One-Click Buy: September Harlequin Blaze

by Jo Leigh

  “Attaboy,” the driver said, stopping the cab in front of the entrance to Parkridge Medical Center.

  Dax reached for his wallet, but the guy shook his head. “This one’s on me. You go get the girl.”

  “I agree with him,” Nanette said, evidently hearing the cabbie. “You do what you’ve got to do there. Take care of Celeste, and I’ll watch for your assignment on the tea service. When it comes, I’ll call you and let you know.”

  Dax smiled. It wasn’t like Nanette to forgo rules, particularly when they had to do with the spirits, but whether she admitted it or not, she had a soft spot for love, and she knew Dax’s love was in this hospital. “Thanks, Nan.”

  “Just let me know how things go there, and I’ll do the same from here. Good luck, Dax.” She hung up.

  Dax sprinted through the hospital lobby to the elevators and punched the button. Within seconds, he stepped off at the third floor. A nurses’ station was directly in front of the elevator, and Dax took advantage of one of the nurses looking his way. “Room 302?”

  She pointed to one of the hallways that branched away from the station. “Second room on your right.”

  Dax hurried to the room, opened the door without knocking-and saw her. She was on the bed, her eyes closed and her long blond curls draped over the pillow. The top of her blouse, the same sage green blouse she’d been wearing when she came to him, was visible above the sheet.

  A young woman sat beside the bed and held Celeste’s hand. She looked up at him, and though her eyes were bloodshot and tired, her face was vaguely similar to Celeste’s. Her hair was more sandy than blond, and in a style that Dax would classify as stylishly modern.

  “Nelsa?”

  She blinked, then nodded. “Do I know you?” she asked. “Or-does she?” She looked at her sister, then leaned over her and kissed her cheek.

  “Yes,” he said, stepping toward the bed. He wanted to run to Celeste, to hold her, to beg her to wake up and be with him on this side. But how could he tell Nelsa that he was Celeste’s lover when he hadn’t even been to the hospital since she’d been hurt?

  Dax’s head reeled. What to say to make this woman, hovering protectively over her sister, let him get near?

  “Excuse me?”

  Dax turned toward the woman’s voice behind him and saw an older couple with cups of coffee cradled in their hands and confused looks on their faces. The woman looked as if she hadn’t slept in weeks, or more probably, months. Her eyes were puffy and swollen, and her skin was void of color; she looked as though she’d been through hell. Then again, she’d been through the closest thing to it, the scare of losing a child. The man beside her wasn’t overly tall, but he was stoutly built and had a disapproving scowl on his face. “Who are you?” he asked. “And what are you doing here?”

  Celeste’s parents.

  No doubt a stranger showing up in their daughter’s room would make them suspicious, but Dax wasn’t a stranger, yet he didn’t know how to tell them that.

  “I’m a-friend of Celeste’s,” he started, then shook his head. “No, it’s more than that,” he said, not willing to lie to Celeste’s family. “I love her.”

  The woman dropped her coffee, and it splattered against her feet on the floor.

  “Son, what are you saying? We-we don’t even know you,” Celeste’s father said, then he turned to his wife. “Marian, are you all right?”

  “It’s him,” she whispered, her trembling hand moving to her heart. “You’re Dax, aren’t you?”

  The man’s look of irritation swiftly converted to one of shock, and Nelsa stood beside the bed. “Are you? Are you Dax?”

  Dax was thrown. How could they know him? But he nodded. “I am.”

  “She’s been calling for you,” Nelsa explained. “In fact, your name is the only name she’s said the whole time. All these months. Dax. We-we didn’t know where you were, didn’t know who you were, and we tried to find you but didn’t know where to look.”

  She’d been calling his name? Dax’s pulse beat wildly. If she’d been calling his name on this side, that meant that-what?-her spirit had been back here and trying to merge? That she remembered him on this side as well? Or was he just grasping at straws? Would her spirit come back to her body, the way John-Paul’s had? Or had Dax ruined her chance for that when he’d kept her with him for so long?

