“You’re kidding!” He leaned forward to hear more, but the waitress chose just that moment to deliver their food. He wanted so much to reach out and touch her. But no, he had to take it slow. He had to wait for her. It was killing him, but it would be worth it in the end; he was sure of it.
After the waitress had gone, Erin looked down at the mug sitting in front of her. “I would love for you to come over and go through it with me.”
David deliberately paused to take a sip of his cocoa. He was calm, he told himself. He was collected. All right, inside he was jumping for joy, but on the outside he was Mr. Cool. “Are you sure?”
Erin reached across the table, past the french fries, and took his hand. “I am absolutely certain.” She looked directly into his eyes to prove to him that she meant what she said. I can’t believe I nearly let the most wonderful man go, only because I was too caught up in the past and too confused about the present. Her voice drifted into his mind. And then she added, and too scared about the future.
Did she…? Was she letting him hear her thoughts deliberately? Just to make sure, he pushed his thoughts over to her. I can hear you, you know. Are you doing that on purpose? He couldn’t help but laugh when Erin jumped back. Okay, so maybe she hadn’t been doing it intentionally.
“I didn’t know you could…”
“I’ve told you I can read minds,” he said, leaning forward and speaking quietly so no one else could hear him.
She thought about that a minute, clearly trying to remember if he had told her this or not. “I guess you did. I’d forgotten. I…I don’t know how you heard me just now.”
David shrugged. “I normally stay out of your head. Well, really, out of everybody’s heads, unless I need to know what they’re thinking. But you shoved that thought right at me.”
“I did?”
He just smiled and nodded.
She just looked at him for a moment, keeping her thoughts to herself. But she seemed to make up her mind because she gave a shrug. “I’ve been an idiot,” she said, finally. “I didn’t know if I liked you now only because I loved you in our past life, but tonight…”
“Tonight you realized that you like me anyway?” he asked hopefully, when she stopped talking.
“Tonight you proved to me that I would be beyond stupid to let you go. You proved what an amazing person you are.”
He sat back, a little stunned that she thought so. “What did I do? I called you to come hold my hand—even though I already had Ibrahim and Lanie there. I dragged you all the way back to the city to help me deal with my problem. How is that being wonderful?”
She nearly started laughing at him. “Because you called me, first of all. And second of all, you called me because you were scared for Shawn—a kid to whom you have no ties, no responsibility, nothing. He’s a kid who you had to work with because his case was assigned to you. You went out of your way to help him, to get him free, and then followed up and helped him when he got into trouble afterward.” She paused. “I always say that I want to help people. That’s why I got into politics to begin with. But you’re out there. You are on the street, literally, doing it. I can’t tell you how much I admire that.”
David swallowed. This was embarrassing, and his guilt was killing him. She didn’t know the truth of the matter, and if she did, she would most certainly not admire him. In fact, she would probably hate him, considering she was raised not to use her magic. What he’d done was a perfect example of why Vallen shouldn’t do so. Too frequently, it didn’t turn out the way you’d meant it to.
Her fingers caressed his. He pulled his hands away before she could do so—and she would when he told her the truth.
Of course, he could just not tell her. He could let her think he was this wonderful person she’d created in her mind…but that wouldn’t be right. He took a deep breath.
“I’m not the fantastic person you thing I am, Erin,” he said finally. “I used my magic to get Shawn out of jail. What I did was wrong, and it was why Shawn was shot.”
“What?” Erin looked confused.
David sighed. He owed her the truth, even though it would probably tip the balance of her feelings away from him. “I used my magic to get Shawn’s brother to turn himself in. If I hadn’t put a suggestion into his mind, he never would have done so. Shawn would have been put into a group home. He would have had to live with kids who really are criminals. I didn’t want that for him, so I forced his brother to turn himself in. The other members of the gang probably thought that Shawn somehow had something to do with it, so they shot him.”
David shrugged and looked down at his rapidly cooling chocolate. Just the thought of swallowing it now made his stomach churn. “It’s my fault Shawn got hurt, that’s why I was so concerned about him. You shouldn’t admire me, but rather, I imagine, feel contempt for me.”
Erin sat back. “Contempt?”
He looked up at her. “I used my magic. I shouldn’t have. It was the wrong thing to do and,” he shrugged, “it backfired.”
“But you clearly cared enough to begin with, otherwise you wouldn’t have been so determined to get Shawn free,” Erin argued.
“But I used my power.”
“Yeah. I heard you say that.”
“You don’t believe people should do that,” he pointed out.
“No. My parents don’t believe people should do that. And, um, if you’ve noticed, this evening my mother did so anyway.”
“Shawn would have died if she hadn’t. She saved his life,” David said.
“And it’s quite possible that you saved his life when you got him out of jail.”
David shook his head. “I got him shot!”
“You didn’t, David. The gang members shot him. There was no way you could have known that they would do that. And who’s to say they were targeting him. Maybe they were targeting someone else, and he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. You don’t know.” She took his hand again. “The point is you cared. You were there for him when he was in jail and after he got out.”
