Stranger in the Mirror [Shades of Heaven] (Soul Change Novel) Read Online Free

located?”
    “We be just east of Jamaica, on da Isle of Constantine.”
    That threw him. That was nowhere near California. “I see. And is there a Hallie DiBarto there?”
    “Yah, ‘dere is. I can put you through to the house, or to her husband, Jamie’s office. She do the books ‘dere. Which you like?”
    “Uh, no, don’t put me through to either. But can I ask you another question? Did Hallie… die two months ago? Something to do with her brain?”
    “Yes, she be in California when her brain explode, but she come back to life. It was a miracle from God.”
    So she was from California.
    “This is going to sound a bit crazy, but since the brain thing, is she different?”
    “Oh, yah, very different. She and Jamie have da light of love in ‘dere eyes, you know? You don’t want to talk with her?”
    “Maybe I already have. Thanks for the information.”
    Jesse hung up. Hallie DiBarto did exist, she had suffered some kind of stroke in California, and she did have a husband named Jamie. Jesse sauntered over to the front window. Marti wasn’t sitting on the swing with slouched shoulders anymore. She was… swinging ?
    Every time she reached the bottom of her arc, her shoulders rose up to give her more height. At first he was glad to see her doing something besides moping. When the swing went so high that there was slack at her upward reach, a pang of fear shot through him that she might jump.
    He strode across the leaf-strewn ground toward the swings, camouflaging his worry with a smile. “What’cha doing?”
    Marti grinned. “I haven’t done this since I was in grade school.”
    She appeared to be enjoying herself. Her face was regaining its normal shape as the swelling went down. On the forward swing, she closed her eyes in the sun. On the backward swing, she got lost in the sun-dappled shade beneath the oak tree’s upper branches. Her hair floated behind her as she came forward, then washed over her shoulders on the way back.
    “Who built these swings?” she asked.
    “I put them up for my brother Billy’s kids. They haven’t gotten much use since his ex-wife, Abbie, took the boys and left town two years ago.”
    “Why did she leave him?”
    “He was a jerk. Spent more time with his fishing buddies than her and the boys. Abbie was going nuts, raising two little hellions by herself, so she dropped ‘em off here now and then. Eventually she got a job in Georgia. I get a postcard from ‘em every month.”
    He ducked around her and sat on the other swing and soon got in sync with her. “You look like you’re feeling better.”
    “I feel a little more in control. I’ve accepted that I’m Marti. Now I’ve got to figure out what I’m going to do.”
    A thought pushed itself into his mind: What if she leaves ? He would be free again. Not that he’d planned on settling down, but he wouldn’t have to wait until the baby came before getting back into racing.
    Another surprising thought crept in, too. That was his baby inside her. His. No matter the inconvenience, that baby was his responsibility. No, he couldn’t let her leave until she had the baby. Then she could do whatever she wanted, and he’d work the rest out somehow.
     
    Hallie sat on the swinging bench out on the front porch that evening. What was she going to do? Getting back to her home turf would help, but she had some planning to do before she could hop on a bus to California. Losing her identity was the hardest part.
    She looked down at herself. Well, she had an identity, all right; it just wasn’t hers. Since she was stuck with this one, the first step was to make it her own. I am Marti now. I’m Marti. Marti . And Marti glanced up as Jesse walked out the front door and sat down beside her, making the whole thing creak and swing.
    He said, “Chuck called today, wondering when he could expect you back to work. I told him when you were good and ready. Don’t let him push you.”
    Work? She remembered mention of a job before but