by Amanda Uhl
“Really, it’s delayed? Where’s Tom?”
“He had to go back to work. He only had so much vacation time, and he couldn’t afford to burn it all if we were going to need it later when you were well enough to attend the wedding.”
Grace nodded her understanding.
“So, is David the one?” Her sister asked hesitantly.
“Yes, he is.”
“He’s handsome, I’ll give you that, but he seems a bit…controlling. I mean, he wouldn’t let anyone come near you the other day, not even Mom, for about half the day. The doctors said they thought it would help if someone who knew you intimately could spend some time with you. I guess that made sense, but it was hard to take he was the one who could help you and not us. I mean, we’ve known you forever. You’ve only known him for a few months.” Claire was trying, but she couldn’t keep the hurt from her voice.
“Claire, I know it seems weird. And it’s true I’ve only known David a short time. But…I love him. He’s a bit overbearing and direct at times, but that’s one of the things I love about him. David cares about me. Truly cares. He’s shown me over and over again he’s willing to do anything to protect me. I think…I think I struck gold, Claire.”
“Wow. Really? Wow. You never talked that way about Greg. So, he’s the one, huh? Does this mean you guys will get married?”
“Well, I don’t know. David hasn’t asked me.” Grace frowned. “I mean there hasn’t been time. And I’m not looking to rush into anything. But if he does ask me, I might say yes. We’ll see.”
“Wow.”
“Is that all you can say?”
Claire laughed. “Sorry, it’s such a surprise. But I’m glad for you. I am. Hey, maybe we can have a double wedding?”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Ghost
The pace of Grace’s recovery surprised even the doctors. They marveled at how swiftly she regained full body movement. Within days, Grace was walking around, and two weeks later, she was released for good.
Grace, David, her Mom and Glenn flew first class back to Cleveland. David sat next to her on the airplane. He tried to disguise it, because he knew how much Grace hated when he was in her head, but David watched her carefully for signs of trouble. Grace had gotten good at thinking certain thoughts to get a rise out of him. Sometimes, she imagined famous people naked—that always seemed to do the trick. Grace grinned when David flinched next to her. Apparently, her current image of Barack Obama in his birthday suit was not a pleasant sight.
“Keep it clean, darling.”
Grace found herself smirking. Paybacks were wonderful.
It was noon when they landed at the airport. Her mother and Glenn collected their suitcases and departed, but not before Grace was warned repeatedly to rest and not do anything strenuous.
“I don’t want you to suffer a relapse,” her mother cautioned. “Let David take care of you. He seems to do it well.” She gave David a hug. “Call me from time to time. You know how I worry.”
“I will,” Grace promised. “Are you sure you don’t want to join us at Sophia’s?”
“No, no, you kids go ahead. I need to unpack and relax. Plus, Claire’s going to call me later this afternoon so we can finalize her new wedding date.”
“Okay, Mom. Thanks for everything.” She fought back a sudden rush of tears. Why she was crying wasn’t clear. Lately, it seemed like tears were always a bit close to the surface. David wrapped an arm around her, pulling her close.
Together, they waved her Mom and Glenn safely into a taxi and met Sophia and Brian, who had insisted on driving them to their home. Grace and David had agreed to stay with them over the next six weeks, while Grace completed her convalescence. This was a compromise to David’s original plan, which was to have Grace all to himself at the cottage. His sister’s home was much closer to the clinic, where Grace was expected to travel for regular physical therapy, and was large enough to accommodate a small army. She and David would have plenty of privacy.
On her first day there, David’s extended family joined them for a reunion of sorts. It was a crisp, fall Saturday, and the leaves were in full color. Sophia made chili and hotdogs, and they sat on her back patio around a chiminea that held a small fire, eating. Eventually, the male cousins played a game of tag football, while the girls chatted about nothing in particular, and the kids ran wild.