She was right. He did care. He cared about inner-city kids. He wanted them to have the same opportunities that other kids had. But how much of that was because of his brother and how much because of him, he didn’t know. “My brother was killed by gang violence,” he admitted. “He was on the street, working with these kids when he was just a kid himself. He got involved in a way…” David could only shake his head as the pain of his brother’s loss strangled him.
Erin squeezed his hand. “I’m so sorry, David.”
He just shook his head. Why did it still hurt so damn much after all these years? “I can’t let it go,” he admitted. “I have to do something to help these kids. It was what Tommy was trying to do. I do it for him.”
“You’re a good man.” She caught his gaze when he looked up at her. Her eyes were glistening with unshed tears. Tears for him. Tears, perhaps, for Tommy. Tears that David had long ago run out of.
“I wish I was a better one.”
She just smiled and shook her head. “I love you just the way you are.”
David’s heart swelled. He swore he could feel it grow within his chest. “Truly? I mean, because I love you. And not just because I loved you in our past life. I love you for you, now, here.”
She smiled at him with such love in her eyes that he had to believe her. He desperately wished there wasn’t a table in between them, or that they weren’t in a silly diner. He wanted her home with him—in bed.
“Hey, let’s get out of here and go dredge up some Vallen history,” she said.
It wasn’t exactly the words he’d been hoping for, but doing anything with Erin—even going through a dusty, old trunk in her parents’ attic—was fine with him.
Chapter Twenty-One
“Shhh,” Erin whispered, holding a finger up to her lips. “My parents are asleep.”
David looked around curiously as they snuck into her parents’ house. “Are you sure we shouldn’t wait and do
this in the morning?”
“No. Tomorrow’s Monday. I have to be at work in the morning and so do you,” she reminded him as she led the way up the dark stairs.
“Oh, shit.” The words just slipped out of his mouth. He’d completely forgotten that it was Sunday. He was certain that it had been the longest day of his life. My God, had it really been just that morning that he’d convinced Deon to turn himself in?
He must have done that by noon. Shawn had been home by three and shot by ten that evening. Damn, those gang members didn’t waste time! He kind of wondered how they learned so fast that Deon had turned himself in.
Erin’s hand on his chest stopped him. “That’s my parents room,” she said pointing to a closed door. “Watch the dog. He always sleeps just outside of their door.”
David peered through the dark and could just make out the huge lump of animal curled up on the floor. It had been difficult enough to avoid getting tripped up by the two cats, which had greeted them when they’d come in, now he had to tiptoe around a sleeping giant of a dog.
“That’s a big dog,” he whispered back.
“He’s a Saint Bernard. He got too big for his owners to care for him and started having health problems as well, so Dad took him in. He’s like an enormous teddy bear.”
“Oh, right, your Dad’s a vet,” David reminded himself. She’d told him that, but he’d forgotten. Okay, that explained all the animals in the house.
“Here, take my hand, it’s going to get dark.”
He felt her hand search out his, brushing against his thigh. He grabbed it before she reached other parts, which would have been too happy for a little fumbling. “What do you mean going to get dark? It’s already nearly pitch black in here.”
“Yeah, well, we’re going to lose what little light we have the closer we get to the attic.”
He could hear her fingers running against the hallway wall as she guided them onward. She stopped abruptly, causing him to bump into her.
“Sorry,” he breathed.
“It’s okay. Here’s the door to the attic.” There was a slight squeak as she turned a handle and opened the door into the side of his head.
He clamped his teeth together to keep from cursing with the pain.
“Oh, God, I’m so sorry!” she whispered, putting her hand to his face.
“It’s okay.” He was pretty sure he’d be seeing stars, if he could see anything at all. He took a step backward so that she could open the door all the way. “At least it wasn’t one of those drop-down stairs. They’re frickin’ heavy.”
Erin giggled.
With the opening of the door there was a little more light, perhaps from a window up above. But it was enough for David to just make out that there was a stair directly in front of him.
“You start up,” Erin said. “After I close the door behind me, I’ll turn on the light, okay?”
David nodded and then realized she probably couldn’t see him. “Okay,” he said, reaching for the wall to guide him up the stairs.
He hadn’t gone three steps up when he was blinded by the light Erin had promised. He clamped his eyes shut and slowly blinked a few times to get rid of the black spots dancing in his vision.
“Sorry about that,” she said from behind him.
“It’s okay. You did warn me.” He continued up the steps more quickly now that he could actually see where he was going.
The attic was a lot neater than he’d expected. There were old bed frames leaning up against mattresses covered with clear sheeting along one wall. An old dresser and a few chairs piled up against another, and straight toward the back were stacks of cardboard boxes.
“All of mine and my sibs childhood stuff,” Erin said, approaching the boxes.
David noticed that they were all neatly labeled, “Dylan’s memories,” “Lizzie’s memories,” “Xander’s memories,” and so on.
“I think the trunk must be behind all of these, unfortunately,” Erin said, picking up a box and handing it to him. “Why don’t you pile them over there next to the bed frames.”
