‘I’ve eaten in here. Breakfasts. Lunches. Dinners. And also … I remember eating scones. Lots of scones.’

  Lexi stilled. ‘You remember?’

  ‘No. Just a flash.’ Cat frowned. ‘Was there a rosella? I remember seeing a rosella.’

  Lexi nodded, a lump in her throat. ‘Anything else?’

  Cat’s lip trembled. ‘I remember a kind middle-aged woman helping around the house, looking after me. I remember being in the pool with Billy. I remember music and dancing and feeding a horse an apple and sitting on its back. I remember a lovely place, sun dappling through the trees, a stream bubbling nearby.’ She looked at Billy. ‘I think I was there with you.’

  He smiled. ‘Lexi’s favourite spot. We were there a few days ago.’

  She nodded, closed her eyes and frowned. ‘There’re other things. Flashes that don’t make sense. Faces there are no names to. It’s all so … fragile. Why do I feel so fragile?’

  Lexi couldn’t answer past the lump in her throat. She shrugged and turned to fill the kettle, hands shaking. Daemon took the kettle from her and filled it from the hot tap and put it on.

  ‘What’s wrong with me?’ Cat asked.

  A hot burn began in Lexi’s chest as she struggled to answer that question. But Cat didn’t give her a chance to come up with anything placating.

  She slammed her fist on the table and demanded, ‘When is someone going to bloody well answer my questions?’

  Lexi flinched.

  Billy touched her arm but Cat shrugged him off. ‘I’m sitting. You told me to sit and listen and I am but nobody’s talking. Why not? What the hell’s going on? What happened to me?’

  Lexi reached out, pleading. ‘Please. Calm down. We’ll try and tell you as much as we can.’

  ‘I don’t want to calm down,’ Cat said, pushing her chair back to stand, knocking it to the floor with a clatter that made Lexi flinch. ‘I want to know why you and Billy look as if you’ve aged ten years.’ She paused, lifted her hands to her face. ‘Have I?’

  Lexi watched, agonised, as Cat registered the change in the bone structure of her cheeks, her nose, her chin. Her fingers touched the scar running down the side of her face near her hairline and trembled. ‘A mirror. Where’s a mirror?’

  Lexi closed her eyes, unable to stand the look of terror in her sister’s eyes. ‘There’s one in the foyer.’

  Cat pushed past Billy and Daemon. Billy turned to follow but Lexi stopped him. ‘No, don’t. She needs to see herself without your pity.’

  ‘I don’t pity her,’ Billy said.

  ‘I know, but Cat won’t see it that way.’

  He stood where he was, looking anxiously up the hall.

  The kettle started to whistle, so Lexi turned it off and prepared the coffee—Cat didn’t like tea—and then sat down heavily. Daemon righted Cat’s chair then sat next to Lexi, taking her hand in his. She was grateful for the gesture. After a few minutes, Billy returned to the table, pulled out a chair and sat. She passed him a mug and he lifted it to his lips, sipping automatically, his eyes flicking back to the hallway.

  Tension spanned the room, squeezing her chest until she wondered how she could still breathe. She pulled her hand from Daemon’s, rubbed her eyes, sipped at her coffee. ‘What am I going to say to her? Professor Carlton warned me when I brought her home; he told me this was going to be difficult. That I needed to be better prepared.’

  ‘We were prepared.’

  ‘No, not you. Not Bev. Me. I wasn’t ready to bring her home. Wasn’t ready to truly deal with her. He knew it, but I didn’t listen. I just made a snap decision because I was so scared after what happened.’ She stood, began to pace, gesturing towards the hallway. ‘This is my fault. If only I’d listened, prepared properly, not just reacted in fear.’ She kicked a chair that was in her way. ‘Stupid! I was bloody stupid!’

  ‘Hey.’ Daemon stood, pulled her into his arms.

  ‘If that’s true then I’m equally stupid,’ Billy argued. ‘Equally to blame. I’m a trained professional. But at the moment, I just feel …’

  ‘Lost?’

  Billy nodded.

  A tear spilled from the corner of her eye. She swiped the weakness away with a trembling hand, pulling out of Daemon’s arms but staying close. ‘I made myself believe if she woke up that I’d get my “happy ever after”. But that’s bullshit. We won’t ever have Mum and Dad back, and Cat will never be the same.’ She laughed bitterly. ‘God knows, I’m not! It was stupid of me to think otherwise.’

