The Farmer's Daughter: The Dragon Dream: Book One

by Robin Janney

  “Me too.” Her hands moved to unbutton his shirt but stopped short.

  “Go ahead,” he whispered to his new wife. “If I want you to stop anything, I’ll let you know. You do likewise. Deal?”

  Angela nodded. “Deal.”

  His hands came down on her wrists, guided her hands back to the buttons. She trembled slightly beneath his gentle grasp, but she managed to unbutton his shirt. Her hands skimmed his skin as she pushed the shirt over his shoulders. His arms dropped to let the shirt join the jacket. And then her hands were on his bare chest, leaving a trail of fire as they slid over his stomach.

  She turned her face to Craig, the invitation clear. His lips covered hers, and this time he didn’t need to stop.

  Giving in to the desire to touch her, like they’d done before, his hands slid under the hem of her top. Hands on her bare waist, he pressed her back towards the bed. A quick motion pulled the top up and over her head and then her hands were fumbling at his waist band. He could not get naked fast enough.

  Hesitating only a heartbeat, Angela shimmied out of her panties before letting him lower her to the bed and cover her body with his.

  It was a night of firsts for both. Each living in the moment and not dwelling on the past as they explored and discovered each other.

  Craig hesitated only once as he pressed into her for the first time and saw something flash through her eyes. Fingers in her hair, he managed to ask, “Do you want me to stop?”

  But she shook her head. “No,” she whispered with a voice filled with pleasure. Her legs wrapped around him and her fingers curled around his head, pulling him down for a kiss.

  Two hearts beat as one as they surrendered to each other.

  I t was late morning when Craig woke from a peaceful slumber, the bright Nevada sun streaming in through the windows. Rascal Flatt’s Bless the Broken Road was filling the air, and he looked down at the woman curled up against him.

  Angela was his wife. He still had a hard time believing it. His hand brushed hair away from her face, thinking it was going to be interesting removing her hair decorations later. She stirred at his touch.

  “Craig?” she murmured, sounding a little lost.

  “I’m here, Angel. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

  She made a happy little sound, blinking her eyes at the light streaming in the window. No shadow hid there when she looked up at him, and Craig wondered if the same could be said for his own. Her finger drew designs over his chest.

  “I didn’t know I could feel like this,” she said, her voice soft. “So happy.”

  “Same here.” His voice caught as her hand slid across his stomach.

  “I forgot to ask – when do we have to go back?” Her hand wrapped around his hardness.

  “Not…” He cleared his throat. “Not until tomorrow.”

  “Good. When do you want to try the shower scene you sketched?”

  “Later,” he promised, pulling her on top of him.

  Her lips landed on his, and just like that they picked up where they had left off before sleep had claimed them.

  “I

  can’t believe how cold it is!” exclaimed Angela, shivering as her new husband unlocked the side door to his home late Tuesday afternoon. Their home. “I think I liked the weather in Nevada better.”

  Craig laughed as he opened the door and shooed her inside. Picking their bags up from his feet, he followed her into their home where she was hanging her coat on the back of a chair. He dropped the bags on the kitchen floor and pulled her close for a kiss.

  “I’ll run across the street and get Princess, and then Mrs. Moore…” He kissed her again, hands running over her buttocks. “And then I will take you upstairs and I promise I will warm you up.”

  Feeling her face blushing, she returned his caress. Oh, he was still blushing too? How adorable! Her husband dropped another kiss on her lips and left their home through the same entrance they’d just entered by.

  Closing her eyes, Angela stood still in the kitchen and drew a deep breath. Peace filled her for a change, and it felt good.

  Short lived, but good.

  Deciding to take the bags upstairs to surprise him with another outfit she’d bought, Angela noticed a paper on the table. Thinking it was a note Kevin and Sherry had managed to leave them before they’d all left for Vegas, she dropped the bags from her hands and picked it up.

  It was not from her husband’s friends.

  Block lettering mocked her:

  YOU THINK THIS CHANGES ANYTHING?

