Traveller (8 page)

I shouldn’t have spoken. Michael did quite well without me. Lucinda narrowed her eyes, studying my face carefully.

“What else happened? You’re not telling us everything.”

“Nothing.” I tried to meet Lucinda’s stare with wide-eyed innocence. Not an easy task.

“I wouldn’t go that far, Em,” said Michael. He gave me a saucy grin, and I blushed, elbowing him hard in the ribs.

Poppy and Lucinda watched our interaction, and seemed satisfied with whatever they saw. “Emerson, you’re the worst liar in the whole wide world,” said Lucinda, and Poppy agreed. “We’ll let it go since everything turned out fine in the end, but don’t do that to us again.”

To my horror, Lucinda’s eyes filled with tears. “I won’t. I promise.”

Lucinda blinked and wiped her eyes. “Good. Let’s have some tea.” Tea was the English cure all, and Lucinda was very, very English.

The doorbell rang, and Poppy jumped up to get it. “That’s Nigel. He was coming over to beat up Michael, but I don’t think that’s necessary now.”

I started to giggle at the look on Michael’s face. “It’s funny. Trust me.”

Nigel gave Poppy a kiss then walked over to us. Michael stood to greet him. Nearly as tall as Michael, Nigel would have been at a serious disadvantage if it came to blows. The only exercise he’d ever gotten was from lifting textbooks.

Michael grinned when he saw Nigel and shook his hand. “Nigel.”

“Michael?” Nigel gave Poppy an incredulous look. “This is the bloke you wanted me to beat up? Bloody hell. I’m glad you worked it all out. I wouldn’t want to hurt this man.” He gave Michael a little wink, and slapped his shoulder. Michael laughed.

“You two know each other?” I asked.

“Of course, we know each other. We tried to get Michael to come over to the physics department, but he refused. He wanted to stay in chemistry. Bloody waste of a great mind for physics, if you ask me.”

“Physics?” I asked. Michael shrugged, apparently embarrassed by the praise.

“It’s good to see you again, Nigel.”

“You, too. Did you hear about Fred?”

Michael and Nigel started talking about a colleague from the physics department. Lucinda and Poppy handed them each a cup of tea, and then dragged me into my room. I sat down on my bed.

“What the hell happened?” Lucinda was never one to beat about the bush. I didn’t know how to respond.

“Did you sleep with him?” Poppy sat down next to me.

“We slept in the same bed, but we didn’t…you know…”

“Oh, God. She is still a virgin.” Lucinda said those words a bit louder perhaps than she intended. I heard a slight lull in the Nigel and Michael’s conversation in the next room, and was fairly certain they’d heard her, too.

“Lucinda,” I hissed. “Must you?”

“Yes, I must.” Her face softened. “Be careful. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Nigel likes him,” said Poppy. Since the sun rose and set on Nigel’s opinion in Poppy-land, that was a huge point in his favor. Lucinda agreed.

“He does seem to care for you, but he could trample your heart if you aren’t careful.”

I looked at her in surprise. “I’ll be careful, but Michael isn’t what he seems. He’s actually a pretty good guy.” They both looked unconvinced, so I changed the subject. “How was Antarctica?”

Lucinda groaned, and Poppy shook her head. “You shouldn’t have asked,” she whispered.

“What happened?”

“Nothing,” said Lucinda. “I chased him all around the bloody apartment, and nothing happened.”

Poppy cringed. “Antarctica has yet to be conquered,” she said softly.

Lucinda covered her face with her hands. “It was awful. I tried everything. I showed him my cleavage. I brushed against him. I filled every sentence with sexual innuendo. I did everything short of jumping on him and ripping off his clothes.”

“She came close,” Poppy murmured. “He lost a button.”

Lucinda made a noise that sounded like a wail. “I am one continent away from completing my thesis, but Antarctica refuses to cooperate. I’m a failure.”

“You said he’s shy. Give him some time.”

Lucinda peeked out from between her fingers. “I’ll see him again tonight. I’m forcing him to take me to the cinema.”

“Be gentle.”

“Gentle?” Lucinda thought about it and sighed. “That would be new for me. Oh, Em. I think actually might
like
him.”

Lucinda had never used that word before. The only nice things she ever said about her other lovers were adjectives to describe their skill in bed, or their size, things like, “I had a lovely time exploring Brazil last night,”
or “That was quite the safari in Africa.” Lucinda saw them more as case studies than actual people, but this time seemed different.

