She rubbed the toe of her shoe against the area rug. "A while now."

"And I'm just finding out?"

"We wanted to keep it to ourselves for a bit. I thought you'd be happy. Doesn't every child want their parents back together?"

"I ... am happy." Maybe. "Does Dovie know?"

"Yes."

"The subterfuge."

"We asked her not to tell you."

"The deception."

"Dramatics don't become you, LucyD."

"Raphael?" I asked, my lungs squeezing.

"Doesn't Raphael know everything?"

Raphael was my father's valet, his right-hand man, his closest friend for nearly twenty-five years. And a second father to me. He and his girlfriend, Maggie Constantine, were planning a monthlong getaway to put their relationship to the test. Both were having a hard time believing true love had been under their noses all along. Although Raphael was still working full-time with my father and still living at my dad's penthouse, he spent a good part of his day helping Maggie as a chef downstairs at the Porcupine, the restaurant she leased on the first floor of the building.

Unlike Raphael, I didn't have a colorful guarantee Sean and I were destined to be together. All I had was blind trust. And I was having a hard time with it.

I couldn't help but wonder if Raphael's romance had played a role in my parents' rekindling. It was only a matter of time before Raphael and Maggie married and Raphael moved out. My father wasn't a man who liked to be alone.

It was cause for concern. And to know all these people had been keeping secrets smarted. "I'm a big girl."

Over Mum's shoulder, Sean was looking as if he wanted to escape. But then he winked at me and set my heart aflutter.

"But still my baby," Mum said, coming over to me and pressing her cheek against mine. She was all curves, soft and enveloping. As she looped her arms around me, the sweet Chanel scent she always wore wrapped around my heart. She was ... my home.

It was so cheesy, I wanted to laugh. But more than that, I wanted to hang on. The last thing I wanted was for her to be hurt. "You and Dad-"

She interrupted. "I can see you're concerned, but there's no reason to be. We're adults. We know what we're doing."

I pulled back, my eyes wide in shock as I realized something. "That's what this diet is all about!" Dad was a health nut, obsessed with eating right and fitness. His heart attack months ago had been quite a surprise. "I should have figured that out."

"Hush now," Mum said. "It's time I took care of myself."

"As long as you're doing it for yourself and not for Dad."

"I am." She tucked my hair behind my ear. "We're happy, Lucy."

Grudgingly I had to admit she was right. My father had been in a great mood lately. And all it took was one look to see Mum was practically floating.

"Okay," I said. "I'll be happy for you."

"That's my girl. Now about the ring. I want to surprise your father by wearing the set again."

A guilty flush crept up my neck. When I was younger, I used to love dressing up in Mum's jewelry. I especially coveted her engagement ring and had declared, as only a child could, that there was not a more beautiful piece of jewelry ever made. I had a sickening feeling that I had misplaced the ring, but I couldn't for the life of me remember where I might have stashed it.

"Lucy?" Mum held out her hand. "Please?"

Crisscrossing lines sank into her soft fleshy skin. Which was the love line? If I could read palms, would I be able to tell at a glance if this current fling with my father would work out?

No point in going there. I couldn't read palms. But I could find her ring.

Reaching out my hand, I settled it on top of hers. My ability to find lost objects came straight from the energy released from the palm-contact must be made. Images came in a dizzying blur.

I pulled my hand away and opened my eyes, trying to chase away the lingering vertigo.

"Did you see it?" Mum asked.

I crinkled my nose. "Yes."

"What's with the nose?"

"It's in my old room. In the little music box next to my bed, mixed in with a bunch of old trinkets."

"What, LucyD, is it doing there?"

I shrugged and gave my best "mea culpa" smile while I explained my love of the ring. "I must have forgotten to return it. Sorry."

"No, no, I'm glad you used it. It is too nice be stuck away in a drawer, but honestly? I always thought it too much."

I gasped.

"I know, but I'm a simple girl."

So was I, but I loved that ring.

"You won't tell your dad I said so, will you?"

"My lips are sealed."

"Good. You know how he is; everything has to be over-the-top. He wouldn't understand."

True. Very true.

She eyed her bare fingers. "I don't know why I even care. It's not as though your father is going to put on his ring."

"He has one?"

Mum laughed. "He never wore it even when we were first married. I should have known then what I was in for."

"Yet now all that's changed?"

"Absolutely."

"Positively?"

"As certain as I can be."

She sounded so sure, she almost convinced me. I felt the need to offer support. "Em rarely wore her engagement ring. She wanted something small, but Joseph didn't listen."

It was also in kindergarten that I fell in love for the second time. With my best friends, Marisol Valerius and Emerson Baumbach.

Mum put her hands on her hips. "Are you trying to say my relationship won't work out, either?"

Em had recently broken off her engagement and was currently living with Dovie. "Not at all!" Okay, maybe subliminally.

Mum kissed my cheeks, squeezed Sean's hand. "It will be fine; don't worry." She sashayed out of the room.

I drew in a deep breath.

Sean came up behind me, circled me in his arms. "You're going to worry, aren't you?"

Between my parents dating, Preston on the trail of uncovering my family's biggest secrets, Meaghan Archibald's love life, and the disappearance of Mac Gladstone ...

I could practically feel the ulcer starting. "Not at all."

5.

I was packing up for the day, skipping out early so Sean and I could go to Mac Gladstone's house, when there was a knock on my office door.

"Hey," I said. "What are you doing here?"

Oliver "Cutter" McCutchan kissed my cheek. "Just came to say good-bye. I'm on the way to the airport. My flight leaves in two hours."

"Good-bye?" Every time I saw him I was taken aback by how much he resembled my father. His height, his smile, his chiseled cheeks, his strong chin. Even his mannerisms.

"I'm hitting the road for a while. I have a showing in New York, and then one in Miami at the end of the week. I should be back this weekend."

"Busy."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

I zipped my tote bag closed. "It just feels like you're on the go a lot these days."

"That's the nature of my job."

He was a gifted artist. His work was amazing, especially his portraits. He used his abilities to see auras and worked them into his pieces. They were breathtaking and were taking the art world by storm. "I know. You'll send postcards?"

"No."

"You'll call?"

"Maybe."

"E-mail?"

"Definitely." He gave me a hug. "I should go before Oscar spots me."

"Something wrong there?"

"Nothing at all if I want to take over the family business."

My heart sank. "And if you don't?"

"Then there's something wrong."

"Do you think you'll ever want to match?" He had been through so much in the last couple of months. He learned he had a father he never knew, a sister, a grandmother, and oh yeah, that he's the last in the line of Valentines to be able to read auras, the end of a legacy.

Reunions should be all about warm and fuzzies, not bottom lines, but on the flip side, I could also see my father's point of view.

"The company should go to you," Cutter said.

"It wouldn't survive. I can't see the auras anymore, remember? Only you and Dad."

"That's a lot of pressure, and I love my art."

I didn't want to push but couldn't help myself. "You could do both."

"Not you, too, Lucy."

"Sorry." I gave him another hug.

"I forgive you." He smiled. "I might even send you a postcard."

"Dinner when you get back, you jet-setter?"

"Saturday night. It's a date." He checked his watch. "I have to go."

"Don't even think about standing me up, because there's something I want to talk to you about. Rather, someone."

"Sounds interesting. Are you trying to match me?"

"Hardly." I had to warn him about Preston. "And maybe it's time you found out about the curse."