  Daemon stroked her back. ‘I don’t think so. Things have changed for everyone. Life is full of change. You just have to accept it and move on.’

  ‘Hang on,’ Billy said, his brow furrowed in thought. ‘I thought you said you decided it was time to bring her home, that you were ready. But now you just said you were scared after what happened.’ He pinned her with his gaze, anger and worry flaring in his eyes. ‘What happened? Why did you bring her home with no warning?’

  ‘I—’

  ‘I don’t look like me anymore.’

  They all spun to see Cat at the kitchen door, face pale and drawn. Moving stiffly, her eyes red, she shuffled forward to the chair she’d been in, sitting carefully before reaching for a mug.

  ‘Is this for me?’

  Lexi nodded and Cat took a large gulp, then another, holding on to the cup as if it were a life preserver. Time slowed as they waited for her to speak.

  Finally, Lexi could stand the silence no more. ‘Cat? I—’

  Cat shook her head and held up her hand to silence her sister. ‘Don’t.’ She closed her eyes, lips tightening. Her fingers trembled across the scar again.

  Billy reached out to take her hand but she snatched it away. ‘You’re still beautiful, Rabbit. Nothing can change that.’

  Cat turned bitter eyes on him. ‘I don’t need your pity. I saw how I look. I barely recognise myself. I want to know why.’ Her eyes filled, but she swiped at them angrily before the tears could fall. ‘I want to know how long I’ve been “gone” for. I want to know how this happened.’ She waved her hand at her face. ‘I want … I want …’ Her voice broke, but when Billy moved to take her in his arms, she shrugged away from him again and turned pained eyes on her sister. ‘Tell me. Please. Tell me.’

  Lexi met her sister’s gaze, and then, with a deep breath, began to speak as Professor Carlton suggested she do, calmly, surely, with bare essentials, about the kidnapping. ‘He was caught and sent to jail and died there a year later. He’s not a threat anymore.’ She swallowed hard. ‘As for you, the doctors kept you in a coma for months so your body could heal, but when they brought you out of it, you didn’t come back to us, staying in a kind of waking catatonia. They said you were blocking out the trauma by going into a kind of mental exile only you could end.’

  Cat stared, eyes blind, then focusing slowly. ‘Mum and Dad. They’re dead, aren’t they? I remember you coming and telling me. You were crying and I wanted to help you, but I couldn’t.’ Her voice came as if from far away. ‘Not real. I told myself you weren’t real. Your words weren’t real. But they were. Mum and Dad died in a car accident.’

  ‘I—’ Lexi’s voice broke, her throat too full for words, so she just nodded.

  Cat stared past her. ‘Go on.’

  ‘Are you sure?’

  Her eyes blazed with pain but she nodded. ‘I’m sure. I need to hear. Tell me the rest.’

  Lexi swallowed hard. Her sister didn’t need her tears. ‘I couldn’t look after you when Mum and Dad died. All their money, the sale of the house, went on the operations you needed. I had to put you into an institution.’ She hid the slash of guilt and pain when Cat’s gaze snapped to hers, shocked, accusing. ‘I promised you and myself I’d get you out of there, but I needed money. To do that, I had to get away from here. From the bad memories. I moved to England. Daemon and Craig’s band, The Sidhe, had several hits by then, and Craig helped me by using some of my songs and hooking me up with a job at a small record label.’ Daemon jerked at her side—that was obviously news to him. She’d never meant to tell him any of this, but somehow, she was glad he was here, hearing this now. ‘I used the money from the songs to put you in a private clinic and get you the best care I could. The songs doing so well gave me the confidence I needed to leave the recording studio after I’d learned what I could there and go out on my own, travelling through Europe to find the sound. The band. The next big thing. I got lucky.’

  ‘Not lucky,’ Daemon said. ‘Nobody else could have done what you did.’

  She shrugged. ‘Maybe. Anyway, I had a vision, a goal and I worked as hard as I could to achieve it. I managed to make a name for myself in the music industry and earn enough so I could build this place. A home. A home to share with you. I hired Billy to be your physical therapist—that’s what he does now.’

  Cat’s gaze flicked to him then back.

  ‘It took a while to get it ready, but I finally brought you here a month ago.’

