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Tuesday & Thursday. Darby
The man I was crazy about woke up the next morning.
There were tests to be run, exams done, and even an MRI.
And from the moment I paged the nurse after Mark opened his eyes and said, “Hey, sunshine,” we didn’t have a moment to ourselves.
I’d not been this close to the aftermath of a resuscitation before, not even with Priscilla. That had been such a weird case, I’d kept my distance. And even though his mother and sisters buzzed around, I was a constant.
He spent two days in the hospital after the Monday. I only got called away once during that time frame, late on the Tuesday, to do a resuscitation. One which was monitored quite closely, I’ll have you know. Other than some lightheadedness, I passed that test with flying colors.
When I got back to the hospital Mark, Rick, and Prairie were in, Mark was out for a test Doc Jacoby had ordered. I could sense he was nearby, somewhere within a few floors, but he was distracted.
It was something new I’d have to learn to deal with. But it did reassure me he was okay.
With some time on my hands, I decided to go check on Prairie and Rick. I’d peeked in on them briefly during Mark’s surgery, but they’d been sleeping, as had Ian and Amanda.
All four were awake when I stopped in Tuesday evening. Prairie and Ian were talking quietly when I rapped on the door. Ian smiled, got up, and gave me a hug when I came in. “Thank you so much, Detective.”
“Just doing my job.” I pulled back and returned the smile.
He grinned back, tears filling his eyes. Kind of a funny sight from someone so muscled. He turned, brushing at his lashes, and said, “Prairie, this is Darby Shaw.”
“I remember you,” she said quietly, extending a hand to me. I took it, and we shook. “I was in the office the day you came in to do your initial paperwork.”
I wasn’t sure what to say, so I let it drop.
She licked her lips, looked briefly at Ian, then back to me. “Thank you for bringing me back.”
I squeezed her hand. “Any time, Ms. Rasmussen.”
“Oh, I think you’d better call me Prairie. It’s not every day one meets the person who brought them back from the dead.”
I swallowed hard. In three years, these meetings hadn’t gotten any more comfortable. “All right, Prairie.”
Ian cleared his throat. “Prairie’s agreed to marry me.”
He held up her hand to show the engagement ring.
Prairie blushed.
I grinned. “Congratulations to both of you.”
Ian looked at Prairie lovingly, then back at me. “We’d like you to be the maid of honor at the wedding.”
I put a hand to my chest. “Oh, I really don’t—”
“We want you to. If you hadn’t done what you did, I wouldn’t be here,” Prairie said.
“I was just doing my job,” I protested.
“Please. We would be so honored to have you. We’re going to get married in a month, as soon as Prairie’s strong enough,” Ian said.
“Wow. Are you sure? Surely you’d rather one of your a girlfriends, Prairie?”
“My girlfriends are on board with the plan. Please say yes.”
Well, this was a first. I’d gotten a couple marriage proposals from a couple of male victims I’d resuscitated over the years. But never anything like this.
“Please, Detective,” Ian said.
I closed my eyes and nodded. “Okay. Let me know the day and I’ll make sure I’m there.”
I took my leave shortly thereafter and went to check on Rick. Amanda was with him, but unlike Ian, she looked a little disgruntled.
“Detective,” she said when I came in. “Maybe you can settle an argument. This one,” she glared and nodded at Rick, “wants to keep digging into the DSHA thing.”
I held up my hands. “Leave me out of it.”
Rick shot Amanda a glare. “See, I told you to drop it. She wasn’t going to get involved.”
Amanda frowned.
“I can come back,” I said, “if you two aren’t up for a visitor.”
Rick cleared his face carefully and pushed his glasses up his nose. “No, it’s fine. Isn’t it, Amanda?”
She nodded brusquely, jerking to her feet. “I’m going to get a snack. I’ll be back.”
She left, and I sat down in the chair she’d vacated, a little weak still from the resuscitation I’d done earlier.