“So, will we hear wedding bells anytime soon?” David’s Mom asked, a smile on her face. Clearly, she was anticipating an announcement. Grace blushed.
“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask David.”
Sophia and her mother exchanged glances. “Yeah, about that,” Sophia said. “David’s not one to reveal his plans. We know he cares deeply for you, of course. But don’t count on him to tell us before he tells you.”
Grace nodded. She liked that about David. She watched the backyard football game with interest.
“You must wonder about us,” Sophia commented, watching Grace as she gazed at the football action. “Like how could they not use their abilities to win the game?”
“Okay, I’ll bite. Are they mind controlling one another?”
Sophia laughed. “Yes, they are. Well, most of them,” she said, eyeing the field. “Except they’re all so powerful, no one is winning. David could even the score pretty quickly if he chose to do it. He doesn’t usually exploit his gifts like that, though.”
Suddenly, David caught the ball and took off running down the field, dodging Rolf who had closed in for the tackle. “Well surprise, surprise,” Geneva commented wryly. “He aims to impress his lady.”
A familiar, ever-present blush took root and held. Grace was still getting used to their strange way of slipping in and out of one another’s thoughts. David said he could teach Grace how to share her mind…that she possessed undeveloped psychic talent. But until then, she remained on the outside, looking in.
She watched David run the ball in for a touchdown. Would David ask her to marry him? Would she say yes like she had told Claire? If Grace did say yes and they had children, would their children be gifted? Would they be forced to be mind hackers? What if they didn’t want that career, would they be able to choose something else for themselves?
The questions were non-stop in her head, and it didn’t help that Grace carried memories that were not her own. Who was the angelic woman she kept seeing…this Meg…and why did David miss her so? Grace did not know the rules in the strange new world she had entered. She didn’t suppose she ever fully would.
After making a touchdown, David dropped the ball in the end zone and headed her direction. Grace watched the confident way he ambled across the field, his lanky form creating a dark shadow behind him as he walked. Grabbing a bottle of water from the cooler, he plopped himself next to Grace, catching her hand in the process. Reassuring energy waves coursed through her system. David had settled in her mind again. Grace wished she had a clearer idea of when he was making an entrance and exit. It was disconcerting. She had asked him repeatedly to give her warning, but it came naturally to David, and he could never seem to do it.
Look at the kids. Don’t they look like normal kids, having fun? Any children we have together will be special, and like any other kids, they’ll have a choice to use their gifts for the greater good or not. It’ll be our job to teach them right from wrong and how special they are.
The children had raked a large pile of leaves and were taking turns jumping in it. They appeared happy and joyous like kids everywhere in the fall. They did not look like mini mind hackers.
Grace noted David had refrained from offering any reassurance on the marriage front. Instead, he turned to eye Rolf, who was heading their way. The other cousins and Brian trailed in Rolf’s wake. Rolf plopped himself next to Geneva with a sigh. Grace noticed Rolf seemed to gravitate to Geneva whenever they were together. Oddly, she refused to pay him any attention. In fact, as Grace watched, Geneva turned her back to Rolf and talked to Kevin.
It’s a complicated relat
ionship. Rolf’s a little obtuse where Geneva is concerned. Strong trainers like Geneva don’t take kindly to being dictated to.
What will Geneva do now that you’re officially retired?
She’ll keep working. She’s been paired with Rolf, but she’s not happy about it. Rolf will need to tread carefully. Geneva’s family can be a bit over-protective, and he hasn’t earned any points with them over the last year.
What did he do?
A temporary lapse in judgment.
You mean, Rolf cheated on Geneva?
Well, you can’t call it cheating if you’re not dating to begin with. But yes, he had a brief fling with Cynthia Torra.
“Why does that name sound so familiar?” Grace remembered. Cynthia Torra was the blond bombshell on channel five. She did a local segment called ‘10 at 10’—ten bits of advice for women on a variety of practical topics. Cynthia Torra was some hefty competition. Grace didn’t blame Geneva for being upset.
