Time for Raine

by C. Barry Denham

  “Come on, baby.” Her voice cracked. “Breathe, sweetheart. One time for Miss Noelle, little one. You can do it.”

  Sean sank further into the black abyss that threatened the edge of his sight and he became aware of someone tugging at his other arm. Another staff member was guiding him onto a gurney. He reached in vain toward Noelle and Raine as he was wheeled away. Images of the ladies he loved faded, as he fought valiantly to hold on to consciousness.

  The last sound he heard was Noelle’s scream. “Please, baby, please, breathe! Just once for Daddy.”

  In spite of his efforts to stay with them, the world around Sean went dark.

  ****

  Darkness spilled through the blinds as Sean opened his eyes. The world spun. Where was he? Pain shot though his left arm when he tried to move. Efforts to release his bandaged arm from the restraints were futile, so he resolved to close his eyes for a few moments more and try again later.

  So sleepy. He allowed himself to slip down, down into the need for rest, and thought of his sweet daughter. Memories of her lying motionless on the bed flashed across his vision.

  “Raine?” He opened his eyes. Noelle appeared beside the rails of the bed and took his free arm.

  “Easy, baby.” She touched his face gently. “You’ve been through a lot. You don’t want to rip open those sutures.”

  “Raine, where is she?”

  “She’s fine,” Noelle smiled. “She’s sleeping. It’s very late. You’ve been out for several hours.”

  “The man?”

  “He’s dead, Sean.” Her voice broke. “It’s over, baby. Raine’s okay. We were able to revive her. She’s fine. There was no damage; she had stopped breathing for less than a minute.”

  The tears flowed from his eyes. “Thank you.”

  “It was a team effort,” she whispered. “Lucky we were here when that man…”

  “How did he—”

  “You rest,” she said. “There will be plenty of time for answers later.”

  Sean opened his mouth to speak, and the door opened. In came Raine in a wheelchair, guided by a nurse.

  “Daddy!” she shouted and tried to stand. The nurse restrained her.

  “Hang on,” demanded the large nurse. “Your daddy is fine, sweetie, but he needs his rest.”

  Noelle was having nothing to do with protocol. She lifted Raine from the chair and gently placed her on the side of Sean’s bed. The nurse shook her head but remained silent.

  Raine leaned gently into her father and hugged him. Sean reached out with his free arm and held her close.

  “I thought we had lost you,” Sean whispered.

  “I thought we had lost you, too, Daddy. Thank you for saving me.”

  Sean looked toward Noelle. “I think you can thank Miss Noelle, our award-winning sprinter for that, sweetie. I still don’t know how she got to your room so fast.”

  Raine turned and held out her arms. “Can we have a group hug, please?”

  Noelle leaned forward and wrapped one arm around Raine and the other around Sean.

  In spite of the pain, he realized nothing felt better than holding the two ladies of his life closely.

  It was just what the doctor ordered.

  Epilogue

  On the beach, across from Ono Island

  Three months later, the first day of fall…

  Noelle knelt on the sand and tightened her sandal strap. The day slipped into a cool and misty dusk. It was still shorts weather on the coast during the warm days, but nippy enough for sleeves after the sun set. A cool, brisk northern breeze pushed across the dunes and out into the Gulf of Mexico. The warm water felt good to her toes, as she watched and listened to the docile waters. A wave chased a periwinkle bird away from the surf, as it scurried along the beach ahead of her in search of a meal.

  “One, two…three!” Sean counted as they lifted Raine from an encroaching wave, then set her back onto the beach to witness the salt water fizzle away. There was no doubt in Noelle’s mind he was repeating the newfound ritual just to hear Raine laugh. It was a glorious sound. In her three-and-a-half years on this earth, a lot had happened, including almost losing her. It was good to hear her patented belly laugh. The stress and pain of the summer months were all but a memory now.

  The Castleman’s was cured. Sean had picked the doctor’s brain apart in determining the detailed prognosis for his little girl. Yes, she was totally cured. No, there was no reason to think it would ever come back. No, having had the disease was no indication of a more serious risk. It was the most benign form of Castleman’s and was remedied by simply removing the lymph node affected. Because it was a relatively simple surgery, it was done as an outpatient procedure. The whole ordeal transpired in Pensacola and was painless. In a few weeks, Raine was back to her normal self. There wasn’t any indication to suggest she had any problem with her underarm, as evidence by her game of dodging the waves.

  Like her father, she was hard to keep down.

  In more ways than one.

