Did you really just suggest that emotional pain is worse than physical?

He repeated, “Yes?” with a touch of impatience.

I said, “Nothing,” and continued toward the pool.

“Am I arguing with myself, Olivia? What exactly did the girl . . .”

He trailed off. When I looked back, he was gone.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Gabriel?”

The sun flashed, as it had done earlier, and I was again plunged into night. This time there were lights everywhere, the Villa glowing with them. Music poured from the open windows. Not ethereal fae music, but the sounds of a string quartet. I could hear chatter and laughter, too, human in origin. The house was whole and new, sparkling in the moonlight. Figures walked down the curving steps.

“Oh my,” a girlish voice said. “Thank goodness Nathaniel installed an elevator. I only wish it was working already.”

Two other feminine voices laughed with her. They turned a curve into the moonlight. None looked older than me. All three were wearing gorgeous Empire-waisted dresses. The one in the middle was no more than twenty, with finger-curled blond hair. She’d referred to Nathaniel Mills by his given name, which left little doubt who this was. His bride, Letitia Roosevelt.

But if my history was right, Letitia had never spent a night in this house. She . . .

I looked up at the Villa again, the lights blazing, music and laughter pouring out.

It’s Letitia’s grand welcoming party. The first time she saw the house her husband built. And the last time she sees it, because . . .

I wheeled and stared at the swimming pool. Then I turned back to the three girls.

“No,” I said. “You can’t—”

They stepped right through me, still chattering and giggling.

“Aren’t you glad we pulled you away from that dull party?” said one of Letitia’s companions—a dark-haired beauty with perfect skin and bright blue eyes.

“I know we’re glad to meet you,” the other said. “The social life here is as dull as that party. I’m sure the three of us can liven it up.” She was light-haired and green-eyed, as strikingly beautiful as her friend. “Oh! Is that the pool?”

“It is,” Letitia said. “There’s a bathhouse over there.”

“Are there any suits?” the brunette asked.

The light-haired girl giggled. “Do we need them?”

Letitia turned bright red. The other two giggled, and she tried to shake off her embarrassment. Whatever the time period, no girl wants to seem uncool in front of her new friends.

“Don’t listen to her,” the brunette said. “We’d never do anything so shocking.” She grinned. “Not when there’s a house full of people close by.” She walked to the pool, lifted her skirt, and lowered herself beside the water. Then she dangled her fingers and let out an exclamation. “It’s warm! What magic has your handsome groom wrought to accomplish that?”