by Freya Barker
Despite the thorough flushing they did of both her eyes when we first got here, it’ll likely take some time before the swelling subsides. Just like it will take a while for her throat to heal, as well as the two cracked ribs she sustained from his boot.
“It’s over, mi amór,” I say, gently stroking her hair from her face as her bloodshot, gray eyes squint up at me.
“You know that’s the second time you’ve called me that,” she observes quietly.
“It is,” I admit. “It’s also the truth.”
“I know,” she says, with a valiant attempt at a smile.
“Because I came for you?” I’m curious to know, but she carefully shakes her head.
“No.” Even with her voice hoarse, she sounds confident. “I know, because I never doubted you would.”
The difference is subtle—but the message is loud.
I don’t really have a chance to react before the door to the room flies open, and Bella comes flying in, tears already running down her face.
“Are you okay?” She squeezes between me and the bed, completely ignoring my presence. There’s nothing I can do, shy of wrestling her for position, so I reluctantly make room. Jasper is chuckling from the doorway, and Bella whips around at the sound. “You can go now. Thank you,” she says, with one of the most insincere smiles I’ve ever witnessed. Now it’s my turn to suppress a laugh, as Jasper, duly chastised, starts backing out of the room. It’s a new experience for him to be so callously treated by the opposite sex.
“Bella!” Kerry croaks, shooting my sister a scolding look before turning to Jasper. “Stay, Jas—seriously—I wanted to thank you. Damian told me if it hadn’t been for you monitoring the scanner and putting two and two together, you guys wouldn’t have been there so fast. Or at all,” she adds, her body doing a top to toe shiver.
Jasper looks a mite uncomfortable with the compliment, but the smile jerking at the corner of his mouth is a lot better than the beaten dog expression he was wearing earlier. I’d moved to the other side of the bed when Bella muscled me out of the way. This time it’s Jasper bumping into me to get to Kerry.
“Careful,” I growl as he bends down to give her a hug. Well, mostly it’s Kerry hugging him because he knows damn well that if I so much as hear a peep out of her mouth because he wasn’t careful, I’ll kill him. I’m still carrying too much adrenaline. When he straightens up, I’m surprised when he faces Bella, who looks a little sheepish.
“And that,” he says, pointing a finger in her face, “is how grown-ups show gratitude.” Without another word, he stalks out of the room. Kerry’s mouth falls open before she snaps it shut and shoots a pitying look at my sister, whose head is still turned to the door as if she can’t believe what just happened. Myself, I have to literally bite my lip to keep from laughing. They both carry around giant chips on their shoulders, but I’ve gotta admit, this round goes to Jasper. This could get interesting.
Jasper has barely cleared the room when my once-enemy, now-good-friend Malachi sticks his head around the door.
“She’s here,” he says over his shoulder. The door is promptly pulled from his grip as Mal’s wife, Kimeo, also Kerry’s best friend, storms in and stops right at the foot end.
“This is the absolute last time,” she warns Kerry, barely containing her emotions as her pleasantly-rounded body almost vibrates. “If I have to find out from anyone, other than you, next time something happens, I will officially divorce you as my best fr...friend.” Just like that, the spectacular head of steam she had worked up deflates like a days-old balloon. Mal steps in behind her and puts his arm around her front, while giving me a chin lift and a wink.
And it’s not just Kim dissolving in tears. Bella’s mouth is trembling, and Kerry is fighting hard, chewing the skin off her bottom lip. I lean over her and pull it free with my thumb. “No tears, Gypsy,” I caution her. “Your eyes will never return to normal.”
Well, that did the trick, judging from the ball-pulverizing glower thrown in my direction. In that strange, unspoken pact of female solidarity, all three women instantly huddle together, completely ignoring the men in the room. I look at Mal who just shrugs, nudges his chin to the door, and leads the way out.
KERRY
“Are you done with this?”
The friendly volunteer who was in earlier, bringing the tray with limp chicken noodle soup and Jell-O for my dinner, is back to pick it up.
