Read Online Moonlight Menage by Stephanie Julian - Free Book Online Page B

trill of a cell phone sounded from the other room.
    Cat laughed and yelled goodbye over her shoulder as she headed for the front room.
    Tira caught Duke’s gaze and he nodded once before transferring his focus to Su. Tears came to her eyes as Duke’s entire demeanor changed. He reached down to take her mother’s hand in his then leaned close to brush her cheek with his lips. Her mother couldn’t read him either, which had never seemed to upset Su as it did Tira.
    Su had merely shrugged her shoulders and said, “It happens.”
    Tira had always wished she had her mother’s knack for accepting things she couldn’t change. It’d make life much easier.
    After assuring her mother that she’d be close, Tira followed Margie out into the kitchen and slid onto a stool at the island.
    “So,” Margie said as she got mugs from the cabinet and poured hot chocolate from a pot on the stove. “I’m sure you’re wondering what happened since you left.”
    As she wrapped her hand around the warm mug, Tira let out a small snort. “You could say that. Yesterday, I…I had to use the restraints, she was so frantic and I was worried she was going to hurt herself. Today she’s lucid. What’s going on?”
    Margie sat opposite her, her own mug in her hands. “Well, I’m not exactly sure and this could just be a short break in the dementia but I’m not convinced that’s all that’s going on here.” She paused and the grimace on her face made Tira tense. “I think… Well, there’s just no easy way to say this so… I think part of the rapid deterioration may have been due to the close proximity you and she have been sharing these past few months. And…I think some time apart might not be a bad thing. For either of you.”
    * * * * *
    “Now tell me how you’re really feeling, Duke. I sense you’re trying very hard to hide something.”
    “I didn’t know you were an empath, Su, in addition to a fortune teller.”
    Duke smiled as she laughed, her voice not as strong as he remembered but not as frail as he’d feared when he’d first seen her lying in bed.
    “No, no, I haven’t developed another Gift. The one I have is more than enough. It’s just that when you lose your sight, your other senses become much better.”
    Su’s formerly clear blue eyes were clouded now and stared sightlessly in his general direction. That, more than the streaks of silver in her hair and the tremble in her voice, made his chest tight with frustration. Because there was nothing he could do for her.
    He immediately flipped back to the first time he’d met Su. It’d been right after Tira’s first vision, the one that had fucked them all over so badly. He’d had to take Tira home after she’d calmed down. It’d taken him an hour to get her to stop crying, holding her in his arms and rocking her. Nic had had to leave. Tira had been unable to look at him without sobbing.
    He’d driven her home, his own shock and fear stealing his speech, and Su had met them at the door. She’d known what had happened, had seen it in her own vision.
    He’d found out later that Su had known hours before what was going to happen. That she’d seen her daughter’s agony but she’d never told Tira.
    Su had taken Tira in her arms that night, nodded to Duke and shut the door behind her. He’d come back the next day to check on Tira and he and Su had forged an unlikely friendship.
    Foolishly, he’d thought it was because Su knew she’d never have to share Tira with them.
    But over the years, he’d begun to wonder if she hadn’t been hoping…
    “How are you really feeling, Su?”
    Su’s lips curved in what looked like a grimace. “Healthy as a horse and sharp as a tack. Unfortunately, I know it won’t last. Tomorrow I may not remember my own name.”
    His hand tightened on hers and a cold shiver raced down his back. He hated the fact that he could do nothing for this woman. And that she was so calm about her own fate.
    He couldn’t even bear to think