Loving You (Remembrance Series, Book 2)

by Cynthia P. O'Neill

  I turned my head toward him. “Surprise me?” It was then that he produced a multi-color arrangement of roses and sat them on the corner of my desk.

  “They’re beautiful, but what are they for?” I wondered.

  “Your mom called and said you could use some cheering up. Why? Also, why are you still on the computer? Have you taken a break, today? You know you will never fully heal unless you take things slowly.” His concern was evident.

  I shrugged my shoulders, as best I could. “I wanted to be able to go back to work, not be limited to only a couple hours at a time. I’m really frustrated that I can’t do more.”

  “So what exactly did Dr. Kurtz tell you?”

  “He’s scratching his head on how my arm is almost completely healed. The cast could technically come off now, but he wants to give it an extra week and then put me in a splint for a week or two, as a precautionary measure.” I would definitely be counting down the days until the thing came off. It was itchy and slowed down my ability to type.

  He laughed a bit. “I guess you have some form of super healing in his eyes. What about the ribs and your dizziness?”

  “The ribs are mending, faster than he anticipated, but I’m still unable to lift anything. The concussion is healed, so he’s puzzled on my inability to stand for long. He would like me to consult with a vertigo specialist on Friday. He thinks I might have ruptured my inner ear during the accident, so it might not be functioning properly or, I could have an infection. Either way, my center of balance is off. Until that is resolved, I am unable to drive or return to work full-time.”

  Gregory looked in deep thought for a moment, as he moved to the closet on the other side of my bedroom and grabbed a pair of shorts to change into. His voice was barely a whisper, but I heard him. “I wonder if I…could it be possible to help it heal, since it is close to the surface? Research, that’s what I need.”

  “You need to research what?” The words were out of my mouth before I realized I said them. Great, my secret was out, now.

  His head whipped around with a startled look. “How did you hear what I was saying? I could barely even hear myself think.”

  “I’ve always had good hearing; but lately, unless my mind is occupied, I can hear mom talking on the phone across the other side of the house with my bedroom door closed. If you want to keep something from me, you need to keep an internal thought process, for now.”

  “Could this be a new power for you?”

  “I don’t know if it is necessarily new or has just increased in strength. I’ve been able to hear just above a whisper for a couple of months, now.”

  He shook his head and laughed. “Looks like I’m going to have to watch what I say around you and you’re going to have to watch what you have up on the computer screen around me. I can tell you are trying to hide that you’re still working. You have already put in two hours, today. It’s time you shut your computer off for tonight and have some dinner.”

  By the time I was done shutting down the laptop, he had changed into comfortable clothes and was ready to carry me into the dining room. “How am I supposed to get my strength back if you are always carrying me around?”

  Gregory leaned in to kiss me full on the mouth. “I just want to hold you close and practice carrying you over the threshold.”

  “Okay, enough of that, you two,” my mother said, admonishingly.

  We both laughed a little, as he placed me at the table to eat. I felt bad that I was unable to help her, but Mom seemed happiest when she was looking after someone. She had to look after my dad for years, before he passed, and was thrilled to have me around now, all day.

  Talk around the dinner table turned to Gregory’s work, then to the doctor’s visit and ended with an update on the wedding. Both of them were unhappy with how many hours I had spent on the computer, today, so they decided to gang up on me and monitor my computer time from now on. So I wouldn’t stress over work.

  “Have you looked through any of the bridal magazines, Jordan?” Mom had wondered.

  “Yes ma’am.”

  Mom’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Did you find a dress that you fancy or would like to see, if any of the area dress shops have it?”

  I shook my head. “There were a couple of dresses that were okay. I mainly found bits and pieces about a few dresses that I liked, but nothing that said ‘I have to try this one’.”

  Gregory spoke up. “My mother has a couple of friends who own dress shops in the Orlando area. They may have some books that she can borrow for you to look through and see if anything suits you. If they don’t have it on hand, they could always order it for you.”

  Before I could answer, Mom did it for me. “That would be wonderful, Gregory. Could you ask your mother about that soon?”

