Nick shrugged. "It's fine by me."
Caitlin had only wanted to hear that. She put the first picture down beside the fifth picture and then the tenth picture and so on. When she was finished she stood back. "You see the story?"
Nick and Brigid were looking from picture to picture.
Nick was the first to speak. "There is a painter," he pointed to the lady in the picture sitting behind an easel, "who was attacked by a tall giant guy, maybe raped; she had his baby," he pointed to a painting of a woman with no face, “and then an older woman took it away from her." He pointed to another picture where an older wrinkled lady clutched a baby in swaddling clothes.
Caitlin nodded. "Yes."
"You are right," Nick said in awe. He looked around at Helen, who had gone to the windows to look outside, completely ignoring them.
"Aunt Helen, were you aware that you painted a story?"
Helen looked around at them. "I am tired, Nicky. Can your friends come back another time?"
Nick frowned in confusion. She had been doing so well.
Caitlin took the opportunity to snap some pictures with her cell phone. And she was happy that she did because they were herded out of Helen's studio with haste. Helen was literally tripping over herself to get them out.
"What just happened?" Brigid asked, a ludicrous expression on her face, when they were outside with Helen's studio door slammed in their faces.
"It's just her; she gets this way sometimes," Nick said apologetically to Caitlin. "I am so sorry about that."
"I am not," Caitlin said. Her hands were trembling slightly. They always did that after she met someone out of her dreams or heard about an event that she had actually dreamed of. "I am happy that I got to meet her. I don't know if Brigid told you this, but I dream things sometimes."
Nick nodded. "She may have mentioned it."
"Well," Caitlin swallowed, "a couple of years ago I dreamt about her."
"Aunt Helen?" Nick asked, turning around. "Are you sure?"
"Yes." Caitlin murmured. "It was her."
"What about Helen did you dream?" Brigid asked anxiously. "Whenever I hear about one of your dreams I feel goose bumps on my arms."
"Except for the one about Todd Taylor," Caitlin reminded her.
"Well..." Brigid smirked. "Didn't I tell you that I am coming around with that one?"
They reached the front of the main house and Nick stopped. "My grandparents are not here at this time or else I would introduce you guys to them."
"Not a problem; we'll meet them some other time," Brigid said hurriedly. "Tell us Caity, what about Helen did you dream?"
Caitlin sighed. "I dreamed exactly what she painted."
"Wait." Nick shook his head. "What?"
Caitlin sighed. "I was about twelve or so. I remember because Patricia took me to the National Gallery downtown. You see, I paint a little and my pictures were more than passable so she had bought me a painting kit, and she made me skip school, and the two of us went to the gallery."
Brigid grinned. "Show-off."
Caitlin smirked. "We had loads of fun. I remember going home that night and out of the blue dreaming about an artist with Helen’s face. She was sitting in a room and the tall hulking guy in the picture came behind her and caressed her shoulders. It was obvious to me that they had a relationship. She looked like she loved him."
"No." Nick was shaking his head. "Nope, not Aunt Helen. She was never in a relationship."
Caitlin shrugged. "It was a dream. I don't know."
"So what happened to him, the tall guy?" Brigid asked. "Did you dream anything about that?"
"He was chopping a tree and it fell on him. I don't know if he died. In my dream Helen was inconsolable. She was also pregnant. That's all I dreamt. The truth is, I didn't even know who Helen was. I just remember waking up and thinking how utterly sad the pregnant lady was. It was as if some of her sadness stayed with me for days. I was just twelve and my life was okay, and yet I was melancholy for days."
Nick was looking at Caitlin in shock. "When would this have happened?"
Caitlin shrugged. "Maybe around the time that you said she was hysterical and had to move in with your parents. I don't know..."
"That was twenty-two years ago." Nick frowned. "I am going to investigate." He looked back at the cottage. "Until then I'll see what I can do for you in terms of getting you another date for an interview."
Chapter Nine
Caitlin ended the week with a whirl of work-related activities; she barely had time to breathe. Her feature piece was finished, and most of her writers had already sent in their articles. It seemed as if Lux Women's inaugural magazine was shaping up pretty quickly.
