Epilogue #2
“I know they were both happy with other people in the end, but it’s still so sad. I want them to be together somehow.”
I agreed.
And that was the perfect way to do it.
I wrapped an arm around her shoulders, hers went around my waist, and I set us to walking, saying, “I think that’s beautiful.”
“Right? I did too.”
“And you do you, however you want to. Always. Because you’re awesome.”
“You are too, Vivi. You know that, right?”
I looked down at her as we made the verdant lawns of the north parkland.
And I smiled.
* * *
That Wednesday, I took another break from the book.
I parked the Peugeot in the town centre car park, went to the door by the Boots, punched in the code, got the buzz, walked up the steps and knocked on another door.
Ravenna answered.
“I have the kettle boiled,” she said and let me in.
She made tea, and we sat down.
She took a sip, then leaned forward to set the cards on the table in front of me.
“You know I’m not here for a reading,” I said.
“Hmm,” she replied.
“The cats. The ghosts. The house,” I prompted. “You saw more in those thirteen cards than you let on. In fact, you knew something was up the minute you saw me. So, please, tell me.”
“I can tell you the veil has settled down,” she replied.
Ugh.
“Is that all you’re going to tell me?” I asked.
“It had to be righted.”
Great.
She was going to be all cryptic mystic.
“Can you explain?” I requested.
“It’s hard to say what I need to say,” she began hesitantly. But luckily, she kept going. “However, since I can tell you want to hear it…”
She paused for me to confirm.
I nodded my head to do that.
She socked it to me. “Your great-grandmother was not the love of your great-grandfather’s life. Harmony was.”
Even though I suspected this…
Even though this was what actually drove me to The Downs…
Even though her journals and the tone of his letters pretty much screamed it…
I was bummed out for my great grandma.
But I sat silent and listened.
Ravenna, as usual, had it going on.
“What had to be righted is…love. Harmony was the love of Charlie’s life. Charlie was the love of Harmony’s. Sometimes, this love is so great, it has magical power all on its own. Their love was so great, it had this power. When it was thwarted, it affected the veil.”
This was a little hocus-pocus, but it still made sense.
Ravenna kept going.
“Of course, they both went on to find happiness with others, and that’s good. But it was not what was meant to be. When what’s not meant to be is, the veil is disturbed. And it stays that way until what went wrong is righted.”
“Battle and me,” I deduced.
She nodded.
“Of her blood, of his. Yes. The duke and you.” She studied me closely.
“Don’t mistake the forces we can’t explain interfering in this as anything but what it is.
The fact your ancestors weren’t, has no bearing on the depth of what you and the duke have.
Again, the bottom line of it is, you two were meant to be too.
What you have with the duke has its own power, and that power is significant.
Thus, the veil around The Downs is at peace once again. ”
This was hocus-pocus too.
But to me, it totally made sense.
“So I won’t see phantom dancers in the ballroom anymore?” I inquired.
She smiled, sipped her tea and shook her head.
Well, that was a relief.
Also, I totally knew she knew what was going down.
“I have tons more questions,” I told her.
“I hope I have answers,” she invited me to ask them.
“Okay, you said the last time I was here that the veil was disturbed recently, but just now, that it’s been disturbed since Harmony and Charlie were parted. So what’s the difference?”
“You.”
“Me?”
“It was never right, but in my lifetime, it was all I knew. Until things went haywire, because you arrived at The Downs.”
Okay.
Right.
That made sense as well.
“So you saw in the cards that I saw the ghosts in the ballroom,” I said.
She just nodded.
I kept going.
“Now, I can understand why I saw the scene from when it was a hospital, since that was about Harmony and Charlie. But I also saw a Regency ball, and there were lights coming from there on a night when I was in danger. And I could swear they were calling to me to get to the house and be safe.”
“As they would,” she confirmed. “If something happened to you, the veil would have to wait for some other descendent of Charlie’s to meet some other descendent of the duke’s to make things right.
I’m sure it was disturbing to see those scenes, as you call them.
But they weren’t malevolent. They were needed. Thus, they appeared for a reason.”
Again.
Made sense.
Crazy sense, but sense.
“But the Regency ball?” I pushed. “That one scene came out the strongest.”
She lifted her shoulders. “Who knows why ghost do what they do? Maybe it’s because you’re a student of history and the house showed you what it thought you wanted to see.
