Her Dear & Loving Husband

by Meredith Allard

  CHAPTER 24

  Sarah heard him collapse from the first floor. Everyone inside the library heard him collapse. It wasn’t just a man falling to the ground but the roar of thunder, an earthquake, or an apocalypse echoing from the third floor in booming waves. Students yelled and ran for cover. Library staff wanted to call security, but Jen-nifer calmed everyone, saying not to worry, they were reorgan-izing some things on the other floors, they must have dropped something heavy, don’t panic. Everyone settled down, everyone but Sarah because she knew what the crash meant. She raced to the stairwell because the elevator would have been too slow. Jennifer was right behind her.

  When they got to the third floor they saw him, Timothy, his chest heaving as though he were desperate to breathe again after suffering from empty lungs too long, an unconscious James in his arms. Sarah had to stifle a scream when she saw them.

  “James?” she cried. “Jamie?”

  But he couldn’t hear her. His face was blushing red, not ghost white, and he was so still.

  “Bring him in here,” Jennifer said. She already had the faculty lounge on the third floor ready in case there was an emergency. The blinds were down and black butcher paper was taped over the windows. Timothy laid James on the sofa, then stepped back and looked at his friend.

  “How did you get in here during the day, Timothy?” Jennifer asked.

  “I snuck in last night. I’ve been in here all day, hiding in the storage room down the hall. I wanted to be here if he needed me.”

  “How did you know he was going to be here today?”

  “I overheard him talking to Hempel the other night. I told him to call me so I could help him. He never called, but I was worried so I came anyway. He sounded fine while they were talking. I didn’t know anything was wrong until I heard him fall. Why didn’t he call me?”

  “He didn’t want to put you in danger,” Jennifer said.

  “But he needed me. Look at him.”

  Sarah sat on the table in front of the sofa, stroking James’s hand, brushing his gold hair from his eyes. She would have cried, but she was dry inside. She was afraid to ask Timothy if her worst fear had come true because she didn’t know what she would do with herself if it were. She held James’s hand to her cheek. “He’s so warm,” she said. “He’s burning up like he has a fever.”

  “Then let’s cool him down.” Jennifer took the ice cube trays from the freezer. “Let’s start with this.” She cracked the trays and dropped the ice over James’s still body. “I’m going to run to the store to buy a few bags of ice. Maybe that will help.”

  While Jennifer was gone, Sarah and Timothy waited. Sarah couldn’t look at the boy because that would make this real and she couldn’t pretend it was a bad dream. She would have gladly spent every night for the rest of her life trapped in a nightmare if it would make this waking terror go away. She took one of the ice cubes and rubbed it along James’s face, along his forehead, across his temples, down his neck and chest. The blush on his cheeks reminded her, through Elizabeth’s memories, of his hu-man days. He looked like he was sleeping with his head turned, his chin tilted. She wouldn’t take her eyes from him because she was afraid that if she stopped seeing him, even for a moment, then he would disappear, like he was never there. Maybe this was one of her famous nightmares. Maybe she was still living in Los Angeles married to a man she didn’t love in a city that didn’t agree with her. Maybe James was too perfect to be anything but a dream. She kissed him, his forehead, his cheeks, his lips, trying to wake him. Wake up, Sleeping Beauty, she thought. I need you.

  Jennifer came back with Olivia, both carrying two bags of ice, which they placed around James’s still body. Olivia locked the door from the inside so no one else could get in.

  Too much time passed with no change. Jennifer pulled a corner of the black butcher paper from the window and peeked outside. “It’s dark,” she said. She pulled the paper down and opened the blinds. She stared at the stars, the lights in the sky staying respectfully distant and dim. Then she turned to Sarah. “Why don’t you take some time for yourself. If there’s any change I’ll call you.”

  “I don’t want to leave,” Sarah said.

  “You need to take care of yourself. You need to stay strong for James.”

  Sarah didn’t want to go, but Jennifer pressed her until she left. She stumbled away, checked the hallway to be sure no one was around, and closed the door behind her, softly, as though a slam would disturb James from his sleep. She didn’t go far, just to the women’s faculty lounge to wash her face. Then she sat on the floor in the hall. Through the closed door she could hear Jennifer talking to Timothy.

