“I think I may have dreamt it, but when I first thought about it, the incident felt more like a memory.”
“Yet ’tis a memory of something you could not have experienced,” he breathed.
“Precisely, that’s when reincarnation occurred to me,” Grace said, with complete reason. She felt so alone, abandoned this far from Luc, but she’d not finish if she moved closer, touched Luc.
“So, you researched that for nearly a whole month” his tone incredulous. “What conclusion did you draw?”
“I learned that every culture has some belief in reincarnation. The native Americans, the Africans who were forced to come here and those who didn’t. Medieval Christians, the Asian cultures, the ancients.”
“An interesting list, I’m sure, but what did it tell you?” he urged, folding his arms across his splendid chest.
“Possibly, I’m not the only person to experience reincarnation. Most of the belief systems that include reincarnation, hold that the rebirth is an essential part of the soul working its way back to some universal oneness. Each life teaches lessons necessary to reaching that goal, and the soul will be reborn as many times as necessary to learn the lessons. A few systems believe that reincarnation is a means for righting wrongs.”
“Mambo Ayezan said, ‘An evil tide pursues her, until a great wrong is corrected, and the time is right once more.’ She meant you.” Disbelief choked Luc’s voice.
“So, you were the person she was talking to when I couldn’t see anyone else.”
He nodded.
“I wondered for a while, then I forgot the incident, until I did my research and started putting pieces together. I think, if we could ask her, the mambo would say I am Grainne, or at the very least had lived her life.”
Luc paled, and the apple of his throat bobbed once, then again as he swallowed twice. “That is impossible to prove.”
“Impossible by any scientific means.” Grace nodded.
“Then how can you think your conclusions are correct?” He frowned.
“I don’t think it. I know it,” she insisted, placing a hand over her heart.
“Think, know, that’s all irrelevant, semantic nonsense. Why? That is important. Especially since you agree no science exists to prove it,” Luc slashed a hand across the air in impatient denial.
“Once I accepted that you could be cursed, believing myself to be reincarnated wasn’t so difficult. As I said, our first kiss drove me to do the research.”
“Yet you had only that one kiss as a basis for the idea.”
“No, I had dreams as well.”
“Dreams?” Both his eyebrows shot high. “I’ve had dreams about you and Grainne, since shortly after I arrived atSweet Dreams.”
“Tell me about them,” Luc said, almost pleading.
She had to resist the urge to touch and soothe him. “The first dream came my second night atSweet Dreams. I dreamt about you meeting Grainne near her croft. She was washing clothes. You gave her a music box. I recognized the box and the tune it played.”
Luc nodded. “I had that box custom made for her. Early One Morning was her favorite song. I saw a box exactly like it in your room once.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. That music box has been handed down in my family for generations. When Aunt Sarah gave it to me, she told me one of my ancestors was Irish. That ancestor’s surname was….”
“Tirlán,” he finished for her. “You’re descended from Grainne’s family.”
“Yes. My research suggests that family connections increase the chances of reincarnation.” Grace smiled.
“You did not know which Tirlán ancestor first passed the box?” he asked.
“According to Aunt Sarah, that name had been lost to history.” She continued twisting the coverlet.
“Did you ever try to find out?” He clasped his hands together, his knuckles whitened.
“No. I was too focused on my future, on learning everything I could about old things. The music box and my aunt’s stories aboutSweet Dreamsinspired my interest.” Surprising hope echoed in her voice. She loved Luc, so how could she not have hope?
