by Laura Del
“Oh no,” he protested. “I wouldn’t want to impose.”
“It’s not an imposition,” I chimed in. “Right, Cindy?” She nodded in agreement. “And besides,” I continued, “we’ve got plenty of room. You can sleep in the guest room.”
“Great idea,” Cindy said. “But could you guys help me. The florist decided to track me down today and give me some samples of the centerpieces. They’re in my trunk and a bit heavy.”
“No problem,” Andrew replied with keenness and rushed out with Cindy and me trailing behind.
Once we got all three arrangements in the house, Cindy decided to take them out of their boxes and look at them, just to see which one she liked best. “I don’t know,” she sighed as she pulled the last one out, placing it on the kitchen median. “I just don’t know. What do you think, Pat?”
“I’m not very good at with flowers, Cindy.” The fact of the matter was they all looked sort of the same to me. The first had white roses with sparkly snowflakes, the second was white roses with white and silver trim around the bowl, and the last one was just plain white roses.
“Well, I think this one’s…” her voice trailed off, and she looked mesmerized.
“Cindy,” Andrew yelled, taking the flowers with the snowflakes and chucking them out the sliding glass doors that led to the backyard. Cindy immediately collapsed, but before she hit the floor, Andrew caught her.
“What the hell was that?” I asked as he picked her up.
“Where should I put her?” he breathed.
“Couch,” I replied, and he walked down the hall and into the living room. When he came back, I repeated, “What the hell was that, Andrew?”
He huffed in frustration. “Someone put a curse on the flowers.”
“What? Who?”
He shrugged. “It was too blurry, I don’t know.”
My heart began to race. “Do you think it has anything to do with earlier?”
He grimaced. “Maybe. I’m not sure.”
There was a flash of lightening, and the already gray sky grew so dark that it looked like night. Andrew had forgotten to close the back door all the way, and before either one of us could reach it, Samuel was standing outside the doorway. His ice blue eyes stared into mine as he smirked at me. He wore his usual all black, making him look even more menacing in the dim light.
“We need to talk,” he said, his deep voice making me shiver. “Now.”
“Whoa,” Andrew breathed, “I’m psychic, and even I didn’t see that one comin’.”
I glared at Samuel. “I did.”
“I need to speak with you,” Samuel said, this time he sounded angry, all traces of a smile gone from his face.
“I heard you before, Samuel,” I hissed. “There’s no need to get huffy with me.”
“Well, maybe if you did what you were told the first time—”
“You son-of-a-bitch,” Andrew yelled at him, but I put my hand up.
“Andrew,” I sighed, “I got this. Just see if Cindy is okay, all right?” He nodded, leaving Samuel and me alone. Walking out into the backyard, I closed the door behind me for more privacy. “What?” I asked him as he backed away from me. His caramel colored skin looked a bit pale, and his black hair was disheveled, but other than that, he looked like the same pain in the ass as usual.
“Kathryn sent me to tell you something,” he whispered as if anyone could hear us.
“What? That she put a curse on the flowers Cindy just got?”
“I beg your pardon? I do not know what you are talking about.”
“Sure you don’t,” I huffed. “And I have fairy wings and a pink tutu.”
“And I would love to see them,” he replied, smirking again, “but now is not the time for jokes. This is important, Patricia.” He grabbed hold of my left wrist, and I tried to pull away, but he was too strong.
“Let go of me, Samuel,” I screamed at him.
He shook his head, his grip tightening. “You must hear what I have to say first.”
I tried to pull my hand away again, but his grip was like a vice, and I sneered as pain shot up my arm through to my neck. “You’re hurting me, Samuel.”
“I am not letting go,” he growled.
“Fine,” I breathed, trying to keep the pain out of my voice. “What is it?”
“You are not safe,” he replied, staring into my eyes. It always seemed as though he was looking into my soul when he did that, and I hated it.
“Why am I not safe?” I asked and whimpered as his grip grew tighter again. Then I heard the audible crack, and I couldn’t help but grimace in excruciating pain.
“Because,” he continued, but before he finished, someone opened the door behind us.
“Is there a problem out here?” Pops voice came from inside the house.
“Everything is all right, Mr. Wyatt,” Samuel answered, looking down at me with a smirk.
“Pat?”
“Yeah, Pops,” I replied, looking over my shoulder at him, “everything’s fine.”
“You sure?” my father asked, looking worried.
“For now,” I replied, and Pops nodded. It was always what I said when Jim and I were fighting, so he knew that I would tell him all about it later.
“Okay,” he said and then looked at Samuel. “You coming to the wedding, son?”
“I would not miss it for the world, Mr. Wyatt. Thank you for inviting me.”
“No problem,” Pops replied, “just remember to get Jessica here on time to get her fitting for her dress. Cindy’s worried about it.”
“I will.”
My father nodded again. “Well, I’ll leave you two alone.” But when he walked away, he left the door open. Better safe than sorry, I guess.
Samuel saw this and growled. I turned my attention back to him, and he looked like a caged animal. “So much for privacy, we will speak of this later.”
“Can’t wait,” I said sarcastically, but still breathless from the pain.
