And he was gone.
For the next little while, the people Jewel loved the most stuck their heads in the door to see with their own eyes that she was okay. Her brothers, Abigail, Maddie, G.W., Anna Red Bird. Half the town would have paraded into the room had they been allowed to do so, but Eli gave them verbal reports instead and eventually everyone went home.
Later, he came into the bedroom carrying a tray holding dinner. “Hungry?”
“A bit, yes.”
“You look better.”
“I feel better.”
He took a seat in a chair he pulled up next to the bed. As he’d been doing for most of the day, he silently gave thanks that she hadn’t been harmed. Although she looked a hundred times better than she had when he’d found her on the porch earlier, the haunted look remained in her eyes.
Jewel ate as much as she could, then set the tray on the bed. “I need to tell you what happened so that maybe the memories will leave me alone. Is that okay with you?”
He nodded.
Jewel began the story with finding Creighton in the kitchen, then told him what came next, and she ended it with Creighton’s death in the yard. “Miss Edna said it might be a week or two before the bruises on my neck heal.”
Eli could see the ugly red splotches on her throat above the collar of her nightgown. They’d turn black and blue before they faded. The anger he felt toward Creighton filled him with a quiet rage, but he kept that out of his voice as he told her, “Thank you for telling me the whole of it, Jewel. I needed to know what happened.”
“Even though I didn’t want to talk about it, I knew you wanted to know.” What he didn’t know, however, was that the retelling only served to make the memories more vivid. “Has everyone gone home?”
“Yes. You and I are the only ones here.”
“Then will you come to bed with me. I need you to hold me.”
He nodded.
After taking the dinner back to the kitchen that Maddie, Edna, Abigail, and the Crowley brothers had scrubbed clean of all the blood, he returned to the bedroom, removed his clothes, and got into bed beside her. Holding her close, he kissed her hair. “I’ll be right here when you wake up.”
“I love you, Eli.”
“I love you more. Sleep now, sweetheart.”
But as they lay together in the darkness, it was a long time before either of them closed their eyes.
Chapter 17
Jewel awakened the next morning and sure enough, she was in Eli’s arms and her love for him knew no bounds. He was still asleep, so she remained still so as not to awaken him. Blessedly she hadn’t dreamed last night, yet she felt so tired she was certain she hadn’t slept well, but never having have been one to sleep late, she carefully got out of bed, slipped her arms into a robe and left the room.
Creighton remained in the back of her mind. She hoped busying herself with her morning routine would keep him at bay, so she washed up and walked into the kitchen intent upon starting breakfast. However, the moment she entered, the memories hit her like a bucket of ice cold water and she began to tremble. She was thankful to whoever had cleaned the blood from the walls and the floor, but she didn’t know how to clean it from her mind. Looking at the kitchen table, she saw Creighton, so she turned away. Her eyes settled on the back door and the sight brought back the panic and fear. No matter what she tried to do to set the terrible incident aside, it wouldn’t leave, so she left the kitchen and went out and sat on the porch.
And that was where Eli found her when he stepped outside a short while later. She looked over at him with her haunted eyes and said quietly, “I can’t go into the kitchen.”
Eli’s lips tightened and his heart went out to her. “That’s understandable, sweetheart, so I’ll cook breakfast. How’s that?”
She gave him a small smile, “You’re going to cook?”
“Yep. I may not know how to light the stove but I’ll manage.”
Her first instinct was to force herself to handle the chore herself but the memory of the knife being in her hand and how she’d had to use it, overrode all. “Okay.”
“I’ll try not to burn the house down.”
True to his pledge, he didn’t burn the house, but he did burn the bacon and eggs. He also managed to burn some leftover biscuits he found in the breadbox, but Jewel ate around the blackened parts of the meal, and with their love for each other filling their hearts, the Graysons began their day.
Eli didn’t go into the town but stayed by her side. A number of family members stopped by to check on her, and Maddie brought over some food and books. Although Jewel was buoyed by their concern and their presence, she wished Creighton had never entered her life.
The Boston policeman Swan stayed in the area for another few days in order to help the Michigan authorities wrap up the investigation and the paperwork surrounding the deaths of Cecile and Creighton. The morning he was to leave, he had Vernon drive him over to the Grayson’s place before heading off to the train station, so he could say his goodbyes.
Standing by the wagon, Eli looked up into Swan’s blue eyes and said, “Thanks for everything, Bryce.”
“Thanks for your help, too, Eli. How’s your wife?”
She was standing on the porch watching their exchange but did not venture over. “Doing okay, considering.”
Swan nodded his understanding, then said, “Give her my regards. If you ever come to Boston be sure to look me up.”
“Will do. Godspeed.”
Swan acknowledged the blessing and Vernon drove away.
Eli walked back to the porch where Jewel stood and asked her. “What do you want to do today, Jewel?”
She shrugged. Three days had passed since her encounter with Creighton, and no matter how hard she tried, the incident wouldn’t leave her be. “You should go on into town. Aren’t you and G.W. supposed to be printing the first issue today?”
“Yes, we are.”
“Then go. I’ll be fine here.”
