“I look forward to getting to know him. Do you think he might be able to direct me to a reliable shipbuilder?”
“I’m certain he can. You and Meredith must come for dinner tomorrow night. The sooner you and George put your heads together the better,” his mother said as she and Emily walked with them down the stairs to the front door.
“Your driver will be in the kitchen,” his mother told him. “It’s too cold and damp to wait outside, and I instructed our staff to invite him in for refreshments while we visited.”
A different maid appeared, carrying their things. “I let the coachman know you’re ready to depart, sir. He’ll be waiting for you by the carriage, and we took the liberty of putting a hot brick inside for you.”
“Thank you,” he said as he helped Meredith into her coat. “We’ll see you tomorrow night, then.”
Once he and Meredith were on their way home, he couldn’t help thinking about how different things would’ve been had he received his mother’s first letter announcing her marriage. Knowing she and his siblings were well off would’ve changed everything. His vow would have lost its grip. Daniel frowned. “Meredith, does it seem …” He took a moment to organize his thoughts.
“I know what you’re thinking, because I’m wondering the same thing. If you’d received the news of your mother’s marriage, you wouldn’t have been obsessed with making things right for your family.”
“Aye, and I wouldn’t have had any reason to haunt Garretsville. It’s likely I wouldn’t have lingered after being murdered. Charles didn’t.”
“If you hadn’t lingered, we never would have met,” she concluded, her expression pensive.
Their gazes met and held. “Does it seem as unlikely to you as it does to me that both letters went astray?” he asked, drawing her close to his side and keeping an arm around her shoulders. “Do you believe such a coincidence is even possible? More puzzling, if not a coincidence, then what force could have orchestrated our meeting the way we did, with me a ghost and you a ghost whisperer?”
“I don’t know.” She rested her head on his shoulder. “I don’t think we’ll ever know. Does it really matter?”
“Hmm.” He absently ran his hand up and down her arm, while trying like hell to make sense of it all. For more than a century and a half he’d existed as a wraith, trapped in Garretsville with no way to move on. Why? So he could meet a twenty-first-century woman destined to become his wife? Preposterous. Perhaps he and Meredith were part of an elaborate scheme to put an end to the outlaws preying on prospectors. Also unlikely. Still …
“What’s important is that we’re together now, and come spring the two of us will become three.” Meredith snuggled closer. “We’re going to be parents.”
Nodding slowly, it took a few seconds for that last bit to penetrate. “What?” He twisted around in his seat to stare at her. “You’re … we’re …” He slapped his forehead. “That’s why you’ve been so tired and feeling poorly lately. How could I be so thickheaded not to have figured it out?” How had he not noticed she’d missed her courses?
She laughed. “Beats me.”
“And here I thought I couldn’t be any happier than I already am.” He wrapped his arms around her and dropped a kiss on her forehead. “I hope I’ll be as good a father to our children as mine was to me.”
“I have no doubts.” She rested her palm against his chest and closed her eyes. Before long, her breathing slowed, and she’d fallen asleep.
Today he’d seen for himself that his mother, brother and sister were well situated, and a great weight had lifted from his shoulders. And now he’d learned the happy news. I’m going to be a father! His eyes stung as he held his wife—the center of his world—in his arms. “I’m a lucky man,” he murmured, dipping his head to kiss his sleeping wife’s forehead. “A very lucky man indeed.
Meredith sensed something in the atmosphere the second they entered their townhouse. She’d become very sensitive to smells lately, and something odd hung in the air. Her pulse raced as she and Daniel took off their coats. Adding to her alarm was the fact that their maid didn’t come to the foyer to take their things.
“We’ll have to set up our nursery and hire a nursemaid,” Daniel said. “Where is Alice?”
“In the kitchen perhaps.” She raised her head and sniffed, recognizing the familiar scent of impending rain. “Oh.”
“What is it, love?” He took her things from her and made his way to the coat closet.
“Don’t you smell that?” She peeked into the front receiving parlor, relieved to find the room empty.
He drew in a long breath as he returned to her. “Aye, what is it?”
“Ionized oxygen. You don’t remember? The same scent filled Keoghan’s Saloon the day Alpin gave me the diamonds?”
“Ghosts don’t have a sense of smell, love. So, no, I don’t remember.” Daniel tensed and drew her behind him. “You cannot take her from me,” he called out.
The door to their study down the hall opened, and Alpin stepped out, dressed as a nineteenth-century gentleman. “If I wished to take your wife from you, mortal, you could not stop me. However, I do not.” He turned his pale-blue gaze her way. “Unless she wishes to return to her family, this is merely a social call.” He arched a brow. “Do you want to go home, Meredith? I can give you another diamond if you do.”
Now she had a choice? Her heart stuttered. Her breath caught in her throat as the injustice done to her by that little twit Oliver came rushing back. She knew what she wanted, and anger fueled her courage. “What I want is the best of both worlds. I want to stay here with my husband and make a life with him and our child, and I …” Her voice broke. “I need to
