Do you know who I am?
“Yes, I do. Your name is Kincade Colter,” Valerie said, picking up the telephone. She called the airline and booked a seat on the next flight to Maine.
Chapter Nineteen
Valerie
After scheduling the flight, Valerie rushed home to pack a carry-on bag. Calling Zoe from the airport, she explained she had decided at the last minute to attend a fiscal management meeting in New Jersey. It wasn’t unusual for her to fly off to a meeting as part of her job.
She arrived in Brighton, Maine, at three o’clock in the afternoon. She’d come to Maine to confirm that the man she had been communicating with and dreaming about was, in fact, Kincade Colter. If it was, then she would contact his family, anonymously of course, and tell them where they could find him.
While she waited for the rental car she’d reserved to come around to the front of the rental office, Valerie pulled a file from her satchel. In it were her notes and collection of pictures she’d downloaded from the Internet on Cade Colter.
Flipping through the papers, she reread a news article about him and his younger brother, Theo. The two had entered a cake-eating contest to raise money for a local charity, but when the brothers were handed the winning check, Cade gave a quick thank you, smacked the check against Theo’s chest, and hurried from the podium. Days later, when Cade was asked about his hasty retreat by the head of the thankful charity, he explained that he didn’t know it was an ice cream cake until he’d began eating it. Then, laughing, he explained that he’d become sick to his stomach almost immediately after eating the cake because he was lactose intolerant. Staring down at his handsome face beaming up innocently from the article, Valerie’s heart beat just a little bit faster, and she barely managed to shove the folder back into her bag before the representative came to escort her to her rental car. She’d given the young man the address to the sanitarium, which he keyed into the GPS built into the dashboard console.
Bryland Sanitarium was a forty-five-minute drive north. Instead of focusing on her nervousness at what she was about to do, she focused her attention on the picturesque scenery she passed. The town was prepping for a countdown for a parade, and only when she stopped with the rest of traffic where a banner was waving above the road did she remember that Thanksgiving was a month away.
When the digital voice on the GPS broke into her thoughts and announced the exit for her destination, her nervousness resurfaced. “What if this backfires and blows up in my face or he thinks I’ve made up some crazy story about seeing him in my dreams? Then what?” She had no answers because the GPS just announced she’d reached her destination.
Taking a deep breath, she followed the signs to the guest parking lot. By the time she’d parked the car, she decided she wouldn’t tell Cade anything about seeing him in her dreams. No. She would simply explain she’d seen his story on TV back in DC several weeks ago, and since she had to come in town for a meeting, she felt compelled to check in at local facilities for a missing person and to help his worried family, which was true.
By the time she’d stepped from the car, she’d also managed to push away her nagging thoughts—mainly Aunt Ruby’s warnings about interfering.
After walking through the stately wrought-iron gates, a feeling of déjà vu hit her.
Inside the building, the reception desk was exactly as it was in her trance, open and welcoming with lots of activity. When she said she needed to inquire about a John Doe, she had been directed to the bank of elevators down the hall.
Stepping off the elevator and walking over to the nurse’s station, her knees quaked as she waited for the lone nurse to finish her telephone call. But her eyes drifted to the closed double doors, which she knew led to the corridor where JD’s room was.
This is it, and there’s no turning back now.
***
JD aka Cade
JD awakened from an afternoon nap and turned onto his side, facing the window.
He’d momentarily forgotten the new set of surgical staples holding the skin over his chest together until a sharp pain took his breath away. Slowly and carefully, he eased onto his back to a more comfortable position. Breathing through the pain, he resisted the urge to press the button for the nurse. Once settled, he glanced at his untouched food tray.
If he could remember what baby food looked like, he thought what was on his tray would be it, and that thought brought on another unanswered question. Was he a father? He eased from the bed and pushed the portable IV stand across the room to the small bathroom, where he decided to shave.
A short while later, he gazed into the mirror at his reflection and recalled his latest dream. He’d seen an older woman crying. He couldn’t see her face because she held several tissues up to her eyes and nose. Although he didn’t recognize anything else about her, her sadness engulfed him and made him want to comfort her.
