The Mirror (The Lost Bride Trilogy #2)

“I still couldn’t do anything. Still couldn’t help, couldn’t stop it. When I tried… I think that’s when I ended up on the floor.

“It’s one thing to understand I can’t change death, and another to stand helpless and watch it happen. And to Clover.”

“I can’t imagine how hard and hurtful. She saw you, Sonya. Clover saw you, she spoke to you. She knew you were there. Bearing witness.”

“She confirmed that with ‘Can I Get a Witness.’” Sonya frowned now. “It wasn’t the Stones, though.”

“Baby, the late, great Marvin Gaye did it first. And isn’t that just like her? Sonya, I know it had to be brutal, but think of this. You saw your father’s birth. You witnessed the person who, along with your mama, brought you into the world coming into it. That’s a kind of miracle, and a powerful thing.”

“She nursed them. She was dying. Maybe she didn’t fully understand that, but she was exhausted and she was dying, but she wanted to feed them, hold them. And he, Charlie, he pinned these little cloth diapers on them, wrapped them up warm when they fell asleep, tucked them up together before he went down to get her some soup.

“She died while he was gone, I could see it. Dobbs came when he was gone.”

“Did you write down what Dobbs said?”

“No. I remember every word.”

“I’m going to.”

In herPOUR YOUR ART OUTsleep shirt, Cleo rolled over to grab a pad, a pencil.

“Say them again.” Cleo wrote them down. “We’re documenting everything.”

“Yes, that’s next on my list.”

“You could’ve come to me, Son.”

“I nearly did. Nearly texted Trey. Then I didn’t see the point. More? I wasn’t going to give her another ounce of my grief and fear. Just hisses, right, Pye?”

“Hisses?”

“Pyewacket went down to the gym when I did this morning. And we hissed at the Gold Room bell. Yoda was right there when I came out of it last night, to comfort me, and she was down there this morning hissing at Dobbs.”

“We’ve got us a couple of damn good furry friends here.”

“We do. They’ve had their first-thing-in-the-morning outside time, and breakfast. I’m going to let them out, the post-breakfast thing, and fill my water bottle for work.”

“I’ll pull it together and let them back in. I wish I’d been with you.”

“I knew you were here, and that matters.”

She pushed off the bed, started to call the pets. And it struck her.

“I had another dream.”

“Oh God.”

“No, no, the opposite of awful. I nearly forgot. I saw them, Clover and Charlie. Their wedding day. Not here, not at the manor. I wonder if anyone knows when they moved in here. Anyway, it was so sweet, Cleo. They were dancing on the grass somewhere, and the sun was shining. They looked so young, so happy, so in love. The song he played for her during labor—‘I Only Want to Be with You.’ That’s the music I heard.”

It played again on the phone in Sonya’s pocket.

“She took you there.” Tears gathered in Cleo’s eyes. “She wanted you to have that, to see that, and feel it. The bright pushes away the dark.”

Believing it, Sonya herded cat and dog downstairs, where they both seemed happy to go out into the April sunshine. She filled her water bottle. She met Cleo on the stairs.

“Nothing but litter in the box.”

“She’s a very smart girl. You’re also a very smart girl, so you’re going to let Trey know what happened last night.”