  YOU’RE STILL MY UGLY LITTLE BITCH

  Derek had been in this house?

  The note fluttered to the floor and Angela grabbed her coat, running out the door to follow Craig. If she could just get to her husband’s side, she’d be safe. It was her only thought.

  She called to him, and Craig stopped on the sidewalk leading up to Nora’s porch, waving to her. Stopping at the street’s edge, she waited impatiently for the rapidly approaching cargo van to pass by.

  Except it didn’t. It stopped in front of her and she backpedaled as four men hopped out of the side door. Loud rock music blared as men she’d once called friends surrounded her.

  Craig began to run back towards his home, towards his wife, as Angela put up a valiant attempt to ward them off.

  C urtains all around town were pulled back to see what was going on. People stepped out of the store and their homes at the sounds of shouting. Many would say later that it was like watching a fight scene from a movie. Except it didn’t end the way a movie would have.

  Had she been Chuck Norris, or had the scene coordinated like he did, Angela might have stood a chance. The largest man managed to get his meaty arms around Angela and lifted her off the ground. The tallest man recognized by many as Derek Foster pulled a gun out and shot at Craig, who dropped to the ground. A screaming Angela was pulled into the van and it peeled away, a barking Princess finally released from Nora’s house running after it.

  The van gone, a crowd rushed to Craig and the phone lines were in danger of being jammed as 9-1-1 was called.

  Through a cold dim light, Craig saw Pastor Mark leaning over him. Whatever the pastor was saying to him remained a mystery to him because he couldn’t hear over the sound of his own beating heart. A black figure seemed to launch itself into the air, and his last thought as darkness claimed him was that the Beast had managed to take his Angel after all.

  54

  A ngela was ten again, twin braids hanging down her shoulders. She looked down at her small hands, wondering how this could be. But she knew it as surely as she knew she was standing in the center of Simmons Crossroads with chaos reigning around her.

  But…the body at her feet was her own, blue eyes looking up unseeing at a cloudy sky. The icy pavement beneath the body shimmered in the odd light as her blood fanned out around her. The yellow van was on its side with a dark SUV almost on top of it. Other vehicles were parked askew in the intersection.

  Bullets flew in the air, some passing through her insubstantial body…or the wisp of air and spirit she was now. She watched as Everett Crane cradled her body, yelling for her to hang on, help was on the way. Her body looked cold, the blouse hanging open exposed a breast.

  “Sir, you have to leave now!” Erica Stevens in her police uniform was crouched next to the man, trying to pull him away even as her other hand fired her gun. “I can’t guarantee your safety if you’re still here when the others come!”

  “I’m not leaving my daughter,” Crane yelled back, pushing the state trooper away from him. He was trembling. “Oh my God, Angela…please hang on…don’t leave me…”

  Maggie Witherspoon appeared from behind where Angela’s spirit stood watching. There was a gun in the plump woman’s hand and she fired it at a man approaching from the other side of the wreck. Angela didn’t know who it had been, but she saw a light vanish as his body dropped.

  “We’ll take care of her!” Maggie was yelling at Crane. “Erica’s right! You need
to leave!”

  “No!” the old man cried, tears working their way down his weathered cheeks. But finally, Erica and Maggie were able to convince him to leave. Why had Angela never noticed how much older Everett was than the other man she knew as her father?

  “Am I dead?” Angela wondered, bouncing her braids against her cheeks like she had done many times before as a child.

  “No, not quite,” answered a boyish voice from behind her. She knew that voice!

  Angela whirled around and saw the slim figure approaching her. He and Jared looked so much alike. “Randy?!” She flew at him, throwing her arms around him, surprised she was able to touch him.

  “Hello little sister,” laughed her brother as he returned her hug.

  “Where are we then? Because I know you’re dead…I saw you die!”

  “It’s…complicated,” the boy told her, running his hand through thick auburn hair.

  “Is it a dream?”

  “No. It’s…some would call it purgatory, some heaven, others hell. It’s different for everyone. I call it the razor-thin edge between life and death, between dreams and reality.”