Leaving the small bathroom, he pushed his IV stand over to the window and glanced out at the walking path and the empty wooden bench. The black wrought-iron gates sported two large yellow bows, and he’d watch staff hurrying to and from the parking lot. JD turned his back to the window and crossed his arms over his chest.
Letting his eyes pan around the room, he wished he didn’t feel so alone and isolated. It sucked. His mind was an empty slate with no good or bad memories to think about. He thought if he was released, the first thing he’d do would be to grab a cheeseburger.
With the sound like a snap of a firecracker popping in his ears, JD stood up straighter but otherwise didn’t move. He was holding onto that thought…he did like cheeseburgers, thick and juicy, and he could tolerate the melted cheese. “Yeah, and I like them with lettuce and tomatoes,” he murmured, closing his eyes tightly and trying to focus his attention on a restaurant he may have visited, but all he could visualize was a building that looked condemned, but it was a busy place. Inhaling deeply over the uncomfortable stiffness in his chest, he knew if he’d stepped into the place, the smell of fried onions would make his mouth water.
Was that a memory or wishful thinking?
Then it was gone. Dejected, he struggled not to slump against the window. Instead, he turned back to the window and ran a hand over his closely cropped hair.
The light tap on his door forced him to lift his shoulders, but he didn’t turn around. He’d come to recognize Nurse Nancy’s familiar tap on the door with her keys and guessed she was bringing him his medication. Good, he thought because his chest was aching terribly, made worse by the fact that now he wanted a damn cheeseburger.
From their reflection in the large window, JD watched Nurse Nancy and Dr. Porter enter the room and sighed. He wasn’t in the mood for another therapy session with Dr. Porter. So when Nurse Nancy came forward and laid a hand on his forearm and turning around saying that he had a visitor, his shocked expression matched hers. Looking over her coiffed salt and pepper hair, he spotted Travis creeping into his room with a wide grin on his face.
“Very funny, Travis, and so nice of all of you to stop by,” he said sarcastically, watching Travis move aside and opening the door wider to allow another visitor to enter.
His breath caught in his throat as he stared at the beautiful, honey brown woman who licked her lips nervously.
Wow, she’s beautiful…and…I’ve seen her before. I think.
He watched her slowly approaching him until she was just three feet in front of him. When she smiled and greeted him in a soft tentative voice, JD inhaled sharply. In disbelief, his eyes searched her face. Yes, he knew her, and he said the first thing that popped into his head.
“Valerie…y-your name is Valerie, isn’t it?”
***
Valerie
The moment she heard his voice, Valerie knew he was the man in her visions.
Yes, this is Cade.
She gazed into his beautiful brown eyes that searched her face. She was finding it hard to remain as cool as she’d hoped she appeared. He stood before her, living, breathing
, and bigger and sexier than he’d appeared in her dreams.
Tears, you need tears. Think of something sad. Sorry, Aunt Ruby. Sorry, Glen.
Bringing forth a rush of real tears was only part acting because she was genuinely happy to see him. Now, for the rest.
Come on, Drama Class 101.
“Oh, baby, yes, yes. It’s me, Valerie. I-I’m here, honey,” she said, rushing forward and thrusting herself into his unsuspecting arms. “Oh, honey, I’ve been at my wit’s end trying to find you. Oh, thank the Lord,” she gushed, sliding her arms around his neck and planting kisses to his cheeks and chin. He smelled so good, so clean, and true enough she wanted to find that sweetness of him and pressed several kisses to his lips.
“Oh my goodness, baby…um, Dr. Porter here has told me everything you’ve been through these past months.” Valerie sniffed as she eased back to gaze up into his handsome face. Having to tip her head up, she realized that he was several inches taller than he had been in her visions. “Sweetheart, you must have felt abandoned by me, but I honestly didn’t know where you were or what happened to you.” Knowing that the others were watching them closely, Valerie traced the planes of his face with her hands and fingertips. But it was JD staring at her face that made it clear that he was uncomfortable with her touching him so intimately.
