My Dearest Alexandrea, it began in a cursive flourish, by the time you read this you'll be grown and I'll be gone. I hope you'll understand how circumstances surrounding your birth made it necessary for me to remain anonymous, so you could grow into a woman who makes her own choices and chooses her own fate.
As I look at you now, so beautiful in your bassinet, I envision wonderful things! I vow to watch over you forever, even when you believe I've gone. I'm looking over your shoulder, smiling at you and your father, as you read this.
Gooseflesh sprang up my spine. As I glanced around my dim office, I felt a presence-but whose? I had the overwhelming urge to turn the page and read the signature, but this woman's secret seemed too precious to spoil with a moment's impatience.
"Come on now-show yourself!" I challenged aloud.
Silence, except for my own breathing. So I read on:
That handsome man in the photograph is your father, the dashing Alexander Moore, Earl of Lustingworth. He was slain last week in a most gruesome attack, by a wicked woman who shall remain unnamed. This has left me unwed with a baby, at the tender age of fourteen-disowned by my scandalized family. Joining Alex in death seemed my best alternative, so I begged his assailant to take me, as well…but Fate was kinder to us than that. A woman you'll know as Pandora has taken us under her wing.
I wheezed, reaching for more brandy.
Have you pieced the puzzle together yet, dear Alexandrea? Pandora preserved Alexander's fortune before it could be seized (well, all right-she smuggled it out of England!). She has also forced your father's murderer to remain in her service until you find the happiness you deserve. While I cannot guess how old you'll be, I have no doubt she'll remain your advocate and sponsor, and that she'll hold us all to our pact: once we leave you to your rightful life in this mortal world, we will never interfere or intercede again.
So, as you read this, you are a free and independent woman, blessed with a special upbringing. I love you more than I can say, Alexandrea. I hope you'll understand what I've done in your behalf, and I pray you'll find a man as special and devoted to you as the one I named you for.
Follow your heart, darling. It's the one thing I've done that I never regretted.
I glanced at the signature, my eyebrows rising. How incongruous the name Evangelica Halliburton sounded-and how mature the letter's tone was-when I considered the spritelike redhead who'd written it! She'd been a serious young lady who probably fell for a man she couldn't have, and he died before he could help her. The immortality Pandora offered tempted Miss Pink's romantic nature…and became a way to pester Perfidia forever, for killing her lover.
I had to smile: I was the love child of an Earl and the girl who fell head over heels for him-and then fell into the fountain of eternal youth. Much better than believing I'd been an inconvenience to some loveless couple.
P. S. Your father nicknamed me after the color of my- A pounding on the door brought me out of my trance. "Moore! Open up!" a familiar male voice demanded. "We's got somethin' important to talk about."
I wanted to stay still and let Furmeister go on his way, except I heard others out there with him. I stuffed the bank books and Pink's letter into my desk drawer before I opened the door.
Not surprising that Nat Dammet stood beside the deputy, hugging himself against the cold, but Father Dominic was the last man I expected to see with that nefarious pair.
"Let me light the lamps. I-dozed off at my desk," I fibbed as the trio entered. "Quite a day we've had, laying the magistrate to rest. The end of an era for Redemption."
The men looked at each other as though I'd said something astoundingly prophetic. "Matter of fact," Dammet began, "we've come to discuss that very subject with you, Counselor. Since we are the county seat, where court cases from outlying areas are tried, it behooves us-"
"We's thinkin' you'd wanna be the next judge." Virgil shivered beneath his overcoat, as though spitting out this suggestion had taken all his nerve.
I wondered if he and Nat were trying to keep me quiet about their unconventional sex play, or about the way Harry Legg met his Maker. That idea didn't make much sense with the priest standing here, however-and it was he who articulated further.
"You see," said Father Dominic, adjusting his steel-rim spectacles, "we all realize you are eminently qualified for the position. Your living here makes it a convenient choice, of course, but we also see this as an opportunity for progress, after so many years with an…older magistrate."
"Yeah, an' who knows what sorta old coot the State might appoint?" Virgil chimed in again. "Whadaya say, Alex? You're the man for us, if ya wants the job!"
"I-well, this is totally unexpected!" This proposition would mean a promotion-an opportunity to foster change and a more progressive atmosphere-for the right man. Which presented a problem I couldn't exactly discuss with them.
I smiled as I firmly shook their hands. "I'm honored to receive this invitation," I replied. "May I give you my decision in a day or so? This isn't an offer to be taken lightly, considering my other professional obligations."
Their faces fell, for which I was grateful. I'd never considered myself noteworthy-except that I was the only lawyer living here. How gratifying, to learn these men wanted me to serve in a more responsible capacity.
As I showed them to the door, however, my mind whirled with the complications that sitting on Redemption's bench would pose. This little burg was NOT ready for a female magistrate! Nor was I inclined to forego my true identity for the next several years…what a constant effort, to maintain myself as a male, once I was on display in the courthouse. And to accept the job without admitting my gender would make me an impostor of the highest kind.
And-considering the eight little bank books I'd just opened-I could live like a proverbial queen without ever working another day in my life! What a liberating thought!
I grabbed my coat, needing to clear my head with a walk-vowing I would NOT venture near the mortuary. I'd learned who my parents were only moments ago, and had come into a considerable fortune without lifting a finger, so I had a lot of mental sorting out to do.
The moon beamed serenely in the night sky, casting the common homes and surroundings in an ethereal, magical light. A cold wind clicked in the icy trees, and my steps fell into a quick, purposeful rhythm. Perhaps I should've refused the magistrate's position immediately-sent those three men on their way before they could ask any questions. But that would only postpone the inevitable revelations about a past that had vanished like a vampire. And if they found out I was a woman, I'd be out on my ass in a heartbeat.
I'd raise enough eyebrows cashing in my inheritance-or just a part of it-because even the decorous Miss Pritchard couldn't keep my secret if I bankrupted the bank! Everyone would be happy I'd discovered my parents, and that they'd left me a fortune like the kind in fairy tales. But if they learned my mother was a vampire- This thought stopped me in my tracks. Even though Evangelica Halliburton had become Miss Pink after my birth, I couldn't discuss the orphanage that no longer sat on the hillside, nor the creatures who'd played a part in Redemption's everyday life for years. Those who feared vampires would have me constantly looking over my shoulder-and those who didn't believe in such creatures would get me committed. Even if Miss Pink had erased the memories of those Gypsies and that fateful evening with Judge Legg, the deputy and Dammet would rescind their offer if they had an inkling I was related to that femme fatale…
I found myself on the other side of town, in sight of the Redemption Cemetery. By the light of that full, pale moon the tombstones glowed and the ice-coated trees seemed to whisper my name in the wind. While I was determined to steer clear of the mortuary, I sensed an entirely different force drawing me through the iron gates of the graveyard.