The Mirror (The Lost Bride Trilogy #2)

“How? Where?”

“Well, silly, I don’t know.” She looked over at Edward again, smiling with the glass partway to his lips. “I wish we’d had one night together. Even just one night.”

The tableau broke. The fire crackled in the hearth. Edward sipped from his glass, and the girl in the blue dress turned.

Behind her mother, Lisbeth sang.

“You and me, you and me, oh, how happy we’ll be!”

Then it all vanished in the dark.

Trembling, Sonya fumbled behind her for the light switch, thenjolted when Yoda brushed against her leg. On a half turn, she saw Trey and Cleo.

“Did you see her, see them? Did you see?”

“No. Here.” Trey drew her against him. “You’re cold.”

“No, no, just… overwhelmed. I think I’m going to sit down a minute.” She turned again, walked unsteadily to a chair. “You didn’t see them? I was asleep, then I wasn’t, and I was here, and there were people, and music, and Lisbeth.”

“We heard music, and singing, but like it was far off.” Cleo squeezed her hand. “I’m going to get you some water.”

“No, I’m fine. Well, not fine, but okay. You didn’t see anything?”

“What did you see?” Trey asked.

“It was a little party. I recognized Owen—not our Owen, Lisbeth’s father, and her mother was playing the piano. Lisbeth was singing. She was wearing a pink dress and singing, ah… By the sea,” Sonya sang, “by the sea, by the beautiful sea. And Edward—her fiancé—was watching her and smiling. And one more couple, young like them, a girl in a blue dress, a man in a suit.”

As she stared at the piano, she stroked the head Mookie laid in her lap. Warm, real, she thought.

“Then it all stopped, froze. Just the way it did when I saw Astrid and that party in the parlor. Except for Lisbeth. She looked at me. She saw me. She spoke to me.”

“You talked to her.”

She looked up at Trey. “That wasn’t just in my head? You heard me?”

“Your side of the conversation.” Cleo sat on the arm of the chair, rubbed a hand on Sonya’s arm.

“She told me how happy they’d all been that night, though I could see it for myself.”

Sonya told them the rest.

“The room was different, but not much. Different paintings on the wall, and of course, the portraits weren’t there. But the Victrola we brought down? It was right there, just where we put it. I think it was new.”

“It wasn’t Dobbs,” Cleo said. “Not this time.”

“No. Not this time. They were so happy. It was like when I sawAstrid in the parlor. Just friends and family having fun, an evening together with music. She wanted me to see that.”

“And feel that,” Cleo added.

“I did. I did feel it.”

“There’s more of that in this house, that feeling,” Trey said, “that history, than what Dobbs brought into it. And that’s what you’re bringing back to it.”

“I know it. And though it’s way beyond strange, I’m glad I had the chance to see her, talk to her. They really loved each other, Lisbeth and Edward. It was young and sweet, but it was love.

“There’s a lot of that in this house, too. People who loved each other. I’d say I’m sorry I got you all up at three a.m., but it’s not the first time, and I don’t think it’ll be the last.”

Taking a breath, Sonya rose. “What do you say we all go back to bed?”