“Sorry.” Rick watched her stomp down the hall outside his room. “She wants me to get out of the project. But I can’t. There’s too much at stake.”
“I understand. Both of your sides, honestly. Rick, she was so torn up about possibly losing you when you were dead.”
“You wouldn’t know it now.”
I patted his arm. “Trust me, that woman loves you, and she’s afraid to show it.”
“That’s what Genova said.”
“Genova’s a wise woman when she wants to be.”
Rick grinned. “Thanks for bringing me back.”
“I hope I don’t have to do it again. Amanda’s right about one thing—you’re playing with fire. You, Genova, the whole lot of you.”
“We know. But it’s something that needs doing. I’m just glad it wasn’t what led to Prairie’s murder ultimately.”
“In a roundabout way, it was. If you guys hadn’t been digging, Prairie wouldn’t have found out what she did about Winifred.”
Rick nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah, there is that.”
I let things die to silence for a moment, then said, “Rick, I need to ask you a question about Amanda.”
“What’s that?”
“When you two touch, does it feel different than with anyone else?”
He frowned. “Yeah, now that you mention it, it does. Been like that since I came into my powers. Only with her. Why?”
I swallowed hard. “When you get sprung from here, when you’re recovered, I need to talk to you about something.”
“Why not talk about it now?”
I licked my lips. “Because I haven’t exactly sorted it out.”
“Come on, Detective. I’m a curious fellow. You’d better spill the beans right now.”
I looked out the glass doors, got up, and closed the curtain so we couldn’t be seen. “I reacted to her when I touched her too. The only other person I’ve done that with is Mark, and his connection is really strong compared to the one I made with Amanda.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You’re not making any sense.”
“Mark’s DNA is different than your average human or superhuman. My geneticist thinks it’s possible he’s something in between. There’s a lot of things that happen between him and me, things otherwise inexplicable.”
“Such as?”
I swallowed hard and started shaking. I hadn’t told anyone else besides Mark what my suspicions were. But Rick had the right to know, especially if Amanda was like Mark in so many respects. He’d have to figure out how to break the news to her.
“We can heal each other of injuries. And we have an almost telepathic link. We can read each other’s thoughts.”
Rick frowned. “Have you guys ever had sex?”
My whole body flushed hot. “No. Why?”
“I’ve heard of some supers gaining the telepathic link when they’ve gotten involved with each other. But never a super and a normal. And not the healing bit.”
“You mean you and Genova...?”
He nodded. “It’s really strong for a while after we’ve been intimate, and slowly fades over time.”
I swallowed hard.
“Keep in mind, she is an empath.”
“Yeah,” I said.
The door slid open.
“We’ll talk about this more some other time,” Rick said.
“I look forward to it.” I stood as the nurse came around the curtain. “I’m glad you’re doing so well, Richard.”
“Thanks to you.”
I squeezed his hand, then slipped out to return to my partner, my mind a little heavier than it had been fifteen minutes earlier.
* * *
MARK WAS RELEASED ON Wednesday afternoon. I had to go back to work Thursday, so his mother was going to come care for him. His home had been cleared as a crime scene, and Marie would oversee some of the repairs that were supposed to occur on Thursday.
Even though my flat had been released as a crime scene as well, nearly everything needed to go into an incinerator. My renter’s insurance was sending out an adjuster on Friday afternoon, so until that time, I had to stay out.
With Mark needing someone to keep an eye on him, and since he was willing to have me, I decided to stay with him until other arrangements could be made.
He was exhausted shifting locations on Wednesday night and went to sleep shortly after getting settled in the guest room. He’d insisted I stay in the master.
I left for work reluctantly Thursday morning at seven-thirty. His mother was on his way over to babysit him, but I left before she arrived, and incidentally, before he woke up.
She had dinner ready for both of us when I got home.
And suspiciously, candles glowing on his dining table, a bottle of red wine open and sitting in a wine bucket, and a big serving dish filled with spaghetti and meatballs.
