A Chance for Charity (The Immortal Ones)

by S. L. Baum

  “The Lord boys departed with few answers, but we knew it was time to move on. To not arouse suspicions, we waited almost three months before relocating. I secured the proper documentation for our new identities and we made a clean, quiet exit,” James continued on, “Telluride is the first small town that we have resided in since Charity joined our family. My hope is that the residents here will feel some loyalty to us, as members of their community, and promptly inform us if anyone starts snooping again.”

  “Were these Lord brothers aware of your departure from the hospital?” Link asked James, wanting to fully understand any possible threat.

  “I’m not completely sure. I left when a group of interns were moving on. It was my intent to get lost in their shuffle. We can only hope that the Lords didn’t unearth any new leads.”

  “Link,” Catherine drew his attention away from James, “if I may be so bold, what are your feelings toward Charity?”

  “Catherine,” I protested loudly, my cheeks flushed pink in embarrassment.

  “It’s a valid question,” she responded, with genuine curiosity.

  “You don’t have to answer that, Link,” I turned to him.

  “No, it’s okay, I want to. To be honest, I have been struggling with my need to be near her and the conventions that say we should not be together. A high school girl and a twenty-two year old man - not always completely acceptable. However, I’d like to ask your permission to court her, as you will. I believe that would be the proper course of action, traditionally speaking.” He turned to both James and Catherine seeking a sign of their approval.

  “I am going to assume your words are sincere. We have no reason, yet, to believe they are not. Just remember, we know how to disappear. We are quite good at it. If I feel that you’ve become a hazard to our family, in any way, you may wake up one day to find that we are gone,” James warned Link. “That being said, I trust Charity’s judgment. And, the events that preceded your introduction to each other are too astounding to be ignored. I firmly believe that there is a reason for everything.”

  “You have our permission, as long as Charity is in agreement. You seem to illuminate her.” Catherine held my eyes with her own as she spoke.

  “Thank you both for coming home so quickly and being a voice of reason and sanity. I needed to know I hadn’t disappointed you. Right now I want to catch my breath, to process all that has happened here. Most of all, I need a moment alone with Link. We’ll be upstairs for a little while, if that is alright,” I smiled a weary smile at Catherine.

  “You have done nothing wrong. Everything will be alright,” she tried to reassure me.

  I hugged them both, took Link’s hand in my own, and led him up the stairs and into my room. Once the door was closed behind us, I turned to him. I still wasn’t quite sure what all this meant for us. I opened my mouth to ask a million questions that were dancing around in my head, but found myself unable to utter the first one. My voice held no power, my lips could form no words.

  Link pulled me into his arms, hugging me tightly. I wilted in his embrace, exhausted from the day. I buried my face in the hollow of his neck, holding onto him securely, not wanting to let go. He kissed the top of my head, then loosened his embrace to pull my chin up so he could look into my eyes. His gaze was steady, searching my eyes for acceptance, permission, I wasn’t sure. I stood up on the tips of my toes to raise my lips as he lowered his. The kiss was tender, his lips brushed lightly against mine.

  I leaned away from the embrace, “This is no good,” I whispered in despair.

  “It feels good to me,” he smiled and bent his head to mine again. This time to leave a trail of kisses from my chin to my ear.

  “That’s not what I meant. This situation, your mortality, my immortality, we shouldn’t be doing this.” I shook my head.

  Link shook his head, in disagreement. A mixture of disappointment and determination appeared on his face as he replied, “No you are wrong. We should be doing this. We were meant to find each other, and now that we have, I have no intentions of letting you go.”

  “How can we be together, when physically I will never change? What will people say?” I worried.

  “They’ll say ‘Look at that old coot with his gorgeous arm candy. How’d he get to be so lucky?’ But maybe that’s not really your only concern,” he stated.

  “You’ll leave me one day. You won’t have a choice. Time will take you away. I don’t know if I could handle that again,” I admitted.

