See Part One (A) For Disclaimers

Chapter Five

As a child, Andy thought he had learned all the guilt-trips known to humanity.  There were the guilt-trips placed on you by your parents, who had sacrificed so much for you, gave you life, and all that.  And then there was the guilt-trip laid on you by the Church, who were even better at it than your parents.

But recently, Andy had found someone even better at guilt trips.  The Legacy.  After all, they were the last line of defense against the dark (for the melodramatic types) . . . the Legacy had every right to demand your very soul.  Which seemed a little one-sided.  After all, if you were possibly giving up your life, the least the Legacy could do was let you keep your own soul.  Andy had observed this behavior many times.

He had never considered the possibility that Baltimore House had that capacity, until a few days earlier, when he had learned that Father Philip Callaghan would be the replacement for Bishop Hughes.  And then, Andy had learned the true meaning of a guilt-trip from his female associates.

The worst and most obvious was Dani.  Until recently, he had found her wise-cracks amusing.  Until he had to face being in the same House as Derek Rayne's pet priest, with an associate of the man who had murdered Andy's beloved.  And if he was really honest with himself, Andy would admit that he was being unreasonable.

But that didn't help at night.  With the new addition to the House, the old nightmares began returning.  The mysterious phone call to his office at the newspaper . . . the flight to the apartment building which Heather was helping to renovate . . . Heather dying in his arms . . . and their baby daughter crying helplessly for her mother.

But dammit . . . there was no reason for Heather to die!  While the topic of religion had never come up between them, Andy found that he didn't care, either.  So what if Heather had been a witch?  So was Tatya . . . and while she could be overwhelming at times, she was a good woman.  In fact, while his mother was much quieter, Andy believed she would like Tatya . . . all of the women in his House, actually.

So, the fact . . . the possibility . . . that Heather had been a witch gave Derek Rayne the right to kill her?  Gave the Legacy the right to end her life, without giving her a chance to speak for herself?  Andy didn't think so.  He knew his fiancee had never deliberately hurt anyone in her life.  And he wondered if Derek Rayne could make the same sort of claim.

But even if he hadn't realized that he was being unreasonable, Andy would have heard all about it from the others in the House.  Dani was the worst, out of the adult females in the House.  She was forever talking about how some people didn't know how to forgive, or worse yet, the idiocy of blaming people for things they didn't do.

What really sucked was, under normal circumstances, Andy would have agreed.  It was just that . . . dammit, he had never healed from Heather's death. And he missed his little girl, who lived with his parents.

Tatya had also made her feelings clear during the meeting, when Val told them . . . well, who their new priest would be.  She had been a little more reasonable than Dani, but she had also made it clear that she wouldn't tolerate him mistreating the priest.  Fair enough, he supposed, but it didn't really make him feel any better.

Jasmine was growing quieter and quieter as the days passed, her dark brown eyes growing haunted as she watched the House grow more and more tense.  That killed Andy, seeing that expression in Jasmine's eyes.  And he had caught Renee looked at him in concern during the last few days, with the same expression he saw in Jasmine's eyes.

For her own part, Val hardly said anything about it, aside from asking him if he was all right when he returned from the Inner Harbor after the meeting a few days earlier.  But in a way, that was much worse. Val didn't say a word about Philip Callaghan.  In fact, she went out of her way not to say anything about him.

It killed Andy, seeing how hard she was working to keep him from feeling guilty.  It made him feel even worse, because she wasn't trying.  And that in turn made him angry.  Guilt and anger do not make a good mixture when with other people.  So, when he wasn't researching new leads for a case, or checking out previous cases, Andy kept to himself.

It was easier that way.  That way, he wouldn't have to see the concern in Val's eyes . . . or the accusation in Dani's.  Andy had also found that it was easier if he didn't use the man's name.  It helped to dehumanize him.  Which in turn made him feel like a bigger prick, although he hadn't realized that was possible.

And in turn, he became even angrier with Derek Rayne.  Never mind that the man had almost been killed in an explosion.  Never mind that he didn't remember much of anything for the last twenty years.  And never mind he was now, in many ways, a child in the body of a man.

By the time Philip Callaghan actually arrived, Andy had worked himself into a state.  He wanted the meeting to be over, so it would be done.  But he also feared it, the way one fears an extremely important exam in high school or college, a make or break exam.  He wanted a chance to calm down, so he wouldn't do something truly stupid.

But as usual, the universe took the choice out of your hands.  Andy was still trying to deal (and make lunch) when he heard the car.  The former journalist swallowed hard as he heard excited babble from the foyer.  It was time to face his fears.