She breathed a prayer to God that Casey's wedding day would be spectacular so that they could have gorgeous pictures. The venue was gorgeous already. The bride and groom looked good together. The only variable was the weather and she hoped God would grant them this favor.
She handed Lux's photographer an invitation before she left her desk on Friday and breathed out deeply. Another week was done. And what a week it was.
Casey's father and a whole slew of her relatives had come to Jamaica for the wedding. They had practically booked the entire Four Seasons hotel and were planning on having a Friday evening dinner with the couple.
She just had to rush home to get a shower and then change into something more relaxed.
She opened her car door and sat in the driver’s seat, taking a deep breath. At least she could relax tonight and tomorrow at church. It was good to finally let go of the burdens of the week and rest. Her cell phone rang. She glanced at the screen and saw that it was Todd. She inhaled raggedly and then answered.
"Mr. Taylor."
Todd chuckled. "Miss Denvers. Do you like chocolate?"
"Are you serious?" Caitlin asked. "I love chocolate. I am no connoisseur either; my taste buds just don't care. It just needs to be chocolate. White, dark, milk, liquid, solid, powder, cheap, expensive..."
"Okay." Todd laughed. "I see where your passions lie."
"Why did you ask?" Caitlin asked. "Are you having a chocolate party?"
"No," Todd said and then changed the subject smoothly. "So what are your plans for this weekend?"
"This weekend is crazy," Caitlin said, adjusting her car seat and half lying down with a sigh. "First, I have to go home and shower, then there is a dinner with Casey's family at the Four Seasons, and then there is church tomorrow. I offered to sing the lead in a group song. I don't know what I was thinking. And then there is the rehearsal at Rizzle in the evening and then the wedding at ten in the morning.
"After that, I don't know. I might hang out with my remaining free sisters and reminisce. What about you?"
Todd mused. "Well, this evening I have no commitments. Tomorrow I will be at your church to hear you sing and Sunday, who knows?"
"No," Caitlin whispered. "Don't come. Please. I don't want to see you. I will get nervous."
Todd just laughed. "Enjoy your weekend, Caity."
He hung up and Caitlin looked at her phone, a bemused expression on her face. He called her Caity. Only her sisters called her Caity.
She drove home, the warm feeling that him calling her Caity had caused still with her. Casey, Brigid, and Hazel were on the settee when she stepped inside. On the center table was a big bouquet of flowers.
"Wow." She looked at the flowers and then at Casey. "Who is that from?"
"It's for you," Casey said, grinning. "And there is a big basket of chocolate on the kitchen counter. We are waiting to find out what is going on."
Then it dawned on Caitlin why Todd had asked her about chocolate.
She smiled and slumped down on the settee beside Hazel.
"Come on, talk." Hazel pinched her.
"You smell good." Caitlin sniffed the air and looked at Hazel. "What perfume is that?"
"Some exotic, expensive thing that Baron insisted that I buy." Hazel shrugged. "I think it is called Joy. The sa
leslady said it had more than 300 roses and 10,000 jasmine petals."
"Cool." Caitlin nodded and reached for her floral arrangement. She read the card. It was signed with a simple, Have a nice weekend and a curly T.
"Who is T?" Hazel asked curiously.
"Todd." Caitlin sighed and put back the bouquet on the center table. It was a combination of several flowers; she didn't even recognize some of them. "It's gorgeous, isn't it?"
"Todd!" Hazel looked at her and then her other sisters, who were raising their brows. "Didn't he kill his wife?"
Caitlin shrugged. "It's just flowers!"
"I don't know," Hazel said doubtfully. "Murder is huge."
"I am reserving judgment," Brigid said. "He could be 'the one’. Caitlin's dreams are always reliable."
Casey got up and went for the basket of chocolate. "I like that; let’s reserve judgment. Open this up now, Caity."
Caitlin chuckled. "You are something else."
She delved into the package and the four of them swarmed around the basket.
"I like him," Casey said, popping a Ferrero Roche in her mouth. "Since you don't have a plus one, invite him to the wedding."