  “Not a problem. In fact, I’ll give her a call, tonight. He paused for a moment, taking a sip. “Almost forgot, Grandpa would like to know if you feel up to all of us going out to eat for dinner here in Deland this weekend. He is going to be out this way and wanted to see you and make sure that you’re okay.”

  They both looked to me to answer. “I’m up to it, if you both are. I miss talking with Grandpa. I never really knew my own grandfathers, since they both passed when I was a child.”

  “I’ll set it up then,” Gregory said with a smile and squeezed my knee gently under the table.

  He helped mom clear the table, but she insisted on doing the dishes, herself. So, he helped steady me as I walked around the house, stretching my legs and trying to keep myself steady.

  My balance was definitely off and I kept tripping over my own feet. Gregory had to catch me several times, before I went head first into the walls. I knew I wasn’t ready to run a marathon, but my body felt like it was getting stronger.

  After a couple more trips around the house’s interior, mom helped me change for bed, while Gregory labored over some paperwork he brought home. When I stepped out of the bathroom, I noted that he had a diagram of the inner ear up on his laptop’s screen. “Why are you looking at ears?”

  Mom helped me over to the bed, giving me a gentle hug and kiss on the cheek before wishing us both a good night, citing she would be turning in for the evening.

  “Thanks, Mom, for everything. I love you.”

  “I love you too, honey.”

  Gregory waited until mom had left the room and I could hear her bathroom door click.

  “I Googled your symptoms for dizziness and based on what the Internet says, you could easily have an inner ear infection or a ruptured membrane in the lining of the ear; that just isn’t healing properly.” He looked back at the diagram and then at me. “I wanted to see how the ear is designed. I wonder...”

  “Wonder what?”

  “The ear itself is located externally, while the inner ear is on the other side of the skull. I’m wondering if I gave you some extra attention, if I might be able to reach whatever is going wrong and heal it.” His face shifted to his quirky half smile and as his eyebrows wiggled when he said the word attention.

  I tried to stifle a laugh, now understanding what he was thinking. “Couldn’t hurt to try; but I don’t know if this is a result of the darkness or if it developed on its own. So far, your healing has only worked if the darkness has played a part in it.”

  He shut the computer down and went into the bathroom to change for bed, while I sat thumbing through, yet another bridal magazine mom had purchased earlier today, in hopes of finding the perfect dress.

  Suddenly, my senses were assaulted by the sweet smell of the roses. I inhaled; they smelled heavenly. I kept turning the pages, until my eyes fell upon a full-page ad for Period Wear Bridal Wedding Attire for themed Weddings, featuring a young couple in a rose garden wedding. I closed my eyes, imagining what a Wedding like that would be like, when I was caught up in a daydream.

  I found myself in the garden from the advertisement, dressed in a silk Sack Back gown, with Aaron attired in a dress suit with matching coat, breeches and wai
stcoat. The sun was beginning to set and we were at the edge of a beautiful garden, surrounded by roses, dahlias, sweet peas, and some other varietal flowers. The scent of the garden was enticing to the senses, while the sight of Aaron was enticing to the mind.

  Aaron grasped hold of my hands. “Hannah, my love. I am but a simple man, trying to follow in my father’s footsteps. I do not have much to offer, but I can present you my undying love. I know I am doing this out of order, needing to ask your father’s permission, first. But I need to know; would you do me the extraordinary honor of becoming my wife? I promise you will never want for anything and I will love you until my last breath.”

  I could feel the emotions building inside Hannah. Suddenly, I found myself watching from a distance, as she nodded in acceptance. “You have always had my heart, Aaron. Now you will have my hand, as well. I love you with the whole of my existence.”

  I watched as a quirky smile, much like my Gregory’s, spread across his face. I watched as he reached inside his waistcoat pocket and produced what looked like a pair of earrings. I couldn’t tell what they looked like exactly, but they sparkled in the remaining sunset light.

  “They are beautiful, Aaron. I could not accept such an expensive gift.” Hannah insisted.

