It was the most beautiful place she’d ever seen, but it shouldn’t have existed in its present form at all. Hilary wandered in the garden she’d glimpsed from the cab, brilliant moonlight shining among the shadowy oaks and maples. Woody vines hugged whitewashed wood arches that gleamed overhead. The fountain splashed and tinkled, silver and glittering crystal cascades in the white light. It was warm, far warmer than it should have been in January. Warm like summer, like every summer that had ever existed.
The scent of thousands of roses was almost overpowering. Every deep-green bush and tangled vine held thousands of perfect roses, each a blooming masterpiece of deep color and softness. Soft breezes rustled the silver-green leaves of trees overhead. Off in the distance, under one of the elms, she thought she saw a sweet, plump woman in pale blue, lavender roses framing her yellow-gray hair, playing a half-remembered song on an organ that carried through the garden.
“Hilary!” Maple almost barreled into her, her chocolate eyes sparkling with pure delight. “Would ya get a load of this place, huh? And look at us! We’re princesses!” She twirled in her clingy emerald green velvet gown, whose plunging ruffled neckline and tight torso revealed every curve. A crown of yellow roses nestled in her bouncing copper curls.
“Oh Hilary, this is incredible!” Betty twirled next to her sister, resplendent in delicate shell pink satin and lace that made her look even more like the sweet ingenue she was at heart, ruffled sleeves capping her delicate shoulders. “I don’t think I’ve had a dress this pretty in, well, ever!” Her short chestnut curls were held back by one perfect pink rose.
Hilary’s eyes roved down to her own gown. Yellow always did suit her, a pulsing soft yellow frock with the most exquisite rose print that made her look…five years younger, maybe ten. When she touched her own chestnut waves, she took off a topaz and ruby tiara light years more lavish than anything Jeff bought her, trimmed with roses in vibrant, hot crimson.
Maple giggled. “This is too much! Now all we need are a couple’a handsome princes for dates!”
“At this point, Maple,” Hilary gave her vivacious sister a small smile, “it wouldn’t surprise me. I only wish…”
“Hilary.”
That voice. That…she knew that voice. She knew the scent of him, his cologne, the tang of pancake makeup and lip gloss. The gentle, smoky purr that sent her heart racing even when it drove her crazy.
“Jeff?” She gasped, turning slowly behind her. “Jeff? Where are you?”
“Hilary, I’m here.” It was him, stepping out from the shadows under the thickest arbor. “We’re all here.” Oh god, it was him, tall and gorgeous, in the most expensive tuxedo he owned, the black one with the crisp white shirt and black bow tie that she always thought looked stunning on him. Perfectly tousled black-brown curls framed razor-sharp cheekbones with little-boy dimples. He held a bouquet of scarlet roses, like the ones in her crown. “I told you, my explanation holds water.”
She couldn’t help the tears that came unbidden to her velvet eyes. She could feel her sisters’ hands firmly rub her shoulders. “Jeff, you left me! You married another woman! Do you know how much that hurt? I lost everything, because of that…Czechoslovakian trollop!”
“Mittens,” he nodded to the shadows, “I did it for them…and for you. I tried to tell you, but you wouldn’t listen. She would have hurt you…and she did hurt them. You don’t know how much I want to go back to you. How much I miss you. We all do.”
Her sisters gasped behind her as two silhouettes emerged from the shadows just behind Jeff. Moonlight glinted off the black and silver hair of the larger, resplendent in a snow white tuxedo with black tie that was nearly incandescent in the ebony night. Two wide amber eyes glittered mischievously, one winking at Betty as the strong white fingers handed her a perfect bouquet of shell pink roses matching the one in her hair. His roguish grin gleamed almost as much as his suit.