  “Why don’t you go stretch your legs?” Jennifer said.

  “I don’t need to stretch my legs.”

  “But you need to stay strong too. You’re crowding James hovering over him like that. You need to pull yourself together.”

  Timothy walked into the hallway. He didn’t seem to see Sarah as he disappeared into the stairwell. After a few more minutes, Sarah decided that the only place she needed to be was near James. When she walked into the lounge she saw Jennifer’s face set in determination as she spoke to her mother.

  “I’m going to cast a spell for James. I’m going to cleanse the weakness from him, give him strength.” Olivia began to speak, but Jennifer used her hand as a stop sign. “I know you’re the one who tells me we can’t use our spells to interfere in people’s lives. And I know James isn’t conscious and can’t give his consent, but I’m going to do it anyway. This is for James, Mother, our friend James, the first one you called the day I was born, the one who has always been there for us, for our whole family back genera-tions. If I can’t use my magic to heal him, then I don’t want it any more.”

  “I was just going to ask if I could help, dear. I’m the one who taught you how to cast spells, remember? Did you bring the sage incense and the white candles?”

  “Of course.”

  Jennifer saw Sarah and nodded, saying, “I’m going to cast a spell for James. He can’t give permission, but you can. Do you give me permission to cast a spell for him, Sarah?”

  “What kind of magic spell?” Sarah asked.

  “Sometimes we can help when people are ill,” Olivia said.

  Sarah stared at them with fear and awe, then nodded her consent.

  From her bag, Jennifer pulled incense, white candles, and a glass she filled with water from the tap. She took matches from her bag and lit the incense and the candles.

  “Do you think it will work?” Olivia asked. “I’ve never cast a spell for someone like James.”

  “I hope it works, Mother, because I don’t know what else to do.”

  Jennifer took her mother’s hands, and the two witches stood over James and closed their eyes, whispering, “Angels of protec-tion, angels who clear, remove all weaknesses that don’t belong here.”

  Jennifer put her hands on James’s temples. “Heal James’s spirit. Make him well. Give him power and strength. Make him endure as he is made to endure.”

  She took the glass of water in her hands and held it over him, her eyes shut in concentration, pressing the glass as if she would shatter it, as if she directed the negative energy in the room, in James, into the water. When the water bubbled and steamed, Jennifer poured it down the drain.

  “It’s okay, James,” she said. “Your weaknesses have been flushed away. You can be well again.”

  But he didn’t move. He looked exactly as he had, flushed, unstirring. Dead. Jennifer shook her head and wrung her hands in circles, over and over, rubbing until her skin was red. The three of them hovered around him, waiting for some sign that the spell had worked. Sarah looked at the counter near the sink and saw the candles still flickering, and her lungs burned from the spicy incense. Jennifer and Olivia wouldn't look at her. She saw their melancholy faces and understood what they were trying not to say.

  “It didn’t work,” Sarah said.

  Jennifer shook her head. “I�
��m sorry, Sarah.”

  Sarah was heartbroken, torn outward from the soft organs inside. While she was washing her face in the women’s lounge, feeling like the mirrors would shatter around her in jagged tear-drops, she felt the resignation settle over her, not unlike the resignation Elizabeth had felt in prison when she knew she was dying. She didn’t want to die, but it didn’t matter, she died anyway. Sarah wasn’t ready for James to die, but she knew that didn’t matter, either, if it was time. Sometimes events turned away from you so quickly there was nothing you could do to try to reel them back and send them in the direction you wanted them to go. She wanted to be with James. She wanted to live out the happy lives they had started over three hundred years before. The more she and Elizabeth melded into one woman, the more she knew there was nowhere else for her to be but there with him. And he was already leaving her again. It didn’t make any sense. But life would do what life would do, and she never felt like she had complete control over the direction of her destiny. She could only wish there was still some way she could keep him with her. Unless there was some universe-driven practical joke that had gone badly wrong and was never meant to be funny but only tragic, then it couldn’t be possible for them to go through everything they had for such a brief reunion. There had to be more.