  “Hannah, you will accept this gift as a token of my undying love to you. You will soon be the wife and daughter in-law of an influential family. You need to dress the part.” He was resolute with his words.

  He placed the earrings in her hands as she held them tightly over her heart. I watched as Aaron gently caressed her face, drawing her close to steal a chaste kiss. That’s when I felt a warm kiss on my own shoulder, with lips working their way toward my mouth.

  “Having fun daydreaming about us, darling?” Gregory whispered as he continued to drop kisses on the corners of my mouth. Kiss me already!

  “I was actually dreaming about Hannah and Aaron. But, I do like your powers of persuasion to put my thoughts elsewhere, for now.” I opened my eyes slowly as he moved the magazine to the nightstand and helped me slide down onto the pillow.

  His lips never broke from my skin, always skimming, sucking and nipping at the pulse point where my shoulders and neck met. “I hope they were only wonderful thoughts. Were Hannah and Aaron happy?”

  I answered breathlessly, “Yes. He asked her to marry him, in a garden; I think it was by a plantation.”

  He continued kissing me gently. “Did he give her a ring?”

  “No, some earrings; but I couldn’t make out what they looked like, only that they sparkled.”

  Once I closed my eyes and began to relish his lips, he began to move them up my neck and toward my mouth, brushing gently across my outer lips with his tongue. His teeth caught my lower lip and pulled gently, until I opened my mouth and welcomed his tongue.

  His kiss wasn’t urgent, instead relishing the joining of our mouths, our souls. He had me almost to the point of mindlessness, when his lips worked their way across my jaw and to my ear. He whispered gently as he nipped on my earlobe, “Let me know if I hurt you.” He seemed to hit every pressure point on my ear to relax me before his tongue swept into the crevasse of my outer ear, flooding it with sensation.

  After a moment, he slowly moved to suckle the skin behind my ear. I felt a sudden head rush and a pop sensation deep within my ear. The ceiling began to spin.

  “Oh, no,” I said, raising my hand to my mouth to prevent myself from hurling.

  Gregory’s eyes widened and he grabbed hold of me. One second we were in bed, the next, he was by the toilet, one hand supporting me around the waist, the other held my hair back, while all of my dinner came up.

  When I was done, he reached for a washcloth and dampened it, before wiping my face. He picked me up gently and carried me back into the bedroom, before flashing out for a cup of water.

  His face looked panic-stricken when he flashed back with the plastic cup in hand. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you, Jordan.”

  The water tasted refreshing and the wave of nausea appeared to have passed. “I know you would never do anything to hurt me, Gregory. I trust you to the point of putting my life in your hands.”

  I paused for a moment to think about how my ear was feeling and motioned for him to sit beside me on the bed. “Something is happening to my ear. I don’t know how best to describe it, but it is a strange awareness. A feeling of warmth first spread through it and then I heard, or maybe felt, a pop-like sensation. That’s when the nausea hit and I couldn’t help but throw-up. I should thank you for getting me to the bathroom so quickly and apologize for having to watch me do that.” I never liked throwing up at all, let alone throwing up in front of anyone. It was embarrassing.

  “Nothing you do will ever turn me away from you. Don’t you know, by now, that I would move heaven and earth just to be near you?”

  “I think I will just lay still for the remainder of the night, because I still feel a little iffy.” His face looked crest-fallen and I felt terrible for hurting his feelings. “I know why you did that and I’m not complaining. I truly appreciate the closeness we have and how you were able to make me mindless for a few moments. Actually, you can enthrall me anytime you want.”

  I reached up to caress his face, and the corners of his mouth lifted. “I don’t know what happened; only that something is still going on inside my ear. Whether it’s good or bad, we’ll have to wait and see, since some things take time to heal. Even with your healing powers, if it worked, it will take time to see the effects, since the inner ear is buried so deeply.”

  He leaned down, planting a gentle kiss on my lips, careful to keep my head still. “You know I love you with everything that I am, right?”

  “As do I, Gregory. It’s late and we both need our sleep.”