I raised an eyebrow as I set my purse in the coat closet. “Marie? What’s this?”
“Incentive!” she called from the kitchen. “I expect more grandchildren! Let me know if you need more wine, Mark Phillip.”
Mark, who had been sitting on the couch this whole time, snorted. He got up. “Apparently, Ma thinks we need to talk.”
It was on my to-do list. But I didn’t expect it to be in such a, erm, romantic setting.
I nodded slowly, my cheeks hot at Marie’s suggestion. “Oh.”
Mark leaned heavily on a cane and snickered. “That’s kind of the reaction I had, too.”
I laughed.
“Sit down, you two,” Marie called from the kitchen. “I’m bringing in the last of it, then, Darby? I’ll leave Mark in your capable hands.”
“Ma, I’m nearly forty years old. I don’t need a babysitter.”
She brought in a basket of garlic bread and a leafy salad. “You need one if I say you need one.”
Mark rolled his eyes.
I bit back a snicker.
Shut up, Darby, Mark said. His empathic powers had gotten stronger since he’d woken up, and had affected me as well. I could read him very well. Not perfectly, and not all the time—while I’d been at work that day, it was non-existent, but here, in the same room with him, it was unbelievably strong.
Your mom is funny, I told him.
Yeah, real funny. He raised an eyebrow as sweat broke out on his forehead. I didn’t think Marie saw it, but I did.
Shall we sit as your mom said?
Sure, he said.
I followed him to the table and waited for him to sit and get situated comfortably.
Marie kissed him on his cheek. “Behave tonight, you two. And don’t give this pretty lady any of your guff, Mark.”
“I love you too, Ma.”
She left, shutting the door quietly behind her.
I moved to dish up Mark’s plate, but he was already making the same move and plopped a heap onto my plate. I sat and spread my napkin on my lap. “I think your mother is trying to set us up.”
Mark nodded, his eyes on the spaghetti he was loading on his plate. “Does she really need to try?”
I smirked and poured the wine. “What do you remember after Winifred stabbed you?”
“All of it. Right up until you told me you loved me.”
I swallowed, bumping the rim of his wine glass with the spout of the bottle in my surprise. “You died right after.”
“I know. I was there.” He forked up some spaghetti and a chunk of meatball, twirled. “Is it true, or was it in the moment?”
“It’s true,” I said softly.
He grinned. “What made you realize it?”
I shrugged. “How much I missed you after you headed home on Saturday.”
He put his fork down and reached for me, taking both of my hands. The electricity fired and neither of us flinched. Oddly enough, the last few days, his touch hadn’t been painful, either. I hoped it stayed that way. “You missed me, huh?”
“More than you can know. I was coming back here, and I was going to tell you. Then, there was a point where I wasn’t sure I’d be able to bring you back, and I didn’t know what I’d do.”
“You shouldn’t doubt yourself, Darb.”
I leaned forward. “I know, but with that situation, it was too easy to do.”
He squeezed my hands. “I’d always come back for you.”
I squeezed in return. “Come on, let’s eat.”
We enjoyed the meal, staying away from the topic. It was delightful to laugh with him, give him the latest from the station house, and share in general. The meal lifted my spirits higher than they’d been in a long time.
After dinner, I asked him if he was feeling well enough for a stroll around the block. “Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you,” I assured.
“Those chicken legs? I’ll have to slow down for you.”
We grabbed jackets. October had begun, and it was always a month for changes. We walked hand in hand around the block, breathing deeply, our steps and his cane matching strides. On the last turn, he stopped.
“Everything okay?” I asked, watching him in the late evening sun.
You know it is, Darb.
Oh, we’re resorting to this again?
He smiled and pulled me to him. I kinda like it. It’s private, so much more intimate, and I can know exactly what you’re thinking.
Careful with those powers, bud. You’ll have to register if someone catches on.
See what I mean? He asked. “I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that. The only person I can hear is you, and you’re the only non-empath who can read my mind.”