“All done,” I smile at her, even though I haven’t touched a thing. One look was enough.
I haven’t seen Damian since he left with Mal earlier, but I’m assuming there is business to be discussed. Luckily, Bella and Kim kept me distracted and my mind off just what that business might entail.
The two hit it off, like I expected they would. And when, right after my dinner was delivered, a doctor came in with a nurse in tow to examine me, I sent the two of them off to the hospital cafeteria to get something to eat. The doctor announced that I would likely be released around eight, right after the shift change. A nurse would be in to tape my ribs, since nothing is broken, and aside from some pain pills he would prescribe, no treatment other than rest was recommended, he felt it was safe to send me home. Thank God.
It’s been very quiet since. Only the volunteer who just walked out of the door with my untouched tray. My thoughts get loud when there’s no noise to distract me, and it’s difficult to keep the flashes of this morning’s events at bay. The smell of blood is still in my nose and my gut churns at the memory of...
I barely manage to roll over and hang my head over the side as a fresh wave of nausea has me spitting up the water and limp tea that had been swirling in my stomach. Of course, that’s when the door opens and Damian walks in, closely followed by Keith Blackfoot and a man I don’t know. Wonderful.
“Give us a minute.” Damian immediately dismisses the two men and dives into the small, attached washroom. Before I can straighten myself out, he’s by my side with a wet towel and a roll of toilet paper. He doesn’t say a word as he wipes my face with the warm towel and crouches down to clean up the mess on the floor, and I stay silent as well. I’m too embarrassed.
When he’s dumped everything in the trash can in the corner of the room, he disappears in the washroom again. I hear the tap run as he obviously washes his hands. When he comes back in, he has another wet towel. This one cold. He folds it carefully lengthwise and lifts my head to place it in the back of my neck. He still hasn’t spoken.
Not sure whether it’s the cold compress, this morning’s memories, or my tight control cracking, but my body starts to shake violently.
“I was waiting for this,” he gently says, as he carefully climbs in bed on my good side and rolls me carefully in his arms. It hurts when I move, but I don’t care. I burrow myself into him and let myself fall apart in his hold, knowing he will keep me together.
I’m unsure how much time has passed, but the firm press of his lips on my forehead and the soft stroking of his fingers through my hair finally quiet my shakes. My breath does that weird hiccupy thing babies get when they’ve cried a long time. But my tears have dried up, although I’m not sure the relief has done the condition of my eyes much good.
“I’m glad I don’t have a mirror,” I randomly say, and his chest starts to move with silent laughter.
“You don’t need a mirror,” he says, a smile evident in his voice. “You’ve got me to tell you how incredibly breathtaking you are.”
I lift my face, but instead of kissing him on the mouth—vomit breath and all that—I press my mouth to the hollow of his throat where I can feel his heartbeat steady against my lips.
“For me...” I whisper against his skin.
“For you,” he confirms back to me.
“I love you,” I say, tilting my head back to look him in the eyes.
“I know.”
If all I had to go by was the look on his face when his eyes are on mine, I still would never be able to question his feelings for me.
&nbs
p; A cautious knock on the door interrupts the moment, but both of us are still smiling as we turn in that direction.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Keith apologizes, as he sticks his head around the door. “I understand if this is a bad time, but it would help us move forward if we could ask a few questions now.”
“Come in.” I take the initiative and wave him in. “Might as well get it over with,” I mumble under my breath. Damian swings his legs over the side and sits up, but doesn’t leave my side. The man following in behind the detective is a bit older, maybe mid-fifties, and has a distinguished head of salt-and-pepper hair. Still, something tells me the hair, the pleasantly smiling face, and the designer suit are only a cover. This is not a man to mess with. He walks up to the bed and holds out his hand. “Sorry about earlier,” I hasten to say as I shake it.
“Not at all,” he says in a clipped but friendly manner. “James Aiken, I’m—”
“Damian’s boss. Yes, he mentioned you.”
