The Sleeping Beauty Bride

by Glenys O'Connell

  “Oh, Mrs. Russo? No, I didn’t call earlier. Hope I’m not calling too early now, only I have a job in Bar Harbor, but I’ll be finished by lunchtime. I was thinking, well, if you’re sure about your offer to get me in to see Lydia . . . ?”

  Here was her chance. Stop meddling, Noelia, and tell him you can’t do this. It’s not your business. But the memory of that still, silent form in the hospital bed, and the pain in the young man’s eyes spurred her forward.

  “I haven’t changed my mind. What’s a good time for you? Later in the afternoon is better for me—my volunteer hours start at three o’clock today.”

  “I can be there then. I don’t know how to thank you, Mrs. Russo.”

  And so it was; there was no turning back.

  She thought momentarily of calling Nate and telling him what she had planned, and why. But she quickly dismissed the idea. There was no way Dr. Nathaniel Westbury was going to be happy about any of this.

  • • •

  It was a relief to get back into the normal business of Wedding Bliss: stocking shelves, checking orders, and chatting with customers who lived in a world where romance was possible and love was celebrated. Unlike the darkened world of Daniel and Lydia.

  A highlight of the day was when Marianna, Marco’s wife, popped into the store.

  “Hello, Marianna. What can we do for you?”

  “Oh, I was just working in my garden yesterday, and I remembered my promise to bring you a slip of my red and pink peony when I divided it. It’s an early bloomer, so here it is.” She nervously held the large plastic bag she was carrying out to Noelia.

  She was rewarded with a warm smile. “You know, I really didn’t think you would remember, but thank you so much! I will enjoy watching it grow and bloom next year. Maybe you and Marco will come and see my garden and tell me all about your trip to Italy.”

  A few more polite words and the two women parted friends.

  “Well, I thought the two of you would never get over what she did. I do admire your graciousness,” Sasha said. “I think that deserves an early coffee break, don’t you?”

  “It’s good to turn people into friends instead of enemies—and I really, really wanted that peony plant.”

  Would it be possible to mend fences with Nate after what she was planning to do this afternoon? The very thought of losing his trust and his presence in her life made her stomach quake.

  “You’re looking very peaked, Noelia. Are you feeling okay?” Kelly looked concerned as she took off her jacket and set down a pile of folders on the store counter.

  “Oh, Kelly, I think I may have done something awful.” Noelia fought to hold back tears.

  Kelly smiled. “What constitutes awful in your world? You’re such a nice person—did you step on a spider, or forget to hang out your birdfeeders? No, let me guess, you turned down yet another volunteer stint for one of your friends.”

  “Nothing like that. This is bad. This is worse than bad. And I’m committed, because it’s the right thing to do . . . but after I do it, I might never see Nate again.” The tears were really falling now. Kelly came over and hugged her.

  “I can’t imagine you doing anything so bad that the sky would fall like that.”

  Noelia mopped her eyes and took a gulp of her coffee. “Remember I told you that Nate went ballistic when Lydia’s fiancé tried to get in to see her? Well, I’ve met the boy and arranged to take him into her room for a few minutes this afternoon.”

  Kelly was silent for a few moments. “Oh, lord, Noelia, when you plan something awful, you think big.”

  “That’s not really helping, Kelly. I feel sorry for the boy, and I think Lydia needs all the support she can get from the people who love her. That young man definitely loves her with all his heart.”

  “What if he’s the reason that she crashed? Maybe not because he was in the car with her, but because he’d told her he was breaking things off to get together with her best friend Corinne?” Kelly was playing devil’s advocate, but she wanted to be sure Noelia knew what she was getting into.

  “I went to the little house the couple are buying and renovating last night, and I talked to him. He really, really loves her, Kelly, and it’s wrong of Nate not to let him see her—for her sake, too. I think Nate will see sense in the end.”

  “Yeah, but you may also see the end of Nate if anything goes wrong.”

  “Thanks, you’re really not helping.” Noelia was torn between crying and laughing. “Good thing you didn’t go into counseling or anything.”

