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“Hey, Kirby.” Kevin leaned against the door to his daughter’s room. He supposed it didn’t really look like what he’d always imagined a teenage girl’s room looked like. Instead of posters of bands or actors, there were black and white photographs arranged artfully. The walls were a pale green, and the furniture was a mahogany—like all other furniture Kirby liked. Currently, his child was curled up in her bed with a book on Ansel Adams; one he remembered giving her for her twelfth birthday.

She looked up. “Hey, Dad. What’s up?”

“I’m gonna head up to the Falls for a while. Are you going to be all right for a couple hours?” he asked.

Kirby glanced at the clock. “It’s eleven-thirty. Why are you going up there so late?”

He shrugged. “I need to think, kid. Besides, you’re supposed to be asleep by now. You’ve got school in the morning.”

“Did you finish the painting?”

“Almost. The muses ran away on me again, so I’ve gotta wait until they’re back before I can finish it,” Kevin replied.

She nodded. “’Kay. Don’t stay out too long. I’ll see you in the morning?”

“Yeah. ‘Night, hon.” He kissed her cheek.

“Dad.” Kevin turned from the door to look back. “Mom wants you happy. Whatever it is you have to do to be happy, do it. I believe in you.”

He smiled. “I love you, Kirby.”

“I love you, too, Dad.”

***

“I don’t know, Howie. It’s been bothering me all day,” Callie said worriedly, pacing their bedroom.

Howie sat on the bed and wondered when she’d run out of steam. “Callie. Maybe all Liliane meant was the three hundred year mark would set them free.”

“No! Howie, you weren’t listening! She said that I had to help ‘them’, that I had to fix what my ‘blood wronged’. The sorceress was my ancestor, which means that there’s something that I need to fix that she did wrong. The only thing I can imagine is that there’s something I have to help someone do to make set Laurent and Liliane free.” Callie took a deep breath, but Howie spoke up before she could dive back in again.

“Callie, maybe it has to do with the monument. Maybe building it and allowing it to memorialize them for future generations is all it takes,” Howie suggested. “Maybe, now that there’s definite plans for it, the lovers are finding peace.”

“Where do I fit into that?” she asked, plopping onto the bed. “What’s my part in the memorial?”

Howie cast around in his mind. “I…I know! The memorial needs a sort of epitaph for it, and I think you’re the perfect person to write it. A writer, an epitaph—perfect!”

She had to smile at his efforts, even if she didn’t think that the memorial was what Liliane had been talking about. Then again… “I’ll write it,” she agreed. “I just feel like there’s something else, something more definitive that I have to do.”

“Have you talked to Kevin? Asked if he’s had any dreams lately?” Howie remembered that Kevin had always dreamt vividly of the lovers and knew things that no one else did. Like their names.

Callie shook her head. “No, I haven’t, but Kirby did. She was over earlier. Apparently, Mia came to her and told her that Kevin had to let go in order to let Fate run its course. That Mia was supposed to die for something greater to happen.” She sighed. “She told Kirby about our gift, and I’m thinking I’ll start teaching her about it.”

“Well, that’s something then.” Howie mulled it over. “Do you think Mia was talking about the legend? Maybe Kevin has a part in whatever you think Liliane was referring to.”

“Maybe.” But what? Callie wondered. “I suppose he must as he’s been dreaming about the lovers since we were kids. There has to be a reason for that. Maybe my sister does know something.”

“Well, it’s got to be easier to see clearly when you’re no longer in the middle of it,” Howie said. “But, Callie, you’re not going to figure it out right this minute. Why don’t you just turn it off for the night?”

Callie sighed. “You might be right.” She brightened. “I might dream again and get more answers! Howard, you’re a genius!” She kissed him enthusiastically before crawling under the covers.

Howie smiled as he turned off the lights. “Well, I certainly try.”

***

“Do I sound crazy?”

Kevin looked over at her damp face and noticed the droplets clinging to her lashes. He curled his fingers into his palm to keep from reaching out to brush them off. “No, not really. The falls are really peaceful. I come here to think or be alone a lot.”

