Chapter Eleven
Carolina Braun wasin love. It was strange for the spirit to admit to herself, but it was true. She knew love when she felt it and also, when she didn’t feel it. In life, she would become so flustered at the sight of someone she was in love with that bright blooms of pink would appear all over her chest and neck, creeping up her face to betray her. Even though she had been bold in life when it came to exploring the world, love made her shy, and she found herself unable to meet the eye of the person she had been pining over. Teddy Gaines from church. Ursula, the beautiful European maid her family had to send away. Then Richard, for a while. She knew that she was in love by the way her heart wanted to explode, how her entire body felt like it was going to die if she was around that person. She felt like she was going to die if shecouldn’tbe around that person too. This was currently the way that she was feeling about the man who had invaded her home. Carolina was madly in love with Joseph Moore.
This, by all accounts, was a problem. On one hand, her intense emotions toward Joseph taught her that she wasn’t all vapor and mist. When she was angry with him, her touch was cold and sharp as ice. But when she was happy—when she was inlove—it was almost as though blood pumped through her veins once more. Her cheeks didn’t just flush, her wholebodyflushed and exploded with brilliant white light. If Joseph knew that was the reason her form shone brighter when he was around, she would die all over again, only this time of embarrassment.
Carolina avoided Joseph and River as much as possible after Christmas Day. She gave them both a cordial Christmas greeting as River opened his presents and then retreated to her room on the third floor to hide in the shadows and mull over her thoughts. All she could think about was her hand in Joseph’s, and wanting to feel the warm, rough texture of his skin again and again. She obsessed over the thought of touching his face and running her hand through his hair, of wanting to feeleverythingagain! If it were anyone else, Carolina might indulge in her fantasies and come to him in the night to explore her newfound talent. But this wasJoseph. Her friend. He was still hurting from the loss of his wife, and didn’t need her to confuse him further.
And so, Carolina stayed hidden in the shadows alone once more with her thoughts as she waited for the new year to begin. Joseph and River called to her but she didn’t answer, instead choosing to brood the last days of December away in her drafty, dark attic without even raccoons or squirrels or owls to keep her company. She was sulking. Sheknewthat she was sulking. But without any way to hide her emotions, Carolina didn’t know what to do. There was no other way to avoid her true feelings for Joseph Moore, even if she didn’t really want to.
***
“Carolina!”
Bong, bong, bong.
Carolina lifted her head from her studio desk as River’s sweet voice carried up the stairs and echoed through the halls. It had been many days since Christmas though she didn’t know how many. She had heard the boy call for her a few times now, and each time she ignored him, her heart broke a little more. She couldn’t ignore him any more.
“Hello, River.”
In a flash she was beside him in the sitting room next to the fireplace. River had used a chair to reach the mantle clock again. Along with a trio of stockings, garland, and three wooden nutcrackers on the mantle, now stood a framed photo of the Moore family in happier times.
“Hello, Carolina.”
Carolina looked back at the photo and smiled. Joseph’s arm was around his wife, a beautiful woman that did indeed look like River. She turned her attention back to River and tsked at him as she regarded his cast.
“Are you trying to get me in trouble again young man? You’ll likely break your other arm standing up there.”
“Carolina! Where have you been? Today is your art show!”
“Today!” she gasped. “Oh my, I must have lost track of the time. Well, let me know how it is...”
“I thought you were going to come with us,” River said, looking at her through a tumble of dark curls. His hair was growing long and lovely again. The urge to scoop him up in a big, warm hug lit her from the inside out.
“I’m afraid I can’t leave the house, River,” she said, just as Joseph walked through the front door. He stopped in his tracks as their eyes met from across the foyer and into the sitting room. Over a week had passed and in that time, Joseph hadn’t shaved. He was dressed smartly, in preparation for the art show no doubt and wore a pair of dark-rimmed spectacles. If Carolina could breathe, she would have forgotten to in that moment.
“Joseph,” she said, clearing her throat. “Happy New Year.”
“Happy New Year,” he said, his eyes darting to River. “Did River bother you?”
“No, no,” she said, waving him off. “It turns out I slept through the rest of December. River here was just telling me that you two are off to the art show.”