In an instant, he let go of my wrist, and as soon as he was gone, I crumpled to the ground, letting out a silent scream of agony. “Pops,” I cried, and he came running.
He kneeled in front of me. “Baby girl, what’s wrong?”
“Hospital,” I whimpered, holding my left hand to my chest.
Pops nodded, helping me off the ground.
“What happened?” Andrew asked as my father walked me through the house.
“It doesn’t matter right now,” Pops said sternly.
“We need to go to the hospital,” I answered him, almost crying.
“Oh my God,” Andrew breathed, looking at me with concern. “What can I do?”
“Can I trust you to stay here with Cindy, and tell her that we went to the hospital when she wakes up?” Pops asked him skeptically.
“You sure can, Sir,” Andrew answered without hesitation. “We’ll meet you there later.”
My father looked at me for approval, and I nodded. “Okay,” Pops replied with a sigh, letting me go for a second to get our coats and his keys. Then he wrapped my coat around my shoulder and led me to the car, giving Andrew his ‘you better not let me down’ stare the entire way. Finally, we got into the car, and Pops drove like a bat out of hell to the hospital. He even ran a red light or two, but no cop dared stop him; he was a father on a mission to get his baby girl out of pain.
This was just turning out to be a banner day.
chapter
SEVEN
Sitting on the stupid plastic mattress that emergency rooms are known for, I waited for the doctor to come back with the results of the X-rays. After I had to explain, mostly lie, about all my other injuries, I had convinced the doctors and nurses that my hand was the only thing that needed any attention. Looking at the sterile, gray walls and blue curtain surrounding me had been bad enough, but th
en they insisted that they give me an IV with pretty weak pain meds and afterward told me that I was going to have to wait on the questionable sheet for an hour or more until the X-ray came back. It was absolute torture, especially when the medication wore off after fifteen minutes. “I hate hospitals,” I said, grimacing. This sitting and doing nothing sucked.
Pops got up off the chair and came over to rub my back. “I know, baby girl. I know.” He kissed my temple. “It’s gonna be all—”
“Where is she?” Tina yelled from the other side of the curtain, and a nurse said something about her not being allowed back to see me, so she flipped out. “Listen, I don’t care about your rules. You can shove them up your scrub wearin’—”
“Tina,” I called out to her, “I’m right here.”
She pushed back the curtain and put her hand over her heart while the nurse looked like she was going to cry. Tina could do that to a person, especially when she was angry. “Oh my God,” she screamed, her blonde hair falling into her brown eyes. She looked disheveled and very red in the face, as if she had run the whole way from New York.
I waved to the nurse with my good hand. “It’s okay, she’s my cousin,” I lied, and the nurse nodded, going back to her work, as far away from Tina as possible.
Pops laughed a little, but before he said anything, she went off. “Patty, thank God you’re okay. First, I went to your Dad’s house and then this weird guy answered the door, and he told me that you went to the hospital. Then we all get in my rental, Cindy and Andrew are here too, and Cindy showed me where to go. Finally, when we get here, I try to come back to see if you’re all right, and I get stopped by not one, but two nurses, telling me that I have to wait. What kinda bull—”
“Tina,” I interrupted her, “breathe.”
She had not inhaled since she walked into the room. In fact, her entire speech was said in one breath. At last, she took a deep breath and a little bit of the redness drained from her tanned face.
“Better?” I asked when she looked calmer.
She nodded. “Much,” she sighed and then noticed that my father was standing beside me. “Oh, hey there, Mr. Wyatt. How are you?”
“Good, Christina,” he answered with a smile, “and yourself?”
“A lot better if your daughter would keep herself outta trouble. I mean, really, Patty. You went outside alone with that vam—”
“Pops,” I said over Tina, and she blanched, realizing what she’d almost let loose, “could you go get me something to drink? I’m really thirsty.”
He smiled, giving me a wink. “Sure, baby girl. Would you like something, Christina?”
She nodded. “Water, please.”
“No problem.” And with that he left us to talk, shutting the curtain behind him.
“Are you outta your mind?” Tina hissed at me, her button noise scrunched up in anger.
“Are you out of yours?” I retorted in a harsh whisper. “You nearly said the ‘v’ word. Are you crazy?”
“I was worried sick about you. After what he did, you went outside with him! Come on, Patty! Do you have a death wish?”
“Who told you what happened?” I asked, trying to sidetrack her.
“Andrew,” she replied, glaring at me, “and don’t change the subject.”
“Then stop yelling at me,” I told her. “I know what I did was stupid, okay? So I do not need you screaming at me.”
“Sorry,” she sighed, her voice at a better tone. “I just get upset when you put yourself in danger like you’ve been doing lately.”
“I’m sorry I worry you, Tina.” It was my turn to sigh. “I don’t mean to.”
She patted my cheek with her hand. “I know.” She then paused and looked down at her sneakers. “Patty, Samuel told me about the baby. I’m so sorry, sweetie.”
“It’s okay,” I said, but I could feel the lump in my throat.
“It is not okay,” she huffed. “You know, it’s all right to be sad, Patty. You can’t just keep it all bottled up inside. It’s not healthy.”
“I know,” I breathed, “but for now I have to put on a smile and deal.”
