A Season of Miracles (30 page)

“Eileen, anyone can miscarry. You'll have another baby. And Gary will probably be thrilled, because you'll finally break down and marry him.”

Eileen turned away from her. “Jillian, I'm being nasty to you. Don't you dare go being nice to me.”

Jillian sighed softly. “Eileen, I'm so sorry. But things will get better.”

“I even thought of adopting the little girl. But she liked you better.”

“You mean Jenny? Eileen, you made me go skate with her.”

“Jillian, please, just leave me alone. Just—just for now.”

“Sure. But you're wrong about that little girl, Eileen. She just wants love. Love her, and she'll love you back.”

Jillian started out of the room.

“Jilly?”

“Yes?”

“You're not going to believe this, what with the way I've just treated you, but…”

“But?”

“I do love you.”

“I love you, too,” Jillian said, and left her.

She walked back downstairs and was surprised to hear her grandfather's voice coming from the library—and it was rising. She heard a male voice reply to him—an angry male voice. At first she thought her grandfather and Daniel were at it again.

Then she realized it was Robert talking.

She shouldn't eavesdrop. Not even on those two.

But she walked closer and just stood there, her hand on the knob.

“Now you want me to stop. Now, when I have something! You told me to watch out for her. You even hired me because of my past. And I
have
watched out for her, I've done everything in my power to be with her every minute—”

He broke off, as she pushed open the door and stepped in. She felt as if she were burning from head to toe.

She stared at her grandfather first. “You hired him to watch out for me? As a well-educated bodyguard?”

“Jillian,” Douglas protested. “It wasn't like that.”

“And you!” She spun on Robert. “You've done everything in your power to be with me every minute. You sure have. You slept with me. You even married me.”

“Jillian…” He stood, speaking through clenched teeth. “You're acting like a fool.”

“A fool? I must be stark raving mad! I listened to you. I listened to you pretend that Milo was in the room, and I fell for everything you said. Grandfather, how dare you? Well, do you both want to know something? I don't want your protection. I'd rather cast my lot with the rest of them.”

She spun around and strode down the hallway. But she could hear them behind her.

“Jillian, wait!” Robert shouted.

“Robert, you've got to wait, give her a minute to think.”

Her grandfather might slow him down, but Robert was coming after her. She hurried down the corridor, grabbed a jacket from the hall closet and ran outside. She wasted no time but headed straight for the stables.

She didn't talk to Jimmy; she didn't go for a saddle. She just threw a bridle on Crystal, leapt up bareback and went racing out into the snow.

She rode for hours, thoughts tumbling through her mind. He had married her because he'd been hired to. She'd been so much in love—and he had been on guard duty! In a way, he'd shot her through the heart in this lifetime, too.

It was Christmas Eve. The light was already beginning to fade. And she needed to get back to the house; she wanted to spend the holiday with people she loved.

Including Robert.

It was, after all, Christmas, and she had to give him a chance.

She rode back to the house, heading toward the stables. As she got close, she saw the house door open. Gracie came running out. “Jillian?” she said, shivering as she reached the horse's side.

“Yes, Gracie?”

Gracie, hugging her arms across her chest, shivered, smiling. “You're wrong about Robert. He loves you so much.”

Jillian flushed, wondering just how much the whole household knew.

“Thanks, Gracie.”

“He's been out searching for you. I think he was heading for the cottage. Jillian, if he loved me that way, I'd be at that cottage, giving him a chance.”

Jillian hesitated, still hurt. But she couldn't believe that everything had been a lie. He had been with her through too much. Maybe even through a second lifetime, a second chance. And she'd been in his arms, made love with him; surely that emotion hadn't been a lie.

“Thanks, Gracie,” she said. “Thanks so much.”

She turned Crystal around, patting his neck, and started for the cottage at a lope that quickly became a gallop. She reined in when she reached the cottage. There were hoofprints in the snow. Someone had been there. Was he still there now? If he was, she didn't see his horse, but she had to go in and check. She had to
hope.