I looked around, hoping a neighbor wasn’t lurking about. “You know what I mean, Mark. You can’t be too casual about this. You saw what happened with me.”
“And look where it brought us. Right here to this moment when I’m going to kiss you.”
“You can’t even reach me, not with the cane at least.”
“Ooh, a challenge.” He grinned, his green eyes getting closer to mine. I like challenges.
I rolled my eyes but lifted on my tiptoes as high as my size six boots would let me. He leaned down.
This is going to be so awkward, I thought to myself.
He heard it. Trust me, you’re worth it.
With more strength than I thought him capable, he boosted me into his arms.
And kissed me.
The End
Thank you for reading Omission! If you’ve enjoyed it, please leave a review—it can be as short or as long as you want!
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And last, the adventure continues in The Last First Date. If you love where Darby & Mark are headed, this little short story is icing on the cake!
Thanks for reading!
~L.S.
A note from the author
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WELL, IT SEEMS WE’VE reached the end of Omission. This is the book that started it all for Darby and Mark, written originally in November 2009. As such, I hold a deep affection for this book.
I have a lot of people to thank. First, a big shout out to Paula Askren and Steve Mathisen for naming the captain! Thanks to them, the captain is now Captain Stanley Moustakas!
I wouldn’t be half the writer I am without a lot of support along the way. In no particular order, thanks to all the writers who have helped me over the years: Kristina Seleshanko, Juliet Kincaid, Dave Bondank, Julia Nelson, and Diane Graham. Special shout out to Linda Yezak, who keeps me sane all the way from Texas. It’s a tall order, but I’m so thankful for our friendship.
I lean pretty hard on certain websites for research, and my favorite is Lee Lofland’s The Graveyard Shift. If I ever have a question, I check there first. Thanks, Lee, for having an amazing resource.
Thanks to my beta readers, K.M. Weiland and Heather (H.A.) Titus. It helps to have people who can help you see your own shortcomings, and I have many. I must thank K.M. particularly for putting up with my own special brand of neurosis (because what author isn’t a bit neurotic when it comes to their own work?) She helped me get right much of what you’ve just read.
Thank you to my editor, Grace Bridges, for everything you’ve helped me with these last two years and for taking a chance on me.
And Steve Mathisen gets another nod for being my proofreader. Thanks for helping make my words gleam.
Sarah Rogers deserves an extra-special thank you for bringing Darby, Mark, and the rest of the cast to life with her audiobook narration for the box set as well as Omission. I love how she makes everyone sound, and hope we have a long working relationship!
Josh Hardt, Aaron DeMott, and I met at Realm Makers in St. Louis in 2015, and since then, I can count them as two of my closest friends. Together, we are the hosts of the Lasers, Dragons, and Keyboards Podcast, and they have to put up with my giggling, and my craziness in post-production. Even though we are spread across the Midwest, I look forward to when we hang out. Hopefully, we’ll be together again at Realm Makers 2017!
To my children, whom I hope won’t read these books for a few years more (or I’m going to have a LOT of explaining to do,) thank you for being patient with me when I’m working. Love you.
Last, but not least, thank you to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
I have a lot of fun playing in Darby’s parallel universe. While I’ve tried my best to remain true to actual police procedure, I have taken some liberties with some things. Any mistakes are either intentional or my own fault.
Liberty Speidel
December 2016
From her super-secret lair near Kansas City, Liberty Speidel imagines no-nonsense stories with heart-hitting appeal. Subsisting a little too heavily on Earl Grey tea and dark chocolate-covered almonds, she claims this helps her write the highly-acclaimed Darby Shaw Chronicles and upcoming Justice trilogy. Her kids occasionally pull her away from the computer for camping and hiking trips with her beloved Labrador Retriever.
Find out more about her at LibertySpeidel.com and catch her hamming it up over at LasersDragonsAndKeyboards.com or connect with her on these social networks:
