Rock-a-Bye Bones by Carolyn Haines Page B

James Franklin could have done things differently, but they didn’t. You were their heart the moment you entered the world.”
    â€œI want that for little Libby, too. I don’t know that I’m ready to give it. Maybe I’m afraid to love with all of my heart again.”
    â€œYou won’t have a choice, Sarah Booth. When the time is right, you’ll fall in love again. Whether it’s a man or a child, it will be out of your control, and it will happen.”
    Jitty didn’t predict the future, but I didn’t doubt her words. “Thank you.”
    â€œEven if Tinkie keeps that baby, it’ll get your maternal juices working. I say by New Year’s, you’ll be searching for a mate. The only thing you’ll have in mind is flinging him down on that big four poster and riding him like a wild monkey in the circus.”
    â€œJitty!” The image she gave me was shocking—coming from her. But it shouldn’t have been. In her day, I’ll bet Jitty sashayed around the men and drove them nuts until she settled on Coker, the man who stole her heart and lost his life with my great-great-great-grandfather on a blood-soaked battlefield.
    â€œDon’t you Jitty me! I’m privy to some of your thoughts, Missy. The things you do with that lawman and his cuffs! And Scott Hampton, I get goose bumps thinking about those fantasies. You’d like that man to run your frets!”
    â€œStop it!” It was extremely unfair that Jitty could read my mind and invade my personal fantasies. “This is too much, Jitty. You’ve crossed a line. You cannot bore into my head like a Japanese beetle into a pine.”
    â€œI always knew you were a blockhead.” She was way too pleased with that jab.
    â€œI mean it, Jitty. I can’t do this. If you’re able to read my most private thoughts, that leaves me nowhere to go.” I was truly upset. “I don’t mind you poking and prodding me to get laid or procreate or snatch up some lusty sperm before my eggs decay. I can take that. I can even put up with your constant sexual advice. But you cannot get into my fantasies.”
    At last her grin slipped away. “You’re really mad, aren’t you?”
    â€œI am. I have to have some privacy. Even from you.”
    â€œWhat if I told you I couldn’t read your thoughts?”
    â€œThen how did you know about Coleman and Scott?”
    The grin returned, lighting up her entire face. “What if I told you I was a mighty good guesser and that any woman who wasn’t dead below the waist would be thinking exactly those same thoughts.”
    I had her. Joy of joys, at last. “So that’s what you would like to do with Coleman and Scott?”
    â€œAnd what if it is?” She was almost aglow with mischief. “Maybe when the moment comes I’ll whisper a little inspiration in your ear.”
    â€œYou stay out of my bed and my head! I can manage very well on my own.”
    â€œThe proof of that is in the puddin’, as your aunt Loulane would say.”
    It was time to end this conversation. When Jitty was quoting Aunt Loulane to me, my wisest course of action was to cut and run.
    â€œMadame Tomeeka is coming over here to have a séance tonight. Maybe she can find Pleasant Smith. I want you to stay clear. No funny business, no knocking or clapping or fluttering of curtains. Tammy already suspects you’re here.”
    â€œWould it be such a terrible thing if she knew?”
    â€œI don’t know. What if you disappear if others know about you?”
    She eyed me with calculation. “You care. You don’t want me to leave.”
    â€œSad as it is, you are my family, Jitty. I don’t know what I’d do if you disappeared, too.”
    She nodded and slowly began to fade. “I’ll be back,” she whispered in a thick Schwarzenegger-style accent. And she was gone.

 
    7
    Millie arrived first with