you was just a little something they were happy to do.”
“Oh, but they did so much more. Look.”
Grandma Tinder got up and moved to the counter and addressed Holly’s mom. “Ms. Thomas told us you also had a thousand dollars saved in a cookie jar. Jim and I do the same thing and never thought about how it would feel if our house burned down. So we discussed it while you were getting changed, and well…” She reached behind her and lifted a ceramic cookie jar shaped like a black bear. “We want you to have ours.”
Holly’s mother shook her head and argued that it wasn’t right, she couldn’t take their money and that they had done so much already, but the Tinders insisted. Finally, her mother took the jar.
Jim sat at the head of the table, his arms crossed and smiling from ear to ear. “Go ahead, open it.”
Holly spoke over her shoulder. “Watch this.”
Duncan grinned at her excitement before glancing at Jessica to see she waited with bated breath.
Holly’s mom opened the jar and reached her hand in to pull out a wad of hundred dollar bills. “Oh, I can’t take this.”
Jim beamed from where he sat. “Too late. You already accepted the gift. You can’t give it back now. It would make us look bad.”
Holly spun around, even as her younger self got up and ran to hug her mom. “There was almost five thousand dollars in that jar. To say we were thankful would be an understatement.” She gave Jessica an unexpected hug. “Thank you so much for finding the Tinders for us.”
After a shocked second, Jessica hugged Holly back. Duncan liked the warmth in his chest at the emotional display. Maybe after this success, Jessica would relax a bit.
When Holly finally let go, there were tears in Jessica’s eyes. “I’m so glad I could help.”
Holly looked at him. “After that we just went to bed.”
“That’s true, lass, but I’m thinking you might want to see what happened next.”
“Really? Isn’t that a bit like spying?”
He shrugged. “Aye.”
Holly’s eyes gleamed with mischief. “Okay, I’m game.”
The three of them watched as the young Holly went upstairs with her mother. As soon as they disappeared from sight, Grandma sat down next to Grandpa. “I really like them.”
“Me too.”
Grandma pulled on Jim’s crossed arms. “No, I mean I really like them.”
He let her grasp his hand. “You’ve got that Christmas gleam in your eye, sweetie. I can practically see your mind working a mile a minute. Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“I’m thinking Holly is about the same age as Melanie and her mom is about the same size as Valerie.”
Jim cocked an eyebrow. “You want to give these girls your daughter and granddaughter’s Christmas gifts?”
Grandma Tinder nodded, her lips pursed together as if she couldn’t contain her wonderful idea, and she couldn’t. “Can you just see the looks on these girls faces when they find presents under our tree just for them. What do you say?”
Jim kissed his wife’s hand. “I say I have the most giving woman in the world for my wife. Let’s do it.”
“That’s my man.” Grandma got up and hugged her husband. “I’ll need some help changing the tags and getting everything under the tree.”
Grandpa stood and took his wife into his arms. “Have I told you I loved you today?”
Grandma thought for a moment and nodded. “Yup, just after I made you your poached eggs for breakfast, but you know I never tire of hearing it.”
He kissed her on the lips and let go. “Nope. Once a day is enough. I don’t want to spoil you.”
As Jim walked toward a back hallway, Grandma went after him. “You are such a tease, Mr. Tinder.”
&nbs
p; “And you are such a perfect one to tease, Mrs. Tinder.”
The room was empty but none of them moved. Duncan’s throat had tightened at the generosity and love in the house. For the first time in his afterlife, a tiny regret burrowed into his heart, but to acknowledge it would be to give it strength.
Holly floated to the table where the two older people had sat. Jessica swallowed hard and glanced at him. Her eyes revealed she was more affected by what they’d seen than Holly.
“I didn’t know.” Holly raised her hands out to the side. “All this. I had almost believed in Santa Claus again the next morning when there were presents for me under the tree. Mom was convinced they’d found a twenty-four-hour department store and snuck out while we were sleeping.” She smiled. “I’m so glad we had that fire.”
