by Gina Watson
“Hungry?”
“Yeah.”
She pulled him by the hand back into the kitchen and sat him at the counter, bestowing a kiss to his lips before pulling items from the fridge to prepare his dinner.
She held the warm teakettle over his abandoned bowl from earlier. “Tea?”
“Please.”
She filled the cup while watching tendrils of steam curl around the edge.
“Thank you for caring for me.”
“I’ll expect this same level of treatment from you one day when I have the icky wicked flu or something equally awful.”
His hand covered hers. “I’ll be there.”
She smiled. “I believe you.”
***
After dinner they curled up on his bed to watch a movie.
“What do you want to watch?” He asked.
“Do you have The Breakfast Club?”
He chuckled, “You know I do.”
“Great! Cue it up. I’m going to go get something.”
“Hurry back.”
He wasn’t throwing out the automatic phrase haphazardly. He appeared anxious to be left alone in his room for even a moment.
“I’ll be back in a flash. Get the movie started.” As she exited she sang Don’t You (Forget About Me) and continued to sing as she made her way down the hall and into the kitchen.
She returned to the room with a spoon and a carton of Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie.
“Where’d you go?”
She held the carton in the air. “Check it out.”
“Ben and Jerry’s—my favorite. Where’s yours?” His corny joke made her giggle.
“I thought we’d share it—one spoon.” She smiled suggestively.
“Even better.”
They watched the movie, devouring the entire pint of ice cream, bite by bite using the shared spoon. He seemed to enjoy having her feed him as much as she enjoyed watching his lips close around the spoon as he took a bite.
After the movie, he started to talk, revealing exactly how the memories of his father tormented him on a nightly basis.
“The music comes and I hate that voice—that gravely, broken voice, singing Hallelujah. It was my father’s favorite song. His hauntings became more aggressive when you started to care for me. The song plays in a nonstop loop and gets louder until I go insane. I swear to you I unplugged the CD player and the song still played.
“Sometimes I go out on the porch to escape it. One day I had my headphones on, listening to the Libertines. The song ended and what do you think played next?”
She listened with rapt attention. “Hallelujah?”
He nodded. “I don’t have that song in my library. Why would I? I hate it.” He shuddered. “God, I can still remember it. I only thought it was bad when it filtered through the house. It was much more intense when delivered directly to my eardrums.”
His eyes held her gaze. “Look at this ceiling.” He gestured with his finger, but wouldn’t look up “His bedroom is directly above this one—they share the fireplace. Sometimes I hear him walking around, the floor creaking under his weight, just like when he was alive.”
Ashton looked down at his hands “The night of the accident he kept laughing. Even after mom had died. He laughed and laughed. It was sickening to listen to. He was out of control—drunk and under the influence of pot.” He shook his head. “I still can’t get the sound of his laughter out of my head. On the nights he paces, he laughs just as he did on that night.”
He shrugged. “I guess he wants to be avenged. What he did was wrong and three people died. How can I avenge him for that?”
“You can’t.”
“I don’t want to. I should be the one haunting him. I begged him to let me take the wheel. But he’d just driven that Suburban off the showroom floor and wasn’t about to let me drive it home.”
Harmony tried to be strong while he recounted his story, but the pain and emotion with which he told it affected her deeply and the tears began to fall, but he was there to kiss them away. “I’m sorry I’ve made you cry again.”
They went down to rest their heads on his pillow and fell asleep on their sides, facing one another, hands laced.
***
The laughter was so harsh, so soulless that he feared being touched by it, lest he also lose his soul.
“Mom?”
His father’s laughter was close.
“You were always my favorite one.”
“Mom?”
“I love you, Ashton.”
“Mom!”
His oxygen was consumed by the dry, lifeless cackles of his father. Blackness was the only thing that existed. He couldn’t reach the air—he lay gasping like a fish out of water.
A feather touch on his cheek centered him in the black abyss.
“Ash—baby, I love you.”
Sweet breath touching his lips gave him the oxygen he needed to get out of the massive vacuum.
Sticky skin on sticky skin, he felt the telltale soft tissue of full breasts against his hard chest. Wanting to see the beautiful fairy-like creature who had infiltrated his dreams in order to save him he opened his eyes. The darkness was still all around, but he felt her.
“Mmm.” He focused on her moans as she lowered to avail herself of his desire. Once they were connected she pulled him from the blackness and into the joyous depths of her cleansing aura. Vanilla and watermelon enveloped the air as the warmth of her comforted him.
“Ash.” Her lips descended on his and massaged. She pulled back to ride him faster and harder. His eyes opened and focused on the vision dancing atop him. Their eyes met—liquid honey and forest green paired together at last and he was lost in her. Her pleasure came to her in waves and he went with her—together they traveled through time and space as one.
As they lay spent together, recovering, he realized he’d made it out of his nightmare before it had consumed him and the only reason he had was her. She alone could find him in the darkness and she alone could save him.
***
She lifted her head from his sweat-slickened chest. “Good morning.”
His hand caressed her naked back as he looked lovingly into her eyes. “Thank you for getting me out of there.”