“I’m sure he likes you, too, Lucinda. All men like you. You’re like a walking, talking sex dream.”

She smiled. “That is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. Thank you, Emerson.”

I stood up and stretched. “I have to pack. I’m staying with Michael for a few days.”

“What?” Lucinda asked. They both folded their arms across their chests and literally blocked the door with their bodies.

I rolled my eyes. They weren’t going to budge until they got answers. “Michael usually works nights, but he’s off right now. It’s a chance for us to spend a bit of time together.”

They still looked unconvinced, so I played my ace in the hole. “Do you really want me to go back to Kentucky a virgin?”

Lucinda and Poppy locked eyes, and then Lucinda winked at me. “If that’s the case, I have something for you.” She slipped out of the room, and came back with a tiny scrap of black lace hidden under her shirt. She waved it at me triumphantly.

“What in tarnation is this?” I took it tentatively from her hands and held it up against my body. It was a very tiny, very sexy black lace teddy. “Oh, my. If I wear this, I could catch old
and
new-monia.”

Lucinda grabbed it out of my hands and shoved it into my bag. “If you wear this, you’ll catch Michael Nightingale, and it’s about damned time.”

Chapter Nine

If “ifs” and “buts” were candies and nuts, then every day would be Christmas.

~Grandma Sugar

Michael and I left the apartment and walked down the street. “I can’t believe you know Nigel. That made this whole situation a lot better.”

“He’s a good man.” Michael went to shove his hands into his pockets, seemed to remember his cuts at the last moment, and linked his fingers through his belt loops instead. He’d dressed all in black again, looking like a dark, avenging angel. I’d fallen asleep with my hair wet, and still wore the clothes I’d slept in, so I looked like a weird cross between a ragamuffin and the bride of Frankenstein. We were quite the pair.

“How long have you known Nigel?” he asked.

“As long as I’ve known Poppy. They’ve been together forever.”

Michael thought about this. “Has she met his parents?”

“Not yet. Why?”

Michael nibbled on the silver ring on his lip. “I met them once. They were proper snobs. You know they’re titled, right?”

“The whole Nigel is really Lord Nigel or something? Yeah, I know. What difference does it make?”

“It can make quite a difference.” Michael sighed. “This isn’t America, Emerson. Poppy isn’t in the same social class as Nigel. I could tell as soon as she opened her mouth to speak.” I heard the pain in his voice and knew it came from personal experience.

I measured my words carefully. “Well, Nigel doesn’t think like that. A lot of people don’t think like that. He loves Poppy and won’t let his parents come between them.”

“I hope you’re right.” He looked at his watch. “Is there anything else you need to do before we go back?”

“Can I stop at Mrs. Burke’s?”

“You two are rather close, aren’t you? Especially after you beat up that thief for her.” Michael looked at me with a smile, but it froze on his face when I glared at him.

“You
were
watching me. I knew it.”

“Someone had to keep an eye on you. You’re completely mad, you know.” He clenched his jaw in irritation, two bright spots of color appearing on his cheeks.

“And you elected yourself to be that person?”

I didn’t think he would answer me, but he surprised me once again. “Something about you made me want to protect you. Against my better judgment, I might add. The least you could do is to make it a bit easier for me by not doing the most idiotic things possible all the time.”

That hurt. “Okay. Sorry.”

Michael gave me a curt nod and then looked at his watch. Mrs. Burke’s shop was only a few doors down. “You have half an hour.”

Mrs. Burke greeted me at the door to her shop. As soon as she saw me, her face filled with concern.

“What’s wrong, Emerson?”

I opened my mouth and then shut it again, not knowing where to start. “I might not be here the next few days. I just wanted to let you know.”

“Is this about that Traveller?” Mrs. Burke’s normally sweet, soft face turned hard. She grabbed a pot of tea and some shortbread biscuits, and pulled me over to a table in a quiet corner of the shop. “It’s time we had a little talk.”

Mrs. Burke went to get some teacups just as Leo walked into the shop. His eyes scanned the room, looking for me. I wanted to crawl away and hide, but he saw me and made a beeline for my table. He looked pale.

“Where were you this morning?”

My cheeks burned. “I slept in. How are you? You look tired.”

