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We gathered our stuff from the small cottage and met Tom and Raven in the big house, holing up in the living room, and taking turns keeping watch through the remainder of the night. At first light, we piled into the car for the hour-long ride back to the shore.
Silent and tense, everyone except me kept vigilant watch on everything around us. Valerie held my hand, but she was as distracted by the sparse traffic as Tom and Raven, like they were expecting the neighboring vehicles to ram us off the road. I figured I’d get some sort of heads up if danger revealed its ugly head, so I chose to focus on entertaining Hannah with the toys hanging from her car seat.
She cooed and kicked until we reached the halfway mark and then she gave a heavy sigh and slipped into sleep. How I wished I could just drop into sleep like a baby. I wasn’t sure if I got any sleep last night at all; and from the looks of Tom, Raven, and Valerie, I don’t think anyone else did either.
“Maybe after we take a nap, we can head down to Boston and entertain the kids a little,” Valerie said with a yawn as we pulled into the driveway. I just nodded. Every sensation of exhaustion settled into my skin, from the ache in my muscles to the heaviness of my eyes. I didn’t have enough energy to yawn, and the short trip from the car into the house felt like I was trudging through quicksand. Sluggish didn’t begin to describe my movement, but Valerie led me inside and tucked me into bed, curling up next to me.
She started snoring before sleep finally claimed me.
The scraping of a chair snapped my eyes open and I turned my head. Valerie stood, stretching, in front of the computer and my gaze landed on the clock. It took a few moments to identify the four. The following numbers were slower to materialize in my head, but Valerie turned in my direction, pulling my attention away from the clock.
“How are you feeling?”
“I slept for nine hours?” This was the longest I had slept in one go without waking from horrible nightmares. As a matter of fact, I didn’t recall any dreams.
“Yep,” she said pulling her arms back to her sides.
“Wow,” I blinked and rubbed my face, sitting up and stretching. My back and neck made various cracking sounds and I offered Valerie a smile before swinging out of bed and heading for the bathroom.
The shower washed the cobwebs from my brain and by the time I finished cleaning up, my energy level skyrocketed. I paused at the bedroom door, listening with both my ears and my mind. Jennifer and Steve hadn’t come back yet and I focused on my room. Stepping inside, I closed the distance and pulled Valerie into my arms, covering her protest with my mouth.
I loved how her mind went fuzzy every time we kissed. For me, time stopped and it was just the two of us; every cell in my body ached for her. I wasn’t sure if this was a natural byproduct of love, or if it was due to the connection we had, but it was unnaturally natural.
She broke the kiss first.
“Chris, we don’t have time for this,” she said, meeting my gaze.
I just raised an eyebrow, silently challenging her.
“Later,” she whispered and wiggled out of my arms.
“No one is home,” I said, choosing simple words that flowed instead of multi-syllable ones.
She glanced at the clock. “We don’t really have time,” she stressed, but she still reached for the towel wrapped around my waist, yanking it away with a playful grin. “Get dressed,” she added and snapped the towel at me.
The corner caught my thigh, stinging as it whipped across my flesh. I jumped back out of range and sighed.
“You sure?” I asked spreading my arms out with the question.
She threw the towel at me this time. “Traffic is going to be a bitch, and we only have a few more hours left before visiting hours are over.”
Exasperation snaked into my skin. I dressed quickly and ran a comb through my hair before turning toward her. “You owe me.” I pointed and got a sly smile in return.
“I promise I’ll make it up to you.”
The lilt of her voice promised a great deal of pleasure when we got back, and I succumbed to her will, letting her drag me out of the house.
“Can I drive?” I asked and she stopped, looking between the keys and the car.
When her gaze met mine, she shook her head. “Not yet.”
“Come on, live dangerously,” I stuttered out.
She sighed and I could see her resolve waning so I put my hand out for the keys. Her brow furrowed and she shook her head, bypassing me and settling in the driver seat before I could respond.
I stomped around to the passenger side, dejected. I wanted to be self-reliant again, with or without my memory.
“If you had a seizure while driving...” She trailed off and started the car, finally meeting my gaze. “You could kill us both,” she finished and my irritation disappeared. I could care less about my well-being, but if it put her in danger, well, I wasn’t willing to do that if I could help it.
“Okay,” I said and settled in.
Traffic was heavy, but I passed the time reading the signs. Valerie drilled me on numbers and letters and pronunciation, so the ride went much faster than it would have if I had resorted to sulking.
“Maybe I can take you driving in one of the school parking lots tomorrow,” she said as we pulled into the garage across from the hospital. She glanced at her watch. “We’re just in time for evening story time.”
The reception we received when we stepped off the elevator warmed my soul and I traded a glance with Valerie. The children surrounded us, more than excited to see Valerie, but equally excited to see me. I scanned the faces, looking for the little girl who had taken a seat by me the last time I warmed the piano bench and, when I couldn’t find her, I glanced at Valerie. The small shake of her head constricted my throat and I had to force the smile to remain on my lips.
“Are you going to sing for us?” a little girl with big green eyes and a colorful bandana asked.
“I’m going to try,” I said in my less than smooth way, but none of the children seemed to mind my stuttering. If I could have waved a magic wand and healed every last one of them I would. Instead of harping on their illnesses, I turned toward the piano, biting my lip as I approached. Nerves jumbled in my belly and I wondered if I’d be able to perform as flawlessly as I had last time.
I sat on the bench and sent my most dazzling and confident smile in the direction of the children, but truth be told, I was terrified. Inhaling, I placed my fingers on the keys, running up and down the keys, listening to the tones like I had that first time.