  Even after losing half the blood in his body from the sliced artery while deflecting the man’s second attempt to stab Raine—an attempt that most probably would have hit Noelle also—Sean had pulled through. It was touch and go for hours, but he made it.

  Noelle thought about what might have happened if they had caught even one more traffic light driving back to the hospital. Or if it had taken even seconds longer to reach Raine’s hospital room. Sean had dwelt on this aspect more than she and had several times expressed his thanks that Noelle was fast enough to earn those trophies still residing in the display case at Pensacola High. Her speed was the difference in Raine’s avoiding serious injury, if not death, from the knife.

  Try as she might, she couldn’t help but think of the many, many what-ifs that could have yielded a much different outcome. But the past was gone, now, along with the horrible monster that day.

  James Castle, the man who posed as Derek, was dead, putting an end to the last piece of the Raine’s confusing premonition about the Castle Man. When he hit the hospital floor, a shard of bone punctured his brain, killing him in seconds. How lucky they were to have escaped this ruthless man, who had murdered the FBI agent assigned to Raine and hidden his body in the men’s room. Castle’s involvement prompted more investigation from the Feds. They discovered the man was linked to an association tied to Senator Blane. The group’s radical ring of corruption was busted wide open, and the associated white supremacy organization was rendered ineffective.

  In a matter of weeks, father and daughter had completely recovered, and life was almost—almost—back to normal.

  Noelle had returned to her practice, at Sean’s insistence. Although he needed help with Raine, especially after her surgery, he refused Noelle’s assistance, turned her around, and pointed her toward her office. Derek—the real one—insisted on coming over and helping out, and Sean had taken him up on his offer.

  Getting back into the swing of things made the hours go faster. In some ways, going back to her old life was torturous. Not being with Sean and Raine around the clock was worse. But keeping separate living arrangements was at her own insistence. She wanted to do the right thing. So days were spent working—her with patients, him with his writing—and early evenings after Raine’s bedtime were spent stealing away, whenever possible, for intimacy. She longed for the days when she could be with him—and Raine—all night. Thankfully, she wouldn’t have to wait much longer, as the wedding was in eight days. Between her practice and his finishing the new book, which he appropriately entitled Time for Raine, there was little idle time.

  The story this time was indeed semi-autobiographical. They say “write what you know,” and that’s exactly what he had done. Sean told her there was no longer any doubt concerning the details of his heroine for the story, because she was actually Noelle.

  His publisher was very impressed with the synopsis and partial manuscript. Because of Raine’s popularity and extraordinary psychic gifts, Hollywood h
ad jumped all over the story. Plans were in the works to turn the story into a made-for-TV movie. Noelle cried when the publisher told them about the call he had received from the director of the proposed film, who happened to be an Asian man. It seemed he had followed Raine’s story, and after hearing of their engagement, insisted on footing the bill for the wedding and offered his own vacation home in Malibu for the event. The director was a supporter of foreign adoption and had adopted two Chinese children himself, one from the same province where Raine was born. In addition, the best man, Derek, and maid of honor, Connie, had teamed up to help with the details. And from what Sean had told Noelle, the two were teaming up in more ways than one.

  It was all a dream come true.

  The coming year promised to be very interesting and hopefully a joyous one. The NSA and ethics committee had agreed, in light of all the events, to postpone Raine’s hearing. They had more than they needed, thanks to Raine, to put the senator away for a very long time.

  In the meantime, Raine’s calendar would be as full as time allowed. She had offers from literally all over the world to make appearances. Several award ceremonies were scheduled, including the one from the testing institution, which was to be a nationally televised event. Pleas for endorsements from every imaginable product and service poured in. The most amusing one was from a vitamin company that made gingko biloba supplements. For a substantial endorsement fee, Raine had to agree she took the supplements and that they enhanced her astonishing mental powers. Sean had presented this to Raine, but she had simply frowned. She proceeded to inform Sean exactly what chemical elements the supplement was composed of and although it did have some benefits, it didn’t exactly have anything in it to make people smarter. Her father thought it prudent to turn the offer down.

  And then there was the Dalai Lama. He wanted to meet with Raine, convinced she might be his successor. Sean respectfully nixed the successor idea but agreed to allow her to meet with him. That event was scheduled for the spring.

  After her brief setbacks, Raine continued her uncanny pursuit of knowledge. She soaked in everything the limitless reach of the Internet had to offer. Noelle spent a lot of time with her on the weekends and evenings, supervising the activity. During one of those sessions, while Daddy had slipped out to pick up dinner, Raine told her someday soon Noelle would be a mommy.