  “I think I’ll make coffee and put out some of your stash of chocolate cookies,” Kelly said, pleased to see her friend cheering up a little.

  Noelia bit her lip. “Er, Kelly, I’m afraid there are no cookies left.”

  “That was an almost new packet.”

  “Yes, but I ate them, every last one. Stress eating. And I still didn’t feel any better.”

  “In that case, I think you’re beyond help.”

  Noelia suddenly remembered the phone call she had received earlier that morning. “I got a really strange call, a bit like all the hang-ups I’ve been getting recently, but this time a rusty-sounding voice just said ‘Thank you.’”

  “Did you check the number?”

  “That’s the weird thing. There is never a number on the calls list.”

  Kelly hummed a couple of lines from the “Twilight Zone” theme, and Noelia threw a pair of beaded gloves at her.

  “There’s more. I told you I went to see Nate, and he’s had weird things happening, like files rearranging themselves into my name, strange lights and noises. And when I was there, I saw a framed photograph of his late wife, who died six years ago. And she was the woman in my dream.” She told Kelly about how she’d been dreaming of a woman standing beside a man who had his face in his hands. “The picture fell from the wall and nearly landed on my feet—–that was Jackie.”

  Kelly sat down with a thump. “Oh, my. I think we definitely have a restless spirit, and maybe it’s Lydia’s mom. But is she around for good or bad? Could she want to take her daughter to wherever she’s hanging out now?”

  “You mean, like a lonely ghost who wants her daughter for company? Oh, my god, no!” Noelia cried. “I have to say I’ve been worried about the Cranky Ghost’s intentions.”

  “Don’t get all snarled up, hon, I’m just thinking out loud. But I told you about my fight with Brett? He finally caved and said I could be involved with your haunting, but only if I had no direct contact with the spirit—which, by the way, he swears he doesn’t believe in.” Kelly grinned. “Even so, he doesn’t want me and the baby involved, so I promised I wouldn’t be. I think it’s time—or maybe overdue time—for an intervention.”

  “Did you want to come to the hospital and see if Jackie—that’s Nate’s wife—is still hovering around Lydia? Remember, we may have a completely different, and possibly malign, presence who won’t take kindly to what we’re trying to do.” Noelia had been thinking a lot about this, trying to see all the possibilities. None of them failed to frighten her.

  “No, that would be breaking my promise.” Kelly saw how disappointed Noelia looked and added, “But we could have an intervention here, at the store, while we talk about everything that’s going on and see if we can figure out what needs to be done to solve it.

  “But the one condition is that you have to tell that ghost that she’s not welcome in my store! Make sure she understands that she can talk to you—and me—but no tantrums, no throwing things around or writing on mirrors, okay? She must stay away from me, or my husband will lose his cool. And that’s not a pretty sight.”

  Noelia couldn’t imagine that Brett Atwell, Mr. Cool himself, could possibly have any kind of temper, but maybe it wouldn’t be a good idea to push him in order to find out.

  “Do you think you could get hold of a picture of Nate’s wife? Maybe I could identify her if she’s the restless spirit in room 307.” Kelly asked.

  “I’ll see if I ca
n get Nate to come and tell his story, and maybe bring a pic of Jackie if he can. I did tell him that you and I could broaden his horizons.”

  Kelly looked at her, open-mouthed. “You told him what? Honey, if either of us is going to broaden that man’s horizons, then it’s you. I’m spoken for.” She laughed. “It’s such fun to watch you blush.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  The afternoon seemed to fly by, and suddenly it was time for Noelia to leave to meet Daniel at the hospital. Her stomach was in knots, and she had to keep telling herself over and over again that she was doing the right thing, and when you did the right thing, everything would turn out well in the end.

  Unfortunately, she didn’t believe that.

  She met Daniel in the hospital lobby, which fortunately was crowded. She hoped that meant no one would pay any attention to the handsome young man and his matronly, and very nervous, companion. She had Daniel wait while she went into the admin office and tried to chat to the receptionist on duty as if this were just another day as she signed on to the schedule for volunteers.