She leapt from her horse and raced inside. Someone had been there. A fire was burning in the hearth, water was boiling on the stove.

“Robert?” she called as she pulled off her gloves, walking around the ground floor. “Robert?” He didn't answer. Maybe he was upstairs in the studio. She walked up, then sighed, blinking back tears. The room was empty. It was her own fault. She had run away. She hadn't given him a chance. But this was Christmas Eve. He would give her another chance when she finally found him, she was certain.

She walked over to the easel where Milo had worked. “I miss you, too, you know, Milo. So much. I wish you had appeared to me.”

“Jillian.”

She heard her name, weakly at first. Then more strongly. Coming from the stairs.

She turned. Blinked.

Milo.

Not really. Not Milo in the flesh. Milo, barely there, a reflection on the air, nothing more.

“Milo,” she whispered.

“Jillian, get out. Run!” he told her. It seemed difficult for him to talk to her, to form words.

She shook her head. “Milo, I'm not afraid of you.”

“It's not me, Jillian. Just…run.”

“Why?” she demanded.

He tried to speak, but his image blurred, faded.

Like a wisp of smoke.

Smoke!

Then she knew. She heard the crackle of flame, and the wisp of smoke was suddenly a billowing. Fire!

Jillian started to race back down the stairs, but the flames were bursting upward, blocking her escape.

It was her dream come to life, tongues of fire, hungry, rabid, reaching upward. Reaching for
her.

She opened her mouth and began to scream.

And scream…

R
obert had ridden for hours. He'd gone to the cottage, but finding no sign of Jillian there, he had returned to the house, hoping against hope that she would be back. When he didn't find her, he was ready to head out again, but he decided to accost Douglas and Daniel first, in case they could help in any way.

“She's out there somewhere, and I don't know where.”

“She's an excellent rider, and she knows this terrain. She's going to be all right,” Douglas said firmly, but Robert could tell he wasn't sure himself.

Theo walked in from the kitchen. “I'll go with you, Robert,” he said. “Maybe I can think of a few places to look that might not occur to you.”

“Great, thanks.”

“Griff's coming, too. He's gone down to the barn to get our horses,” Theo said, pulling on a pair of gloves.

He left, and Robert stared from Daniel to Douglas. “Douglas, you were afraid of something happening to Jillian, afraid someone in this family was behind it. You don't want that to be true, and neither do I. But you
are
worth a small fortune, and that can bring out the worst in people. You and Daniel have been fighting for weeks. What's going on?”

They were going to answer him, by God. In the past hour, the fear he had been feeling had doubled, tripled. He hadn't wanted to come here, to this house. At first it had been just gut instinct, but then he'd thought about the book. Morwenna had refused to leave her home because of her father. Jillian had insisted on coming here because of her grandfather. It was frighteningly similar.

As he'd ridden in search of her, he had hoped the ghost of Milo Anderson would appear to lead him in the right direction, which he knew was totally insane.

But all he had now was that insanity. He had to use it.

“The argument has nothing to do with Jillian,” Daniel said heatedly.

“What
was
it about?” Robert persisted.

“My sex life. Are you happy?”

Robert stared at Daniel, frowning.

“I'm not pleased with his choices,” Douglas said.

“And I'm not pleased that he thinks he has a right to pass judgment on my choices,” Daniel said flatly.

“There was rat poison in your desk,” Robert charged him.

Daniel's frown seemed sincere. “In my desk? I got rid of all of it when you told me about the cat.”

“It was there.”

Before Daniel could respond, Griff burst into the room. “There's a fire.”

“Where?” Douglas exploded.

Robert could barely breathe. “Where?” he repeated, terror filling him. Fire. She had dreamed of fire, had awakened screaming with terror. Fire…

“Where?” he thundered.

“I think it's the cottage. If we—”

He was out of the house before Griff could finish speaking. He'd taken Igloo that day; he leapt back on him now. Griff reached his side, along with Theo, who was shouting that his horse was gone. “Go, go both of you! I'll catch up. Who the hell has Cream?” he muttered. “Go!”