Maybe there’s some link to Harmony, or even Charlie, from that period we don’t know.
” She grinned. “Maybe they just wanted to come out and play.” Her grin died.
“Probably, they were just what the house conjured up to communicate with you. Happy times. Dancing and friends. Girls hoping to make a match and fall in love.” She wagged her brows.
“Men hoping for other things. Pretty gowns and sparkling jewels and dapper suits. I know I wouldn’t mind seeing that.
Much better, more friendly and welcoming than injured men back from the front who would never be the same again. ”
That made sense too.
Kind of.
“And the cats won’t interfere anymore?” I pressed.
“If there was ever a creature at one with the veil, it’s the feline. If the veil is at peace, they will be.”
Good.
I wasn’t a big fan of hitting the deck yet another time.
That done, I asked the million-dollar question.
“How do you know all of this?”
“Blood is blood, luv. Aileen Flannery was my great-grandmother.”
Holy shit!
I burst out laughing.
Ravenna did it with me.
It wasn’t until we had a long chat about ghosts, familiars and fate, and I was at the door, ready to leave, that she dropped the bomb.
“Would you like to know where the bones are buried?”
I looked down at her in shock. “You know?”
“I have some chops, Vivienne, but even I’m not that good. Great-Gran lived to be ninety-seven. And she liked to tell stories.”
Oh boy.
Although I was curious to know where Hughes-Davies was buried, I wasn’t sure it was good she knew.
She shook her head. “There are some bones that deserve to go undisturbed. And Great-Gran sensed my abilities, so she didn’t tell anyone but me.
I’m quite happy that man is dead and buried, a mysterious footnote in history that anyone who took an interest would learn only that he was an ass and not missed by anyone but his mother. So I won’t be saying anything.”
That was good too.
I thought about her question and made a decision.
“The estate is so beautiful, I don’t want to know where he is. I don’t want knowing that to mess up my perception of even an inch of that place.”
Or Battle’s, since I’d obviously have to tell him.
“Saint, Bishop and Flint agreed,” Ravenna said. “This is why he wasn’t buried on The Downs. Close, but not on duchy property.”
“But Harmony said—”
“Harmony was wrong. They didn’t tell her because she was true of heart.
I think her brothers worried all their lives she’d eventually turn herself in to the police.
They corralled Clive into helping them make sure she didn’t.
And part of looking out for her, they kept that secret to themselves.
” She shrugged and lifted her hands to her sides. “No body. No murder.”
“Justifiable homicide,” I corrected.
“Quite,” she agreed on an eye twinkle.
“So, where is he?” I asked.
She grinned mischievously. “Where he should be. Under a manure pit on the farm to the south of The Downs.”
Buried under shit.
I burst out laughing again.
And so did she.
* * *
Later, when I told Battle where Hughes-Davies was, he busted out laughing too.
And since I wasn’t done with how awesome I thought Saint, Bishop and Flint’s funereal decisions were for that dick, I joined him.
That said, even though all of what Ravenna told me made sense (or a certain kind of it), I wasn’t entirely sure all of it was true.
Prue hadn’t seen those visions, and the intruder that night followed me, seemingly unaware of the ghost ball, and he couldn’t have missed it.
It was safe to say I had an overactive imagination, I was dealing with Mom’s death, the challenge of a new book, and experiencing trial by fire as I became a part of a family while falling in love with the man of my dreams.
Not to mention, Chassie’s floorboard had been loose for decades so Harmony could hide her things under it. It was likely it would give eventually.
Last, cats were cats.
In the end, it didn’t really matter if it was phantasmagorical or real.
The end result was worth it.
* * *
It was several weeks later.
On a sunny day.
While Battle and I were watching my very young nephew and niece fail miserably at croquet (I mean, the mallet was taller than Rayray! but she was determined to play, God love her).
That was when he took my hand.
He slid Charlie’s ring from my finger, a ring I hadn’t taken off since he put it on. He grabbed my other hand and slid it there.
He then reached into the pocket of his jeans and went back to my left hand.
And there, he slid an almost-exact replica of Charlie’s ring to Harmony on my finger.
Of course, the diamonds were a whole lot bigger.
But other than that, it was the same.
In other words, it was outlandishly perfect.
Just like my fiancé.
He then raised my hand to his lips and kissed the ring, before he pressed my hand flat on his chest.
“Marry me?” he whispered.