  He climbed into bed beside me, snuggling up close. “Did you find any dresses that you like in the new magazine? You know money is no object.”

  I moved my hand over his heart and replied, “I know that you, along with everyone else, want me to be happy on our special day. I just worry about spending that kind of money if our wedding might never take place.”

  He let out a frustrated grunt. “I don’t want you talking like that. You heard Ray. We stand the best chance getting married and fulfilling the prophecy, together.” He leaned up in bed so he could get full vision of my eyes. “Nothing, and I do mean NOTHING, will keep me from marrying you!”

  “I’m not going to argue with you because that is my heart’s desire, too, to spend an eternity with you as your wife. I just haven’t found ‘the’ dress, yet.”

  “Did you have something in mind?”

  “I was kind of thinking it might be nice to pay a bit of homage to our predecessors, by having some small element of that era represented in the dress. We know we existed in Victorian times and now, sometime near the Revolutionary War. I have an idea of what I’m looking for, but the groom doesn’t need to know what the bride is wearing. That’s bad luck.”

  “I like the idea. If you wanted to do a period style wedding, we could easily fit that into the theme of our ‘Engagement Party’. What do you think?”

  “Sounds nice, but I think I would rather stick with a party theme and only have a dress reminiscent of times past.” The look on his face told me he was in deep thought. “What are you thinking about?”

  “I’m trying to imagine specific dresses on you. How about we get some sleep and dream about it?”

  “Sounds like a plan. Goodnight, my love.”

  “Goodnight, my forever beauty.” He leaned in and kissed my forehead before curling up as close as he could to me, in bed.

  Our minds slowly drifted to the boundaries of our subconscious. Gregory had us near the edge of the lake, by the garden. The sweet smell of the flowers filled the air, reminding me of Aaron and Hannah’s engagement. I shared with him my earlier visions and he started meshing bits and pieces of both Angeline and Hannah’s fancy dresses with a little bit of modern flare, creating a breathtak
ing vision of a wedding gown. I didn’t dare admit it, but that was “the” dress I had been looking for.

  The following day I was not surprised to find my vertigo had improved slightly and I didn’t require as much assistance from my mother to move around the house. I was able to run a couple more reports for Caroline and write-up an analysis of the findings.

  Terry was making great use of the call-me-if-you-have-any-questions invitation. I finally had to tell her to write down her questions and limit the calls to twice a day, so I could have some time to rest.

  One call I wasn’t expecting was from Pamela. Her attitude was very condescending and accusatory. “I’ve been extremely worried about your health and safety, Jordan. But, now I feel I wasted my energy on you, now that I hear that you’re able to work from home. I’m disappointed that you would use this organization to your benefit and milk your accident in order to collect disability and put out only a little effort toward your work.”

  I knew she was trying to push my buttons and I intended to inform Caroline of her attitude. “I don’t know what your problem is, Pamela, but you need to leave me alone. I would like to come back now, but the doctor refuses to release me to work at this time. Only after persistence, on my part, did he finally relent to allow me to work only a few hours each day. I’m doing what I can to get back, but an injured body with broken and fractured bones takes time to heal. You, of all people, should understand this, considering your career in healthcare marketing.” I paused for a moment to gather my thoughts. “Now, if there is something you need, spit it out; otherwise, I appreciate your concern and will, hopefully, see you at work, soon. If you need my assistance with anything, please direct your requests through Caroline!”

  I hit the end key on my phone before she could say anything further and immediately called Caroline, who was not surprised by Pamela’s actions. “I’m sorry you had to deal with her, Jordan. She has been causing chaos all through the office. The negativity has reached an all time high; so we’ve kept her busy with as much ‘out of office’ activity as possible. I’ll talk with her and let her know there will be absolutely no calling you. If she needs anything from you, then she will have to go through me. Just do what you can for us and take as much time as you need to heal. We would rather have you come back feeling great, than trying to rush yourself and causing complications. We appreciate all you have been able to do for us, from home. Now, take it easy and don’t give Pamela a second thought.”