Jessica floated toward Holly. “I had no idea.”
Holly continued, like she felt a need to tell them. “They even skipped going to Christmas dinner at their oldest son’s house because they didn’t want to leave us. So they made two chickens they had in the freezer and we had the best Christmas ever.”
“I never knew that.” Jessica looked at Holly as if she were an angel herself. “Your case was so different from everyone else at that apartment complex. Half the people had family and the other half qualified for government programs, but you and your mom had neither. The only choice I had was a homeless shelter and I just couldn’t do that to you on Christmas.”
Holly grinned. “And Cameron says I have the biggest heart.” She winked at Duncan.
Jessica shook her head. “It was Christmas. Anyone would have done the same.”
Holly widened her eyes at Duncan. He agreed with her, but it was obvious Jessica didn’t see the beauty of her own heart. “So where did the Tinders come from?”
“I was so desperate to find Holly an alternative place to sleep that night, I asked a coworker if she had any volunteers who might be willing to help. She oversaw the Foster Grandparent program which actually connects older adults with children, but I was desperate.” Jessica looked from him to Holly. “My coworker went on maternity leave that Christmas and when she got back, I’d forgotten to ask her how you fared.”
Duncan loved the way her eyes shined with joy. She sincerely loved helping others and it had him looking at his own motivations.
Holly rested her hand on Jessica’s shoulder. “I’m so glad you did because Grandma and Grandpa let us use their summer cottage on a pond in Canterbury for free and told us it was a trial period. If we liked it enough, they would insulate it and then we could pay rent. Of course, we loved it and it was closer to mom’s work.”
“They did that, too?” Jessica looked stunned.
Holly nodded. “We still call them Grandma and Grandpa. Their whole family adopted us until mom married John, their third eldest son. Then we really were family.”
Duncan smiled at the happiness he felt radiating from Holly as she watched Mr. and Mrs. Tinder walk through the room with arms full of presents. As they headed into the living room, Holly floated after them.
He glanced at Jessica, who appeared a bit stunned but happy as well. What other surprises did Cameron have in store for them? His own excitement about the assignment ramped up.
He grasped Jessica’s hand and phased them back to her place.
Jessica pulled away and stared at Duncan in horror. “What happened? Why are we here? We can’t leave Holly there alone. We need to go back, right now.”
He grabbed her hand again but she tried to twist away.
Duncan pulled her into his arms. “Shhh, lass it’s okay. She is no’ alone. We’re with her.”
She stopped squirming. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, there’s no time in the afterlife. No time is passing for us. When we return, it will be the same time as when we left.”
She tried to wrap her mind around that. It did make sense, but it was still hard to truly understand. Maybe when they got back, it would help her see. In the meantime, she was held against the very hard chest of her mentor and after the surprise she’d just had, she wasn’t in a hurry to back away. “I think I understand. But why did you bring us back?”
He loosened his arms a bit and met her gaze. “Because you just had a shock and I wanted you to have time to understand it.”
She stiffened. “I grasped what just happened. I’m not stupid.”
She felt him take a deep breath. “That’s no’ what I meant. I think the term you would use is…is…” His brow furrowed as he thought, then his smile returned. “Process it. You need time to process it.”
It was too thoughtful of him for her heart not to notice. Who was Mr. Duncan Montgomerie really and how could she find out?
He pulled her tighter against him and kissed her hair. Then he let her go.
She wanted to stay in his arms, which made no sense. The man was a seducer. He was only interested in one thing, wasn’t he? She still took the opportunity to put some space between them as she “processed” what he’d just done for her.
“Did you see the joy on her face?” He solidified before plopping onto the couch, his large body taking up half the space with his arms spread across the top and his legs crossed in front of him.
The warmth she’d felt at Holly’s happiness spread throughout her body again, even as she solidified too. It was so exciting. “Yes. The sorrow that hangs around her all the time was squashed for a moment. Do you think we have a chance? Because to be honest, I had my doubts at the start of this.”