Gwen nodded. “The story got to me, Kevin. I don’t know why, but something inside me was affected by it. I was talking to Reena, and she said the same thing. I wonder why that is.”

“It happens to some people,” Kevin told her. “The legend’s never far from my mind, or Brian’s. If you ask Howie, the legend is the third wheel in his marriage as his wife is one of the living descendants of Laurent’s family.”

“Really? Wow.” She watched as the moonlight sparkled through the falling water. She liked the way it gave everything in the tiny cave an ethereal glow, including Kevin. She had to admit she was having a hard time breathing with him by her side, looking the way he did in the darkened space.

“I’ve dreamt of the lovers for years. Seen things that I couldn’t possibly have known from any of the stories that I’d heard before.”

“That’s amazing. Do you think the dreams are the truth?”

He wondered if she’d believe him if he told her that he’d seen everything in the legend happen in his dreams. “A lot of people think I’m crazy, but, yeah, I know they’re real. It’s where I heard their names for the first time, the only time,” he admitted. “They feel too real to not be real.”

“I believe you,” she murmured. “It’s hard not to believe in the impossible after hearing their tale, seeing this place.”

“Thanks.”

When they lapsed into a content silence, Gwen studied him furtively. His face was serious as he watched the water fall five feet from where they sat. His eyes were distant, and a tiny frown line marred his forehead. She wondered what he was thinking.

Kevin figured she was watching him and would’ve loved to watch her right back. He’d come to the falls for answers, and, when he’d watched the water tumbling over rocks, he’d been thrust back into the past, seven years before.

“Mia? What are you doing here?” Kevin studied his wife’s drawn, saddened face. Her usually sparkling eyes had lost their luster, her face was pale.

She shook her head sadly as she continued to stare at the water. “I can’t stay, Kevin. It’s too much to handle.”

“We’ll handle it together, Mia. Come home with me, and we’ll get through this together.” He reached for her, but she took a step back—a step closer to the edge.

“How can I go back, Kevin? How can I see everyone again? What are they going to think?”

“That it was a tragedy. Mia, what happened was God’s will, and we can’t change it. Don’t you think it hurts me, too? Do you think you’re the only one who suffered loss?” He shook his head at his own bitter words. “Mia, we’re young. We can try again. Please, just come home. Kirby needs you.”

“You can take care of her,” Mia told him. “She hangs on every word you say. She believes in the magic of the falls.”

“And you don’t?”

Her laugh was bitter. “I live with them inside of me, Kevin. How could I not believe in them? But I can’t love them the way you do. The way you’ve taught Kirby to love them.”

He was worried about her proximity to the edge of the cliff and took a step forward. “Mia, step away from the ledge. Please. Let’s just go home. I love you.”

“I know you do.” Her voice softened. “I love you and Kirby, too.” He took another step forward and panic flashed on her face. “Don’t! Kevin, don’t come closer!” She took a step back in retreat. “Kevin.”

He looked into her eyes and felt his blood run cold. “Mia, no. No!”

“Kevin?” Gwen’s hand on his shoulder jerked him out of his thoughts. “Where are you?”

He shook himself a little and smiled at the concern in her eyes. “Right here.”

“It seemed like you were far away. You looked so sad,” she murmured.

Kevin sighed. “I guess I was. I was thinking about my wife. The day she died.”

“You don’t have to talk about it,” Gwen assured him. “If it hurts too much, you don’t have to say anything.”

He shook his head. “I think I’ve been keeping it inside me for too long. After Mia was gone, I didn’t talk to anyone, not even Kirby, about it. I couldn’t.” He ran a hand wearily through his hair. “Maybe it’s time I did. Seven years is a long time.”

“It is,” she agreed.

“I trust you, Gwen,” he said, and she stared at him, surprised.

“You do? But-but we haven’t even known each other that long.”

He shrugged. “Time is irrelevant. I trust you, and I can’t really explain why or how. I just do. Which is why I want to tell you what I haven’t told anyone. Ever.”

