Belle nodded again and returned his small smile.
“Well, I’m going in search of Myrtle and Lewis. If there’s any time they’ll show themselves, it’ll be during a spooky, dark storm,” Yasmin declared, throwing down her napkin and standing.
“It was a bright, sunshiny day when I saw them,” Belle informed Yasmin.
“Same here,” Mom added.
Yasmin waved her hand in front of her face. “Matters not, everyone knows ghosts like a good old storm,” she said with authority then continued. “I’m off, anyone want to join me?”
“You go on, darling, I’ll find you in a bit,” Joy said.
“You got it,” Yasmin replied and left the room.
The minute she did, Joy turned to Jack and noted quietly, “I’m concerned about her.”
Belle’s eyes slid to Jack and she saw he was watching the door Yasmin just used, his jaw was tense and his chin lifted in acknowledgement of his mother’s words.
“Why are you concerned?” Lila asked.
“She’s trying to hide it but I can tell, this latest divorce is taking its toll,” Joy answered. “Quincy is a good man and he adores her. At first I think he was confused and thought he could talk her ‘round. That didn’t work and now he’s very angry that she’s doing this.”
Belle was surprised at this news, thus she shared, “Yasmin told me about him when she was in my shop. She didn’t make him sound like a good man.”
“Most of what she told you is likely untrue,” Jack explained and Belle’s startled eyes went to his. “Not that she’s lying but exaggerating or telling tales, not to convince you but to convince herself. Yasmin has a habit of sabotaging her happiness.”
Before Belle could respond, Joy continued, “Her first husband was a bit wild, just like Yasmin, but he loved her too. They burnt bright. Therefore, eventually they burnt out. It was probably for the best though he too was a good man and would have done anything for her.” Joy’s eyes moved to Jack. “Yasmin has always had good taste in men. She’s just constantly throwing them away.”
Belle felt a funny, very unpleasant feeling steal through her at this reminder that Jack and Yasmin used to be an item. She’d been informed of that upon meeting them but it hadn’t crossed her mind since. Mainly because Yasmin didn’t act like an ex-girlfriend but like an adopted sister/daughter.
Her mind moved to Yasmin opening the hidden bar cabinet and how Yasmin knew exactly where to go and what to do.
Then her mind, which often liked to torture her, moved to the couch where Jack held her, kissed her and touched her and she wondered if he’d done the same to Yasmin there.
She licked her lips and her eyes caught on her grandmother’s face.
Gram was smiling at her. It was a small smile and meant to be a reassuring one and Belle knew Gram knew her thoughts.
This small smile normally would work on Belle and had many, many times in the past.
But, at that moment, for some reason, it didn’t.
“Have you talked to her?” Mom asked, breaking Belle out of her tortured thoughts.
“She won’t listen,” Joy answered.
“Maybe you should try,” Lila suggested gently.
Joy looked to Jack. “Maybe Jack should try.” Then she turned fully to her son. “She’ll listen to you, darling, you know she will.”
Jack nodded and replied, “I’ll have a word.”
Joy smiled at her son and then murmured, “I better go find her.”
She left the table and this heralded a mass exit, Jack stopping Belle on her way up the stairs to her mother’s room.
When she’d tipped her head to look at him, he told her, “If you want to join me in the study later, you don’t have to knock.”
Then he leaned in, brushed his lips against hers and he was gone.
She stood where he left her for a moment, still feeling his mouth against hers and wondering if his open invitation to his study meant as much to him as it did to her.
Then she turned and climbed the stairs.
Gram was in her mother’s room when she arrived and Belle knew immediately her mother didn’t want “a word”. Instead, Belle was going to get what they both referred to as a “talking to”.
She walked across the room to the windows, saying, “I’m not sure I’m up to this, guys.”
“Probably not but then again, when would you be up to finding out you were likely the conduit to release the spirits of two children bound to earth for hundreds of years, sending them straight to heaven?” Gram remarked.
Belle ignored her grandmother’s remark, looked out the window and saw the rain had stopped. She also saw Jack, Baron and Gretl heading up the cliff path. Jack was wearing a dark rain slicker, his head bare, the wind blowing his thick hair.
Jack, Belle noted, looked good from behind in his rain slicker with the wind blowing his hair. She liked the way he walked, even on the slick path, with long, confident strides, his body at his command.
“Earth to Belle, come in Belle,” Mom called and Belle turned to see Gram at her side, peering out the window.
“She’s mooning over Jack,” Gram informed Mom.
“Lots to moon over,” Mom commented. “The man’s got a fantastic behind.”
Gram turned from the window, looked at Mom and shared, “I like his hands.”
Mom grinned. “Yeah, he’s got great hands. And, from Belle’s look this afternoon, I’m guessing he knows how to use them.”
“Mom!” Belle snapped as she walked from the window and threw herself on the bed in front of her mother.
She rolled to her back and her mother leaned over her. “It’s just my way of saying I’m happy for you, honeypot.”
Belle sighed and asked, “Can we not talk about Jack’s hands?”
“Okay,” Mom agreed happily. “Let’s talk about his behind. That’s a much better subject.”
Belle rolled her eyes.
“Or his eyes. That man has unbelievable eyes,” Gram noted as she joined them on the bed. “I was convinced they were contacts when I first met him but I don’t think they are.”
“They’re not,” Belle informed her, Gram smiled and Mom giggled.
Then Gram said gently, “I think you found yourself a good one this time, my sweet.”
Belle was beginning to think her grandmother wasn’t wrong.
And this budding knowledge scared the dickens out of her.