However, instead of the blackness of unconsciousness, she saw something else entirely.
CHAPTER 14
Amanda was upstairs in the bedroom where she and Jacob had found the clock. It was different this time. Catherine was also in the room. But instead of being mostly transparent, the girl was solid. And she looked upset.
Who was the woman with her? Darker blond hair than Catherine’s, older, but still beautiful. There was wisdom in her eyes.
It was her aunt, Amanda suddenly knew without any doubt. Rose Embry. The witch.
Was she dreaming this?
“Catherine—” Concern twisted in Rose’s voice. “You don’t have to marry him if you don’t want to.”
“I do, and I’m going to,” Catherine replied.
“You’ve been crying.”
She shook her head. “Tears of happiness.”
“Excuse me,” Amanda ventured, but the next moment Catherine walked right through her as if she wasn’t even there.
She was having a vision. It was the most vivid one she’d experienced yet.
Rose’s expression was filled with understanding. “I feel your pain, Catherine.”
“I love you, Aunt, but this isn’t any of your business. My parents are thrilled, everyone’s here and they’re ready for the ceremony to begin. I can’t very well turn back now.”
“Do you love him?” Rose asked tightly. “This man you’re committing the rest of your life to?”
Catherine sighed. “I know what this is all about. It’s about Edmund, isn’t it?”
Rose cringed. “Why would you say that?”
“Because you were lucky enough to experience a true and everlasting love with Edmund you can’t imagine anyone marrying for more practical reasons than that. Well, I know that you loved Edmund, but it doesn’t make any difference.”
Amanda could see pain enter Rose’s expression.
“I loved him and I lost him. The short time we had together was the most wonderful of my life. He was my soul mate.”
Catherine’s lips thinned. “I’m surprised you don’t try conjuring his spirit up in that silly crystal ball of yours.”
“He has moved beyond this realm or believe me I would do anything for the chance to see him again.” Rose breathed out shakily. “What about Nathan?”
Catherine froze. “What about him?”
“Don’t play coy with me, Niece. I’ve seen the way you look at him and how he looks at you. You’re in love with him.”
“With a butler?” Catherine repeated, incredulously. “That’s impossible.”
“Why? Because he doesn’t fit the mold of what you consider a proper husband? Because he doesn’t have the mountain of money your fiancé has? He is a man, a very handsome man, and when he looks at you I can see the rest of the world disappears for him.”
“I will admit that he is very attractive, but there is nothing else there.”
“Are you having an affair with him?”
Catherine gasped. “Of course not.”
“Will you in the future?”
Catherine didn’t speak for a very long time. “This conversation is extremely inappropriate on my wedding day, Aunt.”
“You’re right. But there seems to be no one else who will discuss such matters with you, Catherine. Nathan attends to you, he hangs on your every word. It is clear to me that his feelings for you run much deeper than those of an employee to the future wife of his employer.”
“I shall not discuss this any further.”
At that moment, Nathan walked past the room and glanced in. His blue eyes widened as he saw Catherine in her ivory-colored, beaded wedding gown.
His head lowered. “I apologize. I didn’t mean to stare.”
Rose’s lips curled as she noticed the immediate flush come to her niece’s face from the attention of the tall, attractive young man.
“Please, Nathan,” Rose said. “Come in here for a moment. I need your opinion on something.”
“Aunt,” Catherine snarled under her breath. “Please don’t.”
But Nathan obeyed the order and entered the room to stand at the doorway with his hands clasped behind the waistcoat of his butler’s uniform.
“Doesn’t my niece look lovely today?” Rose asked.
With a tortured expression, Nathan raised his gaze to sweep slowly and appreciatively over Catherine’s body. Their eyes met and locked and there was no mistaking the longing there for both of them.
And suddenly it was as if Amanda could read Rose’s thoughts and sense all of her emotions. Catherine’s aunt was certain these two were soul mates. It wasn’t a guess, it wasn’t wishful thinking, it was the truth.
Curious people willing to pay her fee would come to her and she would help lead them toward their soul mates, if they were lucky enough to have one in the world. She couldn’t do all the work. The subjects themselves had to come halfway, but a little push helped move them in the right direction.
Which was how she’d decided on the perfect wedding gift. She glanced over at it in the corner of the room. A beautiful ebony grandfather clock.
Only it wasn’t any normal clock.
The last thing Rose planned to do was to try to stop the wedding. She knew it would happen. But it didn’t change anything.
And perhaps the clock would appear completely benign when in the presence of Bernard and his lovely young wife. It would keep time and chime at the hour. But it would be waiting patiently for the right opportunity to work its special magic.
If Nathan and Catherine truly were soul mates, a very subtle spell would waft over them at the stroke of midnight. A spell that would make them see that their love, while hidden, could not be ignored.
Rose felt certain it would work.