Robert needed no encouragement.

He had never ridden so hard in his life. Desperate as he was, he became aware of each slight sound, each nuance of scent. The day was cold, crisp. The sky was blue. His horse's hooves made thunder, striking upon the ground. Distant thunder, muffled by the thick blanket of snow. The cold seeped into him, though he was sweating with fear.

His horse's hooves seemed to beat out words. We will not make it. We will not make it.

He knew, suddenly, that history
could
repeat itself.

He knew that he had ridden through the snow before and failed. Now he had a second chance to save her. And if he failed again…? His heart was sick, and he was afraid.

“Robert, you'll kill yourself, and we'll never get to her!” Griff called to him.

“We're almost there! The cottage is just ahead.”

“Oh Lord!” Griff shouted. “The flames…”

Robert gritted his teeth. He had to believe. But in what? Miracles? That he could ride into the fire and save her? He would. By God, he would.

 

With the fire racing up the stairs, she'd had no choice but to retreat—once she'd realized that she would die if she didn't stop panicking. At first she had felt rooted to the spot, but now she hurried to the rear of the studio, then rushed into the bathroom to soak a towel to put over her face to filter out the smoke. Then she'd looked out into the night. It would be a long fall, but she would land in the snow. She wouldn't let herself think about the rocks below the snow, cold and hard. Anything had to be better than the flames.

She could feel the flames, though they were not touching her. She knew the feel of fire.

She refused to know it again.

She opened the window, then realized with a moan that the storm window was up. As she searched desperately for something with which to break it, she could feel the floor growing hotter beneath her feet. She was suddenly terrified that it would collapse, dropping her into the fire.

He would come. He would not fail her again. She had to believe in the power of this second chance.

“Jillian!”

The voice was coming from outside. She rushed back to the window.

Robert was there, with Griff racing up behind him.

Robert was gesturing for her to get away from the window. She saw him dismount and pick up a dark object, large enough that it had not yet been fully covered by the snow. He drew his arm back, and she moved quickly away from the window.

The glass shattered inward. She leapt back as shards smashed around her. The object he had thrown rolled toward her, but she paid no attention. Robert was here!

Fire suddenly roared, breaking up through the floor. She rushed to the window.

Below her, the porch was being consumed in flames. Robert had remounted and sat on his horse just beyond the flames, staring at her. She realized that what he had thrown had been an old cannon ball. Milo had found several on the property and had kept them stacked outside. A cannonball that could still explode.

“Go.”
The word was a whisper. And then she felt herself being shoved past the flames to the window.

Milo!

Below her, Robert was urging his terrified horse up to the edge of the burning porch. “Miracles!” he shouted. “You jump!”

Robert and the horse were almost directly below her; flames shooting everywhere around them. Around her.

Licking at her heels.

Nearly touching her flesh.

“Jump!” he yelled to her.

And she jumped….

She seemed to fall forever. In slow motion, she fell through time, the flames below her, but beyond them, so close, Robert. The man she loved. Loved in this life—and the last.

She landed in his arms, an inferno raging around them; cutting off all escape. Was that how it would end this time? The two of them burning together? But Robert looked into her eyes, features grim and dark with soot.

“Close your eyes,” he commanded. “Hold your breath.”

He slammed his heels into Igloo's flanks. The horse shrieked, balked, reared.

And then Igloo leapt forward into the fire. Through the fire. He ran past the heat and into the cold, a world of snow and ice. Cold air wrapped around them, and her flesh was not burned. She seemed to hear nothing as they ran, no hooves upon the ground; they simply raced upon air, through the silence of a white world of snow, through time eternal….

Then sound returned, and she heard Igloo's hooves hit the ground. Robert reined him in, and they turned, heading back to where Griff still waited.

They watched the house explode, the fire seeming to reach the sky.

It didn't matter.

It wasn't touching them.

