Through Her Heart (Mind's Eye Book 6)

by Deborah Camp

  Having a security guard tail them when they went out and having one posted in the apartment building’s lobby didn’t bother Stuart in the least. In fact, Trudy sensed that he liked knowing they were there, which fortified the belief that the child was scared, although he hid it well. He particularly loved pressing his little hand against the front door panel to disengage the lock and hear, “Welcome home, Master Thor.”

  After dinner and after Wes had left for the day, Levi and Stuart would sit at the dinner table to share a glass of milk and cookies. That was the best time of day for Trudy, and she bet, for Levi, too. She puttered in the kitchen, played fetch with Mouse, and watched them out of the corner of her eye as they dunked their cookies in the milk and discussed their day.

  At night when they were certain that Stuart was asleep, they made quiet love with the door closed.

  Stuart was a moody child, but she could tease him out of his darker moods with a trip to the park or by watching a funny movie with him. Stuart’s giggle pulled her from her thoughts. He sat at the dining room table with Levi where they were involved in their milk and cookie ritual. They usually asked her to join them, but she didn’t because she wanted them to have their “guy time.”

  “You can have the rest of the milk,” Levi said, pushing the glass toward Stuart. “I have to do some work.”

  “Next door?” Stuart asked.

  “No, downstairs. I promised to be a guest on a radio show this evening. It shouldn’t take me more than an hour.”

  “Are you going to sing?” Stuart tipped his head to one side, obviously perplexed.

  Trudy barked out a laugh, then covered her mouth with her hand. Levi grinned at her.

  “No, I’m not going to sing. I’m going to take calls from people who have lost – things.”

  “How can you do th—.” He pressed his lips together and his eyes widened a little. “Oh, because you’re sigh kick.”

  Levi nodded and touched the tip of his forefinger to the end of Stuart’s freckled nose. “Correct. Just like you.”

  “Can I watch?”

  Levi’s gaze skittered to Trudy and she saw the hesitancy there. “No. I need to be alone to concentrate. I don’t want any distractions, okay?”

  “I’ll be quiet.”

  “Stewie, how about if we put on our jackets and take Mouse out for a walk while Levi’s working.” She joined them in the dining room. “Besides, I want to tell you about the house that we’re buying. I have some pictures of it, too.”

  “You’re moving?”

  “Eventually, yes.” She rested a hand on his shoulder. “When we do, you’ll move with us. We’ll have a big yard there and a swimming pool. There are several bedrooms and you can choose the one you want.”

  “What’s wrong with this place?”

  “Nothing much. We just wanted a yard and stuff like that. We’ll keep this place, too.”

  Levi stood and bussed Trudy’s cheek. “Later, doll.” He bounced his fist against Stuart’s shoulder as he passed him. “Later, dude.”

  Stuart turned in his chair to watch until Levi was out of sight. “I thought he built stuff.”

  “He does. But he also performs psychic work. He’s a man of many talents.” She gestured to him. “Come on. You grab the leash and the dog and I’ll get our jackets.”

  Stuart downed the rest of the milk before he scampered into the laundry room for the leash with Mouse on his heels. Once they’d slipped into their jackets, they took the elevator to the lobby with Mouse doing her “happy dance” at the prospect of a walk.

  “Hi, Ed,” Trudy greeted the guard on duty. “We’re going for a walk.” She smiled at the doorman. “How’s it going there, Paul?”

  “Great, Mrs. Wolfe. It’s a nice evening for a walk.”

  Ed got his coat from behind the reception desk and shrugged into it, getting ready to follow a few paces behind Trudy and Stuart. They headed across the parking lot and the streets to the sprawling park with its colorful fountains fashioned like the Olympic rings. They strolled along their usual path, allowing Mouse to stop every few steps to relieve herself and sniff at the calling cards of all the previous visitors. It was a beautiful evening and Trudy stood for a minute, watching the lights of the big Ferris wheel.

  “Hey, Stewie. You want to ride the Ferris wheel again?” They’d done it once, the first night he’d come home with them.

  He nodded, tipping back his head to view the ride that towered twenty stories above the park. She grasped his hand and they set off toward it with Mouse leading the way.