  Cat was silent, nodding slowly. ‘How long? How long since this was done to me?’

  Lexi swallowed. Hard. The truth. Professor Carlton said it was important. ‘Eleven years since you were taken.’

  Cat closed her eyes briefly. ‘Eleven years? I’ve lost eleven years?’ She stared intently at Lexi, her green eyes, the green of summer leaves, welling with tears. ‘Why? Why did this happen to me?’ She shook her head. ‘I can see him. In my mind. I’ve always seen him. I’ve been hiding from him. He was so angry, looming out of the dark, bringing pain. I tried to hide from him. I tried to get away.’ She put her hands to her ears. ‘But he kept shrieking at me, blaming me.’ Her eyes widened and she turned to stare at Lexi.

  ‘Cat? What is it?’

  ‘He thought I was you. He took me to his family’s property nobody visited anymore, told me he’d had it done up for you. A present because he knew you loved the country. Then he did things …’ Her gaze blanked for a moment. Then she shook her head, gaze catching Lexi, the shadow of nightmares turning the light-green stormy. ‘He said we were married in the eyes of God. He did this to me because he thought I was you. It should have been you!’

  Lexi rocked back, Cat’s words—an echo of Lyndon’s—a punch. Daemon gripped her hand, but she shook away the comfort. She didn’t deserve it. Nodding, swallowing hard, she finally said, ‘It should have been me.’

  ‘You tried to hide it from me?’

  ‘No, she didn’t,’ Billy said, but Cat didn’t seem to register. She just glared.

  Lexi was unable to meet Cat’s accusing glare. ‘I was going to tell you. But we were told not to say too much until the prof gets here. I just told you what I thought was most relevant.’

  Cat’s face twisted. ‘Relevant? Relevant!’ She threw her mug across the room, the smash of the ceramic lost in the echo of her yell. ‘I’ve lost eleven years of my life, lost myself, my looks, and it should have been you? I didn’t even go to Mum and Dad’s funeral or mourn for them or go to university or study dance. I’ve lost everything, and it should have been you?’ She shook, touched her scar with trembling fingers. ‘You are what I should be. I hate you. I hate you!’

  Her words echoed in the room even as the back door slammed.

  Billy turned pleading, sorrowful eyes to Lexi, then followed Cat out the door.

  Lexi sat in dumb silence, pain, grief and guilt tearing at her. Daemon pulled her against him. She stiffened. Then as he stroked her hair, the tears came rushing out in terrible, heart-wrenching sobs.

  ***

  Daemon said nothing, let her cry. He had a feeling she hadn’t ever cried properly over this, had let the guilt and pain build up inside. She had to get them out. He stroked her cheeks, wiping away the tracks left by her tears. ‘Don’t believe what Cat said. She’s confused and angry. She’ll come to see that. We all lash out at the people we most love; it’s human nature. She’ll realise the blame lies with a dead man.’

  ‘I know you’re right,’ she sobbed against his chest. ‘But it still hurts. I wanted this to be such a happy time and it’s not.’

  ‘It will be. Just give her time.’ He tipped her head up, kissed her until she sighed, melting into him.

  They sat there taking comfort in each other’s presence until a phone shrilled in the distance. Lexi jumped, shifting from his arms. ‘Crap. I left my phone in the study. That’ll be Professor Carlton. He said he’d call to let me know his ETA after he’d arranged to cover his work.’

  ‘I’ll come with you.’ Daemon followed her as she raced down the hall to the study. She grabbed her phone off the desk then leaned against it as she answered.

  Daemon noticed some paper on the floor and bent to pick it up as Lexi turned away to stare out the window as she listened to Professor Carlton. His gaze flickered over the red writing on the paper, caught, held. Fear and anger prickled over his skin as he read the words scrawled there.

  He was barely aware of Lexi as she said goodbye, hung up and turned to him. ‘The prof will be here sooner than—Don’t read that!’ She snatched the letter out of his hand, stuffing it into the bottom drawer.

  Rage a tight coil inside his chest, he said, ‘You’ve got a stalker?’

  She winced, shrugged. ‘It doesn’t matter.’

  ‘Doesn’t matter? Of course it matters. You’ve contacted the police?’

  ‘They know. Karl knows. They’ve been helping me—’

  ‘This isn’t the first one?’ His jaw tensed. ‘There are more?’

