Read Online Rose for Rose: Book Two in the Angels' Mirror Series by Harmony L. Courtney - Free Book Online Page A

words sink in. “And you’re in Wood Village, Oregon, near Portland… it’s on the other side of the country from Gloucester.”
    There, she’d said it.
    She felt bad to be so blunt, but why sugar-coat what was going on?
    She felt bile rise once more in her throat . Please, God, help me not to puke again, and guide me in what to do. Who do I call, and how do we do this?
    The girl, face reddened now and fists clenched, looked like a proper young lady about to start a brawl.
    Please, God… I can’t…
    Rose turned around in a huff, sat on one of the stools, rested her face in her hands, and began to cry. There was such a jag to her tears that Eugenie wasn’t sure what to do.
    And if I can’t get a grip around a crying teenager, how will I cope as a mother, she thought, reproaching herself. I need to get a handle on this, now!
    “Why cry, Grandma?” Clem asked nobody in particular.
    “Let me… there’s someone I need to call who I think can help us with this situation. Is that okay with you? I mean, we have to go somewhere sooner or later to get you some help… the… the storm seems to have… subsided now.”
    To her relief, the girl nodded, hands still to face, not even looking at her.
    In the background, Cowboy Take Me Away was just finishing, the last of the handful of songs Eugenie had put on for jukebox play.
    Since there weren’t any customers about, she could play even more recent music with abandon; this was one of a small handful that lay outside the boundaries of the ‘50s theme of the place.
    Picking her cell phone up from the counter where she’d left it, Eugenie dialed Paloma and Edward’s house and prayed silently there would be an answer.
    As she waited for an answer, she pushed the button to raise the metal transom that kept birds off the booths when they flew.
    She’d still have to sanitize before they left, but at least she hadn’t seen any bird droppings when she’d glanced around earlier after making sure the birds were all put away properly.
     
     
     
    “What do you mean, someone else came through the mirror,” Edward asked Eugenie. “A girl, you say?” He nestled further into the deep green velvet couch and set down the water he’d been drinking when the phone rang.
    With Cherish crying in the background and the boys playing with tinker toys a few feet away, he was having a hard time concentrating on the conversation and watching the three at the same time.
    Paloma was taking a nap, and his energy was finally coming back to him enough that he felt somewhat helpful around the house. Since deciding a few weeks prior to be a television-free household for the children’s sake, things had gotten more creative, but loud in a different sense of the word.
    “You heard me. She says she’s from the Gloucester Bay area, Edward, but from nineteen thirty Massachusetts.” Edward could hear someone talking in the background. “She says, and she repeats… her name is Rose Angela Wishart-Laurent and that her father is a fisherman on the harbor. That’s all I know right now.”
    Eugenie sounded confused; tired; exasperated.
    At least with the storm dying, she could go home.
    As he thought over what to do, Edward wondered what his wife would say to this. Hadn’t Daniella mentioned to her that a client of hers was looking for a missing…?
    But it couldn’t be, could it? Yet… it had to be her! It had to be…
    “Why don’t I meet you and Rose at your place once Paloma wakes up from her nap. There’s something I need to talk with her about. We might know a bit about… well, this adds up with something Paloma and I recently…”
    How to explain?
    “I’m already awake,” he heard his wife say behind him, making him jump in his seat.
    How had he not even heard her?
    When he turned, he saw she was carrying a sleepy-eyed Petunia Rose and heading for the makeshift playpen they’d set up in the living room as an extra crib for their daughter. Softly setting the striking little