Authors: Beth Trissel
She swiped
trem
bling fingers across her eyes.
“This has gone well beyond
that.”
“Maybe.
But it’ll be
OK, sweetheart.
I promise.”
“You won’t send me away?”
He caught her fingers and gave
them a squeeze.
“No
.”
Cha
rlotte appeared in the doorway,
a
glass in hand.
Will saw her look
hard from him
to Julia, and ba
ck to him
.
N
o doubt
this astute individual knew what lay between him and the woman he was making futile efforts to console.
“Jon’s taking over the tour while I se
e to Julia.” Charlotte
bustled inside the brightly lit room.
“I’m sorry to be such a bother,”
Julia sniffed.
Drawing
the frilly rosebud
curtains against the sunshine, Charlotte soothed,
“You’re no bother, honey.
If I had a daughter like you
, I’d
want her looked after.”
She stepped to the bedside and bent over Julia in t
hat kind way she had. “I phoned
Doctor Phillips and he said you could take one of these little blue tablets I
keep on hand for my insomnia.
All you need is a good sleep.” She slid a mothe
rly arm beneath Julia’s
shoulders and lifted her head to hold
the cup of water to her lips.
Eyes like a frightened child’s, Julia swallowed obediently.
Cole had scared
the life out of her, damn him.
Will was sorely tempted to call
in an exorcist.
Father Seth from Saint Ann’s Chapel would gladly answer the call
and bring half the parish
with him. But Will couldn’t do it.
He wasn’t sure why, maybe because it was eeril
y like having himself evicted.
God help him, he was beginning to sound like a crackpot too.
Charlotte settled Julia bac
k down on the copious pillows.
“Shut your eyes and you’ll be out in no time.”
“I sh
ould help you with the visitors.” Julia arched
up on her elbows
.
A gentle push from
Cha
rlotte returned the protesting young woman to the cushions
. “Don’t you worry about a thing.
There’ll be plenty of time for that when yo
u’re feeling better. Rest up.
You’ve a big day with the Queen mother tomorrow.”
Julia looked at Will in alarm.
“What in the world must she think of me?”
He managed a reassuring smile.
“You’ve impressed her as an excellent candidate for the part of Ophelia.”
“Only because Ophelia was crackers.”
“I’ll tell
her you’re a polished actress.
That will excuse your curious behavior and win you extra points.”
“But I’ve never acted in my life.”
“Nothing?”
He’d
performed
ever since he could remember.
“Not even a tree in elementary school?”
“Tutors,” she reminded him
with a wry curve of her mouth
.
“
We did hand puppets
.
And read aloud.
”
Her sheltered home life was
damn near
incomprehensible.
“Never mind. I’ll
rehearse your lines with you.
Besides, you tru
l
y are a natural for the role.
And n
ot because you’re crazy,” he added hurriedly, “just u
nique and lovely like Ophelia.
Besides, it was Hamle
t who drove the poor girl mad.
She was fine in herself.”
Skepticism creased Julia’s face
, but
she
seemed
more pensive than apprehensive
he was relieved to see.
“What am I to wear to this brunch?”
she
asked.
Charlotte intervened.
“I’ve just the outfit saved from my younger days. Even Nora
Wentworth
can’t disapprove of that.
I was far slimmer
back
then so it
should
fit you fine.
I’m o
ff now. Sleep well.”
She patted
Julia’s
shoulder and
turned to
go
, then
stopped.
“You’re still the same, Julia,” she added softly, and walked away.
Julia stared after her.
“What did she mean?”
“Nothing.
”
Will was
convinced the
entire household
grew
st
ranger by the moment.
He bent
back over Julia.
“I hate t
o leave you, but I should go
. I’ll check
in
on you.”
She melted him with a soulful glance
.
“Thank you, Will, for all your kindness.”
“What did you think I’d do?”
“Send me back to England, but I can’t leave Foxleigh.”
“I don’t want you to.”
She winked
sleepily.
“At all? Not even a cat
’s
whisker’s worth?”
He
smiled at her odd expression. “Not even that.
You really are the most unusual girl.”
D
rowsy from the medication
, she smiled faintly.
“I see...” she drifted off.
He gently shook her.
“What?”
“Cole,” she murmured, “in your eyes.”
He winced at the name.
“W
hy is it always about him
?”
“Because...it is.”
Julia’s
head nodded to the side and she sank into oblivion, leaving Will to wrestle with a phantom.