  On the third floor Noelia nodded to the nurse at the desk, projecting a calm she didn’t feel, and continued to room 307 as if Daniel’s company was nothing out of the ordinary. She had suggested that Daniel dress to be incognito, but with a sinking feeling she suspected that his choice of hoodie and sunglasses was more likely to draw attention than to avoid it.

  She ushered him into Lydia’s room and closed the door behind them. Seeing the look of shock and pain on Daniel’s face almost broke her heart. How could you possibly prepare someone for something like this? To see a loved one lying as still and quiet as death, with only the steady sound of computerized machines to declare that she was alive?

  Daniel slowly moved toward the bed and leaned down to brush back the stray curls that rested on Lydia’s forehead, and then press a tiny, tender kiss there. He shot a questioning glance at Noelia.

  “We don’t know what she feels or hears, Daniel. It’s said that some coma patients are aware of everything around them, and some hear what is said to them and remember it. Whether they feel touch or not, there doesn’t seem to be any agreement. But I can’t help but believe that some part of Lydia is aware that she is surrounded by love.” Noelia touched his shoulder gently, and Daniel sank down into a visitor’s chair beside the bed. He reached out to hold the still, cool hand on the bedspread as gently as if its owner was made of delicate china. “Is it always this cold in here? There’s an awful draft right over my shoulders. I’d hate to think that Lydia . . . ”

  He didn’t get to finish the sentence, because there was a commotion outside, and the door was flung open. Nate walked in, fury written all over his face, followed by two security guards.

  Barely containing his anger, he pointed at Daniel. “Get him out of here,” he told the security guards.

  Daniel looked mutinous, but Noelia put her hand on his shoulder. “Please, Daniel, you’ve seen her now. Just go; if you make a fuss, you could frighten her.”

  The young man paused in front of Nate. “Dr. Westbury, please. I would never hurt Lydia . . . ”

  But he didn’t get to finish the sentence. “Just get out of here and don’t come back,” Lydia’s father growled. Daniel shot one last longing look at Sleeping Beauty on the bed, and left, flanked by the two guards.

  Then Nate turned his anger on Noelia. “What do you think you are doing, bringing him here? You knew damned well that I had said he wasn’t to come anywhere near my daughter, yet you—a stranger—think you have the right to interfere?”

  A stranger? The word was like a dagger to Noelia’s heart, but she bravely stood up to the very angry man before her. “Nate, Daniel loves Lydia. Have you seen the little house?” She was struggling to keep the tears out of her voice as she faced him.

  “You have no right to think you know what my daughter needs. That boy is responsible for her being in this condition. Get out—you’re not allowed in this room ever again.”

  Over by the bedside, a jug of water suddenly tipped over and cascaded water down the pale wood night table before crashing to the floor to break in two pieces.

  Noelia and Nate both stared with shock at the water starting to pool around Nate’s feet. How could that happen? No one was nearby to knock the jug over.

  “One of you must have poured water and then not replaced the jug properly,” Nate rationalized. “Don’t come near my daughter again.”

  There was no use arguing with the man while he was in this mood. Noelia slipped past him and walked the gauntlet of nurses who gave her angry looks. The end of her temporary volunteer career, she thought as she tried not to let the tears in her eyes spill down her cheeks.

  What hurt the most was Nate’s declaration that she was just a stranger. Someone who meant nothing to him, had no place with him and his daughter. She had hoped to be so much more.

  • • •

  She remembered that Kelly and Brett had moved back into Kelly’s cozy seaside cottage now that he was home. Kelly had stayed for a while at the Atwell mansion but had been longing to get back to her own place. Besides, her spoiled and temperamental cat, Sullivan, didn’t play well with the two cats Troy Mathews had brought to the Atwell house when he and Mary were married.

  Kelly was so much more to Noelia than a boss—she was her closest friend, and if anyone could understand the pain in her heart, it would be her. Almost like a homing pigeon seeking its roost, she pulled her Escape onto the small parking area in front of the cottage, paused to breathe deeply of the ocean scented breeze and hear the swooping calls of the sea birds. Then she pushed open the car door, grabbed her bag, and started to walk along the short driveway toward the cottage. The front door opened before she got there, with Kelly standing there with a welcoming smile.