She nodded and placed a hand over his. He laced his fingers with hers and told her of the night, seven years before, when he’d found Mia at the falls. She listened quietly and didn’t ask questions, afraid that she’d stop his flow. When he’d finished, she let it sink in.

“Well?”

“She was pregnant?” Gwen asked.

Kevin shook his head. “She’d been eight months along, and everything had seemed fine. One day, she woke up and knew something was going to happen. I didn’t believe it, but I took her to the hospital anyway. The doctor ran some tests and, when we tried to listen to the fetal heartbeat, there wasn’t one. The baby was gone.”

“Oh, Kevin.” Her fingers squeezed his reassuringly. “I’m sorry.”

“Me, too. Mia was inconsolable afterwards. She went around in a daze, partly from the sedatives and partly from shock. She wouldn’t talk to anyone except to say that it was her fault. That she knew everyone blamed her.” Kevin sighed.

“Did the doctors figure out why? What happened?”

He shook his head. “No. And six days later, Mia went to the falls.”

“Do you think she meant to fall?” Gwen wondered.

“You mean do I think Mia meant to take her life?” Kevin stared hard at the beams of moonlight. The question had haunted him for seven years and still… “I don’t know. Honestly, I’ve asked myself over and over if there was any hint that she’d purposely let herself slip, and I just don’t know.”

“But it bothers you still,” she said, watching his face.

He sighed. “Yeah, it does. Especially now that Kirby had a dream about her.”

“About Mia?”

“Yeah. Mia told her to tell me to ‘let go’. Whatever that means,” Kevin muttered, still perplexed as to the meaning of his dead wife’s advice.

“Kevin.” He looked down at Gwen. “Can’t you see what she means? You just explained it to me.”

“What?”

“Mia, Kevin. She wants you to let go of her. She probably wants you to stop worrying over her and move on with your life. I mean, and this is going to sound really personal so don’t answer if you don’t want to, but have you dated anyone since she died?” Gwen tried not to blush at the personal nature of a question she found she needed to know.

Kevin sighed again. “No. I haven’t.” He was quiet for a few moments before he spoke again. “Maybe you’re right. Kirby hinted at that, too, but I didn’t really think I was holding onto Mia after all this time.”

“But you are,” Gwen insisted. “The fact that you still question yourself about the truth behind her leap over the edge is proof.”

He mulled it over and slowly realization dawned. They were right. Kirby and Gwen had figured out what he’d been unable to see. He really had been holding on, hadn’t he? Did that make Mia’s spirit uneasy? Probably. She must feel guilty as hell for keeping him from being happy, but…he was happy. Right?

“You’re not happy, Kevin.” It was as though Gwen had read his mind, and he looked at her sharply. “What? It’s true. You’ve surrounded yourself with the legend and ghosts, including Mia’s, and, from what I’ve heard, you rarely venture out anymore. Apparently, you used to be quite the party animal to be around.” She smiled slightly at his questioning look. “I was talking to Sally Stone at the Pancake Place this morning. She was telling me that, in high school, all the girls followed you around and swooned over you. But you had eyes only for Mia.”

He smiled a little, too, remembering. “I did. She was it for me.”

“So, because you think you found the only woman for you and lost her, you can’t be happy with or date anyone else?” Gwen wondered.

Kevin studied her, now. He had thought that for years, hadn’t he? He firmly believed in The One, and he’d found his already. But, now, seeing Gwen and remembering what it had felt like to hold her, kiss her, he wasn’t so sure. She was the first woman, since Mia, that he’d felt any attraction towards, and he wasn’t sure what to do about it.

“I used to think that,” he admitted.

She raised a brow. “Used to? When did you change your mind?”

He grinned now. “When I met you yesterday.”

Her pulse bumped up and started racing. That smile really should be illegal, she thought, her palms going damp. She scooted away a little, eliciting another smile from Kevin.

“Do I make you nervous, Miss Phillips?” His voice was low, and she could see the amusement, and desire, simmering in his eyes.