  “The advances in medicine will only continue to improve. It’s more than conceivable that I am going to live well into my ninety’s. That gives us upwards of seventy years to be together. Can you handle that?”

  I processed the information. Seventy years was a long time. I could hold onto him for seventy years. He would grow old, but he could be mine for seventy years. I was pretty sure that I could handle that.

  I pulled his head down to mine again and pressed my lips to his. Seventy years, I thought, and deepened my kiss.

  “Yes,” I breathed against his mouth, “I can handle that.”

  He smiled that brilliant smile, the one that made my heart melt and sent a tingle down to my toes, and kissed me again.

  chapter eight

  PRESENTS AND PRESENCE

  It was very early, still dark outside when I was roused, confused by the heaviness across my chest. I reached up to find an arm, his arm, draped over me. A smile spread across my face and I slowly turned on my side, careful not to wake him. While he still slept I studied his face, memorizing all its details and characteristics. The shape of the mouth, which had mystified me before, was so clearly a mimic of Roger’s. The structure of Link’s jaw line was also quite the same. This boy was a link to my past.

  I leaned forward to place a chaste kiss on his perfect lips. He stirred and pulled me closer to him.

  “Don’t leave,” he whispered in his sleep.

  “I’m not leaving you,” I whispered back.

  His eyes were a trait from his father, I thought, recalling the photo I’d seen yesterday. The blonde hair was the same shade as his mother’s had been. The nose and the hairline were clearly from his grandpa. I loved this face, I had from the moment I’d spied it at the Halloween dance. All those people were gone now, but Link was here. It was a miracle that we had found each other, a present that I would cherish.

  I wiggled my way out of Link’s embrace without waking him, and quietly made my way across the room to the closet, shutting the door behind me. When I turned on the light, I glanced at myself in the full length mirror, and immediately frowned at my appearance. My favorite Forties outfit was badly wrinkled, having been slept in all night. There was a slight tear in the seam at the shoulder of the shirt, the stitching now old and delicate. The skirt seemed to have made it unscathed. At least the jacket had been safely discarded and placed on the back of my desk chair, before we fell asleep in each other’s arms.

  A quick change of my clothes, into pajama pants and a tank top, and I was tip-toeing my way out of my bedroom. I heard Catherine softly humming a Gaelic tune in the kitchen and went downstairs to see her.

  “Good morning,” I hugged her. “Can you fix the shirt I was wearing yesterday? I fell asleep with it on and it tore at the shoulder,” I explained.

  “That’s good to hear,” Catherine mused.

  “It’s good to hear that my shirt is ripped?”

  “No, it’s good to hear you slept in your clothes. I was afraid you would be rushing into the unknown. I’m glad you are keeping a level head,” she said.

  “Catherine, I’m not sure yet what it means to me, to have him. But I won’t rush into anything, physically. Emotionally, it may be too late. I think it was too late two months ago,” I half-heartedly joked.

  “I think you may be right. I see the way you look at him and the way he looks at you. I can’t say I’m entirely displeased. I’ve been waiting years for you to find someone that you can love again. It just seems appropriate that
he has a connection to your past.”

  “What about the mortal, immortal issue?” I asked.

  “What issue?” she asked innocently.

  “You know what I mean,” I pressed.

  “Charity, anything can happen to anyone at any time. James could be taken away from me tomorrow. Yes, Lincoln will age and you will not. You have to ask yourself if that will become an issue for you as time passes. Only you can answer that,” Catherine responded and gave me a comforting hug.

  “I’ll contemplate that later, I guess. Right now I think I’ll just take things as they come,” I said. “Is James in his lab?”

  “Yes he’s been in there all night. I think he is trying to isolate the healing compounds in our blood. He asked me for a sample a few hours ago. He’ll probably be begging you next,” she gave me a wary glance.

  “No way! If I fall down and scrape myself he had better be right there with a collection vial. Otherwise no dice... I don’t do needles or scalpels,” I protested.