  “So, I can go either way?” For some reason, this bothered her. It wasn’t the only thing about this situation that bothered her.

  “Yes. And at some point, you’ll have to decide whether you want to stay here or not. There’s plenty of time for you to make that decision though.”

  Angela nodded and turned back to the carnage. Maggie was gone, presumably with Crane. Erica had returned, having taken the time to cover the exposed breast on Angela’s mortal body; her spirit was glad for this, it made her look less cold. The tall woman’s fingers were checking for vital signs, while her other hand pressed against Angela’s bloody shoulder. The other woman was speaking to Angela, but it was a distant buzzing to her.

  “What happened here?” she asked her brother, expecting him to have the answers like when he’d been alive.

  The boy sighed. “That’s even more complicated. It started out as one woman scorned, angry because you found a love she’s been looking for all her life. It grew from there until one of your father’s rivals became involved. Crane’s organization has fractured, but if you live, it’ll only become stronger in the end.”

  “This happened because I fell in love?” Where was Craig? She’d seen him drop, but she thought she’d been able to knock Derek’s aim off enough that he shouldn’t be dead. Please God, let him be alive. Or did she want him to join her here? “That’s stupid.”

  “There’s more to it than that,” Randy admitted. “But I can’t tell you everything. Craig’s love for you created a spark which in turn created an inferno when you returned it. Unfortunately, not everyone likes it when people find happiness after trauma.”

  “That makes no sense to me!” cried Angela, unable to shed the tears her heart felt. “And if you know something, you should tell me! It’s not fair!”

  Randy’s smile was sad. “Life’s not fair, Angie. It never has been.”

  Angela walked away from him, watched as paramedics worked on her dying body. They were performing CPR on her…had her heart stopped? She heard one saying something about the gunshot wound and cranial trauma. She remembered flying into the windshield at some point, or had she been shoved into it after the crash? Only a memory of a memory remained. “Will they ever learn the truth?”

  “Only if you decide to go back.”

  Another voice chimed in even as she watched her broken body being loaded into the ambulance. “I hope you go back.”

  Looking towards the approaching woman, Angela was awestruck. The other was so beautiful! Red hair graced the tall woman’s head, and the willowy blue dress showed curves and a cleavage Angela wished she had inherited. Brilliant blue eyes smiled down at her as the two stood in front of each other; where did their blue eyes come from? The woman’s hand ran over her head in a loving caress. “You have so much life in you. Your worth outweighs your beauty, the depths of which you do not know. It would be such a waste for you to stay here.”

  “Mom?” Angela whispered, more tears building up in her heart. Why couldn’t she shed them?

  “Yes, Starlight,” the other answered her. “I see your hair faded. It’s not nearly as red as when you were a baby. I’d hoped you’d keep it.”

  Angela opened her mouth to protest…but of course there was red in her hair. She was her parents’ daughter. She was lucky her hair wasn’t redder. Wait… “What did you call me?”

  “They haven’t told you yet?” The woman’s head tilted in thought. “No, I’m not surprised. They never did approve of the name I gave you. Your father tolerated it, but my brother and his wife thought it was silly.” She shrugged, implying it didn’t bother her. Her smile was ethereal. “But you were my daughter, my bright and shining star…So I named you Starlight Destiny.”

  The woman looked up towards the sky. Angela followed her gaze, and for a moment the blue sky shimmered to show a dark tapestry of brilliant stars.

  “Because the stars gave you hope…” Angela lowered her head, knowledge coming to her on this side of reality as it had on the other side, if not easier.

  “Yes,” her mother whispered. “I was a sick woman on the other side, Starlight, and I desperately needed hope.”

  “My light wasn’t enough for you.”

  We’re losing her again! Get the paddles!

  Darkness fell, like a screen had been placed between her and the sun.

  “What a touching family reunion,” the Beast snarled as he landed near them, his wings stirring red sand. “I’m glad I made it in time.”

  Red sand? But – she was still in Simmons Crossroads, wasn’t she? She was afraid to look around.