“I’ll always come after you Ashton, even if you try to push me away.”
“I’m going to spend the rest of our lives making that up to you. I realized that pushing someone away isn’t the same thing as letting go. It was impossible for me to sever our connection, so instead I pushed you away.”
“I should have come back sooner. I’m sorry.” She kissed his neck.
Slowly they got up and got moving. They bathed in a large garden tub. He washed her hair and she returned the gesture. She made waffles and bacon for breakfast. And coffee—lots of coffee because he drank three cups before he got out of the kitchen. For not the first time she worried about his diet, but she pushed it to the back of her mind. They had plenty to work through for now.
“Usually by this time of day I’m returning from tending to the animals.”
She looked at the grandfather clock in the entryway. “It’s broken?”
“Oh yeah, it stopped on the day and time of my father’s death.” He grimaced as he absently stared at the broken clock.
“I’ll be back in about two hours.”
“If I get lonely I’ll come find you.”
He kissed her lips and they held one another for a few pulses of the heart.
Since she was renting the sander she decided she should make good use of it so she finished sanding the den. Once she had one side of the room completely sanded, she moved the furniture to the other side of the room. She slid the cabinet that housed the CD player across the floor, expecting to get caught up in the cords, but she never did. The cord wasn’t plugged into the wall. Hmm. Ashton must have unplugged it.
She sanded the other side of the room, but couldn’t start staining since she didn’t have the stain. However, she did have pai
nt for the front porch. Given the size of the porch, she decided it would be a nice project they could work on together as they also worked through his grief and loss.
She wrestled the sander out to the porch and plugged the unit into an outdoor outlet that had seen better days. Hoping to avoid being shocked, she held her breath as she flipped the power switch.
The low hum of machinery crackled to life and she settled into the task of sanding. Humming Etta James as she worked, sweat started a slow trickle down the middle of her back. Reaching up she swiped at the pesky drop of moisture on her forehead and found it was a hornet instead. She swatted at it with her hand, and then she felt the sting on her arm. She shook her arm violently but the insect wouldn’t dislodge. She felt a second sting on her back.
“Ah!”
A third sting was administered to her forehead. She walked toward the door, but felt more stings on the way and her feet tingled as if they were asleep. She lost her footing and fell down to her knees. The stings were painful and she couldn’t stop them. She crawled to the door, climbing up to her knees to turn the knob.
Before she could safely ensconce herself inside the home her upper body fell to the floor with a thud. She’d fainted.
Chapter 9
Ashton was whistling as he drove the truck back toward the house. When was the last time he’d whistled? He couldn’t remember.
He thought about the commitment he’d made and he wondered when he’d be able to visit the bank and retrieve his mother’s diamond engagement ring. He pulled up to the back porch with a smile on his face as wide as the catfish.
As he walked toward the porch he saw the sander and chuckled at her energy. She was always busy doing something.
Taking the steps he noticed the open door before her lifeless body came into view. He ran to her, flipping her onto her back and what he saw had his blood running cold. The redness, the swelling—he knew what bee stings looked like because as a child Cameron had been viciously attacked. He ran frantically into the kitchen to retrieve the epi pen kept there for whenever Cameron visited.
At her side he flipped her and shot the epinephrine through her jeans into her buttocks. He then lifted her over his shoulder, damning the pain. He heard her wheezing breath and choked on his tears. He’d made up his mind: if he lost her, he’d go with her.
He strapped her into the passengers seat, and then started the old truck. He put the pedal to the floor, racing to the emergency room roughly four miles away. When he arrived, he ran into the lobby of the ER and screamed as loud as he could.
“Help me!”
He ran back out and could hear the commotion that followed behind him. A man and woman removed Harmony’s swollen body from the truck and lowered her to a gurney. A doctor was asking him important questions, but he wasn’t answering.
“Mr.”
“What?”
“I need to know what happened.”
“Wasps. Multiple stings.” He’d seen them on her face and hands and arms. “I gave her one shot of epinephrine.”
A nurse at his side asked for his name.
“David.” He cleared his throat. “Ashton David.”
The nurse appeared startled for a second, but then it passed.
“And the patient is your—”
“Fiancée.”
She placed a blue band on his arm with the name David printed on it. She had a second one, he assumed for her.
“I’m nurse Higgins.” He followed her through the ER and she led him to a quiet room. “Once she’s stabilized, you will be brought back to be with her. I’ll bring status updates as I can.” She pointed to a button on the wall. “Press it if you need anything.”
He nodded. After Nurse Higgins left the room, the tears fell and fell hard. For a while he let himself cry. He knew why he was escorted to this private room. Harmony’s presentation was dire and the professionals didn’t expect much improvement, but they were going to be proven wrong.
When he thought of her family he knew what he had to do. She’d want them here. He hoped she’d also want him here when she woke. And she would wake. She had to wake.
***
Ashton pressed the button on the wall. The efficient Nurse Higgins arrived within minutes.
He stood. “I’ve phoned her family. I told them to ask for you when they get here.”
“I’ll send them back. Can I get you anything?”