*    *    *

He wasn't the only one who had noticed the arrival of Bishop Nathaniel Hughes and Father Philip Callaghan.  A slender, dark-haired teenager perched on the ledge of the big bay window, gazing outside.  She gave a squeak of excitement as the big black car pulled up in front of the House, and two men emerged from the car.  Jasmine didn't waste any more time . . . she jumped down from her perch and scooted from the room.  She knew Aunt Tatya would want to know about this.

"They're hereeeee!" Jasmine sang in a stage whisper as she sailed into the control room.  She knew her aunt was upstairs sleeping . . . Renee had gone up earlier to make sure her alarm clock was unplugged.  Jasmine was glad her aunt was getting more rest, but the girl also knew Aunt Val. She would NOT be amused.   Especially not with the way Andy had been acting lately.  On the other hand . . . well . . . Jasmine didn't want her aunt getting sick.  She had already lost her mother.

Tatya looked up from her work and said, "Good.  Now, I need you to check on Andy.  Renee unplugged Valerie's alarm clock, but by the time she wakes up, Philip will be here, and she won't want to blast us in front of him.  The poor man will have enough to deal with.  Before you find Andy, hon, I need to know . . . do you know where Renee is?"

"I think she's in her room . . . should I get her?" Jasmine asked.    Evryone had been so stressed out lately.  It scared Jasmine, who wasn't used to the tension.  Sure, there was always some kind of tension in the House.  Dani and Andy were both tempermental.  But this was a different kind of tension.  The kind that made Jasmine nervous.

"Nah . . . just check on Andy, and I'll take care of Renee.  Thanks for letting me know, hon," Tatya said.  Jasmine nodded, then left the room.  She knew where she would find Andy, of course, he would be in his room.  He had been spending a lot of time there lately, when he wasn't checking out leads.  However . . . it was too late to intercept him.

His face was tight with tension, and Jasmine realized that she had called it wrong.  He had been in the kitchen, and obviously, he had heard the car out front.  Tatya emerged from the control room and said quietly, "They're here.  I'm counting on you to behave yourself."

"Oh, don't worry about it, Tatya.  He'll behave himself . . . 'cause if he doesn't, he'll answer to me," Dani said, racing lightly down the stairs.  She grinned and added, "I saw the car pull up, and checked on Val real quick.  She's still asleep.  And we're gonna let her sleep as long as she needs, aren't we, Andrew?"

She fixed the researcher with a glare, and Andy looked away.  Jasmine shook her head.  The way Tatya and Dani acted sometimes, you would have thought that Andy was younger than Jasmine.  But . . . the teenager had to admit, there were times when Jasmine thought Andy was younger than she was as well.

Andy's reply was cut off when the doorbell rang.  Jasmine had just enough time to flash him a sympathetic smile, a smile which was returned a bit weakly.  Tatya opened the door.  Sure enough, there was Uncle Nathaniel and . . . the most handsome man Jasmine had ever seen.  Her eyes widened, her heart skipped a beat, and she swallowed hard.

She knew from the others that the newcomer was a priest, like Uncle Nathaniel.  But she hadn't believed until now that he was cute, too!  She knew, of course, that priests were celibate.  When she got the talk about sex and drugs from her mother and her aunt, that had come up in conversation.  And she had never really thought about it before.

But she was thirteen years old, and her body was starting to develop.  With it, her world was expanding.  And now, celibate priests, especially ones as good-looking as this one, seemed . . . well . . . wrong.  But Jasmine kept that observation to herself.  Especially since the younger priest looked so nervous.  Jasmine was reminded of Daniel in the lion's den.  She bounded over to the pair, hugged her �uncle,' then turned to the younger priest and said, "Hi, I'm Jasmine!"

"Yes, this is Jasmine, Melanie's daughter.  You might say she's my great-goddaughter," Uncle Nathaniel said with a teasing smile.  Jasmine rolled her eyes . . . geez, he could be so embarrassing!  Mom and Aunt Val had told her once that he had done the same thing to them when they were Jasmine's age, but it was hard to imagine either of them as her age.  Uncle Nathaniel continued, "She's the light of her aunt's life."

"I can see why . . . hello, Jasmine.  It's a pleasure t' meet you," Father Philip replied.  But there was a sadness in the pale eyes.  And what exactly color were his eyes?  Jasmine was thoroughly fascinated.   And that accent of his . . . whoa, momma!  She was beginning to like the way her aunt's godfather thought.  Jasmine knew better than to think that Father Philip's looks had played a part in Uncle Nathaniel's decision.  Still . . . she liked that decision.  Liked it a LOT.