  Suddenly Timothy burst through the door. “I know! Let’s feed him!”

  “Whatever gave you that idea?” Olivia asked.

  “I saw it on television. That’s what the vampires do when they’re hurt. They drink.”

  Sarah thought she should go to the refrigerator for a bag of blood, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave James’s side. She sat on the edge of the table and stared at him. Most of the ice had melted, so she took one of the last cubes and rubbed it down his temples and across his forehead.

  “Wake up, Sleeping Beauty,” she said. “You’re my dear and loving husband. I’ll never leave you ever.” She kissed his lips.

  Then she felt it, the cold that made her lips tingle. Not from the melting ice, but from James.

  “He’s cold!” she said. “Jennifer, he’s cold!”

  Olivia took James’s hand and held it between hers. “He is definitely colder,” she said.

  Sarah tapped his cheek with her fingers. “James? Jamie? Can you hear me?” When he opened his eyes she began to cry. “Oh James,” she said.

  He blinked a few times, saw everyone watching him with hopeful smiles, and he sat up as if he had woken up from a nap. He looked like nothing strange had happened, he hadn’t gone out during the day, he hadn’t seen the sun. He hadn’t tricked his hunter and sent the man limping away. He looked like it was an ordinary way to spend the afternoon after finding his way in the nighttime world so long.

  “What’s wrong, Sarah?” he asked. “Are you all right?”

  Sarah ran her fingers from his temple to his chin. “I’m fine. Are you all right? I thought you were leaving me.”

  James brushed her tears away with the back of his hand. “I promised I’d never leave you ever. I feel fine. I’m just a little wet. Why am I wet?”

  “We were trying to make you cold again so Jennifer and Olivia put ice on you.”

  “Ice. Great idea.” He pushed the bags of water onto the floor and saw the worried faces. “Why do you all look like you’ve seen a ghost?”

  “Actually,” Jennifer said, “you looked more like a corpse until you woke up just now.”

  “You always look a little dead, dear,” Olivia said, “but today you looked really very dead. I’m glad you’re feeling better. You had us all worried.”

  Sarah patted James’s hands. “Do you want something to drink?” she asked. “I put your bags in the refrigerator in here in case Hempel looked in the one in your office.”

  James nodded. “Yes, and yes, he looked in the fridge in my office. He seemed very happy with the diet soda he found. He may have even taken a candy bar.”

  Sarah pulled a medical bag from the refrigerator. She sliced open the top with a knife she found in a drawer, pulled a styrofoam cup from the cupboard, poured the red liquid into the cup, and put it in the microwave.

  “That doesn’t gross you out?” Jennifer asked.

  “It’s what he drinks.”

  “You really are the right girl for him.”

  “I know.”

  As she brought James the warmed cup she heard Timothy speaking to him like an irate parent lecturing an unruly child.

  “Next time you need to let me help you.” Timothy wagged a frustrated finger to emphasize his point.

  “What could you have done?” James asked.

  “I could have done something. Promise me next time you’ll ask for help.”

  “Very well, Timothy. The next time I’m stalked by a relentless hunter I’ll ask for help.”

  Timothy seemed satisfied with that answer. Seeing that James was well, Sarah was calm, and Jennifer and Olivia were content, he looked ready to leave. It was too much for the boy, Sarah thought. He hadn’t slept all day. From outside, Sarah heard a dog, or was it a wolf, howling a long, lonely low. She looked through the window, saw the full moon hanging in the sky, and she shuddered, afraid of what might be waiting for them. James didn’t seem concerned. He listened to the howl and turned to Timothy.

  “Your dad’s here,” James said. “Sounds like he’s worried about you.”

  Timothy nodded. “He’s worried about you too.” The boy listened to the wolf’s bark, short and sharp now. “Coming Dad,” he said. He smiled at James as he walked away. Sarah looked through the window again and saw a large gray wolf with gold glowing eyes sitting outside the library door. She was sure the wolf bowed in her direction, one front paw behind the other, its head bent in a courtly manner, when it saw her. Though she was curious, she would ask James to explain another time. At that moment, all she cared about was James.