  “Why not?” asked a voice from behind me.

  “Aaah,” I squealed.

  “Good morning, Lincoln,” Catherine greeted him.

  “Guess that super hearing thing’s not working too well this morning,” he chuckled at my startled expression.

  “Too distracted by James’s supposed need for my blood. Like I said he’ll have to catch me doing something stupid and collect it then.” I knew it was unreasonable for me to make such a stipulation. But I’d had an irrational fear of needles since I was a kid getting shots at the doctor’s office. The self inflicted wounds of my past provided for the other fear.

  “That’s what I told him,” Catherine sang.

  “No intentional bloodletting huh?” Link asked as he encircled me in his arms.

  “No!” I wrinkled my face in disgust. “What are you doing awake? It’s only five thirty,” I asked.

  “You left me,” he answered, his face sober.

  “I didn’t leave. I came downstairs,” I justified.

  “You left,” he insisted.

  “I’m sorry. Good morning,” I leaned into his embrace, resting my head on his chest.

  “Good morning,” he echoed as he kissed the top of my head. “What are you doing fully awake at five thirty on a Saturday?” he asked, confused.

  “Our internal clocks run a little... differently,” Catherine explained

  “I’m sure there are quite a few different things that I’ll have to get used to,” he yawned.

  “A few,” I answered vaguely.

  “How about food? That’s all still the same, right? I’m starving. We never ate dinner last night,” he said.

  “Oh you’re right, and yes, food is pretty much the same. Except for the death by starvation part. We just get weak,” I answered.

  “I’ll just take that as ‘yes I’m hungry too.’ May I be so bold as to open this refrigerator and see what I can make for our breakfast?”

  “Yes, please be so bold,” I smiled.

  “I’m going up to my study, to read. Have fun you two,” Catherine excused herself and made her way upstairs.

  I sat on the stool by the kitchen counter and watched as Link surveyed our fridge. He looked adorable with his bare feet, his wrinkled t-shirt, and jeans. His tousled hair simply added to the appeal.

  “How about an omelet, with cheese, ham... What else you got? ... mushroom, tomato, onion, you name it,” he asked over his shoulder.

  “All of the above, except onions, yuck,” I wrinkled my face in distaste.

  “So, the lady doesn’t like onions,” he noted.

  “No, the lady hates onions,” I clarified.

  “Got it, no onions,” he smiled, as he transferred items from the fridge to the counter.

  “Let me help you,” I said, as I got up from the stool.

  “No, no, I’m making breakfast for us. You stay put,” he ordered. So, I simply pointed out where all the kitchen tools and pans were kept.

  A few minutes later, he sat down beside me and placed a plate, containing a huge overflowing omelet bubbling with cheese, on the counter between us. He handed me a fork and we both dug in.

  “Wow! That is heavenly. You make a good omelet,” I said after swallowing the first bite.

  “I’ve got powers,” he shrugged.

  “Awesome powers,” I agreed.

  “What should we do today?”

  “Since you are a self proclaimed excellent shopper and Christmas is what, like two weeks away...” I trailed off as I took another bite.

  “Christmas shopping?” he asked.

  “Would that be alright with you? I haven’t got anything for James or Catherine and I want to get a little something for my friends at school too. Would that bore you?”

  “I’d be spending the day with you. I have nothing to complain about,” he smiled.

  “Thank you!” I smiled in return as I leaned forward to place a kiss on his nose.

  “Do you want to walk around town or go somewhere else?”

  “Oooh! I hadn’t thought about that, where else could we go?” I loved the thought of being alone with him, somewhere away from here.

  “Montrose isn’t too far,” he offered.

  “Let’s do it,” I beamed.

  “Whatever the lady wants,” he smiled my brilliant smile.

  “The lady wants to be with you,” I said matter-of-factly.

  He gathered me into his arms. At that moment, there was no other place I would rather be.

