I touched his shoulder. “You never went back?”
“No. Too many bad memories. Too much guilt.”
Roberta stood and walked to his side. She laid the back of her hand against his cheek. “You’ve suffered many losses, Quinn. But they’ve made you stronger. Look at your life now. You have your own business, the freedom to come to Tall Pines when you need it, and a wonderful woman who loves you.”
A smile crept onto his lips. “I know. You’re right.” He extended a hand toward me. “All that was a very long time ago. I guess seeing Kitty just brought some of those memories back.” He leaned over to kiss my lips. “I know I’m the luckiest guy in the world.”
I leaned into his chest and inhaled the musky scent of male. I also detected something else—wintergreen? Quinn liked to massage the oil into his sore shoulder in the mornings. I loved the minty fragrance.
Roberta rubbed both hands together as if to move us past our overly mushy moment. “Okay. Here’s what we’re going to do. You two go in and take a long nap. I’ll change Kitty’s dressings and keep an eye on Dak, too.”
I just realized I hadn’t told her that Callie and Sky were coming with dinner. I filled her in and she waved her hands in the air as if to bat away any concerns. “Don’t worry. I’ll watch for them. When they’re here, we’ll get you up. Then I’ve gotta scoot. I left poor Mimi at the shop.”
Mimi, Roberta’s lavender-colored Weimaraner, was her “only child” and a real sweetheart. She followed my aunt everywhere and was a fixture at Mountain Memories. She’d probably been devastated when Roberta drove off without her earlier.
I felt that queasy/cold sweaty way I get when I’ve missed a good night’s sleep. Instead of protesting, both Quinn and I obeyed like lambs. Roberta ushered us into the bedroom and closed the door. We sprinkled a few drops of Young Living Peace and Calming on our pillows, snuggled under the thick comforter, spooned, and settled into our usual positions. I breathed in the citrusy scent of the soothing oil blend. Quinn was snoring in less than a minute, and I soon followed.
Chapter Eight
I woke to the sound of babbling voices and the aroma of ham sizzling in the frying pan. With one arm still on Quinn’s chest, I closed my eyes again and thought about getting five more minutes of sweet sleep.
It wasn’t going to happen. The door burst open. Dak jumped on the bed and was quickly followed by Callie’s full-grown Bernese Mountain dog, Beau. The springs squeaked, the mattress bounced, and soon we were both being licked to within an inch of our lives by two huge enthusiastic canines.
Callie laughed from the doorway. “Dak! Beau! Come on, you guys.” Her shoulder-length charcoal hair bounced healthy and thick, her complexion shone with a rosy glow, and her violet eyes sparkled, bright and happy.
She presented quite a different picture from the woman who’d been an incurable recluse for the last eighteen years, who’d been afraid to step one foot outside—ever—and who cried at the slightest disappointment.
No, my new Callie—or “Velvet” as I affectionately called her, because of her Liz Taylor-like eyes—was built of stronger stuff now. Over the past summer we’d helped her beat her agoraphobia and face her deepest fears. She’d been released from her dark prison, and had even found someone to love, a towering black police woman named Runyon.
“Marcie!” She pulled me off the bed to hug her and danced me into the living room.
Callie smelled of something flowery, but it wasn’t overwhelming, like some perfumes could be. It had a sweetish, almost fruity scent. I figured when she stopped twirling me around and hopping up and down, I’d ask her.
“Marcie, oh Marcie. I’m so glad you’re here. I’ve missed you terribly.” Her eyes turned haunted and sad for a moment, but the moment passed. “Sky’s cooking, and Roberta just left to close up her shop for the night.”
I finally got her to stop by the kitchen, where I spotted Callie’s brother. My eyes lingered on Sky’s muscular back and narrow hips. His hair had grown longer since the summer. Now it cascaded down his shoulders in shaggy blond drifts.
I hugged Callie once more. “Velvet, I missed you too. Hey, what’s that scent? It’s making me crazy it’s so pretty.”