"That's the chocolate talking," Hazel said to Casey. "You are drunk on the thing. By the way, should we be eating this before dinner?"
Caitlin sat up straighter. "I could invite him, couldn't I?"
"Yup," Casey said, popping another chocolate in her mouth. "I have a feeling about this guy. I mean, if he had killed his wife, why wouldn't he be in prison?"
"That is simplistic reasoning. Many guilty people are walking the streets and innocent ones in prison," Hazel cautioned. "Besides, I thought that Caitlin had agreed that he was a mistaken dream?"
"Well…" Caitlin said slowly, "I am changing my mind. I like him. It's a little bit more complicated than I thought it would be."
"A killer is a killer," Hazel said, chewing a piece of chocolate delicately, "and as a form of protest I will not eat anymore of his tainted, murderous chocolate."
Brigid chuckled. She hadn't touched any of the chocolate yet; she was just looking at the piece she had chosen contemplatively.
"What's wrong?" Hazel asked. "You are not normally this quiet."
Brigid sighed. "Something is bothering me and it has nothing to do with Caity's murderer, I mean boss...er, dream guy."
Casey chuckled. "What's bothering you, Brigid?"
"Nick's Aunt Helen," Brigid said contemplatively. "She paints pictures of stuff that goes on into her life, right?"
"Right." Hazel nodded. "So?"
"So nobody believes that these paintings are even really about her because she is mentally ill. Nobody even gets to see her stuff but Nick, and he doesn't suspect a thing until Dreamy Caity goes to her studio and points it out and then says that she dreamed about Helen before and suddenly these random pictures make sense."
Casey gasped. "You did?"
"Yup." Caitlin nodded. "But I didn't know it was Helen until I saw her yesterday."
"Anyway," Brigid said, "she paints pictures of babies over and over again; sometimes she paints them in blue blankets, sometimes in pink blankets. Nick and I were discussing it. I think it means that she had a baby and doesn't even know what sex the child is.
Of course, Nick is still skeptical of Caity's dreams but I have an eerie feeling that Dreamy Caity is right. Which brings us back to Caity's dream guy. If she is right about so many other dreams, why not the ones about Todd?"
"True," Casey said. "Very true."
Brigid nodded.
Hazel looked at Casey and shrugged. "I am still in opposition."
Casey popped another chocolate in her mouth and grinned at Caity. "I am on the fence. Invite him to the wedding as your date; let me see this Todd Taylor in person."
*****
Caitlin almost missed church the next day. She had slept so soundly she had gotten up at ten. Even Brigid and Casey had gone before her. They hadn't even left her a note. She stumbled through getting ready; her mind felt woozy. She had come in late last night after a boisterous supper with Casey's family. They were super nice people who treated her and Brigid and Hazel as if they were a part of the family, and she had eaten far too much cake.
She opened the fridge, saw that Brigid had leftover fruit and vegetable smoothie and chugged it down hurriedly. When she was in the car she started humming the song that she was going to sing as a special and then she forgot the lines.
She could imagine doing that in front of the congregation and started to panic. It didn't help matters that when she drove up into the church yard she spotted an Audi Q5 car that looked suspiciously like Todd's. He had threatened to come by, hadn't he?
She took a deep breath and then expelled it in a whoosh. Well, she could sing; she had an okay voice. She wouldn't win any competitions but she was passable. She went to the vestry and was hugged warmly by the head of the singing group, Sis Conrad.
"I thought you weren't coming," Sis Conrad breathed out in relief. "Anyway, we are up next, after the children's story."
"Talk about being thrown to the wolves," Caitlin muttered. "I haven't even gotten a chance to practice with you guys."
"You'll do fine," Sis Conrad smiled at her. "You are doing the English part of the song."
She pulled her outside as soon as the theme song heralding the ending of the children's story commenced.
Caitlin was nervous as ever. It was going to be her first time singing the lead in group song. She did a cursory look over the congregation and didn't see Todd.
Good, if she made a fool of herself he wouldn't be there to see. Ironically, she feared him more than her six-person group behind her, who would definitely scalp her if she messed up her part of the song O' Sifuni Mungu.