Her youngest sister blushed prettily and looked up at the white shadow. “Thank you, sir. What I can see of you looks very handsome. That tux suits you. I can’t help thinking I’ve seen you somewhere before. Those eyes…I know them…”
The other silhouette stood tall and ramrod-straight on Jeff’s left. The eyes that glittered were whiskey-brown and far gentler, full of intelligence rather than mischief. His plainer black tux wasn’t nearly so lavish, but it was neatly cut and hung well on his broad shoulders. She could have sworn she saw balding wisps of brown waves and a small, slightly shy peach smile. The long, tapered fingernails quickly and awkwardly thrust a messy bouquet of sun yellow roses into Maple’s arms.
“Hey, thanks!” Maple’s scarlet grin could have lit up the entire mansion, and probably all of Millionaire's Row. “You know, from what I’m seein’, you’re kinda cute. And you’re a nice guy! These are gorgeous! You’ve sure got good taste. Why don’t we cut out an’ get to know each other better? I saw a bench back there, under the biggest elm. We could talk n’ really heat up this joint?”
Hilary couldn’t help her own chuckle. The taller man’s deep red blush and his amusement at her sister’s prattle was obvious, even in the moonlight. His bigger friend nudged him with a roguish smirk that reminded her entirely too much of her husband’s scoundrel of a manager.
Jeff, however, was dead serious. Hilary had never seen him look more serious. He thrust his arms in front of the men, putting his hand on the larger one as he reached for Betty. “We can’t. Maple, they can’t talk. It’s part…it’s why we’re here. They can neither speak, nor leave the shadows. They’re bound to them. Their voices were stolen by…by her.”
“What?!” Maple’s annoyed squawk nearly drowned out the longing organ music. “Hey, that ain’t fair! I just wanted’a talk to that guy! Jeff, what’s goin’ on here?”
“Jeffrey!” Thank heavens she could grab his hands and pull him closer. They were most definitely not shadows. They were real, flesh and blood, warm and real as the heart thumping in her own chest. “What happened? We know you’re not with Pavla. Where are you? You and that Lost Boys tribe of yours, you’ve just…evaporated! Who took their voices, and why?”
“Hilary, please.” Those soul-searing chocolate orbs of his nearly killed her. She could see the love in them…but they were fringed by pure, naked desperation. “Listen to me. For once, god, just listen! Don’t be deceived by appearances! That’s how she’s able to use us. Hilary,” his hand went to her heart, “I’m here. I’ve always been here. You just have to see it.”
Maple wiped at her eyes. “Aw, this is so sweet!” She finally pushed past Jeff, ducking into the shadows and grabbing the arm of the taller one. “Damn it, pal, you’re so familiar! I wish you could talk to me! Where have I seen you before?”
Betty stepped into the shadows as the other man enveloped her and her roses in a massive bear hug. “That feels so good.” She looked up, staring at those glittering eyes, now flooded with gentle hope. “I know I’ve seen you before, too. There’s just…something about you. We’ve met before.”
“Jeff,” Hilary clutched his hands like a lifeline as the wind picked up, ruffling her chestnut chignon, “none of this is making sense! Please, just…stay with me. Don’t leave me again!”
“I have to. We have to.” It was getting harder to hear Jeff’s voice over the wind. It tore through the garden, knocking over flower pots and drowning out the organ music. “We don’t have much time. She’s coming, Hilary. She’s coming for us. For me.”
Hilary’s own chocolate eyes flared. “I don’t care if ‘she’ is Eleanor Roosevelt. She can’t have you!” She grasped Jeff with every bit of strength she had. He wrapped his around her, even as the wind battered them. Potts shattered behind them, leaving roses broken and scattered on the path. Lightning crackled and sizzled in the distance. Leave skittered, dry brown skeletons brushing her ruby red heels.
The shadows seemed to coalesce, to form shapes behind her. Shapes that had fangs and claws, though they walked like men. Shapes that resembled the troll, but…even larger, meaner, snarling and spitting. Hilary clutched Jeff’s arms for all she was worth, but the raging storm threatened to blow them apart.