“I’m fine. I had one pint too many last night, I suppose.” He pointed to the empty seat in front of me. “May I join you?”

“No.” I shook my head, perhaps a little too vehemently, and he looked hurt. “I’m sorry. I’m having a cup of tea with Mrs. Burke.”

He shifted back and forth on his feet. “Can we talk later?”

I nodded as Mrs. Burke came bustling up with the teacups, but I couldn’t quite look at his face. He hesitated only for a moment, and then left the teashop without saying goodbye. Hearing the door slam behind him, I swallowed hard. He turned and stared at me through the window, desire mixing with anger in his eyes. I’d hurt him. Badly. But there was nothing I could do about it.

“He likes you, you know,” said Mrs. Burke as she poured the tea. “And he’s a great deal better for you than that Traveller.”

“Why do you hate them so much?”

“It’s a long story, but one you need to hear.” Mrs. Burke stirred her tea, a faraway expression in her eyes. “I had a sister named Joan. She was only a year older than me, and she was special. She had a personality that just lit up a room, and she was ever so kind.

“She’d just turned seventeen when she met a Traveller boy. We knew all about Travellers, mind you. We’d been warned about them for years. They were good for nothing scoundrels. Nice girls stayed away from them, but not our Joan. She was in love.”

“What happened?”

Mrs. Burke gave me a sad little smile. “What you would expect. Joan fell pregnant, and the boy left. Typical behavior, I suppose, but Joan was distraught. After her little boy was born, she sought out his family. You should have heard the names they called her. They told her they wanted nothing to do with a baby who was not ‘Traveller born.’ They were trash, yet they treated our Joan like she was beneath them. Like she wasn’t worthy of that boy who had used her so terribly. The sad part was she believed them.”

“What did Joan do?” My tea got cold in front of me, but I couldn’t take a sip. My throat felt like it was closing up.

“She died, by her own hand, and left her little boy, Andrew, without a mother or any father to speak of.” Mrs. Burke took out a handkerchief from a pocket in her apron and dabbed her eyes. “But that isn’t all.”

I almost didn’t want to hear anymore, but I had to listen. I sat, as still as a statue, and waited.

“After Joan died, the father, Denny, came by our house. He wanted to see the baby. I almost didn’t let him, but there was something in his face….” Mrs. Burke shook her head. “He looked like he’d been to hell and back. He told me he’d loved my sister, and he was sorry.”

Mrs. Burke’s face crumbled. “Sorry. Such a simple little word. Denny said he hadn’t run away. He said his family had been holding him prisoner. They only let him out once they heard Joan was dead.

“Can you imagine that? It’s so…monstrous.” Mrs. Burke shook her head. “I could tell it was the truth by the look on his face, and the way he looked at little Andy. He begged us to keep Andy safe, and we did. Not for him, mind you, but for Joan. We never saw Denny again, although I heard rumors a few years later he was killed in some sort of street fight.”

I pictured the Moktar, and a flash of silver. Many Travellers probably died in similar ways. Knife fights. Bar brawls. Mysterious circumstances.

“What happened to Andy?”

“I wish I knew.” She took off her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose before replacing them. “Andy was…different.”

“In what way?” I forced myself to take a sip of tea because my mouth was so dry. I almost couldn’t swallow it.

“He wasn’t like the other little boys. He seemed to see things that weren’t there and sense things others couldn’t. And he was quick. Sometimes he ran so fast he almost disappeared.” Mrs. Burke gave me a wry smile. “I’m sure you think I’ve lost my mind, but that’s the truth. And there’s more.”

“What?” I barely squeaked out the word.

“Andy started getting in trouble at school. He hung around a rough crowd. One night, when he was a teenager, I was walking home late from the shop, and I saw something.” She shook her head, almost like telling herself it couldn’t be true. “Some sort of beast. It attacked me, and knocked me down. Andy came out of the shadows and fought it. That’s all I remember. I must have blacked out. When I woke up, Andy was gone, and I was back home. Alone. That was almost thirty years ago. He was fifteen at the time.”

“Where is he now?”

“I have no idea. We never saw him again. My mother died not knowing what happened to him.” She closed her eyes. “That’s why I hate them so much, Emerson. They took everything that mattered away from me. And I blame them for Andy. He wasn’t normal. None of them are normal. I don’t know if they are demons or just strange and wrong, but they aren’t the same as everyone else.”