She started singing, All Creatures of Our God and King and didn't even miss one line. She even joined in with the Tanzanian lyrics. By the end of the song she was enjoying herself.
The church definitely seemed to enjoy it; they got a resounding amen and even some claps.
She went to sit beside Hazel, who was sitting alone. Casey was sitting beside Luca and his family and Brigid was in the Benedict pew.
Caitlin chuckled when she sat down. Just a few weeks ago Brigid had protested about coming to the church and now she was well ensconced with the rest of the Benedicts, and looking like she had always belonged over there.
"Don't look now," Hazel whispered fiercely as soon as she sat down, "but Curtis Decker is sitting in the very last bench in the pew to the right. By the way, you sounded good."
"Thanks," Caitlin whispered back. "Curtis Decker, huh?"
"Yes," Hazel whispered. "What is he even doing here?"
"Is Sebastian with him?" Caitlin asked.
"No," Hazel whispered. "No, he is not. That is the first thing I checked."
"I am going to look around casually," Caitlin whispered.
"Do it in a minute or so," Hazel murmured, "because he is staring at me."
"So he knows that you are Sebastian's mother?" Caitlin frowned.
"Yes!" Hazel groaned. "Obviously. Or else why would he be staring at me?"
Caitlin glanced toward the back of the church and then paused, her eyes widening. Todd was sitting there, looking attentively at the front of the church. As if sensing her gaze he looked in her direction and smiled. He was in a black suit and a floral tie. He looked so deliciously handsome.
"He really came!" Caitlin swung back around.
"Did you see him?" Hazel asked.
"Who?" Caitlin flushed. She had suddenly gone warm in the air conditioned church. She had forgotten to look for Hazel's guy.
"Curtis," Hazel hissed loudly enough to receive a disapproving look from a few persons who were sitting in front of them.
Caitlin shook her head and looked behind her again and then she straightened up. "You mean the Jason Momoa lookalike in the blue shirt? The one with the dreadlocks and the bedroom eyes? He's a hunk. What would a hunk like him be doing with Sebastian?
I actually thought Curtis Decker was a stumpy middle-aged man with sight issues."
Caitlin looked at Hazel knowingly. "So were you having him followed instead of Sebastian?"
"No. Shut up." It was Hazel's turn to flush. Her ears reddened and she tightened her hand convulsively over the church program.
Caitlin smiled knowingly. She and Hazel were in the same boat, deny it all they wanted. They both had a thing for two men who were sitting in the back row of church.
Chapter Ten
"The problem with today's young people is that they rush into bed too soon," Casey's grandaunt Gretchen announced plaintively across the table at Rizzle.
They had just finished the rehearsal, which had not taken long, and they were now having a meal. Caitlin and Hazel were once again hanging out alone.
Caitlin giggled as Gretchen raised her glass. "To those young ladies who can keep their legs together until they have a serious commitment."
Hazel snorted. "Bet she didn't keep her legs together until she got a commitment."
Caitlin burst out into fresh peals of laughter. Tonight was the night for it. The rehearsal had been lighthearted and funny. Both Casey and Luca's families were jovial people.
"So," Hazel said, sipping her drink and looking at Caitlin, "did you invite Todd Taylor?"
Caitlin shook her head. "Didn't get a chance to. He skipped church as soon as it was over."
"Maybe his conscience was pinching him," Hazel smirked. "The sermon was about Abraham's call to sacrifice Isaac. Maybe all that talk of knives and sacrifices pricked his conscience and sent him packing early."
Caitlin shook her head. "I don't think so."
"Let’s go out for some fresh air," Hazel said. "I want to talk without the chance of being overheard."
"Sure." Caitlin excused herself from the table and Hazel followed.
"What's up?" Caitlin asked.
Hazel was in a contemplative mood. She wrapped her arms around herself inhaled the air and closed her eyes. "Don't you think it’s blissful up here?"
"Okay, I'll play along because I am sure you didn’t get me alone to talk about the air," Caitlin said, leaning on the railing. "Yes, it is very nice. The Deckers really chose a nice spot to open an upscale restaurant."
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