“Good. In that case, call me James.” He turns his eyes to Damian, with the barest lift of his eyebrow, before stepping back and leaning his hands on the windowsill.
“Kerry, I know you’d rather forget all about this morning, but the sooner we have all the information we need, the faster we can wrap this thing up, once and for all,” Keith suggests.
“Are you sure?” I challenge him. “The man seemed to think those damn books—or manuscripts or whatever—were in the house. That makes it obvious he didn’t have them. I sure as hell don’t have them. And unless you have them, I don’t see how anything I say could help you wrap this up ‘once and for all,’ because what you were looking for in the first place is no more found than it was before.” I’m not sure where that came from, I just know I don’t particularly like being placated, and he is catching me on a very bad day.
“I like her,” James says to Damian with a chuckle, and that right there is the straw.
“Look,” I turn on him and ignore the little squeeze of Damian’s hand on mine. “I’m pleased as punch you like me, but I’m right fucking here. This was not a good day, this was not a particularly good week, and this certainly has not been a bloody good month! So spare me the pats on the head, because as you were able to see firsthand earlier, I’m this close to coming apart at the seams, and I’m not adverse to puking on someone to get my point across. You may have seen evidence of that this morning, as well.” I put my head back, close my eyes, and take a deep breath before opening them again. Without waiting for any prompting, I launch into my statement, starting with Damian’s text reminding me to reset the alarm.
It takes me a while, but with occasional encouraging nods and squeezes from Damian, and the odd clarifying question, I manage to get through.
“One last question,” James concludes. “From your account, it sounds like Willoughs was...erratic? Cold and calculating one moment and mumbling incoherently the next?” he clarifies.
“Mostly crazy as a loon, it seemed to me,” I answer honestly. “I got the impression he was hearing voices, I remember him muttering to himself a lot, throwing things around, and talking about being sure it was there. Most of what he said made little sense to me. At some point, he was yelling about birds. A box with his birds or my box with the birds. Something like that.”
“The Birds of America, by John James Audubon,” James explains. “At last auction, it sold for twelve million.”
I’m sure my mouth fell open. “Twelve million? For a book? Rich people are crazy.”
James chuckles. “I won’t disagree with you on that. For the most part,” he slightly amends.
The moment the door opens and a nurse walks in, both James and Keith jump up. “We’d best be off,” Keith says. He bends over the bed and gives me a kiss on the cheek. “Take care of yourself, sweetheart. I’ll be in touch in a day or two.” Before I can say anything in return, James takes his place by the bed and takes my free hand in his and pats the top of it. “Kerry—a pleasure. I hope you’ll forgive me the somewhat rocky start we had earlier, because I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other.”
With a final pat, he follows Keith out of the room and I turn to Damian, only partly noticing the nurse setting some paperwork on the foot of the bed. “He turned out to be nicer than I thought.” Damian laughs as he hops of the bed.
“Probably because I’d warned him that if he upset you, I’d rip his arms off.”
Our heads simultaneously turn toward a sound at the foot of the bed to see the nurse with her hand covering her mouth.
“It was a joke,” I tell her, before turning to Damian. “It was a joke, right?”
His smile is big when he answers. “Sure.”
CHAPTER 29
Damian
“Mi hijo, how is Kerry doing?”
With my house a crime scene, we’d all piled into Kerry’s bungalow. A bit cramped since there’s only one bedroom, which meant either Bella or I had to take the couch. Kerry didn’t want to stay at a hotel. She said she missed her things. I didn’t really say anything to that. Although, it had been on my tongue to tell her we should just pack her shit up; bring it home with us when we could head back. I think Bella read my mind because she gave her head a sharp shake before I could say anything. She offered to go to a hotel for a few days, pointing out there was one just the other side of Highway 160, but Kerry said she’d feel better if Bella stayed close by.
So my sister ended up taking the couch, and I found out just why Kerry wanted us all close when I crawled into bed with her. Her teeth were chattering and her entire body shook. She said she couldn’t stop it, and she was afraid to close her eyes. That first night it took three hours before she managed to fall asleep. By the time she finally did, I was afraid to. I didn’t want to let her out of my sight. Literally. Guess it’ll take us both a while to get over that.