Eli was eager to get the presses rolling but not at her expense. He’d stay by her side until the snow started falling if it would help. “I don’t want you here alone, Jewel.”
“I appreciate the concern, Eli, but you have things to do and I told Maddie I’d stop by and see her today, so I’m going to drive over.”
Eli was torn. He didn’t want to leave her, because he knew she was still suffering.
She sensed that. “If I told you I’d feel better if you left me, would you go then?”
“Trying to get rid of me, are you?”
“Of course,” she teased.
He eased her into his arms and held her against his heart. For the hundredth time he wished he had been the one to take on Creighton, but since he hadn’t, all he could offer her was his love and care. “Okay, I’ll go to town and you go to Maddie’s. I’ll see you later.”
He placed a solemn kiss on her brow, then went to get his buggy.
Once he was gone, Jewel forced herself to enter the empty house. It echoed with silence. She still had a hard time being in the kitchen and was purposefully avoiding it. Her lovely new kitchen and home that had been erected with so much love was now fouled by horror and death, and she had no idea how to remedy that either.
Jewel drove up to Maddie’s front gate and the dogs barked happy greetings. She smiled and reminded herself to ask Maddie if the dogs and G.W. had come to a truce.
“They are still negotiating,” Maddie replied when Jewel posed the question as the two friends sat on the porch drinking coffee. “The dogs have yielded enough to let him enter the gate, and he has stopped asking that they be penned up when he visits.”
“Sounds like progress.”
“I’m taking it a day at a time.”
“Eli and G.W. are putting out the first edition of the new Gazette today.”
“That’s pretty exciting, isn’t it?”
Jewel could see Maddie watching her with concerned eyes and she looked off.
“How are you gett
ing on, Jewel?”
“Scared to be in my own kitchen,” she stated flatly. “Silly isn’t it.”
“Not really. Bad memories in there.”
“Never had anything scare me the way he did.”
“But you handled yourself, and you’re here. That has to count for something.”
“I killed a man in my own home, Maddie. I see him every time I walk in there.”
“I imagine you will for a while, but what were your choices? You could have been weak and we would have already buried you, or you could have been strong like you were and be here to stand up with me at my wedding next month.”
“Next month?”
Maddie nodded.
“Really?”
“No sense in waiting. It’s not as if we’re dewy-eyed virgins.” She brought the subject back around. “Jewel, I want you to do something for me. Each and every time you walk into your kitchen, think of how strong you were that day. Think of how brave you were. Creighton may have taken Cecile’s life but you didn’t let him take yours.”
Jewel mused over the advice, but wasn’t sure if she could follow through on the suggestion.
“Will you at least think about it?”
“I will.”
“Promise?”
Jewel didn’t know what she’d do without the people she loved. “Cross my heart,” she replied, making the sign with her finger.
“I’m holding you to that. Now let’s talk about the wedding.”
Jewel had her first nightmare that night. Creighton was chasing her. His skull face was covered with blood and he had his hands around her neck. Jewel was fighting him in and out of the dream. She didn’t have the knife this time and Cecile was in the kitchen, too, screaming for Jewel’s death.
Jewel’s screams awakened Eli instantly. She was screaming and fighting and rolling all over the bed. He grabbed her hands and called her name.
“Nooo! Let me go!”
“Jewel! Jewel! Baby, wake up. It’s a dream. Jewel!”
Jewel’s eyes popped open, and seeing Eli above her, she grabbed him and held on tight. “Oh, god.”
He rocked her, shushed her, and kept her close.
“Bad dream,” she whispered, glad it hadn’t been real. So glad.
“It’s okay.”
“Creighton was there. Cecile, too.”
“The only ones here now are you and me, and I love you.” Eli was shaken but fought for calm so he could comfort her. “Do you want some water?”
“No. Just hold me.”
After a few more moments, she took a deep breath.
“Better?” he asked
“I think so.”
He peered down into her shadow-filled face hoping he’d be able to see that she was, but it was so dark he was unable to take her true measure.
“I’ve never had nightmares before.”
“You’ve been through a lot.”
“First I’m scared to be in the kitchen, now I’m going to be afraid to sleep.” She paused and said, “Remember the three wishes you asked me about when we first got married?”
“I do.”
“One is that I wish this had never happened.”
He kissed her brow. “Me too, but we’ll get through it, and we’ll do it together.”
She nodded then placed her cheek against his heart once more. She found his solid presence an anchor, a port in the storm that had taken over her life. “I’m sorry I woke you up this way. Did I hit you?”
“A couple of times,” he chuckled softly, “but I’ll be fine. Do you think you can go back to sleep?”
“No.”
“Then how about we get the checkerboard out?” He was hoping to find a way to distract her from the dream and it was the first idea to pop into his head.
She looked up. “Checkers?”
He shrugged. “Why not? Might take your mind off things, especially when I win.”
“Excuse me?” she begged to differ. “Do you know that I am the Crowley champion?”
He chucked her chin. “But I cheat.”
She couldn’t help herself, she laughed and hugged him tight. “You are so wonderful and so good for me, Eli Grayson.”
“Can I get that in writing?”
