Read Online The Mirror by Marlys Millhiser - Free Book Online
Authors: Marlys Millhiser
Tags: Fiction, General, Science-Fiction, Fantasy fiction, Action & Adventure, Time travel, supernatural, Mirrors, Grandparent and Child, Boulder (Colo.)
Ads: Link
children? He's a powerful man and stubborn as hell and his mother's a tough old Cornish woman. Now, if those two can't make her see sense, no one can. Your mother and I have always been too soft with her. Hope we done better by you.
"She'll have plenty of hard work, live in a healthful, bracing mountain air . . ." John McCabe took off his spectacles to polish them with his handkerchief, avoided Elton's eyes and whispered, "And already I miss her something terrible . . . just terrible."
"Pa-"
"Let's get that mirror in." He shrugged off the hand Elton had placed on his shoulder.
Sophie came to hold the door as Elton took the cold brass hands of the mirror's platform and his father the upper portion.
"Let's put it back in her room for now."
Elton imagined an odd tingling current passing through his hands as he struggled up the stairs with the heavy wedding mirror . . .
And in Nederland Shay toppled off the bench as if she'd been struck, crumpling the meat pie in a fist that tightened without her command. She felt Brandy's head and back hit the floor, struggled to bring air into Brandy's lungs and began to black out. . .
A wavering vision of herself and her parents standing by an undulating box. They spoke, but Shay could hear nothing. Rachael wiped her eyes, her other arm around Shay's body. Her father stood next to them.
Shay's body had the platinum hair pulled back into a bun, had a blank look in the eyes but responded when Jerrold spoke to it.
They all stared into the box ... a satin-lined coffin. Inside it lay Grandma Bran, composed and peaceful.
"Be it a fit, do 'ee think?"
"I don't know." Corbin's voice. "Brandy?"
"Her were sittin' eatin' a pasty one minute and the next--plop on the floor, she was."
Shay felt herself being lifted, and opened her eyes to Corbin's chin. "What happened to me?"
"Hush now. We'll get you to bed."
" 'Ee get 'er to bed, I'm runnin fer they doctor."
"I saw his buggy at the Williamses'. Cara's baby must be due." . "There's a pasty fer 'ee in the cupboard," Thora K. called from the porch and was gone.
"Corbin, I'm afraid."
"It could be the journey in the sun was too much for you." He found a nightgown in Brandy's trunk and helped her to undress. It seemed to embarrass him more than it did her. "You rest now till Doc Seaton comes. I'll be getting something to eat." He patted her head, his fingers lingering on her hair, then left her to the dark, taking the lamp with him.
Shay felt weak and light-headed but scratched luxuriously wherever the corset had clutched her. The vision of herself and her parents peering into Grandma Bran's coffin repeated itself in her head. It must have been a dream but . . . the whole world seemed a dream now . . . and the hair style . . . Shay'd never worn it that way . . . the Shay in the vision seemed to be a different person . . . the freighter in the canyon, her grandfather, had a gap between his two front teeth . . . the family likeness was unmistakable . . . how could Brandy throw over Corbin for someone like that . . . Shay wouldn't have ... so that must prove that Brandy returned to her own body sometime . . . what would happen when Corbin came in to bed tonight ... he wasn't hers . . . the thought of sex with a stranger was tantalizing in books . . . but in reality . . .
Shay'd almost fallen asleep in Brandy's body for the second night when Dr. Seaton arrived.
"'Ere, do 'ee take the lamp. I've a candle for we," Thora K. told him, and closed the door on them.
"Well, now, I hear you fainted at the table. I'm Dr. Seaton, known as the Doc and worse things too," the little man said and sat on the bed beside her, putting his hand to her forehead.
"Hi, I'm . . . Brandy." Shay was too tired to explain to another soul who she really was.
"Known your pa for years. Set his leg once and unhinged a tooth for him while I was at it." His smile was kind and exhausted. He looked neither young nor old. Just tired.
The examination was surprisingly thorough.
"She'll have plenty of hard work, live in a healthful, bracing mountain air . . ." John McCabe took off his spectacles to polish them with his handkerchief, avoided Elton's eyes and whispered, "And already I miss her something terrible . . . just terrible."
"Pa-"
"Let's get that mirror in." He shrugged off the hand Elton had placed on his shoulder.
Sophie came to hold the door as Elton took the cold brass hands of the mirror's platform and his father the upper portion.
"Let's put it back in her room for now."
Elton imagined an odd tingling current passing through his hands as he struggled up the stairs with the heavy wedding mirror . . .
And in Nederland Shay toppled off the bench as if she'd been struck, crumpling the meat pie in a fist that tightened without her command. She felt Brandy's head and back hit the floor, struggled to bring air into Brandy's lungs and began to black out. . .
A wavering vision of herself and her parents standing by an undulating box. They spoke, but Shay could hear nothing. Rachael wiped her eyes, her other arm around Shay's body. Her father stood next to them.
Shay's body had the platinum hair pulled back into a bun, had a blank look in the eyes but responded when Jerrold spoke to it.
They all stared into the box ... a satin-lined coffin. Inside it lay Grandma Bran, composed and peaceful.
"Be it a fit, do 'ee think?"
"I don't know." Corbin's voice. "Brandy?"
"Her were sittin' eatin' a pasty one minute and the next--plop on the floor, she was."
Shay felt herself being lifted, and opened her eyes to Corbin's chin. "What happened to me?"
"Hush now. We'll get you to bed."
" 'Ee get 'er to bed, I'm runnin fer they doctor."
"I saw his buggy at the Williamses'. Cara's baby must be due." . "There's a pasty fer 'ee in the cupboard," Thora K. called from the porch and was gone.
"Corbin, I'm afraid."
"It could be the journey in the sun was too much for you." He found a nightgown in Brandy's trunk and helped her to undress. It seemed to embarrass him more than it did her. "You rest now till Doc Seaton comes. I'll be getting something to eat." He patted her head, his fingers lingering on her hair, then left her to the dark, taking the lamp with him.
Shay felt weak and light-headed but scratched luxuriously wherever the corset had clutched her. The vision of herself and her parents peering into Grandma Bran's coffin repeated itself in her head. It must have been a dream but . . . the whole world seemed a dream now . . . and the hair style . . . Shay'd never worn it that way . . . the Shay in the vision seemed to be a different person . . . the freighter in the canyon, her grandfather, had a gap between his two front teeth . . . the family likeness was unmistakable . . . how could Brandy throw over Corbin for someone like that . . . Shay wouldn't have ... so that must prove that Brandy returned to her own body sometime . . . what would happen when Corbin came in to bed tonight ... he wasn't hers . . . the thought of sex with a stranger was tantalizing in books . . . but in reality . . .
Shay'd almost fallen asleep in Brandy's body for the second night when Dr. Seaton arrived.
"'Ere, do 'ee take the lamp. I've a candle for we," Thora K. told him, and closed the door on them.
"Well, now, I hear you fainted at the table. I'm Dr. Seaton, known as the Doc and worse things too," the little man said and sat on the bed beside her, putting his hand to her forehead.
"Hi, I'm . . . Brandy." Shay was too tired to explain to another soul who she really was.
"Known your pa for years. Set his leg once and unhinged a tooth for him while I was at it." His smile was kind and exhausted. He looked neither young nor old. Just tired.
The examination was surprisingly thorough.
Similar Books