Last night was better for both of us when Kerry found a position that made her feel safe and didn’t cause any discomfort. She had rolled up a winter quilt, used it like a body pillow with her body curved around it, and had me snuggle up behind her. It made her feel safer.
Kim and Mal had decided to stay the night in town. They’d left Asher safely with Mal’s brother and sister-in-law. They headed out after a brief visit yesterday morning and assurances from both Bella and me that we’d look after Kerry.
Then there’d been Mama. Bella had held off calling until yesterday morning. She didn’t want to wait any longer. She said she was still in the doghouse for not telling Ma I was involved with someone. I love my mom, but she can be a bit much to take. I could hear Bella try and deter her from driving straight here. Finally, when it had gone on long enough, I took the phone from my sister and told Ma, in no uncertain terms, that it would definitely not be helpful to Kerry’s recovery to have my crazy family hovering. It had taken promising a visit to Farmington in the near future, as well as the concession she could call at any time to check up on Kerry.
That was yesterday morning, about twenty-four hours ago, and this is the seventh time she’s called.
“Mama—Kerry is fine, but if you keep calling and waking her up, she’ll never get any rest.”
I left Kerry in bed this morning with the promise I’d bring her some breakfast. Jasper and Luna are popping in at some point to go over some stuff, and I want to avoid bringing up the investigation in front of her.
“Oh, is she awake?” Ma wants to know.
“I hope not,” I firmly say. “It’s going to take some time for her to heal and she’ll get restless soon enough, so I want her to get as much sleep as possible now.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to come? Don’t you have to work? Who will look after her then?”
“Thanks, Ma, but for now I’m gonna try working from home. At least for the next couple of days, until we can get back into my place.”
She reluctantly gives up and spends the next few minutes questioning me about Bella’s new job, until I inform her that I have to get some breakfast going
.
“At least let me know when you can head back to your house, Damian. From the sounds of it, it’s going to need to be put in order and that’s something your sisters and I can do.”
“I can hire a crew—” I try, but Mama cuts me off.
“You will not,” she snaps. “Why would you spend money on something your sisters and I are perfectly capable of doing? We’ll make sure the place is ready for you.” Knowing my mother, she won’t rest until she feels she’s done something useful.
“Thanks, Ma. That sounds good,” I give in without argument. She and the girls will make sure there are no visible reminders of what happened.
I’m just sliding the last blueberry pancake out of the pan when there’s a knock at the front door. Jasper and Luna are on the doorstep, and I indicate for them to keep it down as they follow me into the house. Both of them move straight to the dining room table, where they immediately pull out their laptops, while I pile a few pancakes on a plate and pour Kerry some coffee.
“Be right back. Pancakes on the stove, coffee in the pot,” I mention to them as I make my way down the hallway to the bedroom. Kerry is still wrapped around her makeshift body pillow, and I make a mental note to ask Bella to pick up a proper one in town today.
“Morning, Gypsy,” I mumble in Kerry’s hair, after I place her breakfast on the side table.
“Mmmm,” she moans as she slowly pulls the sheet down. I try not to react when I see the ugly bruising on her beautiful skin and instead focus on her drowsy, gray bedroom eyes. “Morning. Was that your mom on the phone?”
I lean in to kiss her before answering. “Yup. She’s relentless. Brought you some breakfast, do you need any help?” She winces as she tries to sit up. I quickly stuff a pile of pillows behind her back and give her a hand.
“Looks good,” she says, smiling when she’s taken a look at the plate. “Not sure if I can eat them all, but it won’t be for lack of trying. Thank you, honey.” She tags me behind the neck and pulls me to her mouth. Her kiss is sweet at first, but then I feel her fingers tangling in my hair and her mouth open, inviting my tongue. Not like me to turn down an invitation like that, especially since I can’t touch or taste her without craving more.