She felt her love for him banish the remnants of the awful dream. “I’ll shout it from the rooftops if you’d like.”
For Eli, holding her soft body brought home the fact that they hadn’t made love in a dog’s age, but since he didn’t feel as if now was the time to broach the subject, he got up to light the lamps and find the checkerboard.
Jewel found out after they began the first game that he hadn’t lied. He did cheat. Repeatedly. “I don’t believe you,” she said laughing at his attempts to jump his checker to a spot where he knew he couldn’t.
“What?” he asked innocently. “There’s nothing in the rules saying I can’t jump here.”
“You know good and darn well you can’t jump that way. Move that piece.”
Eli was grinning and so was she.
He moved his piece, albeit reluctantly, and she won the game two moves later.
“Told you I was the champion.”
“Told you I cheated.”
They were seated on the floor with the board between them. “I’ve never played checkers at four in the morning before,” the happy Jewel confessed.
“Just trying to put more fun in your life.”
“And you’re doing a great job.”
She ran her eyes over the handsome planes of his face and acknowledged once again how good it was to be married to him. She also acknowledged that it had been quite a while since they’d made love, and she wanted to rectify that because she missed the intimacy of their marriage. “Since you can’t beat me in checkers, even cheating, how about we play something a bit more challenging.”
“Such as?”
“I believe it’s called, The Dance of the Little Death.”
Eli smiled. “I’ve heard of that game. I’m very good at it in fact.”
“Are you really? Can you teach it to me?”
“Thought you’d never ask….”
He pushed the board away and coaxed her onto his lap. “First,” he husked out against her ear, “I have to take off your gown.”
Jewel was melting just from the low, thick timbre of his voice. “Why?”
He opened the two buttons on her gown and when it fell open he brushed his mouth over the hollow of her bruised throat, “Because that’s a rule…and so that I can kiss you here.” He took a nipple into his mouth and felt her shimmer in response. Only after the bud was tight and damp did he transfer his attention to the other side, “And then here.” He spent such a long lazy time on the second bud, she couldn’t help but moan with pleasure.
“I think I’m going to like this game,” Jewel whispered.
“I think so, too.”
And they were both right because he made love to her with all the tenderness and passion he could muster. He wanted his kisses to replace the terror of her dreams. Wanted her to think only of the two of them making love when she climbed into bed at night. He pleasured her slowly, fiercely, and so completely that she danced the little death until the sun came up and then slept.
But in spite of that passionate interlude, the nightmares continued to plague her, and she often awakened Eli with her tossing and screams. Each time it occurred he pulled her close, held her until she calmed, and waited for her to drift back into sleep.
They plagued her so totally that she took to sitting out on the porch at night to escape them. She moved through her days like a wraith—silent, alone. Eli could feel her slipping away from him but he didn’t know how to bring her back, and it was killing him. They hadn’t made love again, but he didn’t miss that as much as he missed her smile, her laugh, and her sass. He forced himself to be patient and to give her as much time as she needed to get herself sorted out, because he didn’t know what else to do.
And then one morning, he awakened to the
smells of bacon frying. Thinking he might be the one dreaming now, he sat up and sniffed the air. It was bacon. Tossing aside the thin blanket, he left the bedroom and padded into the kitchen. He half expected to see his mother or maybe Maddie standing by the stove, but it was Jewel. “Good morning,” he said, unable to keep the surprise out of his voice.
“Morning.” She knew he was wondering what she was doing in the kitchen she’d been so pointedly avoiding for the past few weeks. “Surprised?”
“A bit, yes.”
She cracked some eggs in a bowl. “I decided, I had to get over this and the only way to do it was to do it. I was getting so sick and tired of running scared that last night while I was out on the porch, I finally decided to take Maddie’s advice.” She told him what Maddie had asked of her. “I didn’t let Creighton take my life but I was letting him take my soul.”
Eli studied her. “So does that mean I have my wife back?”
“Most of her. I can still see him sitting there at the table.” And she could, but she was doing her best not to let the sight rattle her to the point that it forced her to crawl back into her shell. “I am a Crowley after all.”
“And a Grayson, I might add,” he said with a smile. He was glad to see her finally taking the bull by the horns. He’d been so worried about her. Happy that she was beginning to fight back, he came up behind her while she was scrambling the eggs in the skillet and placed his arms around her waist, nuzzled the soft skin on her neck. “We Graysons may not be as well known for our courage and bravery as the Crowleys, but we are known for our loving, and I know the perfect way to help banish Creighton from our table once and for all.”
She turned, her face serious. “How?”
He grinned.
She chuckled. “Eli Grayson. We’re supposed to be having breakfast.”
“I prefer to have you first, so I’m going to wash up and when I come back I want you sitting on that table, buttons open and your denims off.”
Her eyes widened.
He pressed his lips to hers. “Say, ‘Yes, Eli.’”
Grinning at her very scandalous husband, she answered, “Yes, Eli.”
He left, and when he returned his wife was seated on the kitchen table without a stitch on. His manhood hardened instantaneously. “You are such an obedient wife, Jewel Grayson.”
Jewel Page 26