Tina folded her arms and pursed her lips at me. “You gonna have a nervous breakdown, you know that, right?”
I nodded. “Later. Not now.”
She shook her head. “You always do that. Don’t you know it’s better to have it now? Because later, you might actually wind up in the psych ward.”
“Tina,” I snapped, taking a breath. Yelling made my wrist hurt.
She grimaced. “Sorry. I’m not making it better by yelling at you. I know that. But you gotta admit that you push things down.”
“I…” I paused, knowing she was right, “I know. But right now, I need to be happy-go-lucky. No one wants a depressed Matron of Horror.”
“Did you just say Matron of Horror?” Tina giggled.
I closed my eyes, realizing that I had. “I’m going to have to be more careful around Cindy.”
“Wait a minute,” she said as she sat down on the chair, “you’re the matron of honor? I thought that was gonna be Jessica’s thing?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I think it was Pops idea.”
She cocked a black brow at me. “What? She doesn’t have friends of her own?”
“Don’t be like that,” I huffed. “She’s very nice, Tina.”
Her eyes widened. “I thought you didn’t like her?”
“I didn’t, but I think she’s good for my father. Besides, she seems kind.”
“Okay. Who are you, and what have you done with Pat Wyatt?”
“Ha. Ha,” I laughed without humor. “Very funny.”
“Seriously, what happened?” she asked, placing her hand on my knee.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “She just seems different.”
“I noticed that too,” she agreed, taking her hand away, and then she looked down at her feet again. “Pat?”
I tried to catch her eye, but she avoided her gaze. “Yeah.”
“Speaking of different,” she continued, kicking the ground like a two-year-old, “what happened to Samuel?”
“Huh?” I asked, confused.
She finally looked up, and I could tell she was trying to say something without saying it. “When he came to visit me to try to change my memory… thanks for that, by the way.”
“I said I was sorry.”
She waved me off. “I know you are. But when he came by, he seemed sad. Not his usually cocky vampire self. Did something happen between you two? I mean, besides you being an idiot and being alone with him, and him trying to break your arm.”
“Wrist,” I corrected, and she glared at me.
“You know what I mean.”
“Yes,” I breathed, “I know.”
“So?” she prompted.
“I couldn’t tell you. He seemed like his normal jerky self when he had my wrist in a vice grip.”
She folded her arms, frowning. “Yeah, well, he seemed awfully depressed when he was talking to me. Maybe he has some mental issues or something.”
“You’re just figuring this out now?”
“That’s not what I mean, Patty,” she huffed. “And you know it.”
I looked down at my now bruised wrist, taking a breath. “What are you saying? That he’s bipolar or something?” I saw her nod in my periphery. “A bipolar vampire. That’s just great,” I muttered.
“Now, I don’t know if that’s his real problem or not,” she amended, “but he just seemed like a different vampire. I mean, he even told me that he was so grateful to you for saving his life. Now, does that sound like the bastard you married?”
I closed my eyes. I had totally forgotten that I killed Herb, and that I didn’t tell Tina that her fiancée was dead. Before I could explain to her what happened, the doctor walked in, and Tin
a moved her chair back to give him room. It was what I had feared most; the wrist was fractured. Meaning, I needed a temporary cast for a week and then I would have to come back to get the real thing put on for six weeks.
I thanked the doctor for telling me what I already kind of knew. Then he told me that he had to get the “cast master.” It was the worst joke ever, but I still laughed. Finally, he left Tina and me alone again.
It was time to tell her, whether I was ready or not. “Listen, Tina, I have something to tell you.”
“There’s no need,” she interrupted me. “Samuel also told me about Herb and what you did.”
I closed my eyes, feeling so guilty that I just couldn’t look her in the eye. “I’m so sorry.”
“Why?” she asked, and my eyes shot open. “Oh, come on. I know why you killed him, and it wasn’t for your blood sucking ex-husband. It was so he wouldn’t hurt me ever again. See what Mr. Satané doesn’t get is, you didn’t save his life, you saved mine. And,” her eyes welled with tears, “I am so grateful to you, Patty. Who knows what that monster would have done to me.”
She was right, as usual, and I held out my good hand so she could take it. “I couldn’t let him touch you. I wouldn’t let him…” my voice faded away, and I took a deep breath, keeping the tears at bay. “Anyway, it’s over now, and he’s not going to get you. That’s all that matters.”
She got up off the chair, hugging me so tight I couldn’t breathe. “You are the best friend a girl could ever have.”
“So are you.” And she was. Tina had gotten me through everything, and she was the one I could rely on no matter what.
“I know,” she replied, and we laughed. She backed away from me, letting go of my good hand in the process. “So when is Mike gonna get here? I can’t wait to give him a piece of my mind.” I grimaced. “What now?” she asked, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“We’re taking a break so I can figure stuff out.”
“Really?” she asked, confused. “Why?”
I took a deep breath, knowing that she was going to scream after I told her. “Well, he, sort of, tried to kill me.”
“What?” she yelled, and I hushed her. The last thing I needed was for her for be kicked out of the hospital for disturbing the other patients. “What happened?” she asked at a much better volume.