  “Where have you been?” her mother asked. “If you love her, where have you been?” She took a shaky breath. “I-we-didn’t even know about you, had no idea. And I’d have thought if you knew her, and you loved her, you would have come shortly after the accident. But you didn’t come.” She shook her head. “Why not?”

  “I’ve been in Louisiana, where I live. I didn’t know that she was here. I just found out today, and I came as soon as I heard.” He had to concentrate on his words now, because the little boy’s giggles were returning, and they were louder, much louder.

  The machine beside the bed began to beep, and they all turned toward it.

  “No.” Nelsa grabbed the call button and pressed it rapidly. “It’s dropping again!”

  The little boy’s laughter throbbed in Dax’s mind, and he had no doubt his spirit was nearly ready to come to the plantation, if he wasn’t already there. “What’s dropping?” he asked, stepping toward the bed, and Celeste.

  “Her heart rate. Just like it did those other three times. And the doctor said she wouldn’t make it if she went through one of those episodes again,” Nelsa said. She turned to Dax. “She’s been wanting you, and now you’re here, but she’s leaving us!”

  “No, Celeste,” Marian Beauchamp pleaded, moving quickly to the bed and grabbing Celeste’s other hand. “Stay with us, honey. Please!”

  Dax’s ghost was nearly there, the laughter so loud, so intense, that he barely heard Nelsa, even though she was screaming too. And then he realized what she’d said. Those other three times. Celeste’s heart rate had faltered before, and Dax knew when-when she came to him, to help his spirits cross. And now he had another spirit coming, and she was fading.

  “No!” Dax yelled, but his voice merely joined the other panicked ones in the room…and the laughter in his head grew so overwhelming that he gripped the bedrail to stay upright. He knew what was happening, and he didn’t know how to stop it. Celeste was trying to get back to him, with the little-boy ghost. But if her spirit succeeded, her body would fail. He’d lose her for good, because she was trying to see him again. “No!”

  17

  CELESTE’S MOUTH was dry, her head throbbed and every ounce of her being violently protested any movement, but she wasn’t going to stop. She couldn’t.

  Because she was so, so close.

  The thick darkness surrounding her grew less dense with every step, and she could almost see some form of light in the distance. She braced herself against the wall, her fingers gripping its coolness as she inched her way forward. Another step, rest, concentrate. Two more steps, stop, rest, concentrate. She could get back there. Stopping was not an option. This was the only way to Dax, and she wasn’t going to let her exhaustion keep her from getting to him again.

  She could hear voices from both sides. Voices behind her, from that pathway where she’d heard them before, were once again calling her name. Someone screamed, and someone cried.

  “Celeste!” they yelled. “Please, Celeste!”

  “No,” she whispered. There wasn’t any way she would give up now. She could see the opening that led to that room in the middle, and it wasn’t dark now. In fact, it was a faint yellow. And she heard voices from the middle too, but those voices were different. One was a woman. Adeline, perhaps? Or was it someone else?

  Celeste paused to rest again, tuned out the voices behind her and focused on what the woman was saying.

  “Chère, it’s going to be okay,” Adeline said, her voice a little higher than usual, as though she were talking to a child. “Don’t worry, Ike, my
Dax will take care of you.”

  Dax. Someone-Ike-was going to see Dax, and Adeline was about to send him through.

  “W-wait,” Celeste said, but her voice was so weak that it barely formed a whisper.

  Did Adeline hear her?

  “Sure, chère, you can tell your mama and daddy bye. I know they’d like that, and that they’ll want to know that you’ll be okay. Dax will help you do that, and you’ll like him, but if you don’t mind, I’d like for you to visit with me for a little while before you go. My Dax is taking care of something right now, and he knows you want to see him, but he needs to see a-a friend of his before he goes back home. I can show you some really nice things while we’re waiting for him.”

  Thunder roared in the distance, and Celeste heard Adeline again, her voice a bit worried as she spoke to the boy. “I won’t keep you too long, chère, and of course, if you want to go on through, you can. I can’t stop you, you know.”