Grace stood. For some reason, she felt close to tears again and needed a time-out. They had put their bags inside earlier, so she knew where to find their room in the massive house. David stood with her.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m a bit tired. I…I need to lie down. You stay here, though. I can find my way.” Grace hoped she sounded convincing. She needed time to process what David had told her without his psychic antenna listening in.
David’s eyes swept her length, lingering on her face. After a few uncomfortable seconds, he nodded.
Grace fled in a hurry, finding her room and throwing herself on the bed, where she let the tears flow freely. Grace loved David, but she wasn’t sure she could marry him. Not that she wanted to be a mind-reader, but she would always be the outsider—even from her own children. And he could cheat on her, and she might never know it! She thought of the pain Greg had inflicted on her. All David had to do is change her thoughts and bingo, Grace would be blind to his indiscretions.
David gave her exactly thirty minutes before quietly knocking on her door and opening it. Grace was a mass of quivering emotions and anxieties. She pretended to sleep. Why she thought that would work with David, Grace didn’t know. He lay next to her, taking her into his arms. He seemed to know instinctively holding her had a power all its own.
“Grace, sweetheart, I would cut off an arm before I’d cheat on you. You know this. I’ve shown you my thoughts. Where is all this insecurity coming from?”
“I don’t know.” Grace gulped, swiping at tears. “Wh…what’s to stop you from messing with my mind? If you do cheat on me, how would I even know it? I’d be trapped.”
Grace buried her head in his chest. He smelled of aftershave and something else, something undefinable, a scent uniquely his. David rubbed her head gently, his breath warm on her cheek. “The others wouldn’t allow it, you know.”
“How could they stop you? Sophia told me you’re off the charts.”
“Sophia doesn’t know everything. My cousins and Geneva all have unique abilities. Together, they could stop me. They would not allow you to be hurt in that way. But I would never hurt you. Why can’t you believe me?” He sighed, the small expulsion of air warm on Grace’s cheek. “What’s bothering you isn’t this at all. What you want, I am not sure I can give you.”
David knew. So much for keeping secrets. “Who is she, David?”
He shook his head. “Who she is doesn’t concern you. That’s in the past. You, Grace, are the future.”
“Why, David? Why’s she so important to you? What happened?”
“You need your sleep,” he said, rising from the bed and heading toward the door.
For the first time since Grace had known David, he couldn’t get away from her fast enough. After all they had been through together, his rejection hurt. Grace believed David loved her. But he had loved the girl, too. She needed to know how much and why.
An hour later, David found her and apologized. “I love you, Grace. You’re the most important person in my life. Try not to worry so much. I’m not going anywhere.”
Grace believed him. But still, he didn’t reveal the identity of the girl she kept seeing. She bided her time and waited, and they spent the next few weeks in relative harmony. In the end, however, she made a decision.
She loved David. She truly did. But she would not marry a man who loved a ghost more.
Chapter Forty
Escape
Keeping secrets was not easy when your boyfriend was a mind reader, especially one as powerful as David. Only Grace’s long-dormant psychic talent, which she had spent the last several weeks honing, had allowed her to keep this much to herself.
Still, she needed to keep thoughts of her plans to a minimum.
She took a good look around the bedroom, where she had been staying, and wheeled her suitcases into the hall. It was time to get her life back in order. She couldn’t stay here forever. The Uber car she had booked from her cell phone was waiting in the drive to take her to her condo and Harvey. She missed the old bird.
This morning, when David had announced lunch plans with Sophia and Brian and the cousins and asked her to go with him, she had declined, pleading a headache. He had given her a concerned look, but Grace had focused her thoughts on the image of nails driving into her skull, and somehow his psychic antennae had not detected the lie. He’d encouraged her to get some rest and left with Sophia and Brian thirty minutes ago. Grace had the place to herself.
Where are you going?
Damn. Apparently she was wrong about that. I…I need to check on Harvey.