She shook her head. “N-no. Of course not. Why would I be nervous around you? I’m glad you’ve discovered that you don’t have to go through life alone.”

“Indeed, I don’t.” He reached out and stopped her from moving further by curling a hand over her leg. Gently, he pulled her back until their knees bumped. “Are you trying to run, Gwen?”

“Why would I run?” She made certain her voice was steady as her eyes met his.

He shrugged. “Maybe because you feel the same way I do, and it scares you like it scares me?”

“What” her voice broke. “What do you feel?”

“I want you, Gwen,” he murmured and lowered his mouth to hers.

Whatever she’d been about to say slid back down her throat as his lips overwhelmed hers, and an instant heat sizzled through her system. Gwen would have been the first to admit that she was awful at the man-woman attraction game, but, with Kevin’s lips on hers, she figured she’d go down swinging. Happily.

When he’d kissed her the day before, he’d found her sweet, so sweet, and now was no different. Mia had been aggressive, and he’d always enjoyed her strength. Gwen, though, was melting in his arms, and he was tempted to pull her into his arms completely and just take her. Her hands were clutching his shirt one second and, the next, they’d loosened and her arms had banded around him. His own hands had slid into her hair and tangled there as he tilted her head, giving him better access to the taste he suddenly found he needed. Desperately.

Control. He had to find his control before he did something he’d regret. No matter how badly the wanting for her was racing through his system, he knew that he couldn’t—wouldn’t—take her. Not now. Not when she’d sat by his side and helped him solve his own problems. Not when he still didn’t know what he wanted to do with all the feelings that were pulsing through him.

Slowly, he let go of her and watched her face as she surfaced. Her eyes were clouded but cleared quickly as she focused on him again. She lifted her fingers to her lips, and he wondered what she was thinking.

“Gwen?”

“Kevin?”

He smiled. “What are you thinking?”

“That you need a restraining order for that mouth of yours.” The response was immediate, and he grinned. He was realizing that he liked that wit of hers.

“I was thinking that I was wrong.”

“About?”

“Yesterday, I thought that the kiss was amazing for me because I hadn’t been involved with anyone for seven years, so I probably thought it was more than it really was.”

“And now?”

“Now?” He reached out and took her hands in his. “Now I’m thinking that the kiss was amazing because you are. Amazing,” he clarified.

Gwen blushed. “You don’t have to be nice, Kevin.”

He frowned. “I’m not. Didn’t you think it was incredible?”

“I-I…yes,” she confessed. “But what does it mean?”

He lifted her hand to his lips and studied her over it. “You’re the first woman I’ve had feelings for since Mia. That’s a big thing for me. What makes it even bigger is that these feelings are different from the flash and burn I felt for Mia. You make me feel…”

“Alive? Warm? Safe?” she suggested.

Kevin nodded. “Those and more. I can’t describe it, but I feel it. Do you?” When she nodded, he sighed. “Gwen, I don’t know what to do with these feelings, though. I mean, I just realized that I’ve been subconsciously holding tight to Mia for so long, and now I’m finding that I’m outrageously attracted to you, too. I really don’t know what to do.”

She smiled now. “Why don’t we just take it as it comes, then?”

“Hmm?”

“For example, I could say something like, ‘Kevin, would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow night?’” Gwen said, wondering what his answer would be.

His grin flashed. “I’d love to, but Brian’s having people over for a barbecue tomorrow. Alex and Christine McLean, who I don’t think you’ve met yet, found out that they’re expecting their first child. Alex is Brian’s best friend, so Bri decided to throw a barbecue bash in honor of the big announcement.”

“Oh. No, I haven’t met the McLean’s, but congratulations to them,” she said.

“Why don’t you come with me? Be my date?”

“Uhh…”

“Come on, Gwen. It’ll be fun, and you’ll get to meet other people, too,” Kevin tried to persuade her.

She gave in. “Oh, what the heck. I’ll go. You’ve got yourself a date, Mr. Richardson.”

He kissed her again.