  “What can you show me?” the little boy asked as Celeste licked her lips and tried again.

  “Wait, please,” she said hoarsely.

  The two people in the room ahead of her continued to talk, and she wanted to cry. No, she wanted to scream.

  But she couldn’t.

  Celeste braced her hands against the wall and forced another step, then another. Nearly there. Just a few more. She wasn’t going to lose this chance.

  “I can show you what the other side of the clouds looks like,” Adeline said. “Or we can go hide in the middle of them and watch the planes go by. Would you like that?”

  “Cool!” Ike yelled.

  “Wait!” Celeste’s attempt to scream was so weak it sounded more like a whisper, but thank goodness, the little boy heard her.

  “Who’s that?” he asked, moving toward Celeste as she entered the middle room, then slumped against the wall.

  “Oh, no,” Adeline whispered. “Celeste, dear,” she said, then she frowned and looked behind her as a loud boom of thunder roared through the room. “I thought you’d gone to rest. You need to go back, chère. That’s the way to Dax.”

  The thunder boomed even louder, and the middle wall opened, the light filling its center and warming Celeste’s cold spirit.

  “I thought I was going to Dax.” The boy pouted.

  “You are, Ike, but remember, I’m going to show you a few things around here first. Dax needs to take care of some things, and he’s working on that now.”

  Celeste blinked, and fought the way the light pulled her toward it. The entire middle wall was open and glowing and beckoning her now, but Dax wasn’t there. “I want to go with you,” she whispered to the boy. “To see Dax.” Then she looked at Adeline. “Let us through.”

  “You can’t go that way again,” Adeline said, frowning as she shook her head. “Oh, chère, please. You have to trust me this time. The way behind you is the only way for you to go now.” She lowered her voice. “It’s the right way, chère. Please, trust me, I can’t tell you more.”

  Again, booming thunder roared around them, and the light got so warm that Celeste squinted at its radiance.

  “This is it, Celeste,” Adeline said. “You have a choice, but Dax’s way isn’t part of your decision anymore. That path is closed to you now, you’re too weak for it. And you’re not going to be strong enough to go down it again, chère.”

  Celeste looked at the light, and then turned toward the dark path behind her, where those voices were still calling her name. She listened to them, the same voices she’d heard time and time again. Every other time, they’d merely blended in an incomprehensible mix of screams and sobs, with none of them really standing out as unique. But now…

  She swallowed, leaned toward the sound. Then she turned back to Adeline. “That’s Dax’s voice, isn’t it? Dax is there? Back there?”

  “I’m going to keep Ike company for a while so that Dax can take care of a few things before he visits. That’s all I’m allowed to say, chère.”

  “Dax.” Celeste started toward the darkened path, but the light pulled her back, caused her to stumble. She held up a hand and saw that her glow was almost blinding now, and her feet refused to cooperate; they wouldn’t move down the path. Instead, she was inching her way backward, toward that vivid, powerful light.

  She didn’t want to go. But she was too tired to fight it.

  “Help me,” she whispered, reaching out to Dax’s voice.

  18

  “MAMA, LOOK! It’s lower than before!” Horrified, Nelsa pointed to the monitor beside the bed. “We have to get someone!” She ran out of the room with her mother close at her heels.

  “Hold on, baby,” Marian pleaded before she left. “We’re getting the doctors. Don’t you dare leave us!”

  Her husband moved to one side of the bed and grabbed his daughter’s hand, and Dax, still fighting the little boy’s laughter in his head, gripped the bedrail in a determined effort to fight the pull of the little spirit. No way would he leave her now, and he prayed she wasn’t going to leave him…for good.

  “She’s wanted you. Let her know you’re here,” Mr. Beauchamp demanded. “She hasn’t come to us. Maybe she’ll come to you.”

  Dax gazed down at the woman he loved, and listened to the beats of her heart growing fainter. He blinked past the pounding in his head and said the words he’d only spoken once before.

