Souls Apart (Book 1 in the Lost Souls Trilogy) by Anna Pescardot Page B

of the huge
piano in the corner. “If you ever need to talk to anyone give me a call,” she
said writing down her mobile number and giving it to Sally. “You’re too young
to be cooped up in here all day.”
    Sally smiled. “It’s better than going out and being
talked about,” she said.
    “So what if people talk. If you’re not careful you’ll
go mad too.”
    Amber could be so tactless but for some reason people
didn’t hate her for it. “Thank you.   You’re right, of course.   Maybe I
will give you a call sometime.”
    She stood up and we both knew it was time to leave. As
we walked down the hill I thought about Emily and Sally and the grey-haired
woman at the window; my daughter. I wanted to speak to Eddie about it but I
knew he’d go mad if he knew I’d been snooping around asking questions about
him.
    Amber was the first to speak. “How do you feel? Isn’t
it weird for you all this family stuff?”
    “Yeah.   I can’t
tell anyone though.   This is my life
now.   I need to forget about the past
otherwise I’m scared I’ll go crazy too.”
    “I think you need to end things with Eddie,
Charls.   Can’t you see how many lives
he’s ruined? You know he murdered Emily don’t you?”
    I nodded. “But I still love him, though.   Maybe it’s up to me to change things in this
life. Maybe the only way to break this curse is to marry him and do things
right this time.”
    Amber grabbed hold of my shoulders and began to shake
me. “Oh my god, Charlie! Wake up! You need to get as far away as possible from
that man! Let’s hope your Mom got that job and that you’re both leaving
tomorrow!”

    ***
    Mom wasn’t in when I got home so I ran a bath and
started to think about what I was going to say to Eddie later.   We’d arranged to meet at our usual spot but
after our last conversation I feared the worst.   How is it possible to love somebody but to be so scared of them at the
same time? And just because somebody murdered someone in a past life does that
mean they have to get punished in this one? Does it make them inherently evil
or can people change? I sunk my head under the bubbles and inhaled the smell of
strawberries and cream.   It reminded me
of the day he proposed. How could things have gone so wrong so soon?
    -15-

    I hadn’t
really been making that much of an effort on my appearance lately because I
knew Eddie loved me for me and would rather I wore less make-up and more
clothes than the other way round.   Tonight I’d left my long, dark hair loose to fall about my
shoulders.   I’d put on my tight jeans,
knee high boots and a low-cut, red top covered in white polka dots.   I put a matching headband around my head and
completed the look by covering my lips in a nice, shiny, red lipstick. I wanted
tonight to be special.   I was determined
to change all the bad feeling between us because of our past.
    He looked a
little shy as he came down the hill and kissed me on the cheek. “I’ve been
thinking about you all day,” he said. “I started to think you wouldn’t show
tonight.”
    “Why would you
think that?”
    “It kinda knocks a man’s confidence when the woman he loves
refuses to marry him.”
    He took hold
of my hand and we started to walk in the direction of his hut. “About that,” I
stopped walking and started to stroke his cheek. “If you still want to do it
then I do too.   I guess I just got a
little scared, that’s all.”
    His eyes
brightened. “So you still want to marry me?”
    “Yes.”
    He picked me
up off the floor and started to spin me round so much I was nearly sick.
“That’s so great,” he said, finally placing me back onto the ground. “I hoped
you would change your mind. Here…” He took the ring from his inside pocket and
placed it on my ring finger.   I felt a
shiver run down my spine but chose to ignore it.   I really felt that if I broke it off with him
then maybe in many years to come we would be back in this same situation,