Daniel and Theo had nearly reached the cottage, riding double on old Blossom, when they started back. Douglas was frantic, Daniel said. Then he looked closely at her and insisted that they had to get back to the house and call a doctor. She was probably suffering from smoke inhalation, he said when he heard her cough.

Sitting on Igloo, held close in Robert's arms, she assured Daniel that she was fine, but she could tell that he didn't believe her.

Back at the house, Douglas was standing at the door. His knees crumpled when he saw her; she ran to hold him up. Amelia hugged her, Henry cried, and Agatha rushed around with warm blankets and pots of tea.

It was some time before Griff said, “Just how the hell did the fire get started?”

“I don't know, but we'll find out,” Douglas said with rough determination. “But for now, clean up and get some warm clothes on before I lose one of you to pneumonia.”

Soot, the cold, none of it mattered. In her bedroom, Jillian did nothing but hold Robert for what seemed like hours. Then they showered, and finally they made love. They said little, too afraid to speak.

“Was that a miracle?” he asked her at last.

“Your lovemaking?” she teased. “Well, you were very good. Exceptional, actually. But a miracle…?”

“Jillian…”

“It's a miracle. It's
all
a miracle,” she whispered.

 

After their lovemaking, Robert dressed and went down to join the others, while Jillian opted for a bubble bath.

Eileen and Gary were in the living room with Douglas, Daniel, Theo, Griff and Robert. Jasper McClean, the sheriff, had come and gone, telling them they would have to wait for the ashes to cool before the investigators could even begin to find out what had caused the blaze.

“You folks were mighty lucky,” he had told them. “A cottage like that, with no fire escape…Well, it's gone now. But Douglas, don't you worry. We'll get to the bottom of it.”

Now, when it was just family, they knew it was time to get to the truth.

“Did someone start it on purpose?” Eileen asked incredulously.

“I think so,” Robert said. “I think someone rode out there and purposely set the place on fire—knowing that Jillian was inside.”

“Not me—I don't even like to ride,” Eileen said.

“I was here arguing with you,” Daniel reminded him curtly.

“You were at the stables, Griff.”

Griff stood defensively, hands on his hips. “Yeah, right. I can see where you're going. Because of that book. Reliving history, that's what you two think.”

“What are you talking about?” Douglas asked.

Robert shook his head, staring at Griff.

“I'm the bad guy, right—because I'm related, and I'm always joking with Jillian about marriage? So that makes me Sir Walter?”

“You tell me,” Robert said.

“Hell, no!”

“Don't look at
me,
” Theo charged.

“Well, who was out today?” Robert demanded.

Daniel exhaled. “Oh my God. Where is Jillian now?”

“Taking a bath,” Robert said.

“Get up there with her,” Daniel insisted. “Until we know what really happened, you can't leave her alone.”

 

She was relaxing, eyes closed, in the bubbles, when she heard the noise. She looked up, thinking Robert had come back.

It wasn't Robert.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, more confused than angry.

“Daniel deserves that business. He's the oldest male, and he's worked for it. He's put his life into it.”

“The business will go to all of us. Not that that has anything to do with you.” She sank lower in the tub, hiding beneath her camouflage of bubbles. “Look, I appreciate what you do for Daniel, I know he values your help. You—”

She broke off, frowning, as she stared at Gracie.

“You told me to go to the cottage!”

“But you got out,” Gracie shot back. “Daniel would never do anything to discredit you. Everyone adores you. You're even in the commercials. You outshine him every day, in every way you can. He loves you too much to see what you're doing to him. But he loves me, too. I know it. He needs me. So I went to him. I have my talents, you know. Talents outside the office. Daniel doesn't even realize yet just how talented I am. You just haven't been watching, paying attention. You could have found out so much, but you were only worried that your assistant, your friend, might have been having an affair with Daniel. I was worried, too. But all Connie was doing that night in Connecticut was telling him that she loved her husband, and that she hoped she and Daniel would always be the best of friends. I know, because I was listening. And now you have to notice me.”