Read Online TouchStone for ever (The Story of Us Trilogy) by Sydney Jamesson - Free Book Online Page B

explaining.”
    “Looks like your
instincts were right, Mack,” Rick acknowledges with a chuckle.
    “Oh, we’ll have to
see about that, but thanks, Rick.” He pauses, thinking through the information.
“How’s the wife doing?”
    “You know what she’s
like. Never sits still. It’s like living with a bloody ferret.”
    Mack laughs out loud.
“You poor sod. No wonder you volunteer for overtime.”
    “Tell me about it.
I’d move in here and set up a bivouac behind the counter if they’d let me.”
He’s laughing out loud.
    “Ah, but you’d miss
the home cooking.”
    “Maybe you’re right.
I’ll try and stick it out for another couple of months.” He composes himself.
“How’s your daughter doing?”
    “Not too bad. Kate’s
away at University, studying law of all things. Think she would have seen
enough from me to be put her off it for life, but no.” His eyes soften at the
thought of her. “She takes after her mother, God rest her soul. She’s a
do-gooder.”
    “There’s nothing
wrong with that, Mack. You should be proud.”
    He nods his head in
response. “Yeah, I am.”
    “Catch you later.
They just brought in a couple of comedians; looks like they’ve been drinking
for England.”
    “Go to it. Thanks for
the info, Rick.”
    “Anytime, Mack.”
    Mackenzie Bowker
draws an enormous circle around two words: Elise Richards. “Now, let’s find out
who you are Miss. Richards.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

6
      My clothes lie in a heap on the bathroom floor. The fine silk straps of my pyjama
top sit comfortably on my bare shoulders. The last time I dressed in white was
my wedding day. Was it only a week ago that we were married in front of
friends, family and God Almighty?
    Now look what we have
become. My baggage has been the death of us; our relationship, our baby and now
… I replay our conversation over and over but the fact remains. I’m here with a
stranger. There’s a knock at the door.
    “Yes?”
    “Come out here. I
want to speak with you,” he commands. I picture him folding his arms as Ayden
would; standing tall, looking impatient.
    “I’m going to bed.
It’s been a traumatic day, one way or another.”
    The knob turns and he
steps into the doorway. “Yes, it has.” He passes me my bathrobe. “Put this on.”
    I slip it on and pull
the belt tightly, wincing a little with the pressure on my stomach.
    “You’re in no
condition to be up this late. You need to rest. Are you in any pain?”
    Wearily, I confront
him. “No.”
    In a split second
he’s positioned behind me. There we stand like a human landscape; white foam
against an impregnable cliff of charcoal grey. Our eyes meet in the mirror.
    “Close your eyes.”
    Another command.
    I do, lowering my
head, defeated.
    “Open them.”
    I do so with a gasp.
Every mark, graze and bruise has vanished from my face. I am myself again. I
hurriedly untie my bathrobe and lift up my top. Where there was a healing scar
only minutes ago on my stomach, there’s a faint line of an inch or so. I can’t
conceal my astonishment. I lean forward, tracing the clear skin beneath my left
eye and drawing circles across my jaw with my fingertips.
    “Now do you believe
me?” he asks, standing high and mighty behind me.
    “Yes,” I concede,
fastening my bathrobe snugly around my body. “But I don’t understand. Even
though you look like Ayden, you’re a stranger. I don’t know you.”
    “I can appreciate
that, but in time …”
    “Time? What do you
mean? You’re staying ?” I can’t conceal my horror.
    He turns me around to
face him, forcing me to lift my eyes to meet his. “I can leave anytime.”
    “And if you do, will
I wake up next to a corpse? Is that the way this thing works?”
    “You think so little
of me Frances. I would not do that. I have taken a great interest in your
plight over the years and watched you grow…”
    “… Then that was you
at the book launch, speaking through Alenka?