  “Celeste, I love you. Please, come back to me, chère. I’m here. Don’t-” He didn’t look up at Mr. Beauchamp to see his reaction, but simply forged on with what he believed she needed to hear. “Don’t try to get to me the other way, chère. I’m here. On this side. Don’t you dare cross without me.”

  “No!” her father cried, and Dax heard the beeps growing further apart, at the same time that the little boy’s laughter got even stronger.

  They were losing her because she was trying to go to him, trying to go the other way, to the Vicknair plantation. And if she did…

  “Celeste!” Dax yelled fiercely. “Don’t leave me, chère, please. I don’t want to live without you.”

  “Dear God!” Her father shook his head in denial. “No! Somebody help! Dammit, where is her doctor?”

  Dax’s tears fell upon Celeste’s cheeks. “Don’t leave me.”

  “In here!” Nelsa ran into the room with her mother and two nurses close behind.

  “She’s crashing. Get Dr. Pavere,” one nurse directed, while the other relayed the information through the intercom by the bed. They quickly took over, with one of them examining the machines hooked to Celeste and the other one checking her pulse. Then a tall, bald man with glasses and a stethoscope rushed in.

  “We need the room cleared,” he said briskly, stepping around one of the nurses to get to Celeste.

  The nurse turned toward all of them, hovering helplessly around the bed. “I’m sorry. We need you to step into the hall.”

  Nelsa wrapped an arm around her crying mother and ushered her out, while her father followed, but Dax stood-stock still, unable to leave her now that he’d found her.

  “No,” he said. “She can’t die now.”

  Amazingly, at that very moment, the little boy’s laughter grew softer, so faint, in fact, that Dax barely heard it at all.

  “I’m sorry,” the nurse said, placing her hand on Dax’s arm and effectively turning him around toward the door. “You have to wait in the hall.”

  “No! Celeste, this way! I’m here, chère!” He turned, pushed past the nurse and forced his way to the bed. Then he did something he’d never done before; he brought his hands to her face, and touched the woman he loved, tenderly stroking his own tears from her cheeks. “Don’t leave me, chère.”

  “I’m sorry, but you have to leave,” the nurse repeated sternly as she reached for Dax and attempted to pull him away.

  Dax glared at the woman. “I can’t leave her now. I won’t.”

  “Dax.”

  T
he voice was barely audible, but Dax heard it, recognized it. He turned sharply and saw the doctor staring disbelievingly at the woman in the bed, her eyes opened and peering…at Dax.

  “Do-it again,” she said softly.

  “Oh, my God,” the nurse beside Dax exclaimed.

  His tears fell again, but these were tears of joy. She was back. Here. With him. And the beating of her heart, growing stronger with every second, said she’d stay here this time.

  “Do what again, chère?”

  She licked her lips, then whispered, “Touch.”

  His laughter rolled out, and he leaned over her, cradled her face within his hands and smiled.

  “Go get her family,” the doctor instructed the nurses. “They’ll want to see this.” He shook his head. “Ms. Beauchamp, I’ve seen a few miracles in my time-it comes with the territory,” he added with a grin. “But this is one for the record books.” He looked at Dax. “And it reminds me of the power of love. I’m going to let you have your reunion now, but I’ll need to come back later for a few tests, not that I think we’re going to find anything wrong, since we were just basically waiting for you to wake up, my dear, but still…”

  Celeste nodded slowly, her own tears falling now.

  Her parents and sister ran in and embraced Celeste. “It’s a miracle!” Nelsa said, crying and laughing and touching Celeste in disbelief.

  Her father, however, looked directly at Dax. “Thank you, son.”

  Celeste stared up at him. “Yes, thank you.”

  Dax was shocked by her eyes, which were the most vivid moss green. “They’re incredible,” he whispered.

  Celeste smiled. “Thanks.” Then she turned to her family on the other side of the bed and saw their baffled expressions, but rather than explaining why Dax was surprised by the color of her eyes, Celeste gave them something else to process. “I love him.”

  Three sets of eyes, also moss green, all widened and focused on Dax, who grinned as though he’d just been guaranteed happiness for life. And he had.