Ellida Read Online Free PDF Page A

paper bags with olives, pickled
vegetables, feta cheese, Parma ham and dried figs.
    My family stayed close to me all the time.
Eamon was always within arm’s reach. James would usher in new
visitors and introduce them to me. From time to time Betty would
ask me to help her in the kitchen, giving me a chance for a brief
break. I was a bit nervous and tense among all the new faces and
names, answering various questions and enduring their curious
glances. But that was okay, I said to myself. That was me: never
entirely comfortable in a group setting.
    And then the door opened again and my heart
jumped. Jack came in, bringing with him his fresh, crisp and sunny
scent, and the knot in my stomach eased.
    “Hi Astrid,” he said and brushed my lips with
his. “How’s everything?”
    The warm stream instantly spread from my lips
through my entire body, embracing me from inside out. I caught a
few curious looks and blushed.
    “Oh, fine,” I said, feeling shy and wonderful
at the same time.
    Jack’s light kiss could be interpreted both
as an affectionate greeting, as well as a statement of our
relationship as a couple. He let everybody in the room reach their
own conclusions. I briefly wondered if my uncle would see it as a
‘gradual revelation’ of our bond as I’d promised him back in
Seattle, but I decided to let Jack deal with it. After all, it was
he who had kissed me, not vice-versa.
    He gently squeezed my upper arm and joined
his mother and James on the other side of the room, keeping me in
sight all the time. I felt safe and secure.
    Then trouble walked in.
    James let in two women. He gave a fatherly
hug to the younger one and kissed her forehead, politely nodded to
the older woman, and then introduced them to me as Heather Kincaid
and her daughter Peyton.
    The mother had the coldest blue eyes I’d ever
seen. They sliced through me with such an icy force as if she’d
finally met her archenemy. Her open animosity was so unexpected
that I was sure for a moment that I’d imagined it. She said a few
courteous words and turned to talk to somebody else. Nobody seemed
to notice it, except Betty, who came to me and squeezed my
hand.
    And her daughter. She smiled at me warmly, as
if trying to make up for her mother’s hostility.
    Heather Kincaid had shaken the fragile
balance I’d worked hard to establish. I decided to ignore her and
concentrated hard on her daughter, who seemed to be a pleasant
person.
    Peyton was my age and lovely: pixie-like,
with big, open blue eyes that dominated her heart-shaped face. Even
her voice was accordingly pitched: chiming, pearly and sweet. With
her porcelain-white skin and dark curly hair, she looked like a
woman-child, whose fragile physical appearance automatically
triggered a protective response in the opposite sex.
    She inquired about my trip here, my job, my
future plans. She said she worked in the real-estate business, and
talked about her job and her trip to Europe the previous year.
    After her unpleasant mother, I was ready to
like the daughter.
    Until she excused herself saying she hoped to
see me soon and walked straight to Jack. She hugged him and kissed
his cheek, and he did the same. It looked like nothing more than a
warm greeting between friends, but then she placed her tiny hand on
his arm.
    And kept it there.
    The alarm in my head went off.
    Summoning all my inner strength, I turned
away from the picture of my smiling boyfriend and a small hand on
his upper arm, and focused my attention on Frances Colby, who stood
beside me. I asked her if she had a job, how long she’d been
married and where her husband worked, nodding politely to her
answers.
    Of course, I thought, confused, Jack hadn’t
lived as a monk, waiting for Astrid Mohegan to be born, grow up and
find him in her backyard. Was Peyton Kincaid his ex-girlfriend?
Would he have told me if he’d a serious relationship with her? What
was going on?
    And then I heard an angry voice growling
inside my head.
    “ You