“I-I feel like I know you. How exactly do we know each other?” he asked. He glanced curiously above her head of wavy brown hair to look at Travis, who was eyeing her approvingly.
Valerie reached for his hand, which she examined before responding. “Baby, I-I’m Valerie, your f-fiancée,” she said. Not knowing what else to do, she held up her left hand, showing the blue topaz birthstone ring she’s worn for many years. When he stared blankly at the ring, Valerie turned and proudly showed the ring to everyone in the room, and to her shock, the number of interested spectators had grown by at least four or five more staff members.
“What fiancée? I don’t have a fiancée.”
“Oh. Well, what do you remember? I mean about me…us?” She tried to sound both distraught and hopeful at the same time.
“I remember how you feel in my arms, dancing maybe, and I know what it’s like kissing you,” he commented more confidently, causing more than one of the female staff members to sigh audibly. “I don’t know about fiancée.”
Valerie’s smile was full of patience, compassion, and embarrassment as she raised the back of his hand up to her cheek, and she, too, sighed as she met his confused expression. “I understand they’ve been calling you JD here at the sanitarium, but your name is…”
“Yeah, what’s my name?”
His eyes were full of mistrust, of her. Valerie began to falter under his intense and suspicious gaze, and for some reason blurting out his given name without softening the blow just didn’t seem right. “It’s, um…Al. Your name is Al.”
“Al? Al what?” he asked, frowning.
Valerie went blank because in her rehearsal of what she would say to him when they met, she’d plan to tell him his given name, but something forced her to change that thinking. “Um…Green, no ‘E’ on the end, and yes, you’ve often told me about the ribbing you’ve taken about your name.” Valerie giggled nervously and patted her perspiring forehead with the back of her hand. “You know, Al Greene.”
He stepped back. “We’re engaged?” His expression was both incredulous and skeptical.
Understandably, his tone and action were accusatory. He didn’t believe her, but Valerie forged ahead, although fresh on her mind was the brief meeting she’d had with Dr. Porter and the nurse when she’d arrived and inquired about a John Doe. When she was escorted to the doctor’s office and provided verification of who she was and a picture and identification of the man she was looking for, the doctor had warned her of JD’s mental state. He’d also cautioned her to reintroduce herself to him slowly and try not to overload him on information or force him to remember what he couldn’t. She had to keep that in mind.
“Al, we’ve been engaged for about eight months now. You proposed on Valentine’s Day,” she murmured, regretting using her breakup date with Ben.
Ignoring the murmuring behind her, Valerie turned briefly and smiled before turning back to him. “You proposed to me over…” Grinning sheepishly, Valerie watched the tall therapist in scrubs nodding his head, then fist pumping with another male. Yet she forged on. “I’m sure it may sound corny to everybody else, but to me, it was romantic when you proposed to me over cheeseburgers.”
“I like cheeseburgers,” he murmured.
“Yes, I know. The fatter and messier the burger, the better you like them.” Valerie chuckled, remembering her sister, Lynne, sharing that tidbit during her interview with the family. Cade’s sister had admitted how she’d gone to his favorite burger hangouts in search of him when he’d first gone missing. “Do you know your favorite color?”
“Brown,” he said.
“No, it’s blue. Your favorite color is blue.”
“I gave you this weird-looking ring? No diamonds?” He angled her hand to see the ring.
“I happen to like blue topaz, and I was so delighted that you remembered that,” Valerie said, forcing back unwanted emotion because yes, she’d hoped Ben would have given her a blue topaz ring or any ring for that matter.
“It’s nice, I guess,” he mumbled.
When Valerie glanced around, she realized the faces were happy. And why wouldn’t they be? They all had to be relieved that John Doe No. 6 had an identity. He had a name—Al Green, without an “E,” and by all accounts, he had a loving and devoted fiancée. When Dr. Porter opened the door and encouraged everyone to leave except for the nurse and himself, Valerie was relieved.