She grinned. “It’s a Young Living oil, silly. It’s jasmine, made right from the flowers.”
“Jasmine. Oh, gosh. I have to get some of that.”
Quinn came out of the bedroom. He raised a bleary face to us, flipped a hand to say hello, and excused himself to the bathroom.
Sky turned now, his rugged face as handsome as always. His crooked grin widened. “Hey, Marcella. I can get you some jasmine if you want.” He, too, looked very fit, with his healthy-looking skin and sea green eyes.
He waved a spatula toward the guest bedroom. “Heard you took in an injured girl?”
Callie and I joined him at the stove, where he added a few squirts of maple syrup to the thick ham steaks in the black skillet.
“She came to us, Sky, looking for shelter. She’s from the reservation where she and Quinn grew up. His little cousin.” I pointed toward Kitty’s closed bedroom door. “She’s in there. I don’t know if she’s in a coma, or sleeping. It wasn’t safe for us to go to a hospital. But I thought maybe you guys could help me figure out how to properly wake her up, and how to help her.”
Sky flipped the ham and opened the oven door, where sliced red potatoes sizzled in olive oil and garlic next to baked beans bubbling in a bean pot. A big ceramic bowl of tossed salad sat on the counter next to a fresh pineapple.
“When’s the last time Kitty ate or drank something?”
“Let me think.” I thought back to the early morning when she’d arrived. “I found her at three o’clock this morning. I have no idea how long she was traveling, trying to reach us. She had no purse on her when I found her, so she may have had no money to eat or drink. It could have been a whole day, I suppose.”
I quickly told Sky and Callie about the events that had happened while Sky chopped up the fresh pineapple. After a dozen questions, Sky’s curiosity was finally satisfied.
Callie took my hand and pulled me toward the door. “It’ll be a few more minutes before supper’s ready. Come outside with me for a while.”
We walked past Ruby, who was busily pecking at a seedpod, and we stepped out into the gold rays of the waning sun. Linking arms, we stood in the cool breeze, watching the river for a few minutes in silence. I sensed that she wanted to tell me something, but waited, letting the calm of the river wash over us.
Finally, she turned to me. “Marcie?”
I gently squeezed her hand. “What is it, honey?”
She blinked. “I’m scared.”
I took her hand and drew her into the Adirondack chairs behind us. “Sit with me. And tell me what’s going on.”
Her eyes brimmed, leaking a few tears. “It’s just that I’m so happy now. Copper and I have moved in together. She loves me. And I’m crazy about her.”
I smiled. “So, what’s to be scared about, Velvet? That sounds perfect.”
“It is. I’m just so afraid. I’ve never been this happy before, except maybe when we were kids. I’m afraid it’ll go away, Marcie. And I don’t think I could handle it.”
I pulled a tissue from my pocket and dabbed at her cheeks. “Oh, sweetie. We all feel like that some days. When life finally seems to come together, we’re always afraid things will fall apart. It’s normal to feel that way.”
She looked at me with a teary smile. “Promise?”
“Promise. Just don’t let your worries get in the way of your happiness. Try to set them aside. Because there’s nothing we can do to control it, anyway.”
“I guess you’re right.” She leaned over to hug me. “Thanks. You always know what to say.”
Before we could philosophize anymore, Sky poked his head out the door. “Dinner’s ready, ladies.”
We headed inside, hit with the aroma of fried maple ham. My stomach growled so loud that Beau and Dak both sat up an
d cocked their heads in my direction.
We set the table, filled our glasses with ice water, and just as we started to load up our plates, Kitty’s bedroom door cracked open.
Chapter Nine
Kitty peeked through the crack in the door, then slammed it shut.
“She’s awake.” Quinn leapt from the couch and sprinted toward her room. He knocked on the door, and then nudged it open. “Kitty? Honey? You okay?”
I followed close behind, peering around Quinn to watch.
Kitty leaned on the bureau, as if too weak to stand on her own, one hand pressed to her forehead. Her eyes darted from side to side, and fear washed over her face when she scanned the room.