"This is Dr. Tatiana Elliot, the psychologist of the group.  At her side is Danielle Grant, a former Marine and the House's head of security.  And that gentleman is Andrew Ramirez, Valerie's main researcher.  Which reminds me . . . where is my goddaughter?" Uncle Nathaniel asked, looking around with a frown.

"Hopefully, she's still asleep.  She hasn't gotten much rest the last few days, so she went upstairs to take a nap a few hours ago.  Renee turned off her alarm clock, so she could get enough rest . . . and speaking of which, where is Renee?" Tatya asked, looking around.

"Here I am, here I am . . . sorry about that!  I just wanted to check on Val.  She's out like a light, thank you very much.  No shouting matches so far, so she may sleep until dinner . . . if we're lucky," Renee answered, hurrying down the stairs.  She reached the small group in the foyer, smiling at the two new arrivals.

She continued, still sounding a little out of breath, "Hello, Bishop Hughes.  And hello there!  I'm Renee Lawson.  You would have to be Philip Callaghan."  She smiled at him broadly and took his hand.  Jasmine returned her attention to the handsome priest . . . all the color had drained from his face, and he looked like he was about to faint.

Philip whispered, "Kristen."  Jasmine frowned.  Who was Kristen?  And why was he reacting like that to Renee?  Jasmine looked from Renee to the others, then looked back at Philip.  After a moment, the priest shook his head and murmured, "I'm sorry . . . Renee?  Please forgive me.  You . . . you look like . . ."

"Like Kristen Adams," Renee completed, her eyes filled with compassion.  Now Jasmine was really lost.  Who was Kristen Adams?  Why did Renee know about her, and why had Jasmine never heard of her before?  Renee continued, "I'm so sorry . . . this is obviously a terrible shock to you.  I was sure you had been told beforehand."

She glared at Uncle Nathaniel as she spoke, and Jasmine began to understand.  Whoever this Kristen was, she had obviously meant a lot to Philip.  And he hadn't known that Renee looked so much like her.  Jasmine asked uncertainly, "Who is Kristen Adams?  Is she . . . ?"

"Kristen Adams was a member of Boston House, sweetie.  She was killed in the line of duty.  And I've seen pictures of her as well . . . she looked enough like Renee for them to be twin sisters," Dani explained.  She hesitated, then added, "And unfortunately, no one saw fit to inform our new friend of Renee's incredible resemblance to her."

Uncle Nathaniel started to speak, then closed his mouth with a snap.  There was an awkward silence for several moments, as the Legacy members looked at each other.  It was Father Philip who said softly, "I should apologize, Miss Lawson.  You took me off-guard."  He seemed on the verge of saying more, but couldn't form the words.

Tatya stepped in, rescuing the Irish priest by saying, "Look, why don't I take you upstairs and help you get settled in?  You'll need to be very quiet, so we don't wake Val, but you look like you could use some rest yourself.  Maybe some food as well?"  Father Philip shook his head, a muscle spasming in his jaw.

"Philip was sick earlier in the day, Tatya.  I don't think he's ready to eat anything yet," Uncle Nathaniel put in.  He paused, then added awkwardly, "Perhaps I should get unpacked as well.  Or rather, finish the packing I began before leaving for San Francisco and Baltimore, since I'll be moving into the rectory within the week."

"That may be a good idea, Nathaniel," Dani said icily, "why don't I help you?"  Jasmine saw him gulp, but he didn't protest.  Instead, he left the foyer with Dani, clutching his duffel bag as if it was a life raft.  Jasmine didn't blame him.  Tatya put her hand on Father Philip's arm, gently guiding him from the room.  That left Andy, Renee, and Jasmine.


Renee released her pent-up breath, and said to no one in particular, "Well, that went reasonably well.  No screaming matches, no wrestling or anything like that.  Although, when Val wakes up, I think she'll be angrier with Nathaniel for not telling Philip about me, than she will be with me for turning off her alarm."  Jasmine didn't know about that, but . . .

But Renee seemed to agree, for she added wryly, "Then again, maybe I shouldn't stick around and find out.  I'm going out for a while . . . I gotta check out a few leads.  See you in a few hours!"  She grabbed her purse from its place under the table, then left the foyer.  Jasmine looked up at Andy.  His jaw was tight, and his eyes were bright.

And she didn't understand why he murmured, "Damn Nathaniel . . . he's just made this harder."  Andy shook his head, then walked back into the kitchen.  Jasmine stood in the empty foyer, not knowing what to do.  She swallowed hard, then headed toward the kitchen as well.  She wanted to talk to Kerry.  It seemed as if the world had gone mad.

Continued

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