One Magic Moment Read Free Page B

authenticity—or that she had, with her own eyes, seen more paranormal activity of other kinds than any Kansasborn Yank should ever have had to be witness to.
    Like Fate and Karma currently standing with their arms linked there near a fire that some enterprising soul had apparently started earlier that morning, watching her to see what she would do.
    Ignore them, that’s what she would do, because she wasn’t going to think any more about her sister, or ghosts, or time travel. And if her walk across the hall was more of a run and her sudden enthusiasm for whatever nastiness Peaches could pour into a glass was unusual, who could blame her?
    The truth was, she hadn’t intended to let the events of the past few weeks get to her as they had. She had sent Pippa off into the unknown and apparently unrestrainable ether one morning five weeks earlier, then returned to her castle in the south, sure in the knowledge that her sister was happily wed to the man she loved. She’d been convinced that her pleasure in her sister’s happiness would be enough to override any small twinge of sadness she felt over having lost the company of that beloved younger sister. She’d had no trouble putting on a happy face long enough to put her other sister Peaches on a plane back to Seattle and sing jaunty medieval tunes on her way back to her keep.
    That had lasted only until she’d walked in her front door and promptly fallen apart.
    She’d done the only thing she could: she’d fled to Cambridge, lucking into a gig house-sitting for a colleague on sabbatical who’d had his house sitter flake out on him. It should have continued at least through the middle of December, but the man’s sister had shown up and announced she was taking over, leaving Tess with the choice of either bumming couch space off friends or returning to Sedgwick.
    Well, actually, the decision had been a bit more clear-cut than that. Her series of autumn events was heading into full swing, and she’d needed to be home to see to them. Could she be blamed if she’d put off getting on the train until the very last moment possible, giving herself time to convince herself that she could actually go inside her hall and breathe?
    She thought not.
    She set her backpack on a chair in front of the hearth and dug inside for her wallet. She needed to get out; that was the ticket. She could go someplace less, ah, old , like Knole House, or maybe even just down to the local pub. That was a lovely seventeenth-century building full of dark wood and even more modern amenities like bangers and mash. Yes, something more on the current side was just what she needed—
    “Hey, where are you going?” Peaches called from the top of the passageway that led to the kitchen. “I haven’t gotten to your juice yet.”
    “I’ll drink it later,” Tess said, shoving her wallet into her jacket pocket. “I’m going out.”
    Peaches was silent in such a meaningful sort of way that Tess found she had to stop in mid-flight and turn to look at her. She took a deep breath and attempted a smile.
    “I just need a few minutes in a more modern place. But save me some juice.”
    Peaches only watched her, her expression one of understanding.
    Tess nodded, then turned and fled out the front door before she opened her mouth and a terrible noise of grief came out. So Pippa had gotten married and moved a bit out of cell phone range. Lots of people did that and their families survived. Tess was sure she’d be counting herself in that latter group very soon.
    Within minutes, she was backing out of what served as the castle’s car park, happy to be doing something constructive with her time. She drove along the small road leading away from her castle, slowed down, considered, then swerved expertly and sideswiped an ancient and fortunately quite sturdy oak. She stopped, hopped out of the car and went to look for the mirror she’d knocked off.
    It had fallen more or less where they usually fell, which saved her