“You ready?” I asked the crowd and cracked my fingers after the loud chorus of ‘yes’ echoed in the atrium. With a quick glance at Valerie, my fingers started the slow and haunting rhythm of ‘Hallelujah’ to the delight of the children.
As I started signing, I glanced at Valerie and the rapture in her expression fueled the power of my voice, carrying it through the atrium like an offering to heaven above. The heightened color in her cheeks made me grin because I knew damn well when this was over; she’d give me one hell of a show of her own.
I refocused on the kids surrounding me, as their sweet voices joined mine in the chorus. The last note hung on the air and then I lifted my fingers off the keys, smiling at the crowd.
“Play something else!” a little boy with tufts of hair begged, his little hands still clapping in anticipation.
I closed my eyes and hung my head a moment, hoping something else would surface. I had no idea what the hell would come forth when my hands found the keys again, but as soon as they began moving, words miraculously spouted from my mouth. The kids knew this one too and a quick glance at Valerie told me her hypothesis was correct.
Whispers from above pulled my attention away from the kids, but it didn’t stop the performance. I stared at the camera pointed in my direction for longer than I should have before returning my gaze to the crowd singing the song with me.
“More!” they chanted when I finished the final note. Their enthusiasm was intoxicating and I grinned, stretching my fingers before dropping them to the keys for another mysterious song. This time, my hands weren’t as quick to pick a song and I glanced at Valerie. She gave me a shrug and my fingers found an appropriate tune. Silence blanketed the room as the lyrics to ‘Angel’ came rolling off my tongue. Slow and deep and the children swayed with the melancholy tune. Both the words and the music sent shivers through me and I met Valerie’s intense gaze.
Tears filled her eyes and she sent a strained smile in my direction before dropping her lips to the head of the child sitting in her lap. A cascade of sparkles drifted over the child and I almost lost my place in the song, but my hands and mouth were on some different wavelength. They continued until the last note faded in the atrium.
After a beat of silence, the clapping started. I pulled my hands away from the keyboard, pushing the bench back a few feet, offering the crowd an uncomfortable smile. Humbled was the best word to describe the reaction, and I dropped my gaze to my hands, wondering where the music was coming from. Before my brain wrapped around my silent question, a voice broke through my reverie.
“Mr. Ryan?” a voice called from the hallway and I turned, looking directly at a camera and a man with a microphone. He moved closer toward me with the cameraman tagging along.
“Mr. Ryan, we understand you woke from a coma recently,” he started and my eyebrows rose. I glanced at Valerie, but she had her back to me and was preoccupied with setting the child in her arms down.
“Yes,” I said turning back to him.
“Can you tell us what happened?”
I shook my head and before he hurled another question in my direction, Valerie intercepted him.
“Mr. Ryan isn’t giving any interviews,” she said, blocking the reporter.
“He seems perfectly capable,” the reporter started and tried to step around her, but she blocked his path again.
“Do I have to call security?” she asked, and the reporter snapped his gaze to hers. “You know damned well you aren’t supposed to film the children here without parental consent.”
He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, handing it to her.
“We got permission.”
Valerie handed him the paper. “Fine, you can film the kids, but Chris Ryan is not available for an interview,” she said, and I stared at the tense form of her back.
“Do you mind talking to us for a few minutes?” the reported called over her shoulder and she sent a warning glare in my direction. I glanced at the dispersing kids and then back at the camera offering a shrug.
“I don’t have anything to say,” I stuttered and the reporter’s hand holding the microphone dropped a fraction, along with his jaw. My gaze flitted to Valerie’s and back and her relief actually stroked my skin from ten feet away.
“But...”
“Enough,” Valerie snarled catching the reporter’s attention. “I will call security.”
His lips tightened and I stood, crossing to Valerie.
“We should go,” I said, wrapping my arm around her waist before she got ornery. I led her away even as the reporter and camera followed. When we stepped into the elevator, I put my hand up, stopping them with my open palm and nothing else. When the elevator doors shut, I glanced at Valerie. “What was the problem?”
“Reporters can be royal assholes,” she said and offered nothing more. The good mood from earlier seemed to be gone now, and a level of disappointment settled into me.
We crossed to the car in silence and it wasn’t until we hit Interstate 95 North that she sighed.
“I’m sorry,” she said glancing at me before turning back to the road. “You did fantastic, by the way,” she added.
“Thanks.” I kept my gaze out the window until her hand landed on my thigh. I covered her petite fingers with mine and then glanced at her.
“I almost lost my place when you kissed that little girl’s head. It looked like a shower of sparkles fell over her.”
Valerie let out a small laugh and chanced a quick look in my direction. “That’s my healing magic,” she said and sent a wink in my direction. “Amber is going to have a miraculous recovery. It’ll stump the doctors, and they will round up specialists but they won’t find a thing wrong with that little girl. It’ll almost be like that impromptu concert of yours...” She drifted off. “Shit.”
“What?” I was still digesting the healing magic conversation. I mean, I knew she could read minds and talk to me in my head, but I had no real basis to understand the exact extent of her unique power set. She had said several times she tried to heal me when she arrived at the hospital, but I never really connected the dots until now.
“I may have put you in the miracle maker crossfire.”
I shrugged, again not connecting the pieces together.
“The reporters are going to latch onto that when they find out, and I’m afraid of what that will do to you.”
I still didn’t get her aversion to reporters. “Why didn’t you let me talk to them?” I asked.
“Because they could have triggered a seizure and I figured you wouldn’t want that broadcast over all the news stations in the tri-state area.”
She had a point and I squeezed her hand. “You really think I did well?”
The grin that formed on her lips, along with the return of the light in her eyes told me everything I needed to know and I couldn’t wait to get her alone for that rain check.