  “Will they let Mouse ride, too?” he asked.

  “Sure they will.” She glanced over her shoulder, spotting Ed. “We might even let Ed ride with us.” Slowing, she called over her shoulder to the tall, muscular man. “Hey, Ed! We’re going on the Skyride. You want to come?”

  He looked up and his face seemed to pale. “Um . . . no, you go ahead. I’ll wait for you.”

  She stopped and smiled back at him. “Are you and vertigo intimately involved, Ed?”

  One corner of his mouth inched up. “You could say that, ma’am.”

  “Who’s that?” Stuart asked, yanking on her hand. “Who is vert-what you said?”

  “No one. Come on.” She urged him toward the ticket booth. As it turned out, she let Mouse stay with Ed on the ground since she’d have to purchase a ticket for the animal to ride with them. “Mouse would probably prefer to sit this one out, anyway,” she told Stuart as they waited in line for their turn to step into a gondola.

  “Do you talk to people on the radio, too?” Stuart asked.

  It took her a few seconds to follow his meaning. “Oh, you mean like Levi? No.”

  “How come? Don’t you like to?”

  “I probably wouldn’t like it, but that’s not why. What I do . . . well, it wouldn’t be of any use to people calling in to the radio.”

  “What do they want him to do?”

  Trudy squeezed his hand, relieved to see the next gondola sweep down toward them. “This is ours, Stewie. Be careful. Don’t trip.” She held his hand tightly as they entered the glass gondola, but then let go and they sat on the benches on opposite sides of each other. The compartment gave a little jerk and began climbing. It stopped to allow the next passengers on.

  “It’s not so dark this time and I can see more things,” Stuart said, twisting around to get a view of the park and street traffic. “I told some kids at school that I live across the street from this park and they thought I was lying.”

  “We’ll have a party one day and you can prove to them that you’re a man of your word.”

  He glanced at her with a grin. “Yeah!” The gondola jerked a bit and he grabbed the back of the bench. “It goes up really high.”

  “It does. You can almost touch the stars.”

  “Uh-uh, you can’t. The stars are way too far away. Besides, they’d burn you if you touched them because they’re balls of fire.”

  Trudy laced her fingers around her knee and rocked back against the bench. “Some are and some are planets.”

  He squinted at her. “Which ones?”

  “I’ll show you some night. Levi has a telescope set up on the roof. You can see Mars and Venus sometimes. Have you ever seen the moon through a telescope? No? It’s really cool. You can see the craters on it.”

  As the gondola finally began to climb without stopping every few minutes, Stuart stood and pressed his nose to the glass, staring down at the cityscape. He pointed. “There’s where we live! There’s where we live!”

  Trudy laughed under her breath at his excitement. “Home sweet home. Look over there. There’s CNN. Oh, and do you see the aquarium? We really need to go there one day. Maybe we can all go this weekend.”

  “I’ve been there.”

  She couldn’t see his face because his back was to her. “Oh? When?”

  “With Mommy and Daddy. They took me. Twice.”

  She breathed in, trying to unknot her nerves. “Did you like it?”<
br />
  “Yeah. There are big sharks there.” His shoulders bounced. “And lots of other fish.” His sigh sounded uncommonly sad to her ears. “Daddy took me fishing once. We caught three fish and Mommy cooked them that very night for our supper.”

  Trudy closed her eyes for a moment, begging for wisdom. “I bet they were delicious, huh? Did you both catch them?”

  “I caught one and Daddy . . .” He sucked in a breath and stumbled back from the glass wall, his expression one of stark fear.

  “What?” Trudy scooted forward on the bench and gathered him into her arms. “What’s wrong, sweetie?”

  He pointed, squinted, then flung himself into her arms. “Nothing. I thought . . . it’s not. It’s not him, it’s not him, it’s not him.”

  “Who?” She smoothed his hair off his forehead and peered out the windows, trying to see what had frightened him. He continued to chant in a hushed whisper against her blouse as tears leaked from his eyes. “What just happened?”

  “It’s not him, not him, not him.” He sniffed and his voice came out choked.