“I don’t like my name or the ring,” he said. “But you smell nice. I like that.”
Valerie allowed his perusal and heated up right down to her toes while his eyes swept over her. She couldn’t help but wonder if he remembered specific things about her when they had met in the trance state. “Al, I’m so glad I found you, but if you’re more comfortable with me calling you JD, that’s what I’ll do, okay?” When he nodded, she glanced back at the doctor hovering nearby. “Dr. Porter told me all about your injuries and your memory loss. Honey, I’m so-so sorry for all that you’ve had to endure…all alone. I-I know you had to be frightened, but I’m here to help you now, and…” At a loss for words, Valerie fell silent just a Dr. Porter stepped closer and assured his patient that he would recover his memory when his mind was ready.
“Thanks, doc, I hope I’ll remember that.” He snorted before turning to his fiancée. “I’ve been here for months. Why are you just now finding me? Where’ve you been all this time?”
Valerie’s mouth dropped open. “Where have I been? I’ve been searching for you. I’ve searched everywhere up and down the east coast and all points beyond because the police have nothing. The hospitals didn’t have anything, either, and I’ve seen so many John Doe’s I’ve lost count as I commiserated with other sorrowful individuals waiting in line at city morgues.” She hoped her lie was as convincing to him, but it was no less than the inquisition-like interview she’d had with Dr. Porter, the nurse, the physical therapist, and some other executive.
Knowing she wouldn’t have been able to just walk out of the sanitarium with him, Valerie had come prepared to prove she was the fiancée of John Doe No. 6. She had pictures of Cade Colter she’d downloaded from the internet. With a few points and clicks, she’d photo-shopped herself in several of them. The pictures with scenic or festive backgrounds revealed just what she’d wanted to convey—they were a couple in love. But she didn’t stop there. She also doctored an ID card, a rental agreement for an apartment, and a lease for a car, all in his name.
“You don’t remember me at all, do you, JD?” she asked, dropping her shoulders and raising sad eyes to him.
“I do feel a sense of familiarity with you and, yes, I like cheeseburgers, but engaged…”
Valerie chimed in mid-s
entence. “I have something to show you,” she said, pulling the documents and pictures from her bag before stepping around him. After fanning them out along the wide window ledge, she stepped aside. “Look, this is us. You and me, nerdy and happy.”
He picked up one of the photo-shopped pictures. “This is DC, isn’t it?”
Valerie glanced down at a picture with the Washington Monument in the background. “Yes, that’s Washington. You recognize the Monument?”
“Duh, I have amnesia, but it doesn’t make me stupid.”
Valerie couldn’t hold back a retort. “Hum, so you still have that smartass mouth. Too bad you didn’t lose that to amnesia.” She didn’t want to say that, but then she remembered in her trance visits with him he often had a smart mouth. So when he sent her a sideways glance, Valerie sent one right back at him until he picked up more pictures and studied each one closely. When he asked if they’d lived together, she almost choked. “Good Lord, no.” Then thinking she sounded prudish, she rushed to explain that they lived in separate locations.
“I look at these pictures with my face, but I don’t feel anything connecting me to them. By the way, do you know if I have any food allergies? The dieticians keep asking me that.”
Valerie drew a blank when she realized his question was either hopeful or he was testing her. Her instincts told her he was testing her. To make matters worse, the nurse appeared to be giving her a nod as if to hurry her along with an answer. “Well, you never mentioned anything about allergies. But you are lactose intolerant.”
“Are you sure about that?” JD asked.
“Well, you don’t like my cream cheese stuffed French toast. I only made it for you once, but it made you sick.” When he turned back to the documents left on the window ledge, Valerie sent the doctor and the nurse a weary expression before taking the pictures from his hands and turning him to face her. “Close your eyes for a second and just listen to me.” He obeyed her. “I’ve asked you many times to trust me. I’ve told you that I wouldn’t hurt you and that I would only help you…with whatever you needed. Tell me what you need from me, now.”
Finding Cade (Dream Catcher Series Book 1) Page 16