“Well, what do we have here?” Hilary’s blood froze as the last figure emerged from the shadows. “Is this not cozy?” She knew that voice, that purring Eastern European accent that teased and caressed, even while it tormented. “What do we have here? Looks like someone is in the arms of MY husband.”
“Pavla, no!” Jeff clutched Hilary harder, even as the wind whipped around them. “Don’t do this!”
“You cannot tell me what to do, husband.” She stepped fully into view as the shadows followed her brutes. She too wore a lavish gown, but it was clingy ebony satin embroidered with blood-red roses on a slit skirt that revealed way more than Hilary would have preferred. The beaded bodice plunged even lower than Maple’s, framed by stiff black beaded lace, and an even stiffer black lace collar. The auburn hair was adorned with jet beads and a beaded tiara with black and blood red roses.
As she glided across the cement path, every rose in the entire garden withered. Even the ones in the ladies’ arms crumbled and turned to dust. The rose bushes turned their faces from her, their blossoms wilting. “These are mine, husband. Your secrets…your two precious companions…all of them are mine.”
“Damn it, Pavla!” Hilary was proud at how her Jeff’s eyes flared. He held up a slightly bony fist. “I told you, leave them alone! We know the truth about you, and we’re going to spread it to the world!”
“Truth?” Betty looked up from the shadow’s arms, her eyebrow raised. “What truth? What’s going on here?”
“Yeah, sista!” Maple made a face at the other buxom redhead in the midst. “Ain’t you got any sens’a romance? We’re busy here!”
Pavla only nodded at the hulking monsters forming in the shadows. “Take them. Get rid of the women, and make sure the men stay in the shadows. I do not want to give away the game so easily.”
The shadows reached for Betty first, snatching her away from the smaller man. She flailed and struggled in their hairy arms. The man in the white tuxedo lunged for her, his wide amber eyes flooded with pure rage. He was about to aim a beefy fist at one of the shadow monsters when the largest and most muscular slammed him hard in the gut. Betty screamed when he doubled over, sinking to the concrete as the breath was knocked out of him in a whoosh. Two of the monsters yanked his arms roughly behind his back and held him to the ground, even as he struggled wildly.
“No!” Jeff lunged for him next, but two more monsters held him back. He kicked and flailed wildly, trying to get to Pavla. “Let him go! I told you, it’s me you want! I’m the one with the marriage contract! I’m the one who spoke the truth!”
Maple blocked the other man as best she could, slapping at the monsters with the remains of her roses. “Don’cha even think about this one, buddy! Keep your hands off’a us! He’s a real prince, an’ I ain’t gonna let ‘cha touch him!” Those whiskey eyes widened with something between admiration and pure shock. She yelped when she saw the monsters grab her sister. “Betty! Hey!”
The moment she rushed to Betty’s aid, the other two creatures surrounded the taller man. He aimed a fist at them, only for one of the monsters to grab it and yank it behind his back as well. The other knocked his feet out from under him, leaving him kneeling on the concrete with his gasping dark-haired friend.
“You…you trollop! Let my Jeff go! Let those poor men go!” HIlary grabbed hold of Pavla, hoping to do as much damage as possible. Thank heavens she wasn’t wearing gloves. She managed to scratch those perfect sharp cheekbones with too much dark-red rouge before a monstrous fist slammed over her head. She collapsed as her head and shoulders exploded with pain.
“You…you…” Pavla’s soft hiss somehow managed to drown out her sisters’ screams and Jeff’s furious commands. “You will never find him. That contract is legal and binding. They are mine. Your glamorous career…your pretty prince of a husband…his handsome meddling friends…they are mine now. They belong to me, and you will never see any of it again. It is all MINE!”
“Hilary, NO!” Jeff’s horrified voice cut through the blinding flashes in her brain. “Remember! I’m here! We’re here! Don’t be deceived by appearances! Hilary…” But even his voice was drowned out by the wind that raged around her. That wind was the last thing she heard before blacking out entirely.
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