Quinn reached for her. “It’s okay, Kitty. I’m here. You’re safe.” The girl fell into Quinn’s arms, sobbing. She held on to him like a safety net, her head buried against his chest.
Sounds came out of her—wrenching, horrible sounds. The pain that spilled from her lips made me wonder what had happened to her. Was she still upset about whatever occurred in the woods when she was a child? Or had more recent events caused her trauma?
I was glad that her vocal chords still worked after all these years, and figured that somehow the path from the brain to the throat had been blocked for normal speech. To me it was a great sign. If my guess was right, Kitty had the physical ability to make sound, but she would need help connecting her brain with speech.
Kitty’s face twisted in agony, as if there were something she wanted to ask Quinn, but couldn’t. I stood in the doorway, wanting to lend comfort, but afraid I’d spook her. Finally, after a few minutes, she calmed down and looked at me. A tentative half-smile touched her lips.
Does she remember me?
I held out my hand. “Come on, honey. You must be weak with hunger. We’ve got some friends here who came to cook for us. Won’t you join us?”
She walked out with Quinn’s help, but hung her head so her hair covered most of her face. Quinn wrapped a soft throw around her shoulders, arranged her in the rocker by the windows, and pulled up a side table.
Callie dished out a heaping plate of food, filled a tall glass with ice water, and slowly approached the girl. “Here you go, sweetie. You must be so hungry.”
Kitty’s eyes skittered from Sky to Callie and back again. When she saw Beau, she seemed to relax. He and Dak both snuffled her all over, licking her hands and trying to get up in the chair with her.
“Okay, guys,” I said to the dogs. “Give Kitty a breather. Let her eat in peace.”
Beau listened immediately, but it took a few more tries to get my puppy to back down. Finally, he followed Beau to the rug by the couch and curled up beside his hero.
I moved the plate closer to Kitty. “Here you go, hon. Eat up. And drink as much as you can. It’s good, pure well water. The best in the state.”
Sky and Callie settled in at the table and began to dish out the food. Quinn and I followed, leaving Kitty with some privacy. I didn’t want to stare, but in minutes her plate was clean and the glass drained. I hurried over to refill both and won a small smile in thanks. When she finished, she stood with the blanket still around her shoulders, tugging on Quinn’s sleeve.
He excused himself from the table with a puzzled shrug, and followed Kitty to the couch, where he spoke in quiet tones to her, explaining where we were and how she got here. He asked her dozens of questions, which her head nods or shakes would have helped to answer, but she simply stared at him with a confused expression.
I drifted over to his side and perched on the couch beside him. “Doesn’t she remember anything?”
He laid his hand on hers, and turned to me. “Afraid not. She seems to know me, but she doesn’t remember how she got here or what happened to frighten her.”
Sky approached us with his bag of oils in hand. “It was probably that blow on the head. Or, maybe she’s in shock, blocking out the trauma. I saw plenty of that in the war. It’s not unusual.”
Callie wandered into the kitchen to do the dishes, watching us over the half wall that separated the kitchen and living area.
Sky continued with his train of thought. “The question is, what happened to make her run? She was clearly seeking sanctuary with you, Quinn.”
My husband nodded in agreement, a pensive look on his face. “We used to have a special bond when she was little.”
I looked with interest at Sky’s bottles of essential oils in his zippered bag, dying to poke around. “What’s new in there?”
He flashed an enigmatic smile. “Plenty. Wait ‘til you see the new Sacred Frankincense.”
Quinn leaned forward and excitement flashed in his eyes. He loved the oils and spent hours researching their uses and testimonials. Sometimes, he and Sky competed over who knew the most. But it wasn’t really a contest. Sky had been studying and using essential oils for the past fifteen years and had been a member of pioneering research teams that re-discovered vital trees, herbs, and plants with rich, thousand-year histories to introduce them to the Western world. I loved the fact that Quinn tried so hard. I knew it had to do with a bit more than just competition of knowledge.
There was also that little factor of me.