  “You’re just in time for tea—Mrs. Patrowski insisted on loading me up with goodies as I was leaving to move back here,” she told Noelia. “Of course, I think it was more that she thought Brett would starve without her cooking rather than any need to feed me.”

  She showed Noelia to a comfy armchair in the small and cozy living room. Because of the cool sea breeze, she had a welcoming fire burning in the woodstove. “You sit right there, and I’ll bring a tray through,” she told Noelia.

  Within moments, Sullivan the cat had jumped up on Noelia’s lap, purred loudly, and turned around twice to get comfortable. He was sleeping deeply when Kelly came back into the room with a tray laden with tea things, a plate of tiny shrimp sandwiches, and another of apple tartlets with a generous helping of whipped cream.

  “I see Sullivan has made himself comfortable—he’s so pleased with himself to be back in the world where he is boss and doesn’t have to deal with those two spoiled cats of Troy’s.”

  “I think Sullivan is pretty spoiled himself.” Noelia tried for a smile. “But honestly, he’s gorgeous.”

  “And doesn’t he know it! A legend in his own mind, is our Sullivan.” Kelly smiled fondly at the sleeping cat. She handed Noelia a plate with two small sandwiches and helped herself to one of the tiny, crustless wedges. “If I’d stayed at Mary’s much longer, I would have gained about a hundred pounds, and this baby would be elephant-size.” Kelly sat in a matching easy chair and patted her still flat stomach with a grin.

  “I’m thinking of getting a cat. They don’t turn on you like men do. I’m through with all this romance nonsense,” Noelia declared through a mouthful of delicious shrimp.

  Kelly gave her a startled look, then busied herself pouring tea for them both. Noelia stared into the fire while stroking Sullivan’s soft fur. Kelly doled out more delicate shrimp sandwiches and sighed when Noelia shook her head and placed hers, untouched, on the small side table.

  They both sipped tea quietly for a few minutes. “Poor Noelia, you look as though you’ve been doing battle and lost. No appetite for shrimp sandwiches? It must have been serious,” Kelly said, adding, “Oh, dear, was it today you were going to try to sneak Daniel into Lydia’s
room? Do I get the impression that didn’t work out well?”

  Noelia fumbled in her pocket for a handkerchief and gratefully accepted a tissue from the box Kelly offered her. After mopping her eyes, she haltingly told her story.

  “I took Daniel in to see Lydia. Gosh, Kelly, if you could have seen the look on his face when he saw her lying there! It brought tears to my eyes and convinced me that he truly loves her.”

  “And that’s what’s making you sad?” Kelly poured them both more tea.

  “One of the nurses ratted us out to Nate. He arrived with two security guards and was absolutely furious! I’ve never seen anyone that mad.” Noelia paused to blow her nose and wipe away more tears.

  “Oh, my goodness. Did he throw Daniel out?”

  “Yes, he had the guards take him out of the hospital. Oh, Kelly, Nate Westbury can’t possibly have a heart after seeing the look of love on that boy’s face but still freezing him out.”

  Kelly studied her friend. “But that’s not all, is it?”

  Noelia sucked in a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. “No. Nate turned on me—told me I had no business bringing Daniel into Lydia’s room, and that I was never allowed to enter that room again. And, oh, Kelly—he called me a stranger! I really thought we were beginning to mean something to each other, you know. But he considers me a stranger who’s no longer allowed to visit his sick daughter.”

  • • •

  The next few days passed with no word from Nate. Even an angry tirade might have been preferable to this cold silence, Noelia thought as she tried to keep busy with the store and her writing. Her garden was waking up in anticipation of summer’s onset, and the chores were mounting there, too, but somehow her heart just didn’t seem to be in any of the activities that usually gave her joy and satisfaction.

  The one bright thing—if you could call it that—was that Ellie Mae was home from her cruise, looking bronzed, relaxed, and deeply in love. She was full of energy and ready to take over her volunteer duties at the hospital. Noelia decided not to tell her of the debacle with Nate, hoping no one at the hospital would gossip, and she was relieved not to have to face the accusing stares of the nurses and volunteer organizer again.