  After we finished our breakfast, I ran upstairs to get myself ready to go out. Link had headed off to his apartment to do the same. I hated to let him walk out the door, but decided I could spare him for an hour. When I was finished getting ready, I found Catherine and told her my plans for the day. With keys in hand, I dashed down the stairs and outside to my SUV. My need to be with Link was a magnetic pull, stronger than anything I had ever imagined.

  The drive to his apartment seemed excruciatingly long. As I turned into the parking lot, my heart beat quickened and a wide smile automatically appeared on my face. Link was standing at the entrance, waiting for me. He hopped in the passenger seat, after I unlocked the doors, and leaned over to place a frosty kiss on my lips.

  “Ooh, your lips are cold,” I pretended to shiver.

  “I thought you’d never get here,” he poured, with fake exasperation.

  “Poor baby, have you been waiting long? I am a girl remember. We take longer to get ready,” I reminded him as I started our drive out of town.

  “Yeah I know. It’s just been awhile.”

  “What’s awhile?” I questioned.

  “The last time I waited for a girl?” He paused, waiting for an answer. I gave a quick nod. “I guess that would have to be Jade, my high school girlfriend. We broke up a few months before Grandpa died.”

  “What happened?”

  “I pushed her away. Grandpa was real sick toward the end and I wouldn’t allow her to help me. Emotionally, I turned myself off.”

  “So she left,” I concluded.

  “Technically I left first. The last few times we were together, I wasn’t really there.”

  “Did you love her?”

  “We were both eighteen when we started dating and were together for about a year and a half. So yes, I loved her, as much as I was capable of at the time. She deserved better.”

  “Do you know where she is now?”

  “I heard she got engaged six months ago or so. I’m glad she’s happy now. She really is a great girl.”

  “I’m actually a little jealous,” I admitted.

  “Don’t be. I’ve come to believe there is a reason for everything, a reason it didn’t work out with Jade and a reason I found my way to you,” he grasped my hand.

  I beamed.

  “How about you?” Link asked.

  “How about me what?” I countered.

  “When’s the last time you made a guy wait on you?”

  “Roger,” I let the sad little word slip fro
m my mouth and my expression clouded. “You shut yourself off emotionally for over two years. I’ve done it for several decades,” I berated myself.

  “Okay... New topic... Since you brought up your age... I would love to know what you thought about each decade?”

  “Seriously?” I was stunned. I had never been able to talk with anyone but Catherine and James about the past.

  “We’ll start with the Fifties.”

  “Okay, I loved the music and the changing fashions. Oh, and automobiles were so stylish,” I answered.

  “Sixties?”

  “Music, not so much, except the British invasion. The whole hippie thing was way over my head,” I admitted.

  “Okay, Seventies?”

  “Don’t hate me... I did enjoy disco. But polyester clothes – yuck!” I shook my head.

  “Disco?” he frowned, “Eighties?” he continued

  “Great music... Terrible big hair on women... and I never understood the shoulder-pads that were sewn into so many outfits. I looked like a linebacker sometimes, but you gotta go with the flow,” I sighed.

  “Nineties?”

  “Still liked the music... clothes started to reflect the Sixties and Seventies again so that was interesting... But technology, which started out great in the Eighties, really took off. I love gadgets and a new one was popping up every other day,” I paused. “Don’t ask me about the new century. It just started,” I finished.

  “I won’t ask,” he promised, “but I’ll hope you like it as much as I do now.”

  I didn’t respond to his last statement. Letting myself hope for the future was not something I was used to. I had resigned myself to a life without love and romance, without hope.

  The conversation, for the rest of the drive, concentrated on our musical likes and dislikes. I shocked him with my love of the Eighties hair bands and he admitted to liking the occasional rap song. We both agreed on alternative rock, it was the perfect music to lose yourself in. Loud music with great drums and guitars could be very freeing. He surprised me with his knowledge of the Big Band Era and that discussion carried on, until we reached Montrose.