My husband eyed the new bottle of Sacred Frankincense with the brown label. “What’s the difference between regular frankincense and sacred frankincense?” he asked.
“Plenty.” Sky unscrewed the cap on a small brown-labeled bottle. “Here. Try some.”
Quinn waved the bottle under his nose, then passed it to me. It smelled a lot like my bottle of frankincense, but there was something deeper, something more elemental and basic that penetrated my brain even more than the standard frankincense, spreading through my body with a pleasing, uplifting sensation.
Sky motioned to Quinn. “Go ahead. Spread a drop on your hands and inhale it. Then rub it on the back of your neck.”
Kitty came closer, her eyes alight with curiosity. After Quinn and I applied the oil, she reached out her hand for some. Quinn dropped a little in her palm, and she held it under her nose with her eyes closed for a long time.
I flopped back against the couch cushions. “Oh, Sky. It’s wonderful. So heady. So exotic.”
Ruby shuffled back and forth on her perch, her head bobbing up and down. “Exotic!”
I wondered if the oils could affect birds, and figured they probably could. I knew there was a whole field of science regarding essential oils used to treat all kinds of ailments for horses, dogs, and cats. Why not birds? Ruby probably felt the same sense of well-being and near-euphoria that I did.
Callie hung up the dishcloth and trotted around the corner. “Dishes are all done and put away.” She chuckled, stopped to pat Ruby’s soft orangy-red feathers through the bars, and then sat down beside me.
I slipped my arm through hers and hugged her sideways. “Thanks for doing them, honey. You know how much I hate washing dishes.”
She laughed with her loon-like giggle, reminding me of our childhood days. “You always did, Marcie. I remember Thelma nagging you all the time to do your chores, and that was the one you hated the most.”
Sky finally settled in his rocker and we sat together with Kitty dozing off and on next to Quinn and Callie’s head on my shoulder, discussing the science of the oils for much longer than I could concentrate. I knew they did good things for the body just by the way they felt when I wore or inhaled them, but it was nice to know there was a whole scientific foundation behind them, too.
When Sky started to run out of steam, I noticed with a start it was pitch black and almost eight-thirty.
Callie stretched and stood, kissed my cheek, and touched her brother’s shoulder. “Sky?”
He slowly came down from his academic high. He stood and slid an arm over her shoulder. “What is it, little sis?”
“I know all this stuff about the oils. I’ve heard you and Dr. Young discussing it a lot. But what I want to know is, how are we going to use them to help Kitty?”
Chapter Ten
Ruby rattled her cage with her beak. “Kitty cat! Bad kitty!”
I jumped up and put two fingers through the cage bars to pat our little ring-necked parakeet. “No, Ruby. She’s a good Kitty. She’s just a girl. She doesn’t like to eat birds.”
I walked over to the cabinet and took out our oil case, brandishing a bottle with a bright pink label. “What about Joy? Isn’t that good for the emotions?” I tried to remember the ingredients. I knew it had rose oil in it, one of the most sought after oils with a very high frequency.
Sky nodded with approval. “Good choice. Let’s get some on her heart right now.”
Most prevalent was the scent of rose, but I knew the Joy blend contained more than that, including mandarin, jasmine, and Roman chamomile. Its sweetness transcended any perfume I’d ever worn, and the unique combination of powerful oils lifted my spirits in the darkest times.
I dribbled a few drops onto my fingers, then with Kitty watching, rubbed it under my left breast, sliding my hand inside my shirt. I motioned for her to do the same. She held out her hand, accepted the oil, and slid her hand under her shirt, applying it over her heart.
Thrilled that she learned so quickly, I took her hand and squeezed. “Good job.” I turned her hand over and then dropped more onto her palm, doing the same to myself. I showed her how to gently rub both palms together, tent her hands, and inhale deeply.
She followed without hesitation. I wondered if her upbringing and closeness to the earth and herbs made this seem natural to her. When the entire room filled with the floral, sweet fragrance, I sat back while Sky took over again.
Tall Pines Mysteries: A Mystery/Suspense Boxed Set Page 53