  “Who, Stuart?” She grasped his upper arms and peeled him away from her to stare into his teary eyes. “Talk to me.”

  “I saw a b-bald m-man and I thought . . .” He squeezed his eyes shut and a shiver coursed down his body. “But it’s not him. I don’t know him. I thought I did . . . I don’t know him.”

  “Who?” She let him burrow into her arms again.

  “That man. That night.”

  Her heart stopped for a few beats and her blood froze in her veins. “You saw him?” she asked, enunciating each word slowly, carefully, as if they were made of glass. He sniffed again, but she could tell he’d stopped crying. “Stuart, you saw the man that night?” He rubbed his forehead against her shoulder in a nod. “You didn’t recognize him?”

  “No.” His voice came out small and weak.

  “He was bald?”

  Suddenly, he pushed out of her arms and onto the other bench. Stiff as a board, he stared holes into his shoes. “I want to go back to your place. I want Levi.”

  He wanted Levi. She tipped her head sideways. Did he feel safer with Levi? “Where were you when you saw that man?”

  “I didn’t.” He shoved out his lower lip and swiped angrily at his eyes. “I didn’t see him. I don’t know him. I don’t know anything.” He balled his hands into tight fists. “I don’t want to talk. I want Levi.” He blasted her with a mutinous expression that made her wince.

  “Why do you want Levi? I’m here with you. And Ed. You’re safe.”

  He kicked at the air and crossed his arms. “I dunno. I just do.”

  Giving him some space, Trudy stared at the sparkling lights of Atlanta and the shifting colors of the fountains below them. It stung a little that he felt more protected with Levi, but then she told herself that was a good thing. She wanted him to feel safe, secure, and wanted. Their ride was nearing an end and it pained her that Stuart was still shaken. He glared at his shoes, refusing to look at her.

  “I go fishing with my dad, too,” she said, grasping for anything to lure his thoughts away from the ugliness in his world. “We’ve gone several times. We like to fish for crappie at Lake Eufaula. Do you know what kind of fish you caught that day with your dad?”

  He shook his head, not ready or willing to talk. Trudy noticed the gondola ahead of them where some children waved and smiled at them. She returned their wave. Stuart frowned, but twisted about to see the kids in the next car.

  “Look down there, Stewie. There’s Ed and Mouse. Mouse looks like a gray ant from here.”

  Stuart searched the area below them and released a half-hearted grin when he spotted them. “Did you get Mouse when you were a kid?”

  “Oh, no.” Trudy laughed at the notion. “I’ve only had Mouse a couple of years. I wanted a companion – something to love – and she fit the bill.”

  That won her a scowl from him. “You don’t love Levi?”

  “I do love him, but I didn’t know him when I adopted Mouse. Well, I’d met Levi, but I hadn’t spent much time with him. Right after I got Mouse, that’s when Levi and I started . . . uh seeing each other.” Having sex with him, you hussy! She stifled a grin, not wanting to go there with a nosy and innocent child.

  He furrowed his brow. “So, how long have you been married?”

  “Not even a year yet.”

  “That’s why you don’t have your own kids, I guess.”

  Up ahead, she saw that their gondola was easing up to the exit. “The ride’s over.”

  He twisted around to watch them dock, then sprang to his feet and hopped out like an energetic frog. Trudy followed more sedately, then lunged toward him to grab his hand.

  “Hey, wait for me,” she said with a laugh, waving at Ed with her free hand. He handed Mouse’s leash to Stuart. “Let’s head home.” They moved away from the big, lighted wheel where more people were lined up to purchase tickets and take a spin. “Atlanta is so pretty at night,” she mused.

  “I wasn’t born here,” Stuart announced.

  “Oh? Where were you born?”

  “Buckhead.”

  “Buckhead is part of Atlanta.”

  He cast his gaze up to her. “It is? Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. It’s like Midtown and Downtown and Little Five Points.”

  He wrinkled his nose, but didn’t dispute her. Instead, he tugged on her hand and skipped along the sidewalk. Smiling, she was glad he’d emerged from his dark, frightened mood and was back to being his normal, inquisitive, rambunctious self. Although he was a moody kid, he wasn’t unlike most boys his age in that he had an unfortunate preoccupation with bodily noises and he moved at two speeds – hyper and listless.