Damn him.
****
Julia woke to dusky shadows seeping through the ridiculously feminine drapes
in Will’s bedroom.
She must have
slept for hours and couldn’t be called
awake even now.
Her memories of the morning and early afternoon were vague, though Cole’s
––
or was it Will’s
––
striki
ng face stood out in her mind.
She wanted to get up and search
for him, but couldn’t stir from the bed
anymore
than
she could have her own grave.
The weight of medication lay heavily upon her like a sleeping potion from centuries’ past.
Mandrake root
, she decided, enough to make her sleep like death without killing her.
She must have dozed
again.
When she woke the second time
the room was dark.
Then she heard a man singing Josh
Groban’s
throbblingly
beautiful melody,
To Where You Are
.
At fir
st, she thought the song came
from a radio playing beneath the window, but it repeated a
gain a little more loudly.
That
couldn’t be a radio, perhaps a
CD player.
No.
I
t was a real voice.
His
powerful baritone soared into the night like when she and Cole had sailed
Manney
over hedges and walls.
The lyrics filled Julia’s head, branding her very soul, and she joined with the singer in her soprano.
His rich lead swelled to unbearable heights and
she sang with him tremulously.
“‘Fly me up to where you
are...
’”
Then his tone dropped deeper and she whisper-sang.
Again, the vibrant voice soared above her faint soprano
in the vaulting refrain. He
seemed to be in the house
now, then on the stairs.
Was he
real, or only a dream?
Her heart rose
in her tight throat.
“Cole
,
please don’t leave me alone. I can’t bear it anymore.”
The do
or opened.
Through her watery
gaze, she saw Will silhouetted in
the doorway. He walked
into the room singing under his breath. Sweet Jesus, it was the same tune.
****
Will sang in hushed tones listening for Ju
lia’s barely perceptible echo.
It sent an unspeakable thrill through him when he first detected the e
xquisite thread that was hers.
Then her p
laintive notes had faded away.
Perhaps he could coax more from her.
Wait.
S
omething was
wrong.
She sat up in bed clutching a pillow, fresh tears streaming down her cheeks.
“Was that you
singing
before?” she squeezed out as though she were speaking past a knot in her throat.
He halted in his tracks.
He thought she’d realized. “Yes, but I didn’t mean to upset
––
”
He got no further.
“Oh, Will
––
thank God!” Dropping the pillow, she
reached out her arms.
The Lord be praised, she was reaching for him.
As if she couldn’t get to him
fast
enough, she scrambled from the
bed.
Her legs couldn’t keep pace with her volatile emotions
and she staggered.
She would have
fallen, but he sprang forward just in time to catch her.
Instinct beyond all reason urged him to sweep her up
off her feet
and hold her to him.
By heaven, he’d never let her go
, if Cole didn’t pry her away. Let him try, blast him.
Will was the one she clung to now, that blue gown spilling ove
r him. How heavenly she felt.
If angels were as Julia, he wouldn’t ever choose mortal company again.
“I was singing with you
,
” she gasped
.
“I heard. Why did you stop?
You were wonderful.
”
“So were you.
But I thought you were Cole.”
Yet she
seemed so glad that he wasn’t.
Will was beyond confused.
“You sound alike,” she rushed on.
God forgive him, Will was heart and
soul in love with a mad woman.
He couldn’t help himself and tenderly circled with her in his arms, vowing never to forsake this dearest of all cr
eations, crazed though she was.
He a
lone could understand.
He alone co
u
ld
care for her.
“It’s all right now,
”
he said.
“Oh, yes.”
He slowly lowered her onto th
e mattress and sat beside her.
A quick snatch of tissues from the bedsid
e stand and he blotted her tear-stained
cheeks.
“I brought you some ice tea earlier,” he said, quelling the huskiness in his voice. He closed his hand around the still chilled glass and handed it to her.
“Thank you.”
She sipped readily and sat it back on the stand.
“Hungry?” he asked, gesturing at the darkened sandwiches.
“Not for food.”
Ag
ain, she
reached for him and curled her fingers around his arms
.
Then she
sank
back
down onto the pillows, drawing him with her
so that he was poised
just
above her
.
Lifting her hand, she slid her fingers lightly over his face spreading tremors at her caress.
Will
touched red hot li
ps to her cool fingertips.
It was as if the most provocative chords in all the earth were a chorus in his
ears and she stroked his inmost
parts.