I told you I would take you back to your place any time you wanted. I’m coming back to get you. Wait for me.
David, no.
Silence.
David, don’t come for me. I need…I need space.
Silence.
I’m leaving now. I will call you. But you need to give me time to think. I appreciate all you’ve done for me, and I care about you, I do. But, well, it’s time for me to go home.
Grace opened the front door and walked briskly toward the waiting car, dragging her suitcases behind her. She was not a prisoner here. She was free to come and go. So why did she feel like a traitor?
The driver popped the trunk.
Don’t you dare lift those yourself.
Grace looked around. His voice was louder. He was getting closer. Defiantly, Grace reached for her bags, but the driver was there before her. “No ma’am. Let me get those for you.”
Stop it! Quit making people do things for me. And don’t follow me, please. I’ll call you, I promise. I just need some time alone. To think. Alone. So stay out of my head. Please.
No answer. Grace sighed and fastened her seatbelt. It wouldn’t matter if he followed her. She was not going back. Not with the ghost between them. Not for a long while. Maybe not ever.
“Twenty-one Daphne Road in Lakewood, right?”
“Yes…no…please, can you drive to Edgewater Beach, instead?”
The driver, a young boy who told Grace it was his first week on the job, agreed, and they eventually pulled into the parking lot at Edgewater. Grace left her suitcase by a park bench and strolled to the water’s edge. Out of force of habit, her eyes narrowed on the golden stretch of beach to look for glass. She would need to get back to earning her living as an artist.
She had only been searching for a few minutes when a dark shadow fell across the sand in front of her. “When were you going to tell me?”
Grace straightened and turned. David stood facing her, his expression impassive. What was he thinking?
“I did tell you. I said I was going home. That I needed time away. I asked you to respect that.”
“I meant about the baby.”
Grace gritted her teeth to keep from swearing aloud. So much for keeping secrets. This was not how she wanted to tell him. And tell him she would have, but in her own time and way. “I suspected you would figure it out yourself before too long. And see…you did.” She turned away and made her way
to her perch. “I didn’t know myself for sure until a week ago.” And what a week it had been, fraught with all sorts of conflicting emotions. The baby, in part, was also her reason for leaving. She would not be tethered to a man simply because she bore his child. She had more respect for herself than that, and she would not use the child to tie David to her under any circumstances, but especially when there was so much unresolved tension between them.
Heʼd followed her, and was now leaning a broad shoulder against the rock. “It’s a boy, Grace.”
She stared at David, shocked and more than a little miffed. Clearly it hadn’t occurred to him that she might not want to know the sex of her child. He could have at least asked. But then the wind gusted and one dark lock of hair fell carelessly to the side of his green eyes, and she felt an impossible urge to brush it away. A boy? Really? She was having a boy?
Would he look like David?
“How can you possibly know such a thing?”
“You’re thirteen weeks along. The baby has a heartbeat…thoughts.”
Grace sagged against the rock. “You…You’re reading its mind?”
“Him, Grace. We’re having a boy.” David reached a long arm out and wrapped it around her, pulling her to his side. “A son.”
Grace stiffened and held back. “David…I…I can’t do this anymore.” Her voice cracked.
He stared at her in disbelief. “You’re going to walk away? Just like that? After all we’ve been through together? No words, no explanation?ˮ
“I haven’t…I…I don’t know, David.”
“We’ve created a child, Grace. I’m the father. I don’t know what kind of man you think I am, but I can’t walk away from you…or our child.”
David’s hurt and anger was like a punch to the gut. The force of his emotions rushed in and grabbed at her heart. What was happening? Why this, and why now?
“We are linked, Grace. When I feel strongly, you do, too. You can’t be upset, or worried or frustrated without me knowing. So, why not tell me what’s on your mind rather than make me work for it?”
Grace bowed her head and sighed. “Dammit. Why do you do this to me? You won’t like it.”