He grinned up at her, his own thrill lighting his eyes with a deep-blue light. “I do. But we’ve only just begun. She’s too young to have so much sadness. It will be difficult to bring her to a level the next spirit can work with, but we’ve made a great start.”
She nodded then moved to the chair across from him. She sat and bent her knees, lifting her feet to the chair and hugging her legs. “I agree. I guess Cameron knew what he was doing when he sent us to that fire.”
“Aye, I never doubted it. He’s the best supervisor I’ve had and I’ve had many.”
“How long have you been training Spirit Guides?” She couldn’t contain her curiosity, though she’d promised herself she would.
He shrugged. “I dinna know. Can’t even remember how many supervisors.”
“Will it be like that for me too? Always being a Spirit Guide?”
“That’s up to you.” He hesitated, as if he chose his words carefully. “Some switch duties.”
Yes, she remembered looking at a list, but as soon as she’d read the job description for Spirit Guide, she’d made her choice.
“And some…they move on.”
“Move on?” What was there to move on to? “Where do they go?”
He uncrossed his legs. “I am no’ entirely sure. It’s been whispered they achieve paradise, but I doubt that. I’ve been here probably a couple hundred living years, so if that were the case, why haven’t I moved on?”
She tried to wrap her brain around this new information. So there was some sort of hierarchy here, or maybe those who moved on went to an area of the afterlife Duncan didn’t know about. He didn’t appear to be incredibly inquisitive. “Personally, I think this is paradise. I have my comfortable house, a profession I love and my same youthful body.”
At the mention of her body, Duncan leaned forward, his forearms on his spread knees. “I was only jesting about how gorgeous you were when you were younger. That was just the tip of the iceberg compared to now. I just said it to get Holly to smile.”
She pushed her glasses up, flushing at his compliment. “I know. I caught on afterward. I shouldn’t have scowled at you either when we first arrived at the fire. I was just so taken aback by arriving at such a scene. Even once I recognized it, I couldn’t imagine how it could be a happy memory. I have to have faith in you and Cameron.”
Duncan reached his hand toward her. “Truce.”
She dropped her legs and shook his hand just before he pulled her on top of h
im. “Duncan!” His hard body beneath hers felt like solid muscle and every soft spot on hers liked it.
“Aye?”
“I thought we were having a truce. Let me up.”
“We have to kiss on it first.”
“What?” She tried to leverage herself off his chest but his arms were like steel bands around her.
“Shaking hands is what your time period does. In my time, we kissed.”
She stilled for a moment and stared at him. “You kissed men?”
He threw his head back and laughed.
She’d never met a person who was happy so much of the time.
“Ach, lass, you’re goin’ to make me split me pants.”
At the mention of his pants, she became keenly aware that his crotch rested beneath her abdomen.
He grinned at her. “I dinna kiss men, but with women we seal our agreements with a kiss, no’ a shaking of hands.”
She opened her mouth to argue the point, but his lips came up to hers, catching her off guard.
His tongue didn’t hesitate to breach her lips and his strong arms held her in place as he explored her mouth, filling her nostrils with his pine scent and curling her toes with his mastery over the kiss. His tongue explored her, tangling with her own even as the hand that held her head tilted it a bit more so he could thoroughly taste her.
Spikes of desire swirled through her body like a water spout, sending pleasure in all directions. She’d lost total thought process when he stopped and stared at her, a strange look on his face, as if he’d just kissed a ghost. Bemused, she gave him a soft smile. Technically, she was a kind of ghost but then again so was he.
She could feel his rapid heartbeat beneath her breast just before his muscles tensed and he pulled her up and sat her back in her chair before he strode to her bay window.
Really? They share an amazing kiss and then he gets up and walks away?
Duncan stood staring at the ocean. Was the kiss really just a way to seal their truce? It could very well be. She was silly for expecting it to be anything more with a man like him. Too bad she couldn’t look at sex like he did. Still, she couldn’t help touching her lips since his back was turned.