  She crossed her arms. ‘Not that it’s any of your business, but I’ve been getting them on and off for months. I’m sure you get your fair share too.’

  ‘Not like that. Never like that.’ Daemon pointed at the desk drawer where she’d stuffed the letter. ‘That’s more than words. That’s hatred mixed with an unreasoning possessiveness. He thinks you belong to him. He’s watching you. Threatening you.’ A lightbulb went off in his head. ‘Is this what you and Karl were giving each other looks about when we found the destroyed fence? Is this what you were scared about when you decided to bring Cat home?’

  The look on her face confirmed his suspicions and had him pulling her against his chest, arms wrapped around her tight as if he could keep her safe, keep the bad things from touching her, his heart driving a hard beat in his chest.

  Her arms went around him—thank Jesus, Joseph and Mary.

  ‘They were only letters.’ Her words were a mumble against his chest. ‘But then he left a message on the wall in Cat’s room at the clinic.’

  ‘He was in Cat’s room?’

  She nodded but refused to let go of him when he went to pull away. ‘You’re right. That’s why I brought her home when I did. I should have done it months before, but I was afraid.’

  ‘Of what?’

  ‘Of this …’ She waved with one hand out the window, indicating wherever Cat had gone.

  Daemon breathed out a heavy sigh that stroked across her hair. ‘Hell.’ He swallowed hard. ‘You read this when you came down earlier, didn’t you? Why didn’t you tell me?’

  ‘Why would I? It doesn’t have anything to do with you.’

  He jerked away, holding her at arm’s length. ‘Nothing to do with me? Are you serious? It has everything to do with me after what’s happened between us. You should have told me.’

  ‘Don’t yell at me.’

  ‘I’m not yelling!’

  ‘Yes, you are, and you have no right!’ She pulled away from him. ‘I’ve been dealing with my life and its horrors by myself for years, so excuse me for not running to you blubbering when I received this letter! Just because we spent the last couple of nights together doesn’t mean you have any claim on me.’

  Anger was so close to the surface, but instead of giving in to it, he reached out and softly stroked her cheek. ‘No, it doesn’t. But it does mean I care. And I don’t want you to deal with this by yourself.’

  ‘I don’t care what you want!’ Fear flickered in her eyes undermining the anger.

  Her fear made him want to slay dragons for her, but still, he kept his voice soft, gentle. ‘I thought we were getting past this mistrust. I thought you knew you could tell me anything.’

  ‘Have you told me everything, Daemon? Don’t you have some secrets you keep to yourself?’ He flinched at the question. ‘I can see that you do. So, tell me. You can tell me anything.’ Her words, a mocking echo of his, cut into his guilt.

  ‘Now is not the time.’

  She nodded. ‘I see. You can pick and choose when you tell me things and I have to tell you everything the moment it happens. Nice double standard.’

  He stiffened. ‘I just meant that so much has happened in the past few hours—there hasn’t been time. I will tell you. I want to tell you. Saying the timing isn’t right is not a double standard. You have more things to worry about than my miserable childhood and terrible marriage. About my trust issues.’

  She glared at him for a moment then sagged, her anger seeming to die as quickly as it had come. ‘I apologise. I get it. Of course you don’t want to talk about that.’ She leaned against the desk, knotting her hands together. ‘I’m sorry. I’m on edge. The fence. The letter. Cat.’ She waved her hand and looked up at him. ‘But I never promised to tell you everything. Just as I don’t expect you to tell me everything, either. We’re living in the moment, remember? Can’t we leave it at that? At least for now. I’m too tired to deal with anything else.’

  She was right. He was being hypocritical. He couldn’t expect her to come clean about everything if he wasn’t prepared to do the same. Begrudgingly he nodded. ‘As long as you say the police are looking into it … I suppose so. But don’t expect me not to worry. It’s not every day you find out someone is sending your lover death threats.’

  Lexi started. ‘Your lover?’

  Daemon pulled her to him. ‘I don’t know what you thought, Lexi, but I’m not in the habit of having one-night stands. They’re cold … empty. I got over the rush of them years ago. I want more.’ He stared into her eyes. ‘I know we’re living in the moment, but it’s a moment I want more of. A lot more. You got a problem with that?’

  ‘No. I just thought …’ she shook her head. ‘Never mind.’ She sighed. ‘So, your lover.’

 

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