  “I’m already a mommy, sweetie,” Noelle had said. “I’m your other mommy.”

  “But I’m going to have brothers and sisters,” Raine insisted.

  How right she was.

  It was still difficult for Noelle to think in plural terms relative to the babies that grew inside of her. More astounding, she had no idea there was a possibility of becoming pregnant. And then, after Raine’s revelation, some things that were going on with her body all made sense. After her first breakup with Sean, she had stopped taking the pill. Looking back, she wasn’t sure why, other than she considered her love life over. And in the back of her mind she had always assumed Sean was sterile. Thus, no need for the pill, or at least so she thought.

  Then, synchronistically, she was late for her period. Nausea came next. The mood shifts. The sleepiness. She seemed to have every symptom at once. Last week, it was confirmed. The doctor had then asked if there were twins in the family. Not in hers, she had said. She learned that there were in Sean’s family. Definitely two individual heartbeats, the doctor had said.

  Oh, well.

  The honeymoon sail to the Caribbean would have to be postponed for a while. And he was so looking forward to heeding the call for points south! She wasn’t looking forward to dropping that news on him.

  She watched the little girl frolicking with her daddy on the beach ahead of her and hoped Raine would not connect too many dots. And she certainly hoped the child wouldn’t say anything about her condition before Noelle could tell Sean, which she planned to do before the wedding. Fortunately, if Raine knew about the birds and the bees, she wasn’t telling, and Noelle hoped she hadn’t figured out exactly how or when the babies got their start. She’d cross that bridge when she came to it. Sean slowed his pace and allowed her to catch up.

  “I finished the book,” he said, looking over to her. She smiled at him. Raine released their hands and started chasing a crab along the sand.

  “Oh, yeah? How does it end?”

  “I think you know.”

  “Tell me anyway.”

  “And they lived happily ever after. Oh, and the happily ever after part officially starts in eight days.”

  He got quiet as they started walking again.

  “Penny for your thoughts,” she pleaded.

  “Okay. It occurred to me we haven’t decided where we will live. Ono or the beach?”

  “Well, I think I know Raine’s choice.” Noelle brushed a strand of hair away from the little girl’s face as she rejoined them.

  “Why not both?” Raine offered.

  Noelle and Sean laughed.

  “Problem solved,” he said.

  The three of them continued on slowly.

  “Something else on your mind?” she asked.

  He stopped suddenly and dug his toes into the sand. “Okay, I’ve been thinking maybe we ought to put off our sailing trip.”

  She stopped again and gazed into his eyes.

  “Yeah? Why?”

  “I don’t know, it doesn’t seem quite right this soon after our ordeal this summer. Raine’s schedule is pretty full. There will be edits to deal with on the new book.”

  Noelle smiled and nodded. “I agree, Mr. Sampson.” She did her best to hide her relief. “I would feel better if we wait until Raine gets a little older anyway.”

  “You really mean that? I know you were looking forward to the trip as much as I was.”

  “I think I can find other things to do until we can reschedule.”

  He took her into his arms and kissed her. “I love you, soon-to-be Mrs. Sampson.”

  “And I love you, too, soon-to-be famous author again,” she said, instead of soon-to-be daddy again, which she’d have to say soon enough.

  “Ooooh, I see you,” Raine shouted from a distance ahead and shook her finger at them.

  “Oh, I forgot to tell you the rest of the story. Then they adopted three or four more of those,” he whispered, and inclined his head toward Raine.

  “Nice ending.” She kissed him again and winked at their daughter. “And three or four more isn’t a bad idea, the more I think about it.”

  Raine gave Noelle a knowing smile. She could almost read her little mind.

  Duh, at least he got part of it right!

  “Okay, what’s going on with you two?” Sean stopped.

  “Nothing, Daddy.”

  Noelle winked again at Raine.

  Raine’s giggle turned into another one of her belly laughs.

  Noelle would never tire of hearing that sound.

  A word about the author…

  Barry lives with his wife Karen and their two daughters, Abby and Ally, on Florida’s Nature Coast. He holds a BSBA and MBA from Webster University.

  He has served as VP Finance for TMC, a health care corporation, since 2002.

  He is a member of Sunshine State Romance Authors, a chapter of RWA, where he served two terms as Treasurer. He obtained PAN status with RWA last year.

  http://cbdenham2003.wix.com/first

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