LITMIR.BIZ

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      Mama glanced toward the back patio as Derrick started for the front door. “I’ll check on him.”

      My parents kissed me and sent me out the door for what should have been the night of any girl’s dreams.

      * * * *

      At the Country Club the prom committee had reserved for the dance, someone tapped on my shoulder.

      Cole’s father, Trevor, had been invited to chaperone the prom. In his tux, he looked just a youthful as one of the junior or senior boys. His dark hair waved back out of his dark sparkling eyes. He’d always treated me as if I were one of his own, one of the few joys of being born into a close-knit family, though none of us were of blood relation.

      Mama had given me some spiel about neither her or Shelby being able to have children, so they’d begun fertility treatments and just happened to luck up by becoming pregnant at the same time. Now it was as if I had two mothers and two fathers most days.

      When one set of parents didn’t agree about something, they normally held weird meetings and almost always ended up coming up with some sort of settlement that made either me or Cole happy in the end.

      It worked.

      Everyone was happy.

      Mostly.

      Cole seemed to be on the brink of happiness until the subject of me came up. That’s when the sparkle in his eyes dissipated—until that night just before I’d left for the dance. It was weird to admit, but I looked forward to the end of the evening so I could get back home and wait for him to come back from one of his brooding walks in the woods.

      I wanted to talk to him about the way I’d been acting.

      See if maybe we could find some common ground.

      Trevor smiled down to me. “May I have this dance?”

      “Are you going to fuss at me?”

      “Have I ever?” He took my hand.

      I stood. “No. Though after my behavior as of late, I’m surprised. Everyone else has.”

      “They all mean well. They’re just waiting for you to find yourself. These teenage years can be daunting.” Trevor walked me onto the dance floor.

      “Sometimes, I wonder if they don’t think that Cole was born to tell me what to do.”

      “You’re way off. But I’m sure it seems that way.”

      “It might seem like I do, but I don’t hate Cole. In fact, I care a great deal about him. It’s just so complicated.” A strange tightness constricted in my chest.

      Trevor looked around the room as if he were avoiding my gaze. Trevor twirled me as if he detected my curiosity.

      “What’s wrong?”

      He shook his head, but then did finally make eye contact. “There’s something I think you should know, but Cole has asked me not to speak to you about it. I have been vowed to secrecy, but I no longer think that’s what’s best for you.”

      A shudder ran the course of my veins.

      His words would change my life. I could feel it in my blood.

      Trevor took my hand and pulled me outside to a quiet corner on the balcony. The stars twinkled and a warm breeze did nothing to help the chill in my veins. Trevor took off his coat and rested it on my shoulders.

      “Tell me.” I pulled the coat together.

      “You’re not his cousin.” Trevor’s voice changed from cheery to businesslike, as if I were a client to whom he was selling a home.

      “I already know that. We’re from a—”

      “You and Cole weren’t just named after Cole and Allie Kinsley. You are Cole and Allie Kinsley. The reason Cole obsesses over you all the time is you’re his wife.” Trevor’s gaze was bold, serious.

      I was silent. Surely he couldn’t think I had the patience for jokes at a time like this.

      “Your soul was drawn to the fetus inside your mother, as was Cole’s. You were raised side by side so that you could be together without all the wasted time of searching for each other. You are endlessly reincarnated. In your previous life, you and Cole decided this process would, if it worked, save you two time and heartache. Cole always remembers his past lives, you don’t. It was a curse laid on you by your sister in the 1800s. She was a terrible person. She graced you with nothing but a horrible past. Before you call me crazy and go running from the room, all I need for proof to back what I’m saying is at Rollins Manor. Once you see it all, you’ll have no doubts.”

      “I don’t even know what to say to this. It’s too farfetched.” I turned from him.

      He touched my arm. “I’m sorry I’m the one to break it to you, but like I said, Cole made us promise after you two became teenagers. He saw a difference in you than he’d ever seen before and thought that maybe you might not actually return his devotion. If you didn’t, he wanted you to have Free Will. To be able to live your own life without the misery of sharing it with him.”

      “Why would sharing it with him, if any of this was true, cause me misery?” My voice shook.

      “You’re haunted. Or cursed. The ghost of your sister, Grace Rollins, used to follow you two and harass you to no end. We think she’s been done away with for good, but we’re not completely sure. He doesn’t want to take a chance in drawing Grace back to you, if there’s a possibility that you could be happy without him.”

      “I need to find my date.” I slid the jacket off my bare shoulders and handed it back to Trevor. Unable to make eye contact with him, I turned.

      “Promise me you won’t run away,” he called after me.

      “I’m not going to run.” I picked up my skirts and searched the crowd for Derrick. With very little explanation, I left him at the dance by himself.

      The limo sat at the restaurant on the corner a few blocks away.

      I would have walked home so I could think through things, but with the mental state I was in, there was a possibility that I would forget my way.

      Miles saw me approach and opened the door for me, a confused look on his face. “An early end to the evening, Madame?”

      “Yes. I wasn’t feeling well. Would you mind taking me home?”

      He nodded. “Will Mr. Cobb need a ride to his house at the close of the dance?”

      “No. He’ll be riding with friends. Thank you.”

      Miles shut the door and drove in silence as I propped my hand on the window and stared at the nightlife around me.

      Past lives.

      No.

      I couldn’t think about it.

      That meant too many things about my life had been a complete lie.

      Who were my parents, really? Who was Cole?

      No. I wouldn’t think about it.

      But how could I not?

      It explained so many things. And created so many more questions.

      Ones Cole would answer as soon as I got home. And he would be the one to show me the proof. If this was all a joke, I would… I would….

      It wasn’t a joke.

      I could feel it.

      As soon as Trevor had begun speaking, all the icy pulsing in my veins had seemed to ebb and a warm, comforting heat had replaced it. As if I was finally on the right track to finding out what my life meant.

      As if I had finally found myself. Even though I’d had no idea I’d been lost.

      Miles pulled he car to the front door, into Cole’s

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