  Outside the library, Jennifer threw her hands into the air when she saw the parking ticket on her windshield. She had left her car by the curb along Loring Avenue after she ran to buy ice. She didn’t want to waste time running from the parking lot, and she hadn’t been back since. She took the ticket from the wind-shield, crumpled it, and threw it into the backseat.

  “I told you it was a no parking zone,” Olivia said.

  “You didn’t tell me it was a no parking zone. You said no such thing.”

  “I did. I said it was a no parking zone. You should try listening to your mother sometimes.”

  “It’s hard to listen to your mother when she insists on com-municating through telepathy. You need to speak in words like the rest of us.”

  “But you work here, Jennifer. You should know it’s a no parking zone.”

  James nodded his head toward the car. “Where’s the casket drapery?”

  “I took it down as soon as you got out,” Olivia said.

  “Do you two want a ride somewhere?” Jennifer asked.

  “No,” said James. “The moon looks beautiful tonight, and I still need to dry off. We’ll walk.”

  Jennifer looked at him and smiled. “Don’t forget, I promised you three wishes. You still have two more to go.”

  “Don’t worry. I may take you up on that.”

  James and Sarah watched while the witches drove away. When the car disappeared around the curve, he took her hand.

  “Do you think it was Jennifer’s spell that made you well again?” she asked.

  He brushed a dark curl from her cheek. “I don’t know. Maybe my body needed time to recover from the heat. I am immortal after all, and I don’t think it’s been forever yet.”

  “I thought it was my kiss that woke you up.”

  James laughed. “I felt your lips on mine when I opened my eyes, so perhaps your kiss did heal me. We better not tell Jennifer and Olivia that your magic is more powerful than theirs.”

  Sarah nodded, leaning her head against his arm. “All right, Sleeping Beauty. I won’t say a word.”

  James and Sarah walked home under the light of the f
ull spring moon. They walked without speaking, casting shy glances at each other, like people in love. He was happy to see the moon lighting the night sky, solid and patient as always.

  “I think that white glow will do just fine for me from now on,” he said. “I’ll never dismiss it as an estranged relative again.”

  He held Sarah’s hand tightly, afraid to let her go. He had the unnerving thought that if he lost touch with her he would lose her forever, and perhaps they would never reconnect again. She grab-bed his arm, tugging on him until he looked at her.

  “Jennifer told me once that you helped her family in ways I can’t imagine, but she never said what you did. How did you help them?”

  “Her ancestor helped me first, in 1693, and then I helped her family during the Great Depression and World War II.” Sarah looked as if she wanted to know more, but James shook his head. “I’ll tell you everything you want to know, but not tonight. We have time.” He grinned from ear to ear with the thrill of the victory. His hunter had been vanquished, and he was certain Kenneth Hem-pel would no longer be a problem for them.

  “What happened when Hempel left the library?” he asked.

  “He seemed eager to get away. Did he agree to stop haras-sing you?”

  “He did.”

  “Is he going to stop hunting?”

  “That he wouldn’t agree to.”

  “So what do we do now?”

  “For now we hope he doesn’t find any more evidence against anyone else.”

  “But what about the others? Won’t they be watching to see if he goes public?”

  “I don’t know.” He needed to change the subject, and he smiled at her. “Was that your idea to fill my refrigerator with soda and candy bars?”

  “I thought he might want to see what you kept in there.”

  “I think that brilliant move saved the day.”

  “I didn’t save anything. You did it, James. You convinced Hempel to leave you alone.”

  Had it only been a few hours since that happened? It already seemed like a dream from another century. His life seemed so settled all of a sudden. The scattered pieces had been gathered and fitted together, creating one whole. Still, there was one part slightly out of place, one last thing he needed for everything to be just right. He looked at Sarah and saw her gentle glow of love. He saw the peace, the contentment that comes only when you are fulfilling your destiny. In her eyes, he saw their future as well as their past. In her eyes, he saw the one last thing he needed.