As they started to move the boxes, the dust flew and they both started sneezing.
Erin giggled between sneezes but kept on handing him boxes.
He did as he was told and soon they’d shifted most of the boxes away from the far wall.
“Ah ha! This has got to be it,” Erin said. She had her hands on her hips and was looking at an old steamer trunk tucked into the corner under the eaves.
David helped her pull it out into the light, and then grabbed two boxes from the stack he’d just made so that they would have something to sit on.
Erin unlatched the sides, unbuckled the leather straps, and tried to pry open the last latch in the center. “Locked! Oh, no!” She looked at him with such disappointment. The dust on her nose made her look adorable.
He couldn’t help but laugh. He wiped off the tip of her nose with his shirt sleeve. “You’re so silly. You’re Vallen. You can open that.”
Her eyes widened. “I can?”
He nodded. “Just will it open. It’ll be easier if you’re touching it,” he advised.
She put her hand to the lock and lowered her eyebrows in concentration. There was a slightest little snick as the lock retracted and the latch fell open. She spun around to face him. “Oh, my God, I did it!”
He laughed. “Good! Now, what’s inside?”
She sat down on her box and carefully lifted the lid.
It was filled with old books, some printed, some which looked to be hand-written journals. Erin pulled one out and carefully opened the cover.
“Bridget Lentene, 1944,” she read. She looked up. “This must be my grandmother’s diary. I think she came to this country the following year, just after the war ended.” She set the book aside and reached for another. “This one appears to be a gardening book or something.” She leaned toward him to show him the book.
There was a carefully drawn picture of a plant with pretty flowers and next to it, a close up of a leaf. Underneath was the word “Hollyhock” with a paragraph describing its medicinal uses. ‘Good for reducing inflammation, coughs, digestive troubles.’
“Herbal cures,” David commented.
“Cool!” She put that one aside as well and pulled out the next book. Removing the book revealed an open area within the trunk. It was filled with straw packing material. Pushing aside the straw, she found something oblong wrapped in a cloth. When she pulled it out, there was an old leather water skin tied to it.
“Huh.” She carefully untied the water skin from the object and handed it to David to hold.
The leather was incredibly soft and worn, but it was in good shape and… He pressed against the side of the skin. “There’s something in here!” He couldn’t believe it; there seemed to be some sort of liquid inside.
“Well, wait. Don’t uncork that yet,” Erin said. She carefully placed the cloth-wrapped object on her lap and started to unwind the fabric. Inside was a beautiful stone goblet. It was white with black and gray marbling vining up and around the cup, but there was something odd about it.
David stared at it, trying to figure it out. Was it iridescent?
“Erin…” he started.
“Yeah,” she said, her voice quiet and filled with awe. “It’s glowing.”
Erin slowly reached down and touched her finger to cup but quickly pulled it back. “Holy shit!”
“What?”
“It zapped me…or something.”
David reached out a finger and very gently touched the side. It was vibrating, or… “It’s magic,” he whispered.
Erin looked at him.
“That tingling feeling. It’s magic.”
“Within the cup?” Erin asked.
“I think so.” He nodded.
Very carefully, Erin lifted the cup from its covering. “Wow, that’s really strong! I can feel it all through my hands and up my arms.” Her mouth dropped open, and she looked over at him. “Un-stop that skin.”
She held the cup toward him. “And pour just the tiniest bit into here.”
He looked at her. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
He gave a little shrug. He didn’t know how she knew what to do, but maybe the cup itself was telling her. Very carefully, he worked the top off. It was really tight, and he didn’t want to risk breaking it. He added a little magic to loosen it. When he did, it came open almost immediately.
Erin held the goblet out for him, and he poured a little splash of a clear liquid into it.
Erin took in a deep breath. “Oh, wow, just smell that!” She closed her eyes and took another breath.
After carefully closing the water skin again, David leaned forward to get a whiff. It smelled…clean and fresh. “Sunshine,” he said.
“Yes. And fresh fields,” Erin added.
“And water. Really, really clean running water. Like a stream on a summer’s day.” He could practically see it in his mind’s eye.
“It smells like…home,” Erin breathed. Her eyes blinked open. “Isn’t that weird? It smells like home, but it’s not a home I’ve ever been to. I don’t…”
“It is home,” a coarse male voice said. Both David and Erin jumped.
“Please don’t drop the chalice,” the voice said quickly. “Hold it tight, my dear.”
They both looked around, but there was no one there. David was still searching the shadows when Erin gasped. He spun back to her, but she was looking down into the goblet. David looked, and there, wavering in the water was the image of an old man with a long white beard. His eyes were pale blue and his whole face crinkled with age.
“Who? What?” Erin stammered out.
“You must be Erin,” the man said, smiling up at them. “And you, young man? I don’t believe I know who you are.”
“How do you know my name?” Erin asked.
“Oh! Perhaps I should introduce myself first? I’m Merlin. And before you ask, yes, that Merlin.”
“Of King Arthur and his knights?” David asked.
“That’s the one,” the old man nodded. “And you are…?”
Falling Page 14