  The Beast loomed over her, his bat-like wings flexing beneath the burning sun. He strutted like a banty rooster and Angela shuddered.

  She saw her brother’s amusement; her mother rolled her eyes. “You’re seeing this, right? It’s not just me?”

  Randy giggled. “Yes, but I can guarantee you we’re seeing it differently. Perspective is everything here.” For an instant, her brother’s form wavered, and she saw a grown man standing in his place.

  Regarding the menacing Beast, Angela saw him look over her shoulder and flinch. The Beast was more afraid of whoever had moved to stand behind her than he was of her…and it pissed her off. “Don’t you dare ignore me!” she said with a stomp of her foot. “How dare you act like you haven’t been terrorizing me for months! Skulking around my apartment…” She reached out and smacked his chest with her hand.

  The Beast staggered backwards. “We had a deal! You can’t do this!”

  “But I will.” For a moment, her reality solidified, and she knew exactly who she was. She smacked his chest again, using both hands. Power filled her. “I am a child of God and I am filled with the Light of the world!”

  Light blossomed from her hands, brilliant scintillating sunbeams, as she struck the Beast in the chest again. White hot power flowed out of her.

  “No,” was the agonized scream from the Beast.

  “Yes!” Her voice blended with another’s as a hand came to rest on her back. Additional power coursed through her, filling her to overflowing. They were the sun, blazing in a desert sky scorching the damned. Peace filled her as surely as power. Did the mortal world see this blaze of light, could they see the glory of this moment?

  We have a heartbeat…go faster before she crashes again…

  It lasted a moment, it lasted an eternity.

  When the light faded, Angela staggered backward, pressing into the form behind her. But it failed to register as the sight of the Beast’s new appearance amused her.

  He was tiny, no taller than her knees. His pointy ears were drooping, and his flimsy wings struggled to lift him off the sandy ground. Where had all this red sand come from? How did daisies grow in the desert? But it didn’t matter. The little Beast was shaking a fist at her, muttering about how she had tried to kill him…fear filled his
funny little voice as he called her an uppity bitch and flew away.

  “It’s that easy?” she wondered aloud. She looked around, seeing red sand beneath her feet even though she stood in a field of daisies as far as the eye could see. When had Simmons Crossroads disappeared?

  Why was she still ten?

  “It’s really that easy, Angel,” said the man standing at her back.

  Turning, she looked up. A knight stood before her, his rough armor shining in the sunlight and his sword in his hand. The helmet’s visor lifted, and Craig’s face was easily recognizable.

  “No!” she shouted. “No! You can’t be dead! I knocked his arm off target before he fired…it shouldn’t have been a kill shot!”

  “I’m still alive.” His hand lifted to his temple. “It just grazed me. I’ll probably have one helluva headache when I wake up.” Craig looked around, clearly confused at what he saw around him. “I have a headache now. This place – is my Dragon Dream. This feels more solid, more real, but it’s the same place.” His eyes squinted as he looked at the sky. “No dragon today, so there’s that much.”

  Angela saw his reality clearer than her brother’s and mother’s. Her field of daisies blended into his desert, dark blue mountains were far behind him and lightning danced around their peaks. It never wavered.

  Craig looked over her shoulder. “Hello, Randy.” His gaze landed on her mother, and Angela saw sorrow fill his eyes as he looked back at her. “You’re not coming back, are you?”

  She’s crashing again!

  Angela hesitated. “I don’t know.”

  He nodded, tears escaping his eyes. How was he able to cry when she couldn’t? “I understand. I really do, Angel. But I can’t stay here with you, I can feel myself waking.” His hand touched her face, a lover’s caress. “Please, don’t take too long to make your decision.” He turned and walked away.

  The ground shook beneath her feet, and she felt her world ending all over again.

  Starlight her mother had called her. She stood on the edge of her reality, a blurry line of daisies and red sand, watching the knight walk deeper into the scorching desert of his life. “Wait! What do you see when you look at me right now?” she called after him.