  “Where were you born?” he asked over his shoulder.

  “Tulsa, Oklahoma.”

  He glanced over his shoulder at her again. “How come?”

  She issued a short laugh. “Because that’s where my parents live. I grew up there, too.”

  “You ever go back there?”

  “Yes. All the time. My family still lives there, so we visit them. Maybe you can come with us next time we go. We’ll take you to Gilcrease Museum. They have a lot of cowboy and Indian things there.”

  He gave a little hop and skip. “Okay.” They stepped inside the lobby and Stuart saluted the doorman, making him chuckle. “We’re back!”

  “And I’m glad to have you back,” Paul replied, giving a nod to Trudy and Ed. “You have a visitor, ma’am,” he added as Ed pressed the elevator button and the doors slid open.

  “We do?”

  “Yes, Ms. Franklin went up about ten minutes ago.”

  It took her a few seconds to grasp the identity of Ms. Franklin. Sissy! She was barely able to stifle a groan. “Thanks.” She felt the iciness of her smile. What the hell was Sissy Franklin doing here with Levi? Alone with Levi. She shut her eyes, scolding herself for getting worked up over that, but . . . God, she could barely tolerate that woman! She wanted to stamp her foot or ball up her fist and slam it into the wall . . . no, Sissy’s face. Instead, she counted to ten and had grappled for self-control by the time the elevator deposited them outside the apartment. Stuart raced to the double doors and flattened his hand on the panel.

  “Good evening, Master Thor,” the feminine voice rang out, making Stuart giggle with delight as the lock gave way. He pushed open the door and galloped in, not waiting for Trudy, as usual. She made a mental note to work with him on manners.

  Her blood rose to a boil at the cozy scene before her. Levi and Sissy sat on the couch, each with a wine glass in hand. Levi sent her a welcoming smile and stood when she entered. Sissy smiled, too, like the proverbial cat who had swallowed the canary.

  “There she is,” Levi said, leaning toward Trudy to kiss her cheek. “Hey, Stuart, allow me to introduce you to a friend of ours. Sissy Franklin, this is Stuart McFarland.”

  Ours? Our friend? Trudy could barely hold back her scoffing laugh. She cle
ared her throat and pressed her fingers against her lips, turning aside.

  “Hello.” Stuart clasped his hands behind his back and barely afforded Sissy a glance before he swung his gaze up to Levi. “You were ʼposed to be working,” he accused.

  Trudy rolled her lips inward as the evil chuckling just kept on bubbling inside her. You tell him, Stewie!

  “And I was, but I’d just signed off when Ms. Franklin arrived.” He patted Stuart’s shoulder, but addressed Trudy. “How was your walk?”

  “We rode the Ferris wheel.”

  “Oh? I bet that was fun, huh?” he asked Stuart and received a less-than-enthusiastic shrug.

  Stuart unhooked the leash from Mouse’s collar, and with no further comment, ran to the laundry room to hang it on the hook in there.

  “He’s as cute as a freckled pup,” Sissy cooed, her gaze slipping from Levi to Trudy. “You’re feathering your little nest here, aren’t you? Want to join us in a glass of wine, hon?”

  Her anger boiled dangerously behind the surface of her skin and stung her mouth, but Trudy managed a tight smile. “No, thank you.” She swung her gaze to Levi. “You two go on with . . . whatever. Excuse me.” Dropping her keys and wallet onto the foyer table, she went toward the kitchen to join Stuart, who was urging Mouse to dance for a doggy treat. He let the crunchy morsel drop into the Chihuahua’s waiting mouth. Trudy took in a deep breath and let it go along with her irritation with having Sissy invade her home.

  “Let’s go watch a movie,” she suggested. “You pick.”

  “Okay!” Stuart looked at the doorway. “What about Levi and that woman?”

  “I guess they’re discussing some sort of boring business. Levi can join us when that woman leaves.”

  In the den, they plopped onto the sofa and Trudy switched on the TV. She called up a list of movies and they scanned through them until Stuart found one he wanted.

  “There, there! Superman!”