He shook his head and so she left him to his thoughts, but he didn’t want to be alone with them. He wanted to be alone with her. He sat in a chair at the table, resting his head on his arm. The television in the room was on, but had been muted. His eyes closed and he squeezed them hard until he found her. When he did he sat up, keeping his eyes tightly closed.
She was in the little cottage that she loved, sitting on the floor eating junk food and smiling up at him. She coaxed him to the rug, pointing at the television, and she laughed at his moodiness, her dimples deepening. Her bright smile and the rich sound of her giggles held him in their grip. Tears fell as a myriad of emotion played through him—tears from the hurt and the happiness. It took all of his focus to stay in that place he never wanted to leave so he didn’t hear when the door opened to admit her father, brother, and mother.
“Ashton.” His eyes slowly opened and focused on Harmony’s mother.
He stood to offer her a hug. “Mrs. Clark.” As he hugged Harmony’s mother his eyes locked with Mr. Clark’s, and then her brother Ethan’s.
Pulling from her arms he noticed the squared, determined stance of Mr. Clark and the stone set in his eyes. His arms were crossed and he practically foamed at the mouth.
“I’m sorry I don’t have an update for you. As I said on the phone, hornets stung her repeatedly. I administered epinephrine, but her breathing was labored when we got here. His voice broke and he cried as he delivered the news. He brought his hands to his face to take a moment of privacy as he stood before her family.
Mrs. Clark pulled him to a set of interlocking chairs and wrapped her arms around him, holding him tightly.
“I’m sorry,” he cried. “I … I love her. She saved me and I wasn’t there to save her in return.”
“Shh.” Mrs. Clark put her hand on his cheek and he instinctively went down to rest on her shoulder. “I know my baby is going to be fine. She can’t go yet, it’s not her time.”
He was comforted by her mother who was just as honest and pure as her daughter.
Ethan came and took the seat next to Ashton. “If her recovery has anything to do with how stubborn she is, then she’ll definitely come out on top.”
Ashton smiled. He’d forgotten how endearing her brother was.
Three sets of eyes turned to Mr. Clark. He wasn’t as eager as his wife and son to accept Ashton back into his good graces, and it wasn’t without good reason. Ashton had accosted him after the death of his father and, although they shared a fence line, Ashton had never gone to apologize to the man.
What Ashton didn’t know was that Mr. Clark blamed him for Harmony’s decision to leave her home of Baton Rouge and travel to Berkeley for a degree she could have gotten in her hometown. He also blamed Ashton for the broken engagement to the respectable Mr. Taylor. Mr. Clark had loved Aaron Taylor like a son. He’d worked in the pentagon, for goodness sakes. He blamed Ashton for those decisions she had made, and he’d be correct in doing so, only he couldn’t know this for certain. The one thing he did know with absolute certainty is if his daughter didn’t make it out of here without a scratch, he’d be taking a pound, not an ounce, of Ashton’s flesh. He crossed the room and took a seat along the opposite wall, and buried his face under the large brim of his cowboy hat.
An hour later Ashton was shocked to see Cameron walking through the door. He stood to meet him. “What are you doing here?” he asked astonished.
“Glad you’re so happy to see me, brother.”
He sighed in relief. “I’m ecstatic.” He pulled his brother in and hugged him for the first time in te
n years. “But how did you know?”
Ethan had joined their little circle in the center of the room. “I called him. Thought you might want the support of family—additional family.”
“Thank you, Ethan.”
Cameron cleared his throat, “So what’s her status?”
Ashton couldn’t answer his brother’s question. He’d wanted a status update, but he didn’t know how to go about getting it. The nurse had said she’d bring them when she had them so he was helpless here. He had no control and no understanding of how to gain any. The realization that it had been ten years since he’d stepped off the estate suddenly left him feeling exposed. Any minute now someone could walk through the doors and take everything he loved away from him. Again.
His breathing picked up and his head became dizzy as he lost focus.
“Shit! Ashton, where are your pills?”
Ashton shook his head, for he didn’t have them. He groaned and grasped at his chest, and then he passed out. When he came to, medical staff surrounded him in the room. His eyes, he knew, were wide as he was terrified, but then Cameron was there. “It’s just a little anxiety.”
A doctor administered pills to him and he swallowed them back with a carton of orange juice presented to him from trusty Nurse Higgins. “I just want …”
“What is it?” Cameron asked. The nurse and doctor watched him curiously.
“I’d just like to be updated about Harmony.”
Nurse Higgins smiled. “I was just coming to give word.” She regarded the other family members and they stood, coming forward to hear the news. “She’s out of danger. “Her blood pressure and breathing have regulated. “I’ve been told by her doctor that once peritoneal dialysis is complete, you all may see her.”
Ashton frowned. “Peritoneal dialysis?”
“Her blood was toxic due to the venom from the stings. It’s being purified quickly via dialysis. They believe your quick response is what saved her life.”
“Thank you.”
Ashton leaned against the table and rubbed his wet eyes